The Koora Time Roadshow (Koora means football in Arabic) was commissioned by the Qatar Football Association and sponsored by Shell. Following the Cup, it will be activated some 20 times, throughout the country, over the next two years. The roadshow aims to promote football and physical exercise amongst Qatari youths by engaging them through football related interactive games.

The roadshow’s multiple interactive experiences challenge participants to get plenty of exercise. The applications all revolve around YDreams’ technologies complemented by Kinect consoles. A total of seven challenges, which mimic different phases of the game of football and are all interconnected, make up the Koora roadshow. The activities range from “the Locker Room” where visitors first register to participate via a QR coded bracelet, and the “Sprint”, a game where participants are pitted against two virtual opponents to see who sprints the fastest from one end of the pitch to the other, to “the Goalie”, a goalkeeping game where participants see how many balls they can block in one minute, amongst others. At the end, after an intense workout & good fun, players also get to see how many calories they have actually burned.

The Koora Time Roadshow follows other projects YDreams’ has developed for the gulf-based Canadian marketing agency. The partnership between the two companies plans to deliver future exciting projects that foster innovative marketing campaigns through the mix of YDreams’ interactive technologies and design.

Link 237, developed by YDreams in collaboration with Bradesco, is usually hard at work at the Bradesco Next agency of the future at Iguatemi Shopping center in Saõ Paulo, Brazil. But last week it stepped out for a visit to INFO magazine’s newsroom in that city. At Bradesco Next, Link 237 is controlled through a series of micro-localisation antennas but during its foray out into the world, the bot was controlled by a tablet with access to wireless Internet.

Next week, YDreams’ Global Managing Director, Filipe Vasconcellos, in collaboration with Intel’s EMEA Regional Director, Rod O’Shea, will be giving a keynote address at the 22nd ACI EUROPE Airport Trading Conference and Exhibition underway at the Congress Centre Hamburg, Germany from the 22nd to the 24th of April.

The conference program will revolve around “Collaboration and innovation to enhance the volume and quality of commercial opportunities for the passenger”. During his keynote YDreams’ Global Managing Director will be showcasing the company’s relationship with Intel and the projects the two have collaborated on such as the Virtual Aquarium for the Intel Stand at Lego World 2012 and 2013.

YDreams recently implemented high-end digital solutions at the new “Vale Glaciar de Zêzere” interpretation center, which aims to recount the history of “Serra da Estrela”. 

The center, located in a valley shaped and molded by a glacier thousands of years ago, was commissioned by Manteigas Municipality. The center, now housed inside a lodge that once belonged to the regional forest ranger, is dedicated to recounting the history of Manteigas Village, the valley and the relationship between the two.

The highlight of the center is an immersive audio-visual experience that takes visitors on a virtual flight over a recreation of the Zêzere Glacier Valley (30.000 years back) complete with narration of the phenomena that led to the formation of the glacier.
 

YDreams’ has extensive experience with the conception, design and technological development of Interpretation Centers. Aside from this new center in Manteigas, below is a list of similar developments for centers in Portugal and abroad:

BTEK Interpretation Center:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E7hVnIf-oY

Castelo Branco Environmental Interpretation Center:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZRkp2NWbc0

Belmonte Interpretation Center:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1aPgmO3vXs

Bragança Science Center:
(http://www.ydreams.com/#/en/projects/museumslearning/braganzasciencecenter/)

Lisbon Story Center:
(http://www.ydreams.com/#/en/projects/museumslearning/lisboastorycenterydreams/)

VIDEO: For a closer look at the new Interpretation Center, CICK HERE to watch Portuguese news channel RTP’s coverage of the center!

We are proud to report that Ziphius, the aquatic drone controlled by a smartphone or tablet, developed by YDreams’ spinout Azorean, is the winner of the Insert Coin: New Challengers competition! Not only did the Ziphius win $20,000 thanks to deliberation by the judges, it is also coming home with the $5,000 reader’s choice prize!

In addition to the cash prize, which will go towards improving and finalizing the Ziphius prototype, the “Insert Coin” Competition has been an excellent opportunity for Ziphius, largely due to Engadget’s review and all the exposure that has come with debuting our product in front of some of tech’s top influencers.

For a full overview, the videos below tell the whole story!

EDMUNDO NOBRE EXPLAINS THE ZIPHIUS AT THE ENGADGET EXPAND EXHIBIT:
http://www.viddler.com/v/87d829e2?secret=80949461

AT MINUTE 22:40 THE WINNER IS ANNOUNCED:
http://www.viddler.com/v/18bdb196?secret=51834584

INTERVIEW WITH INSERT COIN WINNER ZIPHIUS:
http://www.viddler.com/v/5c97c942?secret=68906798

Ziphius, all packed and ready to ship to San Fran!

The “Insert Coin: New Challengers” competition takes the most promising crowd funded hardware and takes it to the stage, with live product demos and a competition where your vote and a panel of judges combine forces to pick the best of the best. Our team is heading to San Francisco, on March 16th and 17th, to present Ziphius on stage and convince readers and judges that we deserve to take home the top prize. We’ll handle the stage part but YOU have a major role in it too: as a reader, you can help us get to first place by voting for Ziphius!

Online voting during the event is one of three criteria to win the top prize. The other two are audience voting and the judge´s opinion. We’d like to ask you to take a little time during your weekend, to go to http://myziphius.com and cast your vote for Ziphius!

The whole event will be live streamed during the weekend so you can watch all the action. Tune in here: http://www.engadget.com/event/engadget-expand/about/. If you want to watch Ziphius highlights, you can tune in online on March 16th from 3PM to 3:45PM (Pacific Standard Time) to watch us presenting Ziphius. On the March 17th, from 5:30PM to 6:15PM (Pacific Standard Time) the Insert Coin Award winners will be announced. With your support we can be one of the winners!

WHEN: Final Voting will take place March 16th, 8AM onwards (Pacific Standard Time) & March 17th till NOON (Pacific Standard Time).

WHERE TO CAST VOTE: http://myziphius.com

On behalf of TEAM ZIPHIUS, thank you all for your support!

Intel worked closely with YDreams to develop an innovative solution that bridges the gap between online and in-store shopping.

For more info, click on link to read solution brief: Intel_Retail_YDreams

ZiphiusTM, brainchild of spin-out company Azorean, the first aquatic drone controlled by a smartphone or tablet, secured a position as one of the top five finalists in Engadget’s Expand Insert Coin Competition!

We couldn’t be more excited and on March 16th and 17th, as one of the top five final projects, Team Ziphius will be getting time on stage in San Francisco to convince readers and judges alike that they deserve to take home the top prize of $20,000. MAKE Magazine Editor-in-Chief and Boing Boing co-editor Mark Frauenfelder will be at Expand to help present the top five projects. The list of judges includes four of the biggest names from the world of design, DIY, crowdfunding and gadget blogging. Exciting and a little scary!

Below co-host and judges at this year’s Engadget Expand event!

Co-host: Mark Frauenfelder: Editor-in-Chief of MAKE Magazine

Judges
• Ryan Block: Co-founder, gdgt
• Gerard Furbershaw: Co-founder and COO, LUNAR
• Jim Newton: Chairman and Founder, TechShop
• Slava Rubin: Co-founder and CEO, Indiegogo

For a closer look at the Ziphius project click HERE or follow this link: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/25/insert-coin-ziphius/

By the way, you can watch the whole event ONLINE! Tune in to two full days of live-streamed coverage on Engadget, where they’ll have everything that’s happening on stage available online, along with a ton of special footage from backstage interviews and sneak peaks from the exhibit hall floor!