Two Bulls wins the Coca-Cola Brand App Challenge!
Last night in at the World Mobile Conference in Barcelona Two Bulls’ co-founder James Kane was on hand for GSMA’s announcement that we had won the Coca-Cola Coke Zero Brand App Challenge! James also got to pickup a check for $10,000 (he’s still working out how to fit it in the overhead compartment for the flight home). Two Bulls submitted the “Happiness meets Appiness” proposal to turn Coke machines into game portals using augmented reality. From the release:
“There were some fantastic apps submitted across all three Mobile App Challenges and these winners truly represent the most creative and innovative developer minds,” said Michael O’Hara, chief market officer, GSMA. “We are delighted to be able to work with such forward-thinking partners and sponsors who value and realise the power of mobile.”
Two Bulls is thrilled to receive this award and wish to thank everyone at GSMA and Coca-Cola.
We're not sure how James got them to make the check out to him personally...
Noah Harlan to speak at IFP’s Script To Screen Conference
Two Bulls Co-Founder Noah Harlan will be speaking on a panel called “New Platforms for Writers” at IFP’s Script To Screen Conference on March 5th in New York City. Fellow panelists will be Carol Kolb, Head Writer for the Onion News Network (love!) and the writers behind the web series “Anyone But Me”. More details and registration information can be found here. Other speakers at the day-long conference include Barry Levinson and Mark Heyman, the writer of Black Swan. Here is IFP’s description of the panel:
As hype rapidly builds for new platforms and technologies for screenwriters and filmmakers to tell their stories, competition is growing stiffer for more traditional writers to “make it” – unless they, too, become curious about these new methods. In this conversation with “Onion News Network” Head Writer Carol Kolb, who took the show from a web series to national broadcast; Noah Harlan, a filmmaker and content developer for story-driven apps; and the writing team behind Writers Guild Award-winning web series “Anyone But Me”, we discuss these new landscapes, and how to approach them.
Xperia This
At the Mobile World Congress today I got an opportunity to have a go of the new Sony Ericsson Experia Play. It’s not hard to see why it’s being billed as the “PlayStation Phone”. Running on Gingerbread (Android 2.3), it’s a beautiful device with heaps of features. But its focus is clearly gaming.
The 'Playstation Phone', Xperia Play by Sony Ericsson
You slide up the face to reveal the gaming controls, which are modeled on a Sony PlayStation DualShock controller. Instead of joysticks there are two round touch pads and there’s one set of shoulder buttons that can also be used for the usual Android functions (back, menu, home and search). While the four-inch display is on the small side for a gaming device, the colors were bright and the graphics were brilliant (854×480-pixel resolution; 16.7 million colors). Overall, the display keeps up with the other gaming features. I had a play with Bruce Lee and Crash Bandicoot, which both looked and felt like they were on a gaming device, not a phone that could also be used for games (other confirmed titles are Need for Speed, The Sims 3, Assassin’s Creed, Guitar Hero and Splinter Cell).
I was a little concerned when I asked the Sony representative about the phone’s online ecosystem. It is here where Apple has managed to smash the competition. Games will be available from an online Sony Ericsson store as well as through the Android Market. That seemed a little patched together and I had trouble getting information on exactly how this works. In response to questions on developer access I only got confused answers and the issue of in-app purchases was well beyond them. This is not just an issue with staff not being across the details, there is genuine confusion about how this will all fit together, according to a nearby insider who helped me with some of my questions.
Of course, the really exciting thing for me was the implications for immersive gaming. They have the location based side covered with assisted-GPS, although the surprise would have been if it hadn’t had it. It also opens the door to augmented reality play with a 5.1-megapixel camera. But most exciting, when I first slid it open it really felt like I was holding an immersive gaming device: a game controller where the only screen attached to it shows you a live feed of what’s in front of you. Overall, this is a powerful immersive gaming device and it was really fun to play with. I just hope that Sony allows us to create innovative content without commercial roadblocks.
Coke Mobile Contest: We’re Finalists
We’re very happy to announce that our Happiness Meets Appiness concept has been chosen by Coke as one of the finalists in the Coke Mobile Contest. The winners will be announced at the GSMA Mobile World Congress on February 14 to 17 in Barcelona.
Our friends over at Mashable have a nice write up about all the finalists. PopSop.com, Iewy.Com and MobileBusinessBreifing.com are also covering the announcement of the finalists. Fingers crossed we get tickets to Barcelona!
Coke: Happiness meets Appiness
Happy Holidays!
Wishing everyone the very best this holiday season, from the entire team at Two Bulls. We look forward to seeing you all in 2011.
Our new Melbourne home
After a long search, the Melbourne Two Bulls team has a new home. Nestled in leafy Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia our new offices can’t be missed thanks to the slightly bizarre facade on the front of the building – we like to think of it as the Dame Edna building.
To welcome the team, we held a combined Christmas Party/Office warming. A chance for the Two Bulls team to mingle and catchup with clients, friends and family alike, and a great time was had by all.
To top it off, Kylie (our lead Android developer, and all around nice girl) had her mum bake us a cake, where our logo came to life in edible 3D! Certainly a first for our company and enough to make the boys in the New York office more than a bit jealous!
We’d like to thank all our fantastic clients, friends and family for your support over the past year. We wish everyone a safe and happy christmas, and a happy and prosperous new year in 2011.
Two Bulls Win WSA Award
Two Bulls is proud to announce that it was the headline winner of the m-Entertainment & Lifestyle category for The Hidden Park. The United Nations World Summit Award announced the winners of the best mobile content apps at the Abu Dhabi Gala, yesterday, December 6th, 2010.
Other winners in the m-Entertainment & Lifestyle category included the highly popular Angry Birds app from Rovio and the Wikitude Augmented Reality browser.
James Kane, Creative Director, was on hand in Abu Dhabi to collect the award. The award turned out to weigh about 10 kilograms (22 pounds!) and may have been the cause of his $300 excess bagage claim coming home!
The Two Bulls team is very grateful to the WSA team for the award, which again highlights the success that The Hidden Park has had since its launch last year.
Winners at Norway’s Gulltasten 2010!
We’re really excited to announce that Dem Hemmelige Parken has won Content Service of the Year at this year’s Norwegian Gulltasten Awards in Oslo, Norway. Nominated along side a number of other local contenders including Gule Sider Live, WiMP, NRK Nett-TV and Fly&Tog, the Norwegian team behind Den Hemmelige Parken was presented with the award at the Gulltasten 2010 gala dinner.
A big thanks to our friends at Oslo’s Kulturetaten and the extremely generous sponsorship of Norway’s premier telco, Netcom along with our local partners Profusions for all coming together to help making this fantastic (and award winning!) project happen for the people of Norway!
‘Den Hemmelige Parken’ Featured on ‘Good Morning Norway’
Our friend’s in Norway have just informed us that Den Hemmelige Parken, the Norwegian version of The Hidden Park iPhone App, was featured on “God morgen Norge” today, the Norwegian version of Good Morning America:
Ola on Good Morning Norway
Kids playing Den Hemmelige Parken
It’s great to see Ola and all the characters from the game up on the small screen, and its a testiment to the success that the game has enjoyed in Norway! You can watch the full video on the game’s Facebook page here.
