The Project

CanaDream has spent years creating a cross-country network of partners who can offer discounts to their customers through the CanaDream Club. But they were missing a way to make it quick and simple for their Club Members to take a suggested tour or find their partners’ hotels, campgrounds, and attractions while on the road. Having to book over the phone or ahead of time online made it harder for renters to “indulge their spontaneity,” in the words of their marketing and communications director, Kerry Worth.

The challenge of the project Kerry brought to MindSea was to make it as fluid as possible to search through CanaDream’s numerous suggested tours and their Club Partners’ hundreds of discount offers. The app would have to replicate the functionality and branding of their website, while being simple and intuitive to use on an iPad.

Our Strategy

In keeping with our user-centred design approach, we focused on key use cases throughout development, designing the app around RV renters’ needs and limitations. Through close consultation with Kerry, we created a set of features that combine to make the app useful and accessible:

• A map displays CanaDream’s suggested trip routes, can provide directions to the accommodations and attractions, and shows the user’s location using GPS.

• Within the app, users can view current information, pricing and availability for nearby Club Partner attractions — and go straight to booking with them. This integrates with the existing system on CanaDream’s website, letting you save and review booking vouchers.

• An account login/logout system facilitates the booking process and protects user data on the rented iPads.

The Results

CanaDream has received great feedback from customers about the app. According to Kerry, “we get a lot of positive comments about the interface… it has a real “wow” factor…. It’s just a very elegant, slick presentation.” The iPad rental program provides a unique way for CanaDream to stand out in their industry and provide a better service.

For her part, Kerry appreciated our hands-on approach to design. We actively worked with her throughout the process, explaining what tradeoffs of budget and functionality came with one decision or another. During development, she was kept in the loop through Basecamp project management software, weekly conference calls, and video demos explaining significant new features. She told us she felt comfortable about the state of the app throughout: “Whether I was getting this video, or the phone call, or looking at Basecamp, I knew exactly where things were at.”

The satisfaction was mutual. We’re grateful to have clients like CanaDream that understand their customers and want to provide a better experience for them. And we’re pleased as ever to be able to create useful tools that make people’s lives easier and more fun.

Whoever says “cheaters never win” has never used this app. If you hate losing, or love winning, and/or have no moral backbone — Cheats & Words is for you. It couldn’t be simpler — follow these easy steps:



1) Take a screenshot of your zoomed-out Words With Friends™ board

2) Open Cheats & Words

3) Tap “Use Latest Screenshot”



Shazam. Cheats & Words gives you every possible play and its score. Browse the list of plays, or swipe between renderings of each play in context.



How is this any different from all the other cheat apps? Cheats & Words doesn’t just tell you the words you can spell with the tiles on your rack. Using our proprietary AlphaTile™ detection engine, Cheats & Words reads your board, evaluates the available spaces and tiles, then suggest the words to play, the position in which to play them, and the resulting score.



Cheats & Words is ad-supported allowing you to find stellar words for free. To reveal high scoring words you can use SuperCheats. You are given a complimentary balance of SuperCheats to begin with, but must purchase them after your initial balance runs out. You can also pay to remove ads.



Cheats & Words also serves as an amazing educational tool to help improve your game and your vocabulary — no cheating required. Simply take screenshots at any point in your game, then when the game is done, go back and review the plays you might have missed.



While Cheats & Words will run on iPad, the current version only accepts screenshots from iPhone and iPod touch as input.



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DISCLAIMER: Words With Friends™ is the trademark of Zynga Inc., and is in no way sponsored by, associated or affiliated with Cheats & Words. This trademark is used solely to identify Zynga Inc.’s products and to convey what the application is about, and is nominative fair use. The Words With Friends™ game and application is the property of Zynga Inc., and any use of any aspect of the game by this application is limited permissible fair use.

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Built by MindSea in collaboration with Project Box.

Hockey Inside/Out is the go-to app for fans of the Montreal Canadiens. Powered by the latest news, video, photos and commentary from the Montreal Gazette’s award-winning team of hockey writers, Hockey Inside/Out keeps you in the game no matter where you are.

Along with up-to-the-minute score updates and Mike Boone’s popular live blog during Habs games, our app features the latest news on and off the ice, as well as post-game video interviews with the team. Instantly share photos from our Canadiens galleries with friends via Facebook and Twitter. Join the conversation and comment from your iPhone. And live-stream our PuckCast for our insider analysis on Montreal’s favourite team.

Hockey Inside/Out features:

• What’s New: Latest news, photos and videos on the Canadiens
• Boone: Mike Boone’s popular live-blog and incisive commentary
• Scoreboard: Live score updates and goal alerts during Habs games
• Stats: Check out Game Results, Standings and Canadiens Schedule
• Photos, Videos, PuckCast
• Comment and Share: Post comments on everything you read and share your favourites via email, Facebook and Twitter.

Built by MindSea in collaboration with Postmedia Network.

• Accurate keyword searching
• Fast browsing
• See visual similars with a tap of the finger
• Save images in a mobile lightbox
• View past searches
• Play results back as a slideshow

Built by MindSea in collaboration with Masterfile Corporation.

MindSea developed the CanaDream Club iPad app specifically for the use of CanaDream RV rental guests and RV owners. It gives club members an easy way to find and book with CanaDream Club partners – allowing them to save on hundreds of campgrounds, attractions and hotels across Canada.

• Browse a map for campgrounds, hotels and attractions
• Filter by type of attraction
• View pricing and book attractions through the app
• View list of vouchers for booked items
• Show current location on map with GPS coordinates
• Get directions and details about all of the exciting activities available to you as you experience Canada at your own pace!

Built by MindSea in collaboration with CanaDream.

Pocketbooth Android brings the popular Pocketbooth experience to Android users.



Turn your Android phone into a vintage photobooth with Pocketbooth: the photobooth that fits in your pocket.



Pocketbooth perfectly replicates the intimacy, spontaneity, and hilarity of a traditional photobooth. Take it to your next party and watch your friends get silly.



Pocketbooth is as beautiful to look at as it is fun to use. The interface makes taking self-portraits easy, even if you’re using the rear-facing camera. The screen replicates the view from inside the booth, and shows the shot you’re about to take. Press the green button, and you get three photos in succession. And you don’t even have to insert any coins.



Once your photos are done, “pick them up” at the “slot dispenser” on the next screen. You can then e-mail the photos or send them to your social network or photo-saving sites, such as Facebook and Picasa.

You also get a full range of photo options, including Strip Size, Photo Effect, Paper Stock, Border Color, Time Between Shots, and Flash. Pocketbooth takes the humble art of photo booth photography to new heights.



Built by MindSea in collaboration with Project Box

• AirPrint enabled (print directly from app with compatible device and printer)
• Choose between front-facing or rear-facing camera
• Share photostrips via Email, Twitter, and Facebook
• Automatically saves strips to the app but can also export them to Camera Roll
• Photos are tagged with EXIF data including GPS location
• Customizable with different effects (b&w, color, sepia, antique), pose options (3-pose, 4-pose) and paper stocks (glossy, matte)
• Laugh-out-loud fun!

Pocketbooth HD is big brother to the wildly popular Pocketbooth for iPhone and iPod touch. While identical in functionality, Pocketbooth HD has been re-designed from the ground up to take advantage of the iPad’s larger screen.



Built by MindSea in collaboration with Project Box

Buyers can use PropertyGuys.com Mobile to:

• search for listings near their current location, a specific address or by entering a sign number
• contact home sellers with one touch
• get driving directions from your current location to a listing
• filter search results by price and number of bedrooms and bathrooms.

Sellers can monitor activity on their listings in real time.

Built by MindSea in collaboration with PropertyGuys.com

• Whois 2010 – Presentation Version
• Whois 2010 – Final Version
• Keynote presentation – iPhoneIntro.key
• PDF Slides

Let us know if you have any questions. info@mindsea.com