We recently launched our Digital-out-of-home (DOOH) website. The site highlights our most successful solutions – solutions we have integrated into our projects over the years, and have been paramount to shaping interactivity paradigms.

These solutions, with a special emphasis on Natural User Interfaces and Augmented Reality, include screens, kiosks, billboards, wall, floor and ceiling projections and many others.

For a better look at our solutions, as well as practical applications for each one, visit http://www.ydreams.com/products/

An amazing Virtual World, fueled by YDreams technology and design, recently opened to the public at Istanbul’s Marmara Forum on December 15, 2011. YDreams conceived and developed an enchanted realm inhabited by friendly eccentric creatures called Marmarians for the Multi Mall Management Group shopping center, whose aim was to offer young guests a space for creative expression while simultaneously connecting with shoppers, and enhancing customer loyalty.

Young guests to the center are invited and encouraged to let their imaginations run wild and “give life” to their own exotic creations. Two touch consoles, located at each end of the video wall, comprised of fifteen 40” monitors, invite shoppers to create and customize creatures that ultimately become a type of virtual pet. Guests use the touch screens to create their new Marmarian from scratch – they decide on the shape of the body, its texture and color as well as the color of its eyes and stripes or spots. The variables available enable guests to create up to 30.000 distinct creatures, so the risk that any two will be identical is minimal! After determining what their new Marmarian looks like, guests name it and release it into the brand new Virtual World!

Creating their new pet creature is only half the fun; to make sure they grow into happy, healthy Marmarians, they need to be fed and visited, a task that can only be accomplished by checking in at the touch consoles at Marmara Forum. The more you visit your virtual pet, the bigger and happier it grows, and the more you are able to further customize it by adding new features.

In addition, a dedicated website (http://www.virtualworldmf.com/front/web/index.php) is also available so that guests can regularly check up on their Marmarian from home to see how it’s doing. Furthermore, a point system which gives way to discounts at selected Marmara Forum stores and restaurants has been implemented, so by checking in at the center to feed and visit their pets, guests are also increasing their eligibility to win great discounts.

The video powered by YDreams’ technology:

Ynvisible (YDreams’ first spinout company) in collaboration with Enfucell and IDTechEx, produced close to 1600 interactive badges to distribute to participants and attendees at the upcoming Printed Electronics USA 2011 tradeshow.

Ynvisible's Interactive Badge for the Printed Electronics Tradeshow

The badges contain three interactive graphic layers, activated by the push of a button. Each layer, designed specifically for the event, conveys IDTechEx’s marketing messages. Technologically, the interactive badges are a hybrid solution, based on a combination of printed electronics  ̶  Ynvisible’s electrochromics-based interactive graphics and Enfucell’s SoftBattery®  ̶  and traditional electronics, namely the printed circuit boards, buttons and wiring. Designers from Ynvisible and IDTechEx jointly designed the interactive badges, with the final assembly of badges carried out by Ynvisible.

“The combination of established color printing and printed interactive graphics brings new levels of interaction and communication power to everyday items. Consumers who enjoy the interactivity of on-line content and services will now increasingly start to find such features also in printed products”, said Jani-Mikael Kuusisto, Chief Business Development Officer for Ynvisible.

IDTechEx Printed Electronics USA 2011 conference and tradeshow is the biggest event in the world on the topic. This year’s tradeshow will be the largest Printed Electronics exhibition to date, with 105 exhibiting companies already confirmed. The tradeshow is on from November 30th to December 1st, 2011 at the Santa Clara Convention Centre.

In the video below, Audience Entertainment, co-owned and fueled by YDreams’ technology, brings interactive fun to Bon Jovi’s Open Air Tour 2011 in Greece:

Forum Sintra, located on the outskirts of Lisbon, is the 12th and most recent Multimall Management shopping center in Portugal. The center, which opened its doors to the public in April 2011, wanted to offer shoppers an innovative attraction that would appeal especially to younger audiences, and help foster enjoyable memories and positive connections between guests and the center.

After brainstorming with client Multimall, creative technologies specialist YDreams proposed a giant-sized interactive virtual aquarium they dubbed Fixelândia, for the enjoyment of the center’s guests. (Note: the name is a play on words because in Portuguese fixe means cool, but also sounds like the word ‘fish’)

The experience, unique to Forum Sintra, gives guests the chance to create and thoroughly customize their own virtual pet fish. Two touch consoles, located at each end of the giant virtual aquarium, comprised of fifteen 40” monitors, invite shoppers to customize their pets. Guests use the touch screens to create their new friend from scratch – they decide on the shape of the body and fins, as well as the color of its eyes and stripes. The variables available enable guests to create up to 30.000 distinct fish, so the risk that any two fish will be identical is minimal! After determining what their new pet will look like, guests get to name it and release it into Fixelândia!

Creating their new pet fish is only half the fun; to make sure they grow into happy, healthy Guppies, the fish need to be fed and visited, a task that can only be accomplished by checking in at the touch consoles at Forum Sintra. The more you visit your virtual pet fish, the bigger and happier it grows, and the more you are able to further customize it by adding new features. In addition, a dedicated website (http://www.fixelandia.net) is also available so that guests can regularly check up on their pet fish from home to see how it’s doing.

In the video below, Audience Entertainment, co-owned and fueled by YDreams’ technology, brings interactive fun to a nightclub event in China. Simple hand gestures enable the crowd to control and maneuver the car in a Redbull-themed virtual race:

Sensorium is YDreams’ latest project developed in conjunction with L’Oreal Portugal’s Luxury Division for the cosmetics and beauty brand’s POS at ‘Perfumes & Companhia’ shops in the Lisbon area. The interactive app offers the public a sensorial experience that is here to revolutionize the way customers choose the fragrance, which is right for them.

The video below - the making of Sensorium - sums up how the project was conceived, designed and implemented:

New York-based Audience Entertainment, co-owned by YDreams, worked with OgilvyOne Greece to develop an interactive media campaign for Cosmote, the largest mobile network operator in that country.

The 3D audience game, powered entirely by YDreams technology, recently picked up an Ermis Silver, in the interactive media category, at the Ermis Awards, the only awards institution for creativity in communication in Greece, organized annually by the Advertising & Communications Association - the highlight of the industry in the country.

Below, a look at the award-winning game being played live at a cinema in Athens:

YDreams’ mark can be felt at the 26th edition of São Paulo’s International Auto Show underway from October 27th to November 7th at the Anhembi Exhibition pavilion. Car lovers of all ages who flock to the event are privy to interactive technologies that make exploring the cars on display only half the fun.

The interactive technologies specialist introduced a ‘Superman’ style X-Ray vision app that proved to be a most original way for visitors to the Fiat stand to get to know the ‘insides’ and standout features of the brand new Mio prototype, the first collaborative car in the industry. Right next to the car stands a large-sized plasma that invites people to see what event-goers have to say about the Mio on Twitter. The app picks up all Mio-related tweets and playfully displays them alongside the person’s head in comic-strip style thought balloons.

See video below:

Further along, at the Toyota stand, visitors come across another YDreams’ creative application that was developed to help create public awareness and spread the word about the work the Toyota Foundation has been doing to reforest the Brazilian Atlantic Rain forest, as well as its attempts to help preserve the Blue Macaw. At the stand, people are able to see their moving silhouettes outlined on a video wall depicting tropical settings; in an adjacent video wall, people see their silhouette set against landscapes of the Brazilian Pantanal, where a Blue Macaw soars overhead before disappearing from sight.

YDreams Brasil launched its latest project during the world famous Carnaval festivities underway from the 11th to the 17th of February in the city of Salvador da Bahia.

The project consisted of a 2,80 x 2,10 meter video wall featuring an interactive game using augmented reality and gesture interaction to promote Multiplus Fidelidade, which is Brazilian airline TAM’s new business unit. Multiplus Fidelidade revolves around the customer loyalty program concept, where customers may pool points from different programs and then exchange them for prizes offered by partner companies in a variety of market sectors.

Two video walls were set up at the Cerveja & Cia and Planeta Othon Quem lounges alongside the Carnaval parades. Carnaval-goers could see themselves inside the video wall, in real-time and were encouraged to interact with the colorful virtual balls that fell from the top of the huge screen using hand gestures. Each ball worth mystery points, also contained an icon representing group partners and products. The objective was to smash the greatest number of balls into oblivion in a 45-second game round, rack up points and turn them in for prizes that ranged from airfare and books to car rentals and discounts at the local gasoline station. In sum, a fun way to create brand awareness and guarantee that everyone goes home happy from Carnaval!

What do YDreams, former NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso have in common?

All will be Guest Speakers at the 2009 edition of the Curitiba Marketing Forum!

António Câmara, company CEO and Miguel Remédio, YDreams International Operations Officer, will be addressing how companies today can use technology and interactivity to their advantage, consequently strengthening their brand and image.

Good luck to them both!

For more information about the event go to: http://www.forumdemarketingcuritiba.com.br/

UM, which means ONE in Portuguese, is Portugal’s International Festival for Experimental Inter-media. The one of its kind festival in Portugal includes exhibitions, workshops, talks, concerts, performances and public works, with internationally renowned artists, musicians, academics, designers and architects.

It starts today and carries on till Sunday, the 15th of November. UM had its debut in 2008, and is back in 2009 for its 2nd edition. YDreams has always been a fan and supporter of the festival and is taking part this year as a commercial sponsor.

For more about UM go to: http://www.1um1.net/

Karina Israel, YDreams Executive Projects Director will be giving a lecture today at ESPM-RJ (one of Latin America´s most prestigious learning institutes for Communication, Design and Administration) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Keeping in line with the event theme, Entertainment and Multisensory Communication, and how companies and brands use entertainment and multisensory language to attract audiences’ attention and make their communication more effective and engaging, Karina will present some of YDreams’ most emblematic cases using technologies such as Augmented Reality and gesture interaction.

The event, organized by ESPM-RJ through its R&D lab in Media, Entertainment, Design and Artistic Interventions and Globo University, is part of the Entertainment and Contemporary Culture Consortium’s 6th edition debate cycle.

We’re sure the turn out will be great. Good luck to you Karina.

More info at www.espm.br/cecc

António Câmara will be one of the featured speakers at this year’s addition of PICNIC, underway in Amsterdam from the 23rd to the 25th of September.

António Câmara´s presentation, focusing on Augmented Cities, will explore how Augmented Reality (AR) as a platform can bring new life to cities using a ‘Powers to Ten’ approach: Augmented Reality used on a micro-scale to visualize the intricate workings of utility networks; at an intermediate scale using virtual sightseeing units, and other digital signage; and at the macro-scale with large scale interactive projections.

This however will not be YDreams first visit to PICNIC Amsterdam. The company was represented by Eduardo Dias, company co-founder, at the event for the first time back in 2007; Eduardo Dias, along with NY-based Brand Experience Lab’s (BEL) David Polinchock, gave a presentation about the future of Augmented Reality in Advertising. The meeting of ideas and strategies later led to a partnership with BEL and the creation of Audience Entertainment, a joint-venture to deliver interactive videogames for theaters, stadiums, music venues and others around the globe. The company’s work in AR presented at PICNIC ‘07 also caught the attention of the Economist giving way to an article in their Technology Quarterly December 2007 edition.

PICNIC is a unique, three-day festival and inspiring conference complimented by a set of networking events and hands-on technology experiences for top creatives and innovation professionals in business, technology, new media, entertainment, science and the arts.
The event draws a wide audience, from heads of business, government leaders, marketers, artists, designers, producers, investors, scientists and innovators.

For more info: http://www.picnicnetwork.org/page/20753/en

Those were my exact thoughts when Ivan Franco, our R&D Director, told me he was off to Lisbon’s Electricity Museum to give a talk at Pecha Kucha Night about interaction design, its potential consequences and how it relates to the work we do here at YDreams.

Well, the name alone was enough to trigger my curiosity, especially because I thought he was referring to some vanguard Karaoke trend or something (I’m a big fan )…but no, Pecha Kucha (which is Japanese for conversation) is a “patented system where each presenter is allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds each – giving participants 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up. This keeps presentations concise, the interest level up, and gives more people the chance to show.”

The Japanese have long been known for reducing the subject to its necessary elements. In this case they inspired Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham, ‘founders’ of Pecha Kucha Night to take minimalism beyond design and architecture, and the Pecha Kucha system seems to be catching on just fine, having so far spread virally to close to 200 cities in little over six years.

The folks over at YLabs (our in-house R&D lab) wanted to show-off what our YVision platform could actually do so they put together this good-natured demo of the many ways people can interact in real-time with virtual elements in most any physical scenario.

Watch as the gang plays with something resembling a runny version of The Blob, has their minds read, volleys soapy bubbles about and oozes what reminds me of a virtual Slinky from both eyes, yet they seem to be genuinely enjoying themselves

Playing in an Augmented World from YDreams on Vimeo.

António Câmara, YDreams’ CEO, and I headed out to Vegas for some gambling and a couple of speaking engagements at the Digital Signage Expo starting on February 24th.

Day One started with the Seminar Revolutionizing Interactive Marketing in Public Spaces - the Mobile and Gestural Digital Signage Imperative. It was great to have a whole seminar dedicated to new types of interaction in Digital Signage. The list of speakers was a who’s who of the interactive world – Razorfish, Gesturetek, Total Immersion – and the discussion was lively and significant. Read the rest of this entry »

Digital Signage Expo 2009 is just around the corner. Underway from the 24th to the 26th of February at the Las Vegas Convention Center, this year’s expo is as much about the exhibition floor as it is about educational sessions focusing on interactive technology, self-service and digital signage.

Opening day, February 24th, will offer expo-goers a mobile and gesture-based digital signage summit entitled “Revolutionizing Interactive Marketing in Public Places: The Mobile and Gestural Imperative”. Experts from Avenue A/Razorfish, GestureTek and our very own António Câmara (YDreams CEO) and Marta Vieira (YDreams USA’s Director of Business Development & Operations) among others, will look at big brand successful case studies, and discuss new ways to engage audiences.

António Câmara will integrate the panel of speakers kicking off the conference with Part I of Generating Brand Power with Mobile and Gestural Digital Signage, and later on in the day Marta Vieira will expand on YDreams’ experience creating interactive solutions, design limitations encountered, and overcoming those obstacles to afford audiences ‘super-experiences’ in New Content Models for Mobile and Gestural Digital Signage.

Sounds like a great line up with plenty of promising content for interactive tech enthusiasts everywhere.

Digital Signage Today recently came out with an online article about The Top 10 digital signage trends for 2009. While some of the predicted trends aren’t completely unexpected they are promising and encouraging.

As a company specialized in interactive gesture-based technologies and innovation for indoor and outdoor surroundings, we couldn’t agree more, and are particularly fond of Trend #6, which stresses the advantages of bringing interactivity and measurement to digital out-of-home networks.

Below a look at ‘large scale’ outdoor interactive digital signage project we worked on with Carat media agency for Adidas during the 2006 FIFA World Cup.