UPDATED: The Culture Grid is a unique online service from Collections Trust, the UK’s independent organisation for collections. The site enables users to find out about, engage with, and visit the wonders within the UK’s collections, improving their visibility, impact and value.

Gooii designed and programmed the website and search interface for this exciting new service. Based upon a powerful search engine created by Knowledge Integration, the UI was designed to be familiar and easy to use. Grid and list views allow the user to browse the results visually, or with more focus on textual information. Under the hood is an application programmed in Java using Google Web Toolkit to produce a fast, friendly and interactive search experience.

First built in 2010, the site has been relaunched in 2013 with a complete overhaul of the search interface, which now connects to the europeana.eu website API and returns results from museums all over Europe.

Visit: www.culturegrid.org.uk

Gooii worked with Gabrielle Aplin and her management company James Barnes Music on her first EPs, tour posters and website. Gabrielle’s since been signed to EMI, had a number one single with ‘The Power of Love’ (as featured on the John Lewis Christmas Snowman advert) and has now released her debut album ‘English Rain’. We were sent an advance copy of the album a few weeks ago and were very proud to a receive a thank you in the sleeve notes.

English Rain is available to buy now: gabrielleaplin.co.uk/english-rain-album

It’s always good when people say nice things about us, so we thought we’d share some of them with you…

“My company has been working with Gooii for over 10 years and I’m constantly impressed by their skills and the high-standards they employ. The team caters to the needs of each project, delivering on time and producing successful outcomes no matter the brief. In short Gooii have always delivered! I highly recommend working with Gooii and their team and look forward to working with them on future projects.”
Mark Cogan, Managing Director – Interactive Resources

“Gooii always respond with creativity, professionalism and patience. They are extremely helpful, supportive, flexible and easy to work with. We are very pleased with the sites they produce and we have won a number of nominations and awards as a direct result of our teamwork.”
Diane Earl, Operations Manager – E2BN

“Gooii came through with flying colors when it came to building a professional iPhone app for my website. They were a real pleasure to work with, going above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that everything was running smoothly, and making certain I was kept appraised of any detail that required my attention. The programmers and designers behind-the-scenes are obviously an extremely talented and driven team, ably putting into action the ideas and requirements asked of them. I’d have no problem recommending Gooii to anybody, individual or large organization, looking to employ their services.”
Steve Younis, Editor-In-Chief – The Superman Homepage

Rumours, the very definition of the “classic album”. If there’s one Rumour you can count on, it’s the one featuring and a stalk legged Mick Fleetwood on the cover. Apple rumours however come with a 10% hit rate, for every one that’s bang on there’s another 9 that are miles wide of the mark. This one however seems worthy of our time, not least because it features British design genius Jonathan Ive. Word on the internet street is iOS7 is running behind schedule because of a “rather significant system-wide UI overhaul” made by the talented designer.

If true, this could be a wise move by Apple. The iPhone 5 is a fantastic piece of kit but it left many disappointed that it continued the design form of the iPhone 4. There’s also a feeling that the Android platform is gaining fast on Apple so, coupled with new hardware, a major iOS update could propel the iPhone even further into the stratos and compel all those 3G and 4/S owners to upgrade.

For more on this rumour visit: daringfireball.net. For more on Fleetwood Mac ‘Rumours’ visit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumours.

This is the official video for Mat Zo & Porter Robinson ‘Easy’ on Ministry of Sound TV, directed and animated by Gooii collaborators Louis and McCourt (Wesley Louis and Tim McCourt).

After much speculation and rumour, Sony finally announce their next generation games console, the correctly predicted PS4. Well if it aint broke…

Disappointingly  the console box itself wasn’t revealed, which will likely be left to June’s E3 exhibition. We did however get to see the new PS4 controller, featuring a touchscreen area (similar to the one on the rear of the Playstation Vita), as well as a glowing light on the back of the controller which, when combined with the bundled Playstation Eye camera, will allow for incredibly accurate motion sensing, as seen on the PS3’s Move controller.

Other cool features include integration with iOS and Android devices and with the Playstation Vita. All 3 devices can be used to interact with the system, as well as to serve as an additional screen. Particularly exciting is the proposed ability remote play all PS4 games on the Vita – making it not only a Wii U beater but potentially making the PS4 portable. Gaming on the loo anyone? You could however argue that some of this functionality is, and should already be available on the PS3.

The PS4 is due for release holiday 2013, which if previous launches are anything to go by, likely means April 2014 in Europe.

For more info visit the Official Playstation website.

Xbox co-founder Nat Brown has claimed that if Apple wanted to they could “kill off” the major games consoles made by Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. Brown, also an ex-Microsoft engineer, uses the Apple App Store’s profit split of 30/70 in favour of the developer as the main reason for this, suggesting Apple TV could be their weapon of choice:

“Apple, if it chooses to do so, will simply kill Playstation, Wii-U and xBox by introducing an open 30%-cut app/game ecosystem for Apple-TV.”

To view Nat Brown’s full blog post visit: Stupid, Stupid xBox!!

The big advantage of the Apple iOS app platform, and Google Android for that matter, is anyone with the appropriate app design and programming skills can develop software for release and do so far cheaper, and with fewer limitations, than those offered by the major gaming companies.

As a gamer I love my consoles, the hardware and the technology they bring but as a developer the potential of Apple TV is hard to ignore. At present the Apple TV platform doesn’t allow users to download apps but an iPhone or iPad can be mirrored on your TV, yielding some pretty impressive results with very little lag. The iPhone also makes for a pretty nifty motion controller.

If Apple did decide to go down the cloud gaming route, it’s conceivable that existing Apple TV hardware could be used to play games as impressive as those found on any console. The Apple TV box can also be purchased for as little £80 and is the best media streamer I’ve ever used, not to mention the ease of set-up. Netflix streams beautifully, as do full HD 1080p rentals from the iTunes video store. The only thing I can imagine holding Apple back are our existing download speeds and the profit potential available from a higher spec device.

Got an app idea? What next?

This week Gooii were asked to write a small 200 word piece for the Nottingham Post and This Is Nottingham website, on how to develop your app idea. The key points were:

1. Research
2. Plan your app
3. Find a developer and get some quotes
4. Wireframes and design
5. Develop and test
6. Submit it

To view the full piece on the Nottingham Post website visit: thisisnottingham.co.uk/Got-app-idea

If you do have an app idea get in touch, or call 0115 9598044, and we can help take it from the initial concept, through to release on the Apple App and Google Play Stores.

Super Tiles is a mathematical game for all ages, who will be the first to cover three numbers in a line either horizontally or vertically? Based on the classic Primary Games activity used in schools all over the world, the app was designed and coded natively for the iPhone and iPad.

The 2 player game allows friends to play locally against each other but one of the most exiting parts for us to code was game’s artificial intelligence. Playing against the computer, we’ve designed an intelligent AI controlled player with 3 difficulty levels. At its most aggressive the computer will block your every move and prove a determined opponent that’s hard to beat.

Super Tiles is simple to play yet fiendishly addictive.

The Decade of Better Health Programme was launched in 2010 to help Nottingham people think about their own health and make healthier lifestyle choices. The programme is focused on improving the health and wellbeing of the city over the next decade by engaging with the city’s population on a much greater scale and find more interactive ways to help people.

The website was built for Nottingham City Council and based on the popular WordPress platform, Decade of Better Health visitors can view news and videos, search for and book events, participate in surveys, take quizzes and pledge to lead a healthier lifestyle.