Things are bubbling under here at the Studio, as we take a moment to catch our breath after part one of Recife: The Playable City and anxiously count mounting votes to ascertain Hello Lamppost’s position in the running for an Internet of Things Award. This week also saw the launch of Calvium’s Appfurnace as an educational tool at BETT 2014 in London, and the launch of an app, which uses Tim Kindberg’s Nth Screen Technology. Read on to find out more... pile-up

Recife: The Playable City had its first showcase last Friday. People piled in to hear a bit about the concept of Playable City and the outcomes of the sprint. After a brief introduction to the groups and their ideas, we were invited to meander around the space, playing with prototypes and speaking to the participants. The project ideas included  interactive orbs of light that would encourage people to flock like starlings, interactive telescopes and story-building bus stops. Read more about the participants and their ideas on the Recife: The Playable City website and in the showcase write-up.

Appfurnace, the product of a collaboration between App developers, Calvium and Education software publishers, Kudlian Software had its official Launch this week. The software enables its users to design, create and publish their own apps simply and intuitively, and will be used as a tool to support pupils in their learning, whether that be simple times tables or more advanced code writing. Over the last few days, teachers have been trialing the software and exploring ways of using it in the new curriculum at the Appfurnace stand at Bett 2014, which is a huge symposium on Technology in Education.

Tim Kindberg, author of Nth Screen; a technology that allows you to synchronise videos on multiple devices, has been collaborating with Fevered Sleep, making a multiscreen app called It’s the Skin You’re Living In, which explores and challenges our perceptions of climate change. The app has just been made available to download from the app store, and after today’s Lunchtime Talk session, he invited the iPhone wielding members of the audience to participate in a ‘screen mob’ (Tim’s word for a device oriented Nth Screen flash mob). The app will feature at the Barbican for We Create as part of a symposium on Technology for Self-Expression. Danceroom Spectroscopy will also be exhibiting at the event.

REACT are in the process of editing a beautiful catalogue with Play Nicely, the copy of which is being written by resident Ben Gwalchmai. This catalogue will compile everything that has happened in REACT over the last two years, and so this will include all of the Books and Print, Heritage and Future Documentary Sandbox projects, and should be published soon, so watch this space.

The No Boundaries conference, a symposium on the role of arts and culture in Modern Day Society, is well on its way. The conference is being coordinated here in the Studio, and will be happening at the end of February in both Bristol and York. A delegate list has just been published onto the site, and provocation videos, which are helping to spark the debate, have just been uploaded to the No Boundaries YouTube channel. This week Hannah and Jonathan, who are organising the conference, met up with Fred Deacon, formerly of Lemon Jelly, to discuss exciting plans for the after party.

Last Summer’s award winning Playable City project, Hello Lamp Post, has been nominated for an Internet of Things Award. The project, which roused Bristol’s street furniture from its slumber so that the general public could talk to it, has been nominated in the ‘Smart City Application’ category, and is currently in the lead, but we need your help to keep it that way! Visit the website to vote for us, and also to learn about the other wonderful projects in the running.