Excuse the pun but we pulled this rabbit out of the hat to remind everyone how much of an impact our first interactive floor projection had on the company, our partners and more importantly our clients.

Virtual Garden developed back in 2003, starred a virtual agent in the form of a cuddly bunny rabbit (who challenged audiences to a game of catch) and colourful flowers that mysteriously blossomed beneath your feet. Ultimately the app was more than an interactive floor projection; it was our foray into the world of conceptual environments.

The app, an excellent ice-breaker for most any setting was immensely popular with kids of all ages, immersing audiences in a wonderland all their own, and more importantly helping us realize the potential that lay in applying creativity, technology and design to countless venues. In sum, Virtual Garden was part of what led us to where we are now: a company dedicated to crafting interactive conceptual environments and experiences for audiences the world over.

Meet the rabbit!

Besides heading one of the company’s most ambitious projects – the development of new interactive surfaces – Inês Henriques is now also a prized author.

Inês was recently distinguished with the notable Rudolfs Medal from the Water Environment Federation (WEF), an international not-for-profit technical and educational water quality organization, for a paper she co-authored focusing on the effects of shock loads of several organic and inorganic industrial chemicals which could disrupt the operation and performance of biological treatment systems if discharged in shock pulse patterns.

The award will be presented at ceremonies during the WEF’s 81st annual technical exhibition and conference – next month in Chicago, Illinois. For more information, visit www.weftec.org.

Kudos to you Inês!

Check out the video below of YBand’s stellar performance at the semi-finals of the Fortune Battle of the Corporate Bands last Saturday, the 23rd.

Our guys came in a notable second, but from what we hear it was a pretty close call! You represented us well and made us proud!

Also congratulations to The Consumer Republic and good luck to them at the U.S. final!

Tomorrow, Saturday the 23rd, the YBand will rock for a place on the American final of the Fortune Battle of the Corporate Bands 2008 edition. Those of us unable to attend London for the European semi-final, wish the band the best of luck! If anyone wants to stop by: The University of London Union - ULU, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HY, starts at 6.pm.

“Straight from the mouths of babes”

An original member of Ocean’s Eleven, João was forced to abandon the gang when told he had to lose the headlamp

When asked what his dad does for a living, 5 yr. old André Serpa beams proudly and answers “Daddy does magic!” 34 yr. old, YDreams Project Manager João Serpa laughs as he recalls his son’s reaction to watching him set up some of the cool apps, which João personally had a hand in developing, for the Braganza Science Center.

Before coming on board in January 2005, João and YDreams went back a long way. He first met company CEO, and co-founder António Câmara while getting his undergraduate degree in Environmental Engineering at the New Lisbon University. “Prof. Câmara encouraged most of his students to take part in GASA, a research group he helped found in the early 90’s”, recalls João, “I joined GASA in ’95. The place was a little “geeky”, slightly anarchic, and given it was the mid-90’s, had an almost primitive access to the Internet, but it was an exciting place to be, and perfect for working on my mathematical modelling and delving into the brave new world of physical interfaces”.

In the meantime, João left GASA to pursue other projects, but late in 1999, Prof. Câmara encouraged him to apply for scientific research projects. He received funding, returned to GASA and embarked on research for EU projects and his PhD thesis in numerical modelling and tangible interfaces applied to environmental simulation.

Between 2001 and 2005, João lent a helping hand by collaborating with YDreams on proposals, brainstorming sessions, and programming for interactive installations that led to the Virtual Sightseeing scenic viewer and I-Garment. Taking on the role of Project Manager at YDreams seemed like a natural progression in his career given his history. But that wasn’t the only reason; turns out João loves working with people, as much as he enjoys ubiquitous computing and interactive interfaces, so Project Management seemed like the natural course.

As far as free time goes, João can be found ‘tinkering’ with the project he is most proud of: his son André. He also makes time for reading, music, sports and loves partying hard and travelling to off the beaten path locations!

We say, do as the kid says, and “keep making magic”.

Last Wednesday, YDreams held the 2008 in-house summer party. This was the perfect opportunity for YDreamers to let loose from all their hard work, and welcome the summer with open arms. It also showcased the flexibility of the new YBuilding.

The sunset on Wednesday afternoon was everything anyone could ask for. Everyone was basking the ambiance, lounging around in bean bag chairs while the YBand was already warming up for their great series of performances.  This was topped off by a delicious barbeque, a variety of drinks and our traditional relaxed atmosphere. As the night progressed, the YBand treated us to wide diversity of musical styles entertainment, from hip-hop to funk, cheesy eighties pop to hard rock.

It wouldn’t have been a YDreams party without a spoof surprise. We were treated to a hilarious pimba*-style music video. All in all, a great excuse for YDreamers to have fun together, enjoy good music, better food, and the best company. It won’t be long until we’re all out on the deck again, celebrating the winner of the Battle of the Corporate Bands. And by the winner, I mean the YBand.

For more pictures, check out our Facebook page at here

*Pimba (noun, adj) - Type of Portuguese pop/folk music. Lyrics usually have double meanings. Beware.

Antão Almada and the Luso-American (Y)Dream

Eight years ago, Antão Almada was sitting in his cubicle as a Senior Software Engineer in Palo Alto thinking, “what next?” He was already happily married and had begun venturing into the world of fatherhood when he received a call from António Câmara asking him to come on board a new project, which would eventually become YDreams. Knowing from the start of his Silicon Valley adventure that he wanted to return to Portugal, he also knew that working with Professor Câmara could be an even greater experience than Paraform, and the laid-back environment he had become accustomed to would certainly be maintained. Eight years later, Antão is the Strategic Software Development Director at YDreams R&D unit, YLabs, where he is responsible for investigating and keeping up-to-date with up and coming technologies, and then applying them to YDreams products. Most of his day is spent on his computer, applying the most recent technologies to keep YDreams in the technological vanguard. All this is done using his ergonomic keyboard - a living relic from his Silicone Valley days.

His quiet and reserved exterior can fool the mere onlooker. When I arrived at YLabs to chat with Antão,, he was sitting behind a computer, surrounded by five YLabers while he cracked some sort of complex code using C#, his favourite computing language.

Antão has been at YDreams since its founding, has many prospects for the future and accomplishments from the past. To date, his favourite project has been the development of YDreams proprietary platform, in which all of our latest interactive installations are based. The development required a great amount of teamwork, and the result was an extremely innovative platform. Antão hopes YDreams continues to innovate in the field of reality computing and become a world leader in augmented reality. Projects that are underway are obviously top-secret, however, Antão assured me that we haven’t seen the last of Flapi yet. “Flapi is only a stepping stone for greater things to come.”

Computers aren’t everything for our Strategic Software Development Director. When I asked him what his main hobby was “Family” immediately shot-out. Having two small children is a full time job. Collecting miniature cars also captures his attention when he’s not out riding his BMX.

By António Câmara’s request, YBand applied to fight in the 8th edition of the Battle of the Corporate Bands - a contest promoted by Fortune magazine, seeking to find the best band formed mainly by amateur musicians working in a given company.

Well, that’s an order any of us at YBand were more than happy to fulfill! Not only there’s a personal joy to it, but a huge marketing potential as well, if we go any far in the competition.

So, we embraced the challenge with a sense of responsibility towards the company, and a great dose of childish excitement, for having an opportunity to do something different with our amateur skills for music.

First step was to decide how we would start the whole process. Each band needed to send 3 songs to the promoters. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Keep in mind that there are 32 members in YBand. We needed to pick 3 songs, and that meant leaving some of us out of the fun.

Through a voting pole, we decided that we would pick the 3 songs without worrying about who would eventually record them. Luckily, the 3 songs that were selected in that pole were songs that we already recorded for the Xmas CD. Thus, some of us went back to the studio to either remix, retouch or even re-record the song altogether.

Next step: send it to the jury. In order to participate, we were required to create a Sonicbids EPK (www.sonicbids.com/yband2006) and wait for the results. I was always very confident that we were going to be selected, and we all started believing when the promoters sent me some emails asking whether we need to have 32 members on stage.

And then, bingo! We got the news that we were selected! You can check for yourselves at www.sonicbids.com/yband2006 how our re-recordings worked out for the jury – (please do, it sounds a lot better than the CD, I think)

Next step in the competition is to play live a 20 minutes gig in London, August 23^rd, were other 5 bands will also be playing. If we win that competition, we will play the final in Cleveland against yet another 7 bands, selected throughout the United States.

I got the confirmation that we could not change band members during the London semi-final, so we went through the unpleasant task of selecting who will go and who will not. Democracy played an important role again, as we voted the formation that will represent YDreams in the London gig: Petra Pais, Luis Ferreira, Fernando Gomes, Luis Vargas, João Afonso, Octácio Rodrigues and Bruno Neto are the lucky ones.

This week we finally got toghether to agree on a set list. Here it is:

1 - Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out 3:30

2 - When Love Comes to Town 6:00

3 - Head On 2:00

4 – Everlong 4:00

5 - Mojo Working 4:00

Rehearsals will start in mid-July. If any of you can be in London next August, 23^rd, please do, we appreciate your support!

Monica Souza, from the YDreams São Paulo office, is the ultimate multi-tasker. Not only is she an account manager, she is also responsible for all of YDreams’ public relations and marketing in Brazil… which is only the fifth biggest country in the world… but who’s measuring?

Monica looks extremely happy in her pink surroundings *(N.B) in this picture, and with good reason. She coordinated the interactive cross media Coca-Cola campaign which was an enormous triumph and success.

YDreams Brasil continues to flourish. To add a cherry on top of Monica’s achievements, the São Paulo office will soon have their own showroom to display all of YDreams’ goodies!

* Note: Pink mobile phones, pink computer, pink nail polish and coincidentally, Madonna’s wearing pink on her Confessions on a Dance Floor album cover!

In January 2006, YDreams closed a round of venture capital funding led by ES Tech Ventures somewhere in the neighborhood of 8.5 million Euros, which provided the company with the boost it needed to go to the next step. Most of you already know this, but I thought I’d take a trip down memory lane and share with you some of the months that led to Alfredo, our Director of Finance (most probably accompanied by his four-legged friend Bones) walking into our bank branch, wearing one of his trademark t-shirts, with a check for 8.5 million Euros in his pocket. I would’ve loved to have seen the look on that teller’s face.

The month’s that preceded January 2006 were grueling to say the least. We’re talking endless bureaucratic procedures such as scary legal due diligences and extensive financial audits. I personally recall a few all-nighters, buried under mountains of paper, crunching numbers and trying to figure out exactly what went where, when and how. I wasn’t alone of course. All us Jurassic YDreamers were in it together – just ask anyone who was around then – unless of course they’ve blocked it out entirely.

“Multi-tasking” was the word of the moment with everyone pitching in, doing pretty much anything from mounting projectors and preparing impactful presentations to scrambling for caterers willing to come to the FCT campus at the spur-of-the-moment for potential investors who seemed to pop in every other day. It was nerve-wrecking, often tiring but also extremely exciting. We were all sure something good was about to happen - it was almost palpable.

Darius Mahdjoubi, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, believes that YDreams is a “gazelle” type company: one that, after years of consistent development of intellectual property and products, will grow “explosively” in the global market. Darius will actually follow our development in the coming years to verify his research hypothesis.

YDreams founders are determined to contribute towards Darius’ research success. Like many “gazelle” companies before us (most historic tech companies were once “gazelles”), we have a strong vision, superb research and international class products and project development. YDreams intends to be the world leader in the creation of unique interactive objects and environments. References such as NOKIA, Vodafone, Adidas, Nike, Coca-Cola and Portugal Telecom in over fifteen countries have provided YDreams with the required credibility to claim such leadership.

A few months ago we realized we needed the help of a senior manager to take YDreams to the next level. We could not be happier with the person that is now our new Chief Operating Officer: Victor Centeno. Victor brings a wealth of management and marketing experiences from his tenures at companies such as Johnson and Johnson and Diageo in several countries. He will be instrumental in setting the environment for the success of the new YDreams products that will be launched in May 2008.

Not long ago YDreams had to suffer through cramped Portuguese offices located in Lisbon and Caparica. Today we are very happy with our new headquarters located on the campus of the New University of Lisbon in Caparica. The 2000 square meter building houses all YDreams divisions and displays most of our past and current work. YDreamers are also able to use the facility to support extra-curricular activities: our rock band will have a studio; we will have locker rooms for our surfers, bikers, tennis, basketball and football players. There will be also a bio-agricultural field for those inclined to cultivate it.

YDreams has entered a new era.

*[editorial featured on the fourth edition of our quarterly Newsletter]

July 7th, 2003 - YDreamers celebrate the launch of the Undercover mobile game

For a long time YDreams has been associated with mobile gaming. In recent times we have been slowly moving away from that particular business area, to focus on our core of interactive conceptual environments or experiences. Mobile games, though, played an important role in the company’s success history.

Undercover and Undercover 2: Merc Wars, which expanded the concept further, were mobile Massive Multi-player Online Games that incorporated live location features making them pioneer gaming experiences in that particular genre. This further strengthened YDreams expertise in location-based systems and, above all, as a creator of a different breed of interactive experiences. It took a lot of sleepless nights, hard work and some ingenuity to try to compete in such uncharted territory against the big players of game development.

It has to be said that the commercial success of that specific game was not matched by the critical acclaim it received. Sometimes it doesn’t pay off to be on the forefront. But the hype and exposure the company got for devising such a product, and the lessons we learned from the whole process, have been an important part of making YDreams into the company that it is today.

We still get asked if we are “that mobile games company”. We aren’t, and the truth is we never quite were. Mobile games were a part of YDreams’ interactive experiences portfolio, but never the whole of the company. We are immensely proud of Undercover 2, Cristiano Ronaldo Underworld Football’s success or the launch of Wall Street Fighter in a few months time, but now we have moved on to a whole bigger realm of more encompassing projects.

According to our correspondent, Go-Kart expert Mariana Salgado, Wednesday’s race had a great turn-out. Rookie Rui Malvarez impressed the crowds with his flashy reflexes pulling off the quickest reaction time at the starting line, and shooting ahead of YVeterans Antão Almada and Tiago Fonseca. He managed to stay in first place for the first three laps but was eventually ‘deterred’ by a slight pile up on the runway, finishing up in third place but not bad for the new kid on the block!

First place was a toss up between Peter Figueiredo and João Frazão with both guys intent on taking home the most coveted Karting trophy. In the end Peter took the race by staying slightly ahead of João for most of the laps. Way to go Peter ‘Alonso’ Figueiredo.

The ladies, not to be outdone, also put in a great performance with Silvia Santos coming in 17th and Helena Rocha and Teresa Brás following shortly behind.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for the company’s next official Go-Kart event. All are welcome, and from the way some of you pull into the company parking lot I know you’ve got what it takes See you at the track!

YVeteran Antão Almada looking calm, cool and collected before the big race

Now what we’ve all been waiting for – the results!

Go-Kart Royalty

1st Peter Figueiredo, best lap: 1:06.47
2nd João Frazão, best lap: 1:06.38
3rd Rui Malvarez, best lap: 1:06.57
4th Tiago Fonseca
5th Vítor Duarte
6th Alfredo Saboga
7th Antão Almada
8th Bruno Neto
9th Luís Alberto
10th Filipe Tavares
11th Armindo Silva
12th Pedro Matos
13th Miguel Gomes
14th João Dornellas
15th Afonso Tavares
16th Sérgio Barata
17th Sílvia Santos
18th Luís Carvalho
19th Helena Rocha
20th Teresa Brás
21st José Danado
22nd Ranjeet Kumar
23rd Ricardo Luiz

The ladies’ winning circle

After a good clean race the gang rounds up & heads off to celebrate

* Special thanks to Helena and Mariana for the fun pics!

The first video illustrating our interactive work for Coca-Cola’s Brazillian Happiness Factory campaign has hit YouTube, this one featuring an Interactive Floor Projection where Kissy Puppies are drawn to people. (Expect more Coca-Cola videos and info soon)

The Sea Monsters Interactive Exhibition for Lisbon’s Oceanarium movie has also been made available recently:

Watch out also for Filipe Freitas (a Portuguese Computer Science student at University of Aveiro), who wrote a detailed description of Microsoft’s TechDays event, complete with some videos of the installations we had at the show, like this one:

We’re very thrilled to have recently signed a partnership with Tecnopop. The Brazillian agency is well-known for its work in various fields, from webdesign to marketing consultancy, among others.

What caught our eye, though, was the incredible video work they did for the Museu de Língua Portuguesa (Portuguese Language Museum) in São Paulo. So we’ll be on the look out for project that may combine our use of technology and their proficiency in videography, to create even more compelling interactive storytelling.

Most of us have heard of South by Southwest but think of it exclusively as a music festival. SXSW is that and much more. It is a 2 week long event that takes Austin over and it’s starting on Friday!

The Wikipedia description:

“South by Southwest (SXSW) is a set of interactive, film, and music festivals and conferences that take place every spring in Austin, Texas. Originating as the Austin Battle of the Bands, SXSW officially began in 1987 and is centered around the downtown Austin Convention Center. Each of the three parts run relatively independently, with different start and end dates. SXSW is one of the largest music festivals in the United States, with more than 1,400 performers playing dozens of venues around Austin over four days in March. Though it is an industry-based event, SXSW Music links locally with events such as the annual Austin Music Awards show. SXSW is the highest money-making public event for the Austin economy, bringing in more revenue than the Austin City Limits Music Festival or the Texas Longhorn home games.”

Music is cool, and we all love Film but this year Interactive is the place to be at – especially because YDreams will have a special say in how it turns out. I’ll be a speaker at one of the panels on Saturday, “Location-based Entertainment, Animating Overlooked Spaces” (learn more about it here).

I expect to take advantage of my Gold Pass as much as possible over the next week and will try to report back frequently.

Wish me luck!

Some “moving out” moments as we get ready to move to our brand new headquarters:

Boxes emporium at Alcântara’s Offices, 10 am:

On the other side of the river, at Caparica’s main room, YDreamers finish playing a real life game of Sokoban:

And then they celebrate!

Production room finds some lost bottles amidst the moving and also celebrates! In sepia tone!

By then YLabs is also celebrating the discovery of a new revolutionary technology (their daily routine) and the fact that they have figured out how to seal up the moving boxes

People at Alcantara’s offices open up umbrellas, defying bad luck and paying tribute to all the floods they have been subjected to during the last year

In the meanwhile, someone forgot to tell the HW department that they should be engaging in silly celebration and phototaking, so they stare in disbelief at their PC screens when celebration pictures start circulating on the internal mailing lists

And speaking of silliness, someone found out that thinking out of the box is really the way to go

At YDreams we have a great team of graphic designers, interface designers, flash designers, industrial designers, web designers and illustrators. That’s a lot of designers, that’s a lot of talent. But we want more, and now we are looking for an interior designer.

As YDreams becomes more and more a deviser and producer of immersive interactive spaces, either for showrooms, stores, fair booths, museums, exhibitions or others, having a full-fledged interior designer among our ranks is now essential. So, creative, open-minded, interested people, just follow this link and tell us why we want you to work with us.

this is an idea for a possible YDreams tshirt. would you wear one?


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YDreams opened an office in Austin, Texas last August. This office will be the center for YDreams’ North American operations. It was through YDreams affiliation with the Portugal - University of Texas at Austin Program that key doors were opened in Austin’s business community.

Austin is one of the premier cities in the World for digital media: major video gaming studios, advertising agencies, design companies, independent film makers and well known musicians are based there. Companies such as Dell and Whole Foods also have their headquarters in the city.

In Austin YDreams found a support ecosystem matched only by Silicon Valley at a fraction of the cost. This ecosystem includes media, software and hardware companies but also lawyer’s offices, communication agencies, business angels, venture capitalists, and a major University.

Austin will also be a key location for YLabs, YDreams research laboratory. Ivan Franco, YLabs Executive Director, lectured recently at IBM Research Lab and visited several other major companies in Austin. Texas based companies are already working with YLabs in the development of our next generation of interactive products. Our first quarter in Austin has shown that we selected the perfect location to launch those products.