Task: Develop an intuition-enhancing game with integrated advertising

Solution:
The game was developed based on requirements using advanced animation algorithms, speed optimization, sound, support of various handset resolutions and Android SDK (1.5 and above).
 
Game description:
Mental Trainer develops intuition by guessing a playing card’s suit. Players click the suite they believe is correct; as the number of correct responses increases their score rises. The Mental Trainer™ statistics window tracks user results.

Android Market Link:
market://search?q=pname:com.ntrlab.mentaltrainer

(The link works on Android phones only) 

Technologies: Google Android, Java, SQLite, Admob API.

www.poido.com
POIdo is NTR Lab’s internal startup.
 

POIdo is a pay-per-action location-based advertising (LBA) platform providing ads targeted to users’ precise location, context and behavior in applications on mobile phones and internet sites.
POIdo launched in Moscow on March 16, 2010.
Winner of the StartupPoint contest at the Russian Internet Forum 2010.

Description:
POIdo is the world’s first LBA platform that creates a competitive marketplace where the price of advertising is determined by the market (advertisers compete for ad visibility).
POIdo is the world’s first LBA platform where virtual billboards can be placed at optimal locations, not just the business location. The user sees the ad message within the application in use when approaching a virtual billboard or as a result of searching for a nearby address.
POIdo provides API for both advertisers and publishers, allowing development of innovative applications with location-aware monetization/advertising built in.

(more…)

Task: Add OpenGL ES support to existing Android 2D application to enhance graphics and improve overall design quality.
Solution:
Improved the existing code of graph drawing application and made the following changes and optimizations:

• Created Model-View-Controller architecture;
• Replaced current drawing methods with 3D API;
• Did 3D drawing and overall optimization;
• Added smooth scrolling; zoom in and out;
• Corrected screen layout issue (unused area at the screen bottom);
• Did partial integration with original graph-parsing code.

Technologies: Android, Java, OpenGL ES

Task: To develop a web component that generates a QRCode (two-dimensional bar code) and an Android component that recognizes the codes on devices and passes information using soap calls to the server

Solution: Developed an Android application that reads QR Code, decrypts the information and passes it to the web service in real-time using a basic ASP.NET test page. The test page requests data and generates a QR Code, in which the information is encrypted. The Android application reads the QR Code, decrypts and validates the information, then uploads it to the web. The Android application has a password protected setup option for administrators that allows them to configure the phone for specific QR code scanning. The app includes statistics showing the activity of QR Code uploaded to the web and the total of QR Codes scanned by terminals and other details.

Technologies: Google Android, ASP.NET, SOAP Web Services, MS SQL Server 2008, C#, Java

Customer testimonial: "NTR Lab is the best provider we found in Elance. We will definitely work with them on our next projects".

Client: SafeShopper

Task: SafeShopper is an application to view the Gluten allergy information of food products by scanning their EAN-13 barcode. The decoded barcode is passed to a web service that determines whether the product is safe or not safe.

Solution:
Develop an application that retrieves food product information by EAN 13 (EPC) barcode. The client runs on mobile phones and decodes the barcodes using the video mode. The user scans the barcode for a few seconds while the image is extracted and decodes the EAN-13 barcode. Product information is retrieved via web request to the central SafeShopper database and compared to the profile of the user. The application has a customized user-friendly GUI and the product information screen adjusts automatically to fit the information to the device screen.

Technologies: Symbian S60 3^rd edition FP1 and FP2, Symbian S60 5^th edition, C++, REST Web Services

Client: Austin Valley Software Corporation

Task:
Develop a routine for Android that uses ksoap2 library to perform soap calls to a specified server and the returned reply object array as actionable dynamic buttons.

Solution:
On startup the application performs a web service call with the user’s phone number to check the account information and obtains the list of categories available for the account. Categories are presented for the user as actionable buttons within a scrollable screen. The user can choose the category; open the screen to enter a description and dollar amount for a new transaction and submit the data to a web service.

Technologies: Google Android, SOAP Web Services, Java

Customer testimonial: “I really enjoyed working with NTR Lab. They put my project together very well and exhibited the utmost professionalism throughout the development process. Their statement of work was realistic, and they produced quality code for my application, on time and within budget. I will use their services again, and recommend them.”

Client: www.mobiubiq.org

Task:
To provide a system that allows users to scan barcodes and provide access to object-based services, i.e. perform actions with the recognized object, such as viewing information, opening a website, blogging, saving the barcode as a bookmark, etc.

Solution:
Develop an application that enables services based on the recognized QR barcodes and EAN 13 (EPC) barcodes on the phone.

The client runs on mobile phones and decodes barcodes. The camera runs in video mode to extract the image to decode either a QR barcode or an EAN-13 barcode when available.

The user need only point at the barcode and wait until it is recognized; upon recognition a request is sent to the service directory with the string of the decoded barcode. The service directory returns data for the object and a list of relevant services.
The application has a customized, user-friendly GUI.

Technologies: Symbian S60 3rd edition FP1 and FP2, Symbian s60 5th edition, C++
 

Client: www.mobiubiq.org

Task:
Develop a Symbian OS C++ application that decodes a QR barcode and EAN 13 (EPC) barcode and passes the decoded data to the J2ME application responsible for data processing on the Nokia platform.

Solution:
The system consists of two programs running on Nokia N95 and N96; one is a Symbian OS C++, and the other is J2ME midlet.

• The C++ application works with the camera of the mobile phone and responsible for barcodes decoding.
• The J2ME application communicates with C++ application via sockets.

The J2ME application commands the C++ application to decode a barcode: the user does not take a picture, since the camera runs in video mode and is constantly extracting an image as it decodes a QR barcode or an EAN-13 barcode from the extracted image. Once the barcode is decoded (or an error occurs), the C++ application sends the result back to the J2ME and goes to background until the next command.

Technologies: Symbian, C++, J2ME

Task:
Develop a tool that allows the user to capture a photo and send it, the GPS position and other information to a chosen address.

Solution:
J2ME was selected as the platform for this solution. The software can be downloaded from a web site and uploaded onto a GPS-enabled cell phone. It attaches the GPS location to an image that can be sent via MMS. Clicking on the application’s icon opens an interface that shows the camera. When a user takes a photo, the software identifies the GPS location of the photo (latitude and longitude accuracy dependent on the phone) and attaches the information to the image, along with a date, GMT time and other data, such as image name and image description.
The software was implemented as a J2ME midlet and has the following screens:

• Viewfinder screen;
• Captured image screen;
• Setup screen.

Technologies: J2ME
 

Task:
Develop a PDA tool for information transmission between field engineers and the home office.

Solution:
The tool saved engineers’ time while surveying in the field, as well as increasing their flexibility and efficiency.

Main functionality:
The user navigates using a menu button and job complete button.
• The menu button displays the names of the screens.
• The job complete button saves the data for attachment to an email.

The home office fills in various sections on a scrollable form (WIN32 Form) that saves in XML format and is sent by email to the engineer.

The engineer receives an email with the XML form attached; when clicked both the attachment and the program open displaying the job information.

The engineer adds information, saves it and sends it back as an email attachment.

Technologies: .Net 2.0, Compact Framework 2.0, c# 2.0, email by pocket outlook api, xml