All of category 'Unwind' /
We have moved to a new location, Stationsplein 28, Weesp, right next to the train station. With only 20 minutes away from Amsterdam CS, Schiphol and Hilversum, close to the A1-highway, including lots of free parking we are very happy with our new creative spot.
Feel free to drop by for a cup of coffee!
This year marks the fourth edition of the Dutch Game Awards, the most important awards in the Dutch game industry. Over 140 games have been registered for the Dutch Game Awards, a 40% increase compared to 2010. The biggest categorie is the Best Casual Game with 48 entries, in which Dwindle is one of the three nominees! The winners will be chosen by a panel of experts.
The event will be held in Amersfoort during the Game in the City conference on November 24 and 25. We are looking forward to event, may the best game win! The complete list of nominees can be found here:
http://www.dutchgameawards.nl/2011en/nominees-dutch-game-awards/
Today we phased out our last dedicated server. The move has been in the planning for quite some while now, but slightly sped up due to an outage at our datacenter. We do not longer want to maintain and run our own hardware and will focus on software completely. Hosting has become a commodity.
We will continue to host software and websites at our new partner who provides green, scalable and environmental friendly hosting. And of course continue making use of other cloud providers like Google and Amazon for more demanding projects.
Apps for Amsterdam is an initiative by the City of Amsterdam* to make as much (local) data accessible to the public. The contest is modeled after the "Apps for Democracy" contest in Washington (US). Over 47 teams, companies and developers, including us, submitted apps for wide variety of open datasets.
Our app
Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands and the world’s most multi-cultural city. Its population of 750,000 inhabitants contains 178 nationalities, more than New York City. We believe especially in Amsterdam, that open data should be accessible for all; even if you don’t speak Dutch. We build our app on top of the Beeldbank Amsterdam dataset. And since it has no internationalization features, we decided there should be an app for that: Amsterdam Image Bank.
The application is a mash up of Google Translate and the Amsterdam Image Bank. Users can conveniently enter a keyword in their own prefered language. The app then automatically tries to determine the language, translates it, queries the database and shows the result. The application features automatic detection and translation in over 50 languages. We build the app in full HTML, in order to allow the widest range of browsers and mobile devices to access our app. Our philosphy is that technology should promote inclusion, not exclude people
Winning
Although we didn't win the first prize, our award and the accompanying prize money allows us to have a nice afternoon of golfing, including drinks to celebrate. Thanks to all the people who voted for us! :)
*The Apps for Amsterdam contest is a participation between medialab Waag Society, the City of Amsterdam (Economic Affairs) and Hack de Overheid (Hack the Government).
Even if you can't attend Google I/O in person, this is a way to still connect with other developers and watch the keynote and other major sessions live. Part viewing party and part community building, Google I/O Extended are free events focused on live-streaming parts of Google I/O.
If you would like to hook up, we will be present at I/O Extended even at Google Nederland at the Zuidas/ Amsterdam on May 11.