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Computer Stuff

Developing for iPhone using openFrameworks and ofxiPhone

Came accross this post about using oF on the iphone. Could be something to look into.

http://www.memo.tv/ofxiphone

2009 03 29

Computer Stuff
c++
mac os x

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SIG-CALCULATOR1

This post is about the construction of the SIG calculators.
Prices in $HK. All parts gathered from Sham Shui Po golden centre

  1. Pre-selection of components from Tank and I
  2. Shopping with Tank of the following components:
    Cheap Keyboard, Mouse ($68)
    SATA to MINI-SATA adapter ($35)
    Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 @2.93 gHz with 3MB L2 cache ($1090)
    ZOTAC Geforce 9300-ITX WIFI motherboard ($1190)
    SILVERSTONE NT07-775 cpu heatsink ($200)
    2THEMAX 8KR1 ITX case with 120W PSU ($455)
    TEAC DV-W28S 8x DVD+-RW – slim ($360)
    2x OCZ 2GB DDR2 @ 800 mHz (w heatsink) ($260)
    HITACHI 640GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB HDD ($450)
    TOTAL: $4108 (leaves $892 to purchase 19″ LCD)
  3. Assembly of the computer with Tank(very easy)
  4. Installing Windows 7 beta and Linux Mint on the drive
  5. Finish installing drivers and compiling wifi drivers for Linux.
  6. Bring it back home, use the “stress” command under linux. Stressed RAM + CPU + HDD at maximum for 24hrs. No problems. Consider system stable
  7. Test of HD video playback with videos from Apple.com/trailers. No dropped frames under linux and windows. Settings: Max resolution on 22″ + 15″ dual-screen. Windows with Aero turned on and using the task switching to stress system. Linux with Desktop compositing enabled (Compiz), rotating cube effect applied without any problem.
  8. installing XBMC – Xbox Media Centre (www.xbmc.org) on linux in order to test more video playback.
  9. Installing the “ubuntu-studio” suite of programs under linux
  10. TODO:
    Installing, Processing.org and Arduino suite of programs.
    Buying 4more copies of the config
    Buying 5 LCDs (ended up with 5 19″ ACER LCDs. they are quite decent and have a vesa mount on the back. The plan is to hang the computers at the back of the screen.
    Testing on HDTV using HDMI port
    Backup and restore system for ease of use by all
    Restricted account for casual internet browsing by other users

Below, a shot of the small ITX case that will eventually be hung behind the LCD screens.

dscn2678
In order, from left to right: cheap Linksys router, SIG-CALCULATOR1, Mac Mini G4 (1st generation), 1TB backup E-SATA drive, (under all of this) my home computer

2009 03 22

Computer Stuff
SIGinxt
linux
windows

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A couple of podcasts

I usually find new podcasts by reading other people’s blogs. Here are mine, maybe you will find something of interest. As you will see I do not have too subscriptions, this is mainly due to my busy schedule and the fact that they release new content on a regular basis and usually for lengths of up to 1h.

Audio

Video

How to subsribe to all of these ?

  • Miro (Mac, Linux, Windows)
  • iTunes (Mac, Windows)

2009 03 08

Computer Stuff
General
Random Stuff

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Running Windows 7

Windows 7 was released as a public beta in its build 7000.

I have been using it for a couple of weeks not and I can say that I am more than satisfied by the improvements made. Of course, it is very similar to Vista as we could all call it an upgrade to Vista. There are a lot of improvements though. I find Windows 7 to run a lot faster than what I experienced on Vista (especially on old hardware).

One of the black points of W7 for the moment has been a bug with the legacy Transport Driver Interface causing BSOD when accessing windows shares (Samba Shares / SMB Shares… whatever rocks your boat). The error message being “IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL tdx!TdxEventReceiveConnection.” and complaining about tdx.sys.

Many people found out that it would sometimes be caused by conflicts between network card drivers and Anti-virus programs and tdx.sys.

All the fixes given on the web could sometimes prevent those BSOD but yesterday, Microsoft released a fix on their website and so far… it seems to have fixed the problem.

You can find the hotfix here: KB967891

It is also said that the build 7032 fixed this issue. It is not a public release so I cannot access it sadly :(

2009 03 01

Computer Stuff
windows

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Nokia S60 Touch Training Seminar

Yesterday and Today, Nokia held a workshop at the HKPC. This is great for us, since our offices in the Innovation Centre are just next door to the venue.

The topics covered were widget development, the S60 touch interface, S60 programming using API and S60 Touch application development workshop.

Nokia seems to be going the good way for their development. Most of the develomnet tools are free of charge and they say that they have plans to make some of the OS components as Open Source.

After the programming workshop we learned to control the UI elements to create a painting application. It was a good epxerience and makes me want to learn a bit more about application development for Symbian. One of the problems though is that the programming sometimes is not that simple and a lot of API calls need to be learned and initialised.

Before leaving the lecturer talked with me and told me a lot about the security features and the signing features for the applications to provide them with different levels of access to the hardware. From self-signing to Symbian approved. He also told us there are a lot of opportunities to make money by developping for symbian as well.

One thing to note is that the chinese wiki/forum gives out mobile phones to the best contributors. Good to know if anyone would like to get started with the development.

2009 02 12

Random Stuff
c++

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Backing up

Backing up is important. People tell us that all the time and there must be some kind of truth in this. Else why would people keep on stressing how important it is?

Well… I always believed in backup, but never put it into practice. Since my first PC computer with a hard-drive inside (aged 10) I have been loosing data on a regular basis. The only reason why this happens less and less frequently is because I run Linux and do not have to re-install my system every other day and also because I have more than one drive, thus spreading the data over several mediums. Continue Reading »

2009 01 20

Computer Stuff
linux
mac os x
windows

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Vivek Mahbubani

Today Vivek Mahbubani came to talk to us during the FYP session. (For those that don’t know, FYP = Final year Project)

Vivek is a “new media designer / developer” (cf name card), a drummer and a comedian. I first heard of him on youtube. His clip was about a competition he won in october 07′.  love that clip esp because he uses simple terms (so i can understand the jokes in cantonese) and he just is plain funny~

The main reason he was here was to talk to us about Freelance. He is a graduate of the School of Creative Media ‘05 and has been freelancing for about 3 years.
He gave us a rundown of the things we had to keep in mind and a little bit about his parcour. It was an honor to have so much knowledge and insight given to us. Following are some notes taken during his presentation. All in bullet points…

  • Book to read: Rich Dad Poor Dad
  • Assume clients are idiots
  • Never be affraid to ask queastions to clients
  • HK mentality is to fin it: for example in class no-one will raise his hand if he doesn’t see someone else doing the same
  • “if you fit in, you won’t stand out”
  • GTD: Getting Things Done
  • Understand your skills
    • You cannot know everything
    • Know your weapons
    • Know what service you are able to offer
    • Know your limits
    • Combine your skills:
      • Programming -> web programming
      • Design -> web design
      • Both -> web solutions
  • Personal vs Professional
    • Setup rules for yourself
      • get a life outside work
    • Separate clearly personal and professional life
  • Experimental
    • Be curious
    • Step into new land
    • Einstein: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
  • Willing to constantly
    • Vivek used to borrow between 20-30 books at one time from the library.
    • Have access to all the resources you need
    • Pick the best way for you to learn:
  • Open-Source / Free tools
  • Don’t ever feel intimidated
    • Companies don’t know everything
    • They just fake it better because they seem more professional with a company name and staff
    • Study your competition
    • Study your market
    • Read: The art of war (business aspects)
  • Find out market rates
    • Ask the competition
    • Read the book: Art of deception
    • Pretend your are a client
    • Ask people for a quote
    • Don’t tell lies, just don’t tell the truth (don’t say you are fresh graduate for example)
    • www.freelanceswitch – to calculate how much you should charge vs how much you need
    • Estimate the number of hours needed for a project
  • Know your tools perfectly
    • Someone might already have solved your problem\
    • Google it
    • Post issues on forums
    • Hire someone to do it for you can be cheaper sometimes
    • Don’t re-invent the wheel
  • Begin with the end in mind
    • Keep track of invoices
      • Bamboo invoice
      • Excel spreadsheet
    • Review every 2 weeks all the outstanding payments of clients and remind them (gently)
  • Crazy Clients
    • Most clients think you are only working on their project
    • Most clients think you never need to rest
    • Most clients think everything is very simple
    • Avoid replying emails after office hours (so that they don’t think you are available at all hours – can be done by scheduling emails in outlook or saving as draft before sending later)
    • Never be afraid to “fire” a client
  • Be personal
    • Use a contact management system
    • Remember personal things about your client like their hobbies and what food they like.
    • Imagine you were a client, how do you want to be treated
  • Know yourself
    • forget any real-world limitations
    • What excites you everyday
    • How can you make money from your interests
    • Calculate the costs
    • “create once, use forever”
      • Libraries
      • free Tools
  • Are my things easy to duplicate
    • sell your design style not a design
    • sell you communication style
    • sell your sense of humor
    • Personal aspects cannot be copied
  • Sell yourself
  • Templates
  • Ready-made tools
    • Research first (ie dun re-invent the wheel
    • modify and sell end product
  • Get noticed
    • SEO
    • get your name branded on a product (link at bottom of page)
    • Word of mouth is important
    • People trust their friends more than a fancy website/name card/ad
  • Study audiences: Google analytics
  • Keep in touch
    • Be proactive
    • “it was really nice meeting you”
    • Write down interests and how you met
    • Offer them a next action: what they should do or when to meet
  • Be one step ahead
    • make them feel under control
  • Keep track of progress
  • Aftersales service
    • project never ends
      • suggest potential services
      • monthly subscriptions to updates/services
      • creates stable flow of income for the freelancer
      • you know your project best
    • updating the copyright info on 1st of jan every year
      • with happy new year message to owner to remind them you stil exist
      • suggest services they may find useful
      • add something personal to the message
  • Motivate yourself
  • Enjoy your freelance life
    • Satisfy your 5 senses at work
      • Sight
        • Mentally adjust into work mode (lighting)
        • Light should hide personal space
        • Associate this light with work mode
        • You will, by habit, feel like working in this situation
        • Use the lighting to hide things that remind of non-work related things
      • Audio
        • Listen to good music
        • Lounge music: Buddha bar
        • Free online lounge radio
        • disconnect from the rest of the world
        • Brainsync
          • Get your brainwaves in the right mode
          • Control your mind through sound
      • Smell
        • Buy scented candles
        • Make your room a certain smell for work
        • Enjoy fresh air
        • Different smell for different “modes”
      • Taste
        • Eat healthy
        • Need energy to keep going and keep focused
        • Chocolates, candies, red-bull, are going to drain you
        • Eat 5 small meals instead of 3 big ones
        • ~ every 3 hours eat something
        • Plan your meals the day before
      • Touch
        • get comfortable
        • spend a good amount of money on a good chair

2008 10 31

City U. of HK
Computer Stuff
General
art
fashion/design
work

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Back to HK after the Ars Electronica Festival

Today marks the end of the HKSAR sponsored trip to the Ars Electronica Festival 2008.

I really hope it will not be the last time that I get the chance to come to Linz for the festival since it seems to be quite a nice place. I quite like the scenery and the feeling of the city. Nevertheless, I am sure that I would not want to live there since many of the things I do not support such as abusive driking and violence seem to as present as in Scotland.

Back on 11-09-2008, classes to catch up from the pas two weeks and morning class on the 12th.

Please keep checking the ars electronica blog as there will be more updates.

2008 09 10

Computer Stuff
General
travel

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Ars Electronica 2008

Currently at the Ars Electronica festival 2008.
It is a lot of fun and a lot of work. We meet a lot of people and see a lot of works.
The weblog is available at http://arselectronica.wordpress.com
Photos are also available on the weblog.
See you all soon in HK next week.

2008 09 06

City U. of HK
Computer Stuff
travel

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OpenSource applications

For those that still did not know… I readily explore the Open Source alternatives for software.

Reasons for that:

  • Free
  • Source code available
  • Community effort to maintain, improve, fix the code
  • Free….(did i mention it?)

one of the sites listing the alternatives:

http://www.osalt.com/

2008 06 26

Computer Stuff

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