Blog
Pushbutton will be joining 1000’s of developers, app producers and key speakers at this year’s Apps World at London’s Kensington Olympia from 29th-30th November.
It’s Europe’s biggest app conference and will gather some of the biggest and brightest names in development to participate in free workshops and an exhibition bringing people from all over Europe together.
We have a stand showcasing some recent work from Pushbutton. We’ll have developers on hand to talk tech and search for new talent to join the team in our London office.
Find us opposite Intel and Samsung on stand 109.
Book your FREE exhibition pass now.
http://www.apps-world.net/europe/register/exhibition-pass
Pushbutton, together with thousands of other media technology and broadcast companies, was an exhibitor at the epic IBC Show, in Amsterdam in September.
The show is the world’s biggest gathering of its kind; and is the single busiest event in Amsterdam’s calendar, attracting TV and media technology buyers and sellers from all over the world.
Pushbutton’s presence at the show marked the highlight of an intense period of research and development into futuristic user interfaces for media devices.We were privileged to showcase this work on the Universal Electronics and Intel stands, showing a specially created UI concept for a VOD store that used a ‘cross hair’ approach to selecting videos, and hardware acceleration to make the UI perform ten times faster than conventional VOD store electronic programme guides.
Working in partnership with Intel and Universal Electronics, the concept UI was designed and developed to show off the features of a new remote control from UE and the speed and performance of an Intel 4100 chipset-based set top box. The demos used real hardware – a real set top box, and a real remote controller, to demonstrate the concept UI. There were no hidden laptops running the demo behind the scenes.
Our innovative UI, sparked many discussions with visitors to IBC about how the user experience can be boosted using the Pushbutton approach of powering good GUI design with appropriate technology. The demonstration attracted hundreds of interested people over the weekend including executives from broadcast, consumer electronics, and telecoms companies from all over the world.
IBC 2011 was a triumph for Pushbutton. Our team was made up of designers and developers from the London and Calgary offices. Not only did the team acquit themselves well on the show floor showing off UIs, but they also performed pretty well on the party dance floors throughout IBC.
More events are coming up in the next few months including Apps World Europe at Kensington Olympia on 29th-30th November. This will provide another opportunity to see the innovative concept UI shown at IBC, and to hook up with members of the Pushbutton team. More details coming soon.
C++ Developer, iOS Developers and HTML5 Developers wanted…
Pushbutton is an award winning user interface design and development company. We work with all of the key digital platforms and devices, and put engaging interactive media applications into the hands of, and onto the TV screens of, millions of people across the globe.
Having recently been acquired by Amazon Inc, Pushbutton is expanding and looking for talented individuals to join our team of experienced developers and designers at our friendly, and supportive studio in the heart of quirky Clerkenwell.
Our company culture encourages creative thinking, initiative taking and the production of work that pushes the limits of platforms and sets a benchmark for quality.
Successful applicants will be enthusiastic, have excellent communications skills, and a determined ‘can do’ approach to work. We offer an excellent benefits package, ongoing training, and an inspiring work environment. We are growing, why not come and grow with us?
Send us an introduction to yourself along with a current CV to: jobs@pushbutton.tv
Required skills & qualifications
C++ Developer
Essential
- C++, specifically for resource-constrained devices rather than PCs
- STL
- Embedded real-time systems
- Multithreaded design
- TCP/IP
- OS-level development experience on Windows and/or Linux
Desirable, but not essential
- Visual C++
- UML
- Agile development, TDD
- Code management (e.g. Perforce, Jira)
- Javascript & Javascript frameworks
- Integrating VMs with native code
- Games console experience (Xbox360, PS3, Wii)
- Experience with other CE devices such as STBs and media streamers
- Streaming media (e.g. HTTPS, RTMPE, HLS, smooth streaming)
- Video codecs such as MPEG2, MPEG4, AVC, WMV, FLV
- Digital Rights Management (DRM)
- Automated build & test frameworks
- Client web technologies (HTTP, CSS, HTML4/5, Webkit)
- XML
- OpenGL, OpenGL-ES, WebGL
- GPU architecture, shaders (Cg, HLSL)
- Linux kernel drivers
iOS Developers
- University degree in Computer Science (or relevant overseas equivalent)
- iOS SDK/Objective-C fluency
- Strong portfolio of apps in the app store
- Interface design experience
- Passion for maintainable, extensible, and reusable code as well as fast iteration
- Solid understanding of OOP, design patterns, data structures and algorithms
- Experience in other mobile platforms (eg Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile)
- HTML/Javascript
- Any experience of video streaming technologies is a plus
HTML5 Developers
- A proven track record of building web applications in JavaScript, CSS, and XHTML
- You love working with Javascript, but are not afraid to get your hands dirty with other languages
- You’ve had a play with most of the major frameworks, before settling on the one that suits you best
- You know how to keep browsers in line and aren’t afraid to dig deep to find the cause of bugs – we sometimes work with browsers that are completely undocumented
- You know how to work with version control, and ideally have experience of Git
- You don’t have to know how to build back end services yourself, but some understanding of server side technologies will be a big plus
Pushbutton is an award winning and fast growing design and technology company supporting the global electronic media industry. With eight years of experience in interactive television and a portfolio of top notch work covering all media platforms – both mobile and television-based, Pushbutton is a key enabler for global media brands addressing the multi-screen demands of twenty first century viewers.
Our company culture encourages creative thinking, initiative taking, and the production of work that pushes the limits of platforms and sets a benchmark for quality. We offer a relaxed and supportive work environment in a pleasant, spacious office in the heart of quirky Clerkenwell.
We are searching high and low for a talented individual that can wield their design skills on the front line of Interactive and Digital Media at our London headquarters. We want someone who can put their hand to pretty much any design task, earn a few stars and move on as a design heavyweight, working on the latest consumer electronics devices for some of the biggest entertainment brands in the world. The job would be an ideal starting point for a recent graduate (2011, or 2010 – we know times are hard!) who is looking to build a career in digital design for electronic media.
The ideal candidate will have an amazing creative portfolio demonstrating flair and curiosity. We don’t expect you to be a technical whiz or be able to write your own code but an awareness of entertainment technology will help keep your head above the water. The job will entail many aspects of design, ranging from seriously hard graft to rewarding research projects and everything in between.
The role will involve working directly within the design team, supporting and maintaining projects across the entire range of Pushbutton’s output, including Motion Graphics, 3D design, Branding, Illustration, Interaction Design, Application design, Product design, Game Design, Typography & UX design to name just a few. There are some practical things that we will certainly require. For example, a solid Mac competency and an firm knowledge of Adobe Creative suite.
We would like all applicants for this role to send a CV and a small selection of best work with brief descriptions. Please don’t send us your entire life story because we simply won’t have time to go through it all. If you manage to impress us then you can be sure that we’ll come asking for more.
We would prefer that you keep your application nice and tidy in a single PDF with any links to sites or videos in the same PDF.
Absolutely no agencies.
Please send application to jobs@pushbutton.tv
On a recent guilty pleasure filled evening in, my friends and I used the red button service for the BBC’s coverage of Eurovision. Not only was there the usual view of the competition, but they had various posts from the public scrolling up on the screen. Tweets, Facebook wall posts, blog comments, texts and pictures were flashing up in one integrated feed.
Real time events like this rely on the actual “event” being viewed as it happens. Interest is generated almost in the same way as a sporting event, or TV talent show such as X Factor by bringing comment and inclusion to the community of people watching and waiting for the result.
Mark Zukerburg’s social future appears to already be in our consciousness, but the technology needs to catch up with the current reality…
“Listening to music is something people do with their friends,” he said. “Movies, TV, news, books — those types of things are things I think people just naturally do with their friends. I hope we can play a part in enabling those new companies to get built, and companies that are out there producing this great content to become more social.”
The BBC are, as usual, spearheading this movement by introducing interactive elements to shows such as Eurovision. Soon social media will seamlessly integrate with TV. I constantly see Facebook updates about football games in real time on my phone and laptop, but how nice is it going to be to enjoy this social media without having to pick up another device? Sit back social media on the TV. At Pushbutton we’ve seen this as the future for some time, now Facebook’s Zuckerburg sees it that way too.
Olenka, Pushbutton
Just seen the new Windows 8 interface. The screen swipe and operating software looks slick! We’re also noticing a lot of positive comments on blogs.
Looks like its going to have support for hardware accelerated HTML and the ability to provide applications across devices is a real benefit to content owners and app developers.
There is also some really innovative UX. It’s great to see a fresh approach to touch interfaces that will appeal to all ages.
In a competitive market, seems like there is still room for competition in the emerging tablet domain and it’s nice to see Microsoft coming up with the goods.
James, Pushbutton.
VIDEO - Windows 8 tablet from Microsoft labs
