Chatacus · Property
Vaughan
Property's conversation specialist. Vaughan qualifies vendors, landlords and buyers in the agency's name and tone — so the team only calls people who are ready to move.
Glade TechIndependent technology studioPoole, UK
We build useful things.
Business tools. Products. Digital experiences.
GTBuilt by Glade Tech, in use
Real-world use
Explore Chatacus
Vaughan is a website virtual assistant for estate agencies — already in use at Tailor Made and Avenue Estates.
Vaughan is part of Chatacus, a product built by Glade Tech.
“Vaughan paid for itself already.”
Avenue Estates
GTHow the studio works
Glade Tech builds things.
Sometimes for businesses and organisations. Sometimes by turning our own ideas into products. Sometimes as digital experiences that help people understand the world they live in.
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01
TechnologyPractical technology for businesses and organisations.
Work with MarcWe build, improve and untangle digital things — from automation and websites to apps and bespoke tools.
Client work is delivered personally by Marc Richards.
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ProductsIdeas we turn into products.
Explore ChatacusChatacus is our current commercial product: software that helps businesses turn website conversations into enquiries.
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EducationDigital experiences that teach.
Guru Simulator & Noob Games ↓We're also developing interactive games and experiences that help people understand manipulation, scams, online threats and the technology around them.
In development
02Products
Chatacus
Conversations that turn into customers.
Chatacus is the software product business developed by Glade Tech. Its assistants sit on a business's website, answer questions in that business's voice and turn conversations into real enquiries — day or night.
Explore ChatacusHow it fits together
- Glade Tech — the studio
- Chatacus — the product
- Vaughan · Property
- Sunny Jim · Solar
- Bloom · Aesthetics
- Impeccable · Customer service
- Chatacus — the product
Chatacus · Solar
Sunny Jim
Solar's lead specialist. Sunny Jim answers homeowners' questions about solar and turns those conversations into enquiries for installers.
Chatacus · Aesthetics
Bloom
A smarter way to handle aesthetic enquiries. Bloom answers clinic questions with care and turns interest into enquiries.
Chatacus · Bespoke customer service
Impeccable
Customer service for any business — questions, requests, and knowing when to bring in a person.
03Education
Games that teach digital life.
We're building interactive games that help young people recognise manipulation, navigate digital life and develop practical digital literacy.
Guru Simulator 12–17In development
What if the best way to understand manipulation was to experience it?
Guru Simulator is an interactive game series that helps young people recognise manipulation, persuasion and misleading online behaviour. We're building and testing it now.
Guru Simulator · In development · For schools and educational settings
For educators
Interested in using Guru Simulator with your students? Get in touch with Marc to arrange a demo and discuss how it could work for your school or organisation.
Talk to Marc →
Noob Games 7–11In development
Noob Games
A developing family of games exploring digital life, cyber safety, scams, online threats and technology.
Noob Games · In development · For schools and educational settings
Why we're building this
Spot the trick before it's played on you.
Research into prebunking suggests that practising recognising manipulation techniques before encountering them can help build resistance to misinformation and manipulation.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have explored this approach through games including Bad News and Go Viral!, with research finding that gameplay can improve people's ability to recognise manipulative misinformation.
Guru Simulator applies that idea to situations young people actually encounter — influencers, scams, social pressure, viral content and manipulation.
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Bad News · University of Cambridge · 2019
Fake news game confers psychological resistance against online misinformation
Research → -
Go Viral! · University of Cambridge · 2021
Towards psychological herd immunity: cross-cultural evidence for two prebunking interventions
Research →
- 01 · The idea
Games can make digital manipulation something young people can experience and recognise.
- 02 · The research
Prebunking research gives us a reason to believe this approach is worth exploring.
- 03 · Our approach
We're applying those ideas to the situations young people actually encounter online.
- 04 · Where it's going
Developing and testing now, with planned release for schools and educational settings.
The research above is about prebunking in general, not our games. We're currently testing Guru Simulator and Noob Games with young people — and we're not going to claim results we don't have.
GTWork with Marc
Need something built for your business?
For consultancy, automation, digital tools and hands-on technology support, work directly with Marc Richards.
Work with Marc RichardsGTAbout the studio
The studio, and the person behind it.
Glade Tech is the independent technology studio of Marc Richards.
Glade Tech is the business — where the building happens: client technology work, our own products like Chatacus, and educational experiences in development. Marc is the person behind it, and the person who delivers its client technology work.
He spent nearly a decade building production systems at one of the world's leading banks. He's also a coach, an author, and someone who believes technology should solve real problems for real people.
The studio is named after a place very dear to him, where music, nature and community came together.
GTContact
Got something worth building?
A product idea, a digital project, or something that doesn't fit a category yet — tell us about it.
marc@gladetech.ukLooking for day-to-day tech help or automation for your business? Head to marc-richards.com