17 April, 2012 in Development, Interests, Personal by Aonghas

Aonghas 0.5 Beta Font Released

The 0.5 Beta release for "Aonghas Font" is available for download!

For years I’ve always wanted to create my own font that looked similar to my handwriting but I never had a good way of creating one. I finally got round to doing it recently though, and it’s here for you to download too! Simply click the link of the True-Type Font (TTF) file at the bottom of this post and install it on your computer so you can write like Aonghas as well! Bear in mind that this is still a work in progress, so I haven’t ironed out all the kinks yet. So far there are more than 250 glyphs in the character set, but I’ve still got hundreds yet to complete (and also tweaking current ones as well!). Let me know how it goes and if there’s any problems be sure to tell me so I can fix them up! Hopefully I can create some more fonts in future!

24 October, 2010 in Events, Interests by Aonghas

Extreme Xtreme Programming

One of my engineering friends, Manu, asked if I would like to join him in a programming competition about a month ago, and at the time I didn’t really know what the whole thing was about. He said that we would receive a free T-shirt if we participated so that was enough for me to say yes. This weekend the competition took place and was held at Uni. The Xtreme Programming Competition is an annual event organised by IEEE and nearly 1000 teams competed from universities around the world this year. The competition runs for 24 hours straight with teams comprising of up to three people. We had to write programs that solved problems that were released to us throughout the day and all the teams around the world competed simultaneously. Because it started at 12am in London, we started the competition in Auckland at the equivalent time 13 hours ahead at1pm. The other guy in our team was called Buddy, who I had met previously but didn’t really know too well.

Team Octave at IEEE Xtreme

Hours before the competition, Manu texted us to let us know that he wouldn’t be able to join us as he had to work. Buddy and I thought we’d still give it a go anyway, even though I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t know enough programming to do well in the competition. Our team was called OCTAVE and we had an allocated space with computers we could use. At 1pm when the competition started, we had a look at the first few questions that were available and I decided I would attempt to solve a problem requiring me to create a median filter for photos. Basically what I had to do was remove noise from a greyscale image by evaluating adjacent pixels of the noise and replacing the pixel with the median luminance of the adjacent pixels. Hmm I think I made it sound more confusing that it actually was. It did take over an hour to work out how to write the program correctly and take into account all the exceptions, but I was very pleased when I submitted my program and it was accepted! A few hours into the competition we had completed 3 out of the 4 available questions at the time, and we were ranked in the top 100 teams (out of 971).

At dinner time I met up with Ming, who was also competing in another team. We had pizza for dinner and it helped to re-energise us all before getting back into the programming. After midnight we got a text from Manu, who said he could join us since he finished work. Shortly after that he arrived and we were finally a full team. We answered a few more problems and stayed within the top 150 teams or so, though in the early hours of the morning fatigue was starting to win the battle. Manu and Buddy decided to have a power nap on the floor while I tried to press on with another problem, but I didn’t last long because before I knew it, I was starting to doze off at the computer table as well. We ordered McDonald’s breakfast and it arrived at around 6am.

The 24 hour competition was a bit too much for some people

I think the competition forced me to learn new skills and ways of doing things. It was a good experience and I’m looking forward to competing next year as well. If that wasn’t bad enough, I then had to work for 4 hours after the competition ended. I’m just relieved I didn’t collapse while I was serving customers!

Too Much for Team OCTAVE

22 October, 2010 in Weird and Wonderful by Aonghas

Cute Dog

Oh yeah and I saw this cute dog today too, I couldn’t get over how big his/her tongue was! :O

Such a big tongue!

21 October, 2010 in Interests, Technology by Aonghas

Introducing… Windows Phone 7

I got to play with the display model of the HTC Trophy

Calum told me last night that Vodafone would be launching the new Windows Phone 7 at Aotea Square this morning. I just happened to be walking past when I remembered about it and sure enough, there was a large Vodafone truck trailer on the Aotea Square forecourt. I stepped up and saw the line of phones that were on display. They all looked like they were the same model made by HTC and I got to try using one myself. I must say the phone felt a little big, but probably because I’m so used to my HTC Legend which has a slightly smaller screen.

The initial impression I got from the Windows Phone 7 was that it was pretty speedy and the animations were quite seamless. The new layout was a little different to what I was used to with the tiles and the scrolling mural-like interface. I didn’t stay for long because I had to get to the labs to work on my project but initial signs are good that the Windows Phone 7 will be a big hit. Now I’m wondering if I bought my Android phone too soon… :S

Vodafone showed off their new Windows Phone 7 phones at Aotea Square today

19 October, 2010 in Interests, Weird and Wonderful by Aonghas

The World’s Coolest USB Flash Drive

Today we were in the labs and we needed a USB flash drive to capture screenshots from the oscilloscope. One of the guys sitting nearby heard us and asked if wanted to use his “floppy”. Confused at first, we discovered what he meant when he pulled out his USB drive. He told us that his dad managed to fix it for him when it got broken (his dad is an engineer, of course ). I thought it was such an ingenious idea and I’m sure there would be a market for USB flash drives like this if they were to be produced commercially. Nerdy guys would jump at the chance (excuse the stereotyping!).

The USB "floppy" drive

25 September, 2010 in Music by Aonghas

Memories Behind Glass

This morning at Lincoln Heights School I passed a glass cabinet in the hallway and noticed myself in a faded photo from years ago when we performed at Westcity! Ahh good times

Young Aonghas in the middle

22 September, 2010 in Interests, Personal by Aonghas

A Disney Dream

Tonight after my technical communications lecture, I attended a presentation by Disney in one of the Engineering lecture theatres. I didn’t actually know what to expect beforehand but the “Disney” title was really what grabbed my interest. There was quite a big turnout for the presentation and before long, we were introduced to the presenter for the night, Jennifer Mattson. She told us that she was a recruiter for an international student exchange program they run at Walt Disney World in Florida. The program she was advertising was 6-12 month term work experience opportunity for current tertiary students in Australia and New Zealand.

She started the presentation by giving us an overview of Disney’s history and showed us an interesting video that included the many facets of the Disney brand. She then started to talk specifically about the Australia/New Zealand work experience program and what it involved. Basically it is a program set up to give international students an opportunity to travel to America to work at Walt Disney World in Orlando with up to 7000 other international students. The type of work we would be taking part in would range from such roles as operations, merchandise, quick service food and beverage and lifeguards.

In addition to the valuable skills gained through the day-to-day responsibilities of their job, participants will have the opportunity to learn skills from Disney leaders, participate in special Cast Member learning activities and networking events, take advantage of our Disney Learning Centers and add work experience with one of the most admired companies in the world to their C.V.

It seemed like a really good opportunity considering the only costs involved were a few admin fees and flights to get there and back. While the students are there, they would be living at Disney and working at Disney to pay their way over there. About $80USD would be taken from their wages each week to pay for accommodation, including amenities such as  internet access and gym. The presenter played several videos throughout the presentation showing interviews with past students who participated in the program and it looked really exciting.

At the end of the presentation, Jennifer was going to take interviews with anyone who was interested in participating next year, but obviously I knew I wouldn’t be able to go next year. I went down to the front of the lecture theatre and spoke with Jennifer and she said that it would be possible for me to do the exchange program up to one year after I graduated. It all happened so fast but after I left the presentation I had a sudden epiphany about the number of opportunities there are in the world. It’s really up to me to decide what I want to do in future and this might be a way to launch a career I hadn’t thought about previously.

If you want to read more about this program, you can to to the Disney International Program website or alternatively (if you have time) you can watch the full presentation that I sat through online by watching the E-Presentation here (it’s approximately 1 hour but it includes all the videos I watched etc.)

12 September, 2010 in Interests, Website by Aonghas

Need Help Sleeping?

My friend Carey recently launched a new website to help people who have trouble getting to sleep at night. Although it’s often easier to fall asleep in a quiet environment, sometimes the complete absence of any noise whatsoever can also be unsettling. So the solution?

www.SoundsToSleepTo.com

Choose which sounds you want to fall asleep to

Whether you like the gentle sound of rain outside or birds chirping by your window, there are six different ambient sounds (and counting!) to choose from. They all sound very realistic and you can even mix different sounds together and adjust the volumes separately as you wish.

I think this website is a great idea and would be particularly helpful for those who have trouble falling asleep in silence and just need something soothing to help them rest. Even though the site hasn’t been up for long, it’s popularity is increasing daily as more people discover its effectiveness. So go on, check it out and have a good night’s sleep!

26 August, 2010 in Friends, Music by Aonghas

KBB Music Festival 2010

I had my last assessment for the first half of the semester this morning, which was a 20% interview for my design project. I had felt a bit iffy about the whole interview beforehand but it turned out to be not too bad (well, fingers crossed!). The interviewer we were assigned to asked a couple of curve ball questions but ultimately I was just pleased when it was over.

Throughout this week the annual KBB Music Festival is being held at the Town Hall. Calum went to listen to a few sessions earlier in the week so I thought I’d go to watch this afternoon seeing as I didn’t have any lectures after my interview. As luck would have it, this afternoon’s programme included various schools’ symphony orchestras including Cleo’s orchestra from Epsom Girls’ Grammar School. Calum and I arranged to meet outside the Town Hall before the afternoon session started so we could sort out the cameras for filming and taking photos.

Epsom Symphonia played well at the KBB Music Festival

The afternoon bracket of performances started at 1:30pm with Macleans Symphony Orchestra. They played a few pieces and ended with Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 by Elgar. The Avondale College orchestra followed before Epsom Symphonia took the stage. As the players started moving into their places, I scanned through the orchestra until I spotted Cleo at the back near the huge bass drum. Their conductor Peter Thomas was applauded on to the stage before the orchestra opened with their first piece, The Barber Of Seville Overture by Rossini. Their following pieces, Nimrod by Elgar and Saint-Saens’ Danse Macabre were played just as well as their first. I’m not sure what it is, but I think orchestra performances are always that much more exciting when you know someone who’s playing in it.

Calum had to leave quickly straight after Epsom performed because he needed to get back to uni, but I thought I’d stick around just to hear some of the other orchestras since I had no other commitments for the rest of the day. After a couple more orchestras performed, I was pleasantly surprised when I was tapped on the shoulder by Cleo. She had returned from being backstage and introduced me to Sunny, a school friend she was with. I later found out that Sunny played the oboe in the Epsom Girls’ orchestra and was also the same year as Cleo. For the rest of the afternoon bracket, I sat together with Cleo and Sunny in the audience. There were a few pieces that didn’t sound particularly appealing to me, though I thought the combined “St Peter’s and St Mary’s Sinfonia” orchestra played quite well to finish off the session.

Highlights from KBB Music Festival Thursday 26 August 2010 (Orchestras)

Thanks to Calum for filming and uploading the video!

From left: Sunny, Cleo, Aonghas and Jordan (from Studio 2)

While everyone was leaving afterwards, I noticed Jordan from Studio 2 was doing some filming outside the main entrance at the Town Hall. In the spur of the moment, I decided to approach Jordan to ask if I could have a photo with him. I asked him if he remembered reading out my email on Studio 2 a couple of weeks ago and surprisingly enough he remembered me! Following the celebrity photoshoot with Jordan, I joined Cleo and Sunny through town on their food-hunting escapade. They were both hungry for food, though they didn’t know what they wanted to eat. After searching around for an undisclosed amount of time, they finally settled on Korean pancakes at this popular place on the corner of High Street and Wellesley Street. As if that wasn’t enough, we then made our way to Wendy’s afterwards to have another feed. Don’t get me wrong though, I did enjoy the experience and I found it amusing how we spent more time deciding what to eat than actually eating. We had an interesting conversation at Wendy’s including such topics as curry, porridge, teachers and lesbian friends. I also had a sudden realisation when Cleo told me that Sunny was in one of the dances at Chinese Extravaganza – I thought she looked familiar! Although we could have stayed and talked for ages, it was soon time to make tracks and head home.

Finishing all my assessments before the break, listening to awesome orchestra performances, having a photo taken with a television celebrity and making a new friend – not bad for a day’s outing .

Update: Jordan’s video clip was shown on Studio 2 a couple of weeks later and we managed to make an appearance in the background! Check it out here.

12 August, 2010 in Interests, University by Aonghas

Stepping Inside Stebbing

This morning I got the opportunity to take a tour around Stebbing Recording Centre Ltd. in Herne Bay. The trip was organised by the student branch of IEEE but it wasn’t until we reached the recording studio that I realised the guy taking us on the trip was Richard Stebbing, the son of the current owner and the grand-son of the founder of Stebbing Recording Centre!

Outside the front of Stebbing Recording Studios

The first part of the tour included an inside look at the recording studios. We were introduced to Murray, who gave us a brief overview of the companyand its history in New Zealand. The founder of the business, Eldred Stebbing, passed away last year and played a key role in the early days of sound recording in New Zealand. We were taken into the mixing room where we saw all the professional equipement they used and a massive sound board. Richard gave us a demonstration of a project he had been working on to automate sound mixing. We were told that their recording studio was one of the largest in the southern hemisphere and that they have hosted many international and local artists over the years, including Jamie Cullum, the White Stripes, Kenny Rogers and Split Enz.

After our tour of the recording studio, we took a brief walk down the road to their replication and manufacturing plant. According to their website,

Stebbing Recording Centre is the country’s only fully integrated replication plant, with all stages of the DVD and CD manufacturing process carried out on site to ensure meticulous quality control and efficient turnaround.

We started on the top floor of the plant where the mastering takes place. They use stamping equipment to create a master of the CD/DVD that can then be used as a template for pressing the discs. The equipment all looked really high-tech and the smell of a new DVD spindle was quite strong.

All the empty disc spools

Next we moved downstairs to the second floor. This is where the pressing and printing takes place. They use these large automated inject molder machines to press the discs from polycarbonate plastic and then all data is ‘stamped’ onto the CD/DVD. Then they are sent to the printing machines where they can either be screen-printed or offset printed depending on the type of design. At full speed, the machines are able to produce about 100 discs per minute! There were lots of DVD stacks that had already been printed and I noticed some familiar names like Outrageous Fortune, Footrot Flats and even Justin Bieber! Finally, downstairs we saw the packaging process where they had a large scale machine designed to package the DVDs into cases, complete with inserts and covers, labels for the outside, and even boxing the DVDs into cartons at the end. We also got to meet Richard’s dad, Vaughan Stebbing, who is the current owner of the family business. Overall it was a pretty interesting experience to see behind the scenes of a multi-million dollar business. Now whenever I see a commercial DVD, I’ll have a new appreciation for how it came to be.