Automata Studios, the team behind the Barnes and Noble Nook Kids™ eBook software, proudly announces that NOOK titles have been nominated for the award of “Best eBook.” Attaining four of the five nomination slots, the NOOK Kids eBooks were nominated to receive a Cynopsis Kids !magination Award.
Creativity + Code
Jakarta or Bust!
Automata brings the awesome to all sides of the globe. We are the proud team sponsor of Jakarta or Bust. The team is competing in the Rickshaw Run, going 2000 miles across the South East Asian jungle in an auto rickshaw. Why? For charity, of course. Jakarta or Bust raised the most amount of any [...]
Branden Hall: Interactive Architect and Digital Maker
Automata is pleased to announce that Branden Hall: Interactive Architect and Digital Maker has launched on Lynda.com! We would like to give a huge thanks to Lynda Weinman for offering us this opportunity. Big thanks also to Samara Iodice, the tireless producer who worked with us to shape this course into the amazing tutorial that [...]
Board at Work
Everyone loves playing a great game, but what makes them so fun? What are the elements of a tremendously fun game? Automata has begun studying these concepts by holding weekly “Board at Work” sessions. During Board at Work, someone at Automata brings in a respected board game and we all learn and play that game [...]
Walking on Moving Surfaces
There’s a reason why at airports you hear “The moving walkway is ending…” repeating again and again. Walking on moving surfaces isn’t the most natural thing. It’s easy to trip and fall or just make a wrong step and be off balance. That’s exactly the situation developers working with HTML5 currently have to deal with. [...]
Onward and Upward
Two weeks into 2012 and Automata is going at full steam tackling this year’s projects, and fortunately there are more of us cogs to get us there… We would like to welcome TzongHao Chen to our team! TzongHao started on Monday and is already wowing us with his skills. For those keeping track, that’s the [...]
Users Are Not Bad People
As programmers, we inherently despise the bug finding and bug fixing process of a project. It has been engrained in us since we wrote our first Hello World application that displayed an output of ‘Hello Wod’. It can sap our confidence in a hurry and make the most professional programmer feel like a novice. “Oh [...]
Being Agile about Agile
It is important to build processes and habits that work for you. It is equally important to periodically reassess those methods to make sure that they still work as you intended. Agile methodology is a big part of not only Automata Studio’s external software delivery, but also its internally focused projects and initiatives. Each day [...]
Knock, knock? Hiding JS Functionality With a Secret Knock
Recently Automata was tasked with building software for an iPad-based installation. It featured 24 iPads arranged in an 8 x 3 grid secured into a cabinet. Due to many factors, including a very short deadline, we quickly determined that HTML5 + a kiosk app was the way to go. The problem was the iPads were very firmly secured into the cabinet with no easy way of resetting them or pushing the home button. We needed a way to reload the app in case any issues popped up in the field.
Automata Studios Hires New CBO, New Developer
Hi folks!
Lots of exciting changes at Automata Studios since our last update.