Today BigChampagne, one of Substantial’s oldest clients, released a sizable update to their media analytics platform. BC Dash, BigChampagne’s primary product, has been a Substantial project for years at this point, but is only now being announced publicly. Its release is bolstered by a new portal site that not only describes BigChampagne’s products, but exposes some of BigChampagne’s expertise as well, combining BC’s online presence into a unified home with two free services, Breaking News and TweetStream. Substantial helped them build the BC Dash and this new portal (branding, design, and development), and we’re proud of the work. Check it out for yourself at www.bigchampagne.com.
Here’s a video introduction to the BC Dash.
Some press on the release:
Wired: “In terms of tracking songs, albums and videos on the services, BigChampagne’s music panopticon does a fine job of summing it up in a neat package to give insiders an easy way to see what’s going on in their world.”
Substantial is proud to announce the release of our latest iPhone application, U2 Can Yodel, which is available now in the iTunes store. At a glance it may seem like a simple gimmick, but beneath its brightly-colored surface is the best yodeling app on the iPhone platform (we checked).
U2 Can Yodel is first and foremost a tutorial, teaching you how to yodel and helping you hone your skill. Featuring yodeling from master yodeler Kerry Christensen (whose U2 Can Yodel CD served as the inspiration for the application), the application has three different modes to guide users from novice to expert.
Tutorial - After learning some history of the form, users are first taught the technique that makes yodeling unique, breaking the voice. Then they learn the basic sounds. You can record yourself to ensure you’re doing things correctly.
Yodeloke - Once they’ve mastered the basics, users are ready to yodel along with Kerry in Yodeloke (Yodeling + Karaoke). Kerry performs a segment, then the user follows along. This part is recorded so they can hear themselves and share it with friends.
Freestyle - What good is a new skill if you can’t show it off? Freestyle features a set of instrumental tracks so that the new yodeler can practice their new skill and show it off to friends.
We’re admittedly biased, but U2 Can Yodel is a lot of fun, and we’re proud of our involvement in the project, contracted by Webb Nelson of Play Visions. Substantial guided the app from concept to development, including all of the hand drawn illustrations in the application.
Enough prose - go try it out for yourself. You can find U2 Can Yodel in the App Store.
Last week First on Mars launched a new version of their online television aggregation tool. A client of Substantial’s from the start, the new version goes far beyond a visual refresh to add an entirely new social layer to the site.
First on Mars was already a tool that made life easier for users, aggregating legal online television video from the large number of providers out there. Instead of needing to follow every network, studio, or show’s site in hopes of new content, First on Mars put all of that content in one place, keeping track of user’s favorite shows and preferences.
Now, users can communicate with other television enthusiasts about their favorite shows and episodes by leaving comments, writing reviews, and even posting images and quizzes. First on Mars is poised to marry the largest catalog of legal online television content with an active community that cares about that catalog.
And Substantial built it. We’re proud of the way it’s turned out, and hope you check it out: www.firstonmars.com.
Welcome to the Substantial blog. We’ll be using this space as a way for us to communicate what’s going on here at Substantial as well as to let you in on some of the work out there that we admire. That’s as likely to include music and fashion as it is technology, but it’ll all be cool stuff.
You should take a moment to look at the rest of the site. In addition to showing off some of our work to date, we describe our working philosophy, which centers around the concept of Product Magic. It’s more than just great customer relations, more important than technical competence, and more holistic than aesthetically-pleasing design. Product Magic is when that trinity becomes greater than the sum of its parts, creating not just a great product but an exceptional experience. Yes, that sounds a bit lofty, but greatness doesn’t happen by accident. It’s those “exceptional moments” that we’ll be discussing here (whether they’re ours or not).
