Yet another blog (hopefully a useful one though)
Archive for December, 2010
MS Internet Looking back at 2010 and forward to 2011
Dec 20th
MS Internet is Birmingham’s premiere digital agency, and is fast becoming one of the Midland’s biggest business success stories. Since its formation in 2007, this young and innovative company have gone from strength to strength, defying the worldwide economic crisis.
In the last three years, MS Internet has grown three-fold year on year and has won several lucrative contracts and innovation awards, beating larger competitors hands down.
What makes MS Internet stand out from the crowd is its incredibly talented and dedicated staff, highly evolved development process, and shared philosophy that no job is too big or too small.
As well as building websites MS Internet employ experts in search engine optimisation, email marketing, SMS integration into websites, and system management. Not forgetting the company’s highly successful mobile application development department.
We asked MD Martin Saunders what sets his company apart from competitors:
“We have a number of expert staff, all in house, who can competently deal with any requests made by our clients. Our office has a friendly and relaxed atmosphere, and we pride ourselves on taking a sustainable approach to our projects.”
MS Internet’s unbridled success during a time where many similar companies have struggled to stay afloat, proves that hard work, enthusiasm and innovation really do pay.
The last year has been difficult for business because of the global economic downturn but, despite this MS Internet has flourished over the past 12 months. We started 2010 with four members of the company and we have finished with 14. We have also managed to triple our turnover and move from primarily small-scale low budget projects to a much wider spread of projects for SME’s, public corporations and even few celebrities along the way. We have also become a significant player in mobile technology and consultancy now having the ability to produce apps for all native platforms as well as our own mobile web framework.
We hope that 2011 will be as exciting as 2010 and we already have a few interesting projects lined up. We will be launching our mobile web framework in the new year and are looking forward to the first MeeGo apps coming through as well. Another area we are starting to work with is Augmented reality and this will amazing technology will hopefully be big for us next year also.
All in all it has been a fantastic year and whatever 2011 brings it is sure to be just as interesting at MS Internet.
So, what’s this Augmented Reality thing then?
Dec 20th
Augmented reality is set to be the next big thing in digital innovation. AR blends physical and virtual reality and allows the virtual and physical worlds to be linked.
Mobile apps are already utilising AR to a certain extent. Several apps have been developed which overlay information on a real time camera view, such as places to eat and shop, or points of interest in the local environment. There are apps which allow you to measure distances, find the nearest tube station, and even shoot lasers at whoever walks into your phone’s camera frame.
The current apps available are an exciting indication of things to come. MS Internet plan to use their technological know-how and passion for innovation to take AR to the next level. For example, MS Internet plan to design an app which will allow you to scan items in a shop and pick up the best offers and bargains. They also plan to utilise AR to allow gamers to animate their favourite photos and videos. AR will be branching out from the games and entertainment world to take in GPS for cars, medical innovations and near field communication, where information can be passed from one device to another by touching them together.
Augmented Reality is set to be next year’s buzz word in gaming and entertainment, and MS Internet are leading the way from the Midlands.
Exciting new apps for two famous faces
Dec 20th
MS Internet were recently contracted to develop two exciting new apps for some famous faces.
Phil Vickery, well known TV chef and author of numerous cook books, challenged MS Internet to create an iPhone app to coincide with the release of his ‘Seriously Good Gluten Free Baking’ book. The app is aimed at people who have Coeliac disease or are gluten intolerant, or those who simply want to create some delicious gluten free recipes.
Our brief was to design an app that features recipes, a ‘how to’ section, information on Coeliac disease and gluten intolerance, a shopping list section reminding users what ingredients are required for each recipe, and information about Phil Vickery’s other products. All this needed to be presented in an exciting, attractive and up to the minute package, whilst being easy and enjoyable to use.
Olly Smith, Well known columnist, author, TV wine expert and star of ‘Iron Chef Uk’, challenged MS Internet to design and launch an innovative new iPhone app offering advice, information and enthusiasm to anyone who wants to get even more enjoyment from wine.
Our brief was to create a quick and handy application which makes learning about wine fun. The software for this app includes a wine guide, which allows users to choose a wine for the meal they are having, video ‘how to’, ‘wine kit’ and ‘wine styles’ guides, a fun and games section, and a wine hunting tool which allows the user to search for wine in their local area or on the web. The design for this app needed to reflect Olly Smith’s fun, light hearted, larger than life persona, whilst being useful, accessible and attractive.
We carried out extensive research into similar apps on the market and utilised our design and programming experience to create two outstanding apps which were carefully tailored to the target market.
MS Internet’s highly skilled developers hand coded all the app information and created bespoke software, ensuring maximum appeal and ease of use.
Both projects took twelve weeks from initial planning to launch, and complied with all legal and coding requirements. The apps were accepted at the App store on the first attempt, and left our clients more than satisfied with the results. Phil Vickery said:
“A huge thank you to the team at MS Internet for their technical brilliance.”
A look back at MeeGo Conference, Dublin 2010
Dec 20th
MS Internet MD Martin Saunders attended this year’s MeeGo conference in Dublin, along with Senior Developer Tom Clayson. The conference took place in the city’s newly redeveloped Aviva Stadium, and brought together digital experts from across the world. We asked Tom Clayson to tell us more about this exciting event:
What is MeeGo?
Meego is a new Linux operating system for digital devices. The newly developed software is the result of collaboration between Nokia and Intel merging their Maemo and Moblin platforms. An easy way to explain the operating system is to say that MeeGo is to mobiles what Windows is to computers.
Can MeeGo only be used on mobile devices?
No, the really clever thing about the software is that much of its core functionality is shared between different applications, which means that you can use the same software on different devices such as on smart TVs and in-car infotainment systems.
What devices can use MeeGo?
Meego will be available on smart phones, netbooks, tablets, media-phones, connected TV’s and in-vehicle infotainment systems.
What does this mean for the future of digital devices?
MeeGo will allow users to switch between different digital devices made by different manufacturers. So you can go from using an app on a Nokia phone, to an in-vehicle infotainment system made by another manufacturer.
Why choose MeeGo?
MeeGo is the first operating system to target multiple platforms right from the start, which will give it the edge over other software development. The great thing about MeeGo is that it’s an open source project which encourages community contributions. Often this is the best way to ensure that an operating system continues to innovate.
Will MS Internet be using MeeGo?
MS Internet plan to be one of the first agencies to develop apps specifically for the MeeGo platform. We plan to produce apps that will be compatible with mobile devices, netbooks, TV’s, in-vehicle infotainment systems and more in the very near future.