• Read more about Federal Mobile Computing Summit 2014: Government in the Future

We were particularly proud to see one of our favorite clients, Peter Dewar, Chief Technology Officer at the District of Columbia Retirement Board (DCRB), participate in a thought-provoking panel on Wearables and the Internet of Things. The session's description as a “visionary panel” proved to be true, as all of the participants outlined the groundbreaking mobile capabilities they foresaw as feasible within the next five years.

Mr. Dewar described his vision for implementing Google Glass in the office, at conferences—even for pension fund participants, staff, and Board members. Taking the idea of “smart rooms” even further, he also described a futuristic conference room, which would be able to set up a meeting’s required media (think dial-ins, projectors, etc.) upon the meeting organizer’s entrance or (biometric) authentication.

We from Mobomo were on the edge of our seats thinking about the possibilities, and excited about building them—especially for our government clients. Congrats to Peter Dewar for a great panel session, and thanks to Tom Suder for hosting yet another fantastic summit. We’re looking forward to next year’s—and to the future of mobile (in the government!).

• Read more about In A Galaxy Far, Far Away...NASA Gets Their Webby!

Previously, we mentioned that NASA won a Webby, and we were delighted to accompany them to New York City to receive it. With a packed schedule of events, the Webbys pulled out all the stops with a star-studded, wildly entertaining night to remember. Award recipients and attendees were treated to a cocktail hour, followed by a fun, fast-paced ceremony at the famed Cipriani Wall Street.

During a delicious, four-course meal, guests were regaled with a stream of acceptance speeches by all of the winners. All speeches had to be 5 words or less, which left little room for rambling, but lots of room for wit. A crowd favorite? A speech that wisely stated: “As my favorite song says—”

NASA astronaut, Mike Massimino, wasn’t the only powerhouse in the room: guests rubbed elbows with Orange Is The New Black’s Taylor Schilling; Jason Collins, the NBA’s first openly gay player; the Jamaican Olympic Bobsled team; De La Soul; the co-founder of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee; and one of Mobomo’s all-time favorites, George Takei (who presented NASA’s award!). And for those who want to know exactly what the Fox says, we can tell you, but we’ll have to charge: he sat right next to us during the ceremony, and as you’d expect, had a lot to say.

After an exciting night, the Webbys closed with one more after-party, where guests celebrated their Internet wins. Congratulations, again NASA! We may be biased, but you were the most stellar winner in the room.

• Read more about Molten Magic: Mobomo Visits Mars, Inc.

We love all of our customers, but working with a world-renowned, chocolate company makes everything a little bit sweeter!

While building mobile solutions to help Mars’ global sales teams, we were invited to visit the company’s main North American candy campus. There we took a private, guided tour around, and saw exactly how all that Mars magic is made.

We’ve been on a lot of tours, but none as colorful and sweet! We got to see the magical center of an M+M, giant vats of gooey chocolate, and even some of our favorite candies being made. Willy Wonka himself would have been awed.

We couldn’t be more…satisfied to call Mars one of our clients—and we certainly couldn’t be more full! Thanks for the tour and treats, Mars! We’ll happily come back (and taste test!) any day.

• Read more about Mobomo Profiled by Leading DC Media Outlet

For Mobomo, the media coverage just keeps rolling in. This week, we are honored to be the feature of In The Capital’s latest tech profile!

The DC-based blog interviewed our very own founder, Barg Upender, to discuss our position at the forefront of the Mobile-Federal IT space, exactly what spawned Mobomo, and the various feats we’ve accomplished since our inception not long ago. Additionally, Barg gives some insight into our mobile development model, and what he predicts happening in Federal IT.

Head over to In The Capital for the full article!

• Read more about Mobomo Designer Adds “Published Author” To Résumé

We’re happy to announce the latest title snagged by our Lead Designer, Paula Cintioni: published author! Based out of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Paula joined Mobomo in 2012, and has been creating world-class designs for our continually impressed clients. But they aren’t the only ones impressed by her work: in December 2013, Paula was approached by one of RedUSERS’ editors to start writing for their new collection of Digital Design guides.

RedUSERS is the leader in technology design/diffusion in Spanish, and they publish expert-focused magazines, books, collectibles courses, CD-ROMs, websites, e-books, newsletters and events. Their publications are distributed in all Spanish-speaking countries, including the U.S. Additionally, RedUSERS.com brings together the largest community of technophiles in Latin America.

Paula’s first articles covered Photoshop guidance and tutorials, how to successfully prepare files for printing, and advice regarding effective client relations, work ethics, and copyrights for newly minted designers. What’s more, Paula’s articles will have a wide reach: they will be featured throughout 24 monthly deliveries to hundreds of subscribers worldwide.

We’re so happy for you, Paula! To subscribe to RedUSERS (and read Paula’s fantastic insights), click the link here (may require translation).

• Read more about Claim Your Money: Mobomo Builds Federal Fund Search Site

Does Uncle Sam owe you money? One of Mobomo’s latest websites will tell you!

Unclaimed Money is a search engine that allows U.S. citizens to find out whether they are owed money by the government. By scanning three different databases, Unclaimed Money provides users immediate results that could lead them to unknown or forgotten funds.

Mobomo very much enjoyed the particular challenges of building this site. First, we had to interconnect Unclaimed Money with MyUSA, a federal website project driven by Presidential Fellows: connecting the two was an exciting feat. Next, we were tasked with making the entire site 508 compliant, allowing accessibility to citizens with cognitive and learning issues. With the 508 revamp we facilitated, users who may be colorblind, blind, have ALS or other control-limiting disabilities are able to navigate Unclaimed Money without using a physical keyboard or mouse.

Finally, we automated the deployment with no access to a server. For those who may be unfamiliar with development, this is akin to driving from the passenger seat: we had no access to the site’s “steering wheel” (or, the production server), but we had to successfully drive the car. And we did!

Visit Unclaimed Money and discover whether you have free, federal money to claim!

• Read more about Mobomo’s Navy App: Making Waves

At Mobomo, nothing excites us more than making smart mobile apps to solve our clients’ complex problems. Well, nothing except for media coverage.

This past week, SIGNAL magazine—a leading news source on all things defense, intelligence, and global security communications and information technology—featured the cutting-edge news app we created for the U.S. Navy. In light of the fact that America’s sailors, their families, and the general public were increasingly seeking a way to connect and stay abreast of Navy-related news, the Navy decided that it needed an app.

Enter Mobomo: the multiplatform app we built allows users to access frequently updated Navy news, blogs, and videos, amongst other highly relevant content. The app even offers an interactive map for users to receive status updates for all fleets, helping them keep track of loved ones at sea.

For the full read, visit the article here. We’re humbled to have created an app for one of our Nation’s greatest defense arms, and excited to seamlessly connect them with their families as they serve at sea. Go Navy!

• Read more about Should We Open Source This App For iOS Development?

Here at Intridea we’re currently working on Smashbook, which, once released, will be the premier mobile app and companion for tracking and scoring tennis matches.

Currently we’re working on the API portion of this application, which is being built in Rails and utilizing Grape, an opinionated micro-framework for creating REST-like APIs in Ruby we open sourced.

In the course of development, we needed to build an iOS app that could natively test access to the all areas of the API - it’s parameters, authentication, and more. Here’s what we built:

The purpose of this app is to natively test access to the API, rather than just relying upon the web resource forms. And after we built it, we thought "hey, this may be quite valuable to others," hence this post...

You tell us: should this app be an open source iOS project?

The goal would be to make the source available, so anyone doing iOS development can define access to any API using configuration plists. This would define not only the access type, such as POST and GET, it would also define the fields, the data types, as well as form elements such as input text boxes, image boxes, etc.

In only a few minutes you as an iOS developer, or even an API developer, could test your work from an iOS client, therefore establishing and determining functionality, exceptions, and much more.

So I’ll ask again: should we release this as open source?

Let us know in the comments below. And be sure to follow the progress of Smashbook on Twitter.

• Read more about First headstand with Google Glass

Chris Watchman of mobomo.com doing a first headstand with Google Glass. Many thanks to Antonio Zugaldia, Google Glass pioneer at Silica Labs.

• Read more about Design For Mobile To Sell Local

When it comes to selling products on a local basis, mobile rules the day. Whenever I travel anywhere, the first thing I do is fire up the Yelp or Google Maps apps to find someplace to eat. Next I check out the websites of those places. If I like what I see, I've found my next meal; if not, I'm moving on to their competitors.

And I'm not the only one...

According to the latest research from The Nielsen Company, 45% of consumers use their mobile device first when searching for local products and services. Ultimately, 53% of mobile users are making their purchases offline or in-store, and a whopping 74% of smartphone users complete their transactions offline.

What does this mean for you?

That means that your customers are searching for your products and services on their smartphones and tablets, and if they like what they see, they're buying. If not, they're heading to your competition.

Mobile Is Not A Choice

Providing a superior mobile experience, be it in the form of a mobile-optimized site, or a mobile application, is no longer a choice, it's a necessity. And with mobile Internet use set to surpass desktop Internet use in 2014, this is a trend that is rolling over companies.

And when I say "mobile-optimized site", I'm not talking about merely taking your entire website and making it mobile. What you need to take into account is how your customers use the mobile Internet, what devices they're using, what they expect when using those devices, and what information they need to move to a decision. This is where user experience design comes in.

To hammer this point home, we've taken the crucial findings of the research and turned into an infographic for you:

What Do You Think?

Is your experience the same as in the findings? When you're searching locally for products or services, does your mobile experience determine whether or not you visit a store?

Let's talk about it in the comments below.