National Retail Federation “The Big Show 2009″

Posted by Vectorform – January 13, 2009

People were out at the NRF this year and Vectorform’s retail multi-touch applications were well recieved. The NRF, in partnership with Hybridia Design, produced a conceptual music store called the Sonic Bar, which showcased how technology can be immersed in the customer experience. Vectorform was invited to contribute to the experience by creating a couple of POC’s based on a retail music store using the Surface and WinTouch platforms. 

Once again, multi-touch was a big hit. The audience was very global and really excited by the technology, our applications and the possibilites, which are seemingly endless. Other features in the Sonic Bar customer experience were the Xbox 360, touch kiosks, promotional scanning systems, Microsoft Snag it tagging system, a DJ booth and an experiential marketing video wall presentation featuring a full audio and lighting rig.  Another really cool thing to point out was the Wayfinding kiosks around the convention that used Win7 and touch technology to help guest find vendors by company or offering and then printed out a little map for you to take with you, along with the contact information for that company. While it was very kiosk-like, it offered a nicer interface and an overall better user expeirence. 

As we wrap up here, I’ll be headed back to Detroit and will be sure to keep you posted on the events happeining at the NAIAS 2009. Vectorform, automobiles, multi-touch, iPhone, Surface…innovation. I can’t wait!

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Filed Under:   Surface | 1 Comment

Happy New Year from Vectorform!

Posted by Vectorform – January 9, 2009

So what is 2009 going to bring? Well if our January antics are the prelude, we’re in for quite a show. Starting off with turning 10 years old, showing off a new brand identity, our first iPhone app, CodeMash in Cleveland, CES in Vegas, NRF in New York and wrapping it up with the 2009 NAIAS in our hometown of Detroit…Whew! It’s a wonder we were able to look out the window and see the snow fall in December, well there’s no snow at our Hyderabad office, but you know what I mean.

Details? Well, I’m going to take a little liberty to sneak outside of the ‘Surface Only’ blog for a moment…

*10 years old: Growing up and in need of a new brand identity. What did we find out? Vectorform has become a place where employees feel comfortable and valued, like a family, and that creates a culture that is innovative and exciting, with people who are passionate about the work that they do and supported to bust out and try new things, meeting employee and client needs alike. Happy Birthday, Vectorform!

*iPhone: Debuting in the iPhone app business with the SurfaceDJ, and it looks like it’s being picked up at a good rate. Definitely more to come in this realm.

*CodeMash in Sandusky, Ohio: Our lead Tech Dev., Joe Engalan will be speaking at 11am on Thursday, Jan 8th about multi-touch developing and demonstrating apps that we’ve been working on.

*CES in Las Vegas: already making a splash with our NBC SurfaceDJ in the NBC booth, you just have to check out Al Roker’s dance moves. Yeah, it’s for entertainment…but just think if each little head were bits of information that were being passed around the world?


*NRF New York, NY: This year Microsoft invited Vectorform to take part in their future of music concept store “Sonic” at the National Retail Federation “The Big Show” in New York at the Javits Center. Adapting one of our retail prototypes to match the music realm, we’ll be featuring not only a Surface app, but also a Windows7 application featured on a TouchTV Networks screen. Yeah, Big Stuff….


*Last, and certainly not least..NAIAS in Detroit, Michigan we’ve been brewing a good one. For what feels like a really, really long time we’ve given up, and missed like crazy, some of our swankiest developers to work onsite at Chrysler on a top secret integrated multi-touch development that will be unveiled at the 2009 NAIAS in Detroit…that’s still all we can say! Be sure to check it out!

For now, that’s what we have going on. In the little moments when we come up for air, we’ll keep blogging with the happenings in the tech world.

Thanks for stopping by!

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