After gaining increased interest in each of our software sectors, especially mobile and multi-touch, we took the decision to re-brand ourselves and our website in an attempt to move forward and increase exposure.

We have been working hard over the last few weeks and if we receive positive feedback each service will be given its very own site so we can provide you with more information.

Let us know what you think, should we go back to the drawing board? J

I can’t believe it is now nearly two months since doing the Rotherham Show and disappointed we have not had chance to let everyone know how much of a success it was before now.

We were asked by Rotherham Town Centre to show off the new Renaissance project using our latest multi-touch technology after seeing a prototype system we created for the Young Entrepreneur of the year awards.

It would prove to compliment the model of Rotherham Town Centre perfectly, increasing interest and understanding when explaining what had already been completed. They also asked us to advertise their new online printable vouchers scheme, Click-Back.

Although time was limited, in truth only two weeks for both projects, we came up with a solution that gained much needed exposure for both the scheme and our bespoke innovative solutions. Customers would be able to navigate on screen with their finger, dragging and queuing up the vouchers, finishing off by printing them off there and then.

We also added into the mix our own multi-touch photo album viewer with built in panning and resizing, showing off a variety of Rotherham photos, including the work currently being done with the renaissance project.

The first day couldn’t have started much better with the sun shining and the skies clear, it was a great start to a scorching weekend. Having lived in Rotherham my whole life, I couldn’t believe this was the first time I had been to the Rotherham show and had no idea what to expect. Visitors started flocking into the 30^th Rotherham Show from around 11 o’clock with more than 70,000 people attending the new temporary location in Rawmarsh over the weekend.

We were situated in the same tent as Barnsley & Rotherham Commerce, Rotherham Town Centre, RIDO Rotherham Enterprise and Business Information Library, all looking over the 8x5ft 3D model of the Town Centre. Once we had set up it would be nonstop, with visitors regular passing by wanting vouchers or just to have a nosey at the touch screen, not something everybody gets to play with everyday.

When their parents weren’t telling them not to touch the screen, children of all ages loved using the multi-touch technology and adapted amazingly to the different methods of interacting with it.

Without any intervention they started using gestures as if they all had iPhones tucked away in their pockets, showing the quicker adoption of new technologies and the demand for more ways to interact with information.

The touch screen even started to gain a fan club of little groupies regularly coming back throughout the day with an extra friend in tow.

The online voucher scheme gained much needed exposure over the weekend and allowed people that would be using them to print them off with ease.

We made sure the software was as easy to use as possible and even my five year old daughter, who popped down for the afternoon, printed off some vouchers to spend some of her pocket money no doubt.

One thing is for sure, it reiterated how valuable innovate multi-touch equipment and software could amplify interest and increase ease of use for all ages. A large number of vouchers were printed over the weekend and hope the scheme has gained increased interest since the show, especially with Christmas just around the corner.

Visitors could also take a look at photos of new developments of Rotherham or see what the town used to look like over the ages, a favourite with the older generation.

This was where using touch screens really opened the eyes of others. People in their 60s+, who usually shy away from new technology, seemed to take a much more natural approach as if they weren’t working with a computer and was interactive with physical objects and allowing them to navigate items using natural gestures without a second thought.

Lastly, the initial reason why we were asked to get involved, visitors could interact with the renaissance map and the information they needed to know. This interactive feature wasn’t only used by visitors and Clark Herron, communications manager at RIDO, took to using it to annotate the model they had on show, and was truely amazed by the possibilities. It highlights how useful interactive touch screens can be to help enhance knowledge and understanding of what’s on display with stats, figures and descriptions.

It was a great experience and was equally pleasurable working with Rotherham Town Centre to provide visitors with more information about the happenings in and around Rotherham. We met some interesting people throughout the day, both visitors and other stall owners and hope this is the first step in publicly exposing our innovative technology.

It is Rotherham Show time soon and this year it has not only been moved to Rosehill Victoria Park, Rawmarsh, but we have been invited by Rotherham Town Centre to show off our cutting-edge Multi-Touch technology and its possibilities. For now we are keeping our main project, something simple but effective for all, under wraps until next week when you could well hear a shout out on RotherFM.

Enough of what we are doing and now on to trying to get you out there in Rotherham to help us out. One of the greatest uses for Multi-Touch technology is providing an interactive photo and image gallery, displaying and interacting with media as simple as possible. Unfortunately we just haven't got the time to take photos or videos of our up and coming town, so please help us create a collection of photos, artwork and videos of Rotherham Town Centre and the surrounding areas. Of course it goes without saying all work will be appropriately credited to you and we ask whether you will allow the images to be freely downloaded and whether you would like them to be watermarked.

The reason for this is one of the great features being offered will allow media downloads to be stored onto USB, sent to your mailbox and the ability to Rate them on screen. The winner, with most accumulated votes, will get their own photo gallery website for all their hard work*. 

Thanks in advance and if you want to see our technology in action, pop down to the Rotherham Show on the 12th and 13th of September. You will find us in the Rotherham Town Centre tent where you will also discover the vision of other great things happening around you, which includes the grand Rotherham Renaissance Model.

Please email all photos to: rotherhamshow@qurotech.co.uk

 *Subject to the number of photos submitted.

Well, one thing is for sure, Rotherham Enterprise Network certainly don't mess around as when we got home there laid on the mat was confirmation of the effort and potential we have already shown while being acknowledged by others.

We will now continue our dedication to developing innovative software and it has highlighted the potential of pioneering multi-touch applications. We now have even more hard work ahead of us, marketing to potential clients how businesses and schools can take advantage of interactive learning, exhibition displays and commercial presence.

If you have big ideas for web, mobile or multi-touch application give us a call where we will enhance your ideas and make them into a reality.

Great job whoever the winners may be and one thing is for sure, we'll be back next year with even more passion and desire, there's plenty more to come from us and our advanced digital technology.

Not only does our age allow us to run a company with a fresh outlook on technology but also gives us the opportunity to enter Rotherham's Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. As new entrants this year we can but hope our desire for business, flair to succeed and ability to introduce some great technology innovations into Rotherham businesses can help us stand out from those that have been established much longer.

It couldn't have come at a better time as the web service side of business is thriving, allowing us to spend more time and money marketing and developing our mobile and multi-touch products. Any exposure within these market sectors would be great for the company and allow us to demonstrate the possibilities still over looked by many major companies and areas of the public sector.

I originally started to write this the day before the competition interview after we were shortlisted to the next stage but here I am, writing it the day after instead. Well, as far as I can tell it went well and as always our multi-touch side of our business sparked some real interest and just as we do in our own free time, ideas about how and where it could be utilised were flying around the room.

We demonstrated the multi-touch application created for the Rotherham Exhibition and talked about our current success in our web services. We elaborated our aims and desires in pushing into the more technologically advanced mobile and multi-touch development.

It wasn't quite like the dragons den we were expecting but still didn't stop the quotes flying through my head, as every question was answered I expected comments such as "You are barking mad; it’s as simple as that", Duncan Bannatyne or maybe "You're Fired", Alan Sugar  or even "I don't think I can do this anymore", Simon Cowell. At the end of the interview we were both relieved everyone was really positive and glad we didn't need to bring on 'Pants Man' or some similar gimmick.  

The interviewing panel were great and hope they thought the same of us, we wish everyone else who has entered the best of luck.

Fingers crossed as this could really help in the aim to push our vision of creative digital technology.

This was not only our first exhibition involving our multi-touch technology but as a company was our first exhibition all together.

The event was organised by Darren McDool from RiDO who did a great job in getting together a great collection of young Rotherham entrepreneurs and some great exposure from many highly respected guests from around South Yorkshire.

This wasn't your normal exhibition though, as it was a small private event with around 13 companies of varying market sectors, speed dating was on the agenda. Fortunately for the guests they didn't have to listen to our boring personal lives and put up with our cheesy lines, most of the time, they experienced innovative technology that interested even the least tech savvy people. Unfortunately we only had 3 minutes to give our pitch and with two bespoke applications for the event, we sped through the talking like we were back at school doing a presentation in front of the class. 

The two demonstrations we gave, which we will be talking about in our next article, generated some amazing interest and provided some very positive feedback. Guests were amazed by what is still fresh new technology and instantly understood the benefits and possibilities, showing how natural user interface can improve social acceptance of IT.

One of the guests, a patent lawyer, was really interested in our developments and he confirmed our own research stating that he didn't know of any companies in the North of England that have ventured into multi-touch gesture development. We went with the intention to get across we are more than just a creative company, but an innovating company utilising the latest technology while attempting to enhance businesses through the use of IT.

We thoroughly enjoyed the event and looking forward to doing our next, hopefully on a bigger scale next time, our thanks go out to RiDO and more specifically Darren McDool.

Well, we've broke a little promise we set ourselves regarding our blog as we didn't want to set one up just because we could. Over the next few weeks we have several articles lined up which include upcoming products, services and what has been happening over the last few months making us too busy to blog.

Just to give you a quick overview of what we have been up to here is a quick list that we will hopefully blog about as soon as possible, we promise:

·         Attended a Rotherham exhibition to show off our services with a demonstration of a bespoke Multi-Touch application specifically designed for the event.

·         Working with a local school group to create a interactive touch screen application for use within the classroom

·         Re-Branding our key services into three clear sectors, web, mobile and multi-touch.

·         Information about us entering the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

·         Reach the first stepping stone of our very own content management system

The items above are just a few key points as well as been very busy working with our clients.

Once again, we apologise and will be back with more, much quicker than last time :)

What better way to start off our new blog with a post, not about the next generation kitchen side unit, but a ditigally enhanced coffee table release by Microsoft. We have been following this creation and its development for over three years now and look forward to its UK release. Unfortunatley, at $10,000 we've not managed to ship one over from the US to work on, but with the high integration with WPF and XAML along with its own SDK, interactive applications should be highly achievable.

Unlike Apples Multi-Touch screens, Surface uses a tiny infrared camera system and also includes the ability to tag items to interact seamlessy with the screen and application. This is a sure hit with all ages, from children to the elderly, offering many uses that have probably not even yet been considered. Just image a library with Ebooks that you can view and drag onto a USB pen, interactive books and games for children and ordering products as if you were flicking through a magazine, we just can't get enough of Microsoft Surface.

This product is highly affordable for retail and hospitality franchises and can only spark interest and amazement for their customers. Take a look at some of the videos below to see its involvement in well known businesses.

For those that what to know a little more information