the geekup in nottingham is go - next monday
When: Monday 2nd August 6:30pm
Where: Upstairs at Dogma What: General geekery and beer. http://geekup.org/ GeekUp is a community of web designers, developers, creatives and other tech-minded folk from the UK. It’s a grassroots knowledge sharing and networking social for folks involved or interested in the web and technology industry. Speakers:Peter Cooper (Author of “Beginning Ruby”) speaking for us: Ignoring Common Sense: The Aircraft Carrier Made of Ice and Other Technical Flights of Fancy Get permission to abandon common sense through a look at flights of fancy and “failures” of common sense in the worlds of engineering, computer science, and fashion.
the other speaker, Dominic from Nottinghack (nottinghack) will be talking about: Nottinghack – a Hackspace for Nottingham An overview of the hardware hacker and maker movement in the UK & an introduction to Hackspace Nottingham – Nottinghack.
Followed by a show and tell. So bring along something cool to share with the group, whether it’s a new shiny gizmo, IDE, code snippet or handbag! ( : Get in touch if you want to get involved (gemma dot cameron at esendex dot com) Sign Up:Let us know you’re coming on our upcoming page:
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/6589920
spending part of the day at nottingham riviera
quicklink | nottingham riviera
from 23 July - 5 September 2010 indulge yourself at the seaside in Nottingham's the Old Market Square courtesy of sponsors Jet2 Holidays and the Mellors Group. ella wanted to go away 'to the seaside' again today but i was too exhausted from a day out yesterday without the pushchair. she had a lot of fun and just maybe we will go again next week if the weather is still good - and this time i'll remember to take her some proper clothes for bathing. was expecting more food stalls with 'nibble' kinda small portions so you could snack and walk, i think the one i remember in birmingham was a little better on the food turnout front. that said, a fun day out in the middle of the city.life's a beach - old market square, nottingham.
as i have my monthly rail ticket and ella is only three (under five travel free) we headed over to nottingham for the day to play in the centre of the city in sand and in the swimming pool. was a bit of a pain carrying her all around but we had fun regardless.
in the aftenoon we came back to burton and did a small clothes shop so she had some new trousers and shoes. a good single parent style kinda day. sam is rowing this weekend.
a few weeks with the htc hero autofocus camera
Click here to download:
a-few-weeks-with-the-htc-hero-autofocus-camera-Ha11UelbVNMUMAhZbaAv.zip (1628 KB)
as i floated around nottingham this last few weeks i tested out the camera on the htc hero and i have to say it seems a lot better than my old skool iphone 3g i had before. looking forward to a 3gs or iphone4 to see what kind of quality i can get from those optics! :)
a chat with craig chettle from antenna
quicklinks facebook - http://me.dm/link/antenna
main site - http://www.antenna.uk.com I was lucky today that i managed to sit down with craig and talk briefly about all things antenna. as a creative hotspot for myself for connectivity i was keen to speak to craig about how they plan to develop antenna and alert him to the digital social footprint of people having conversations about antenna already and how time needs to be invested in that for feedback into this creative hub and how brand ambassadors (thanks for that @AlexiaL - good identification!)
main site - http://www.antenna.uk.com I was lucky today that i managed to sit down with craig and talk briefly about all things antenna. as a creative hotspot for myself for connectivity i was keen to speak to craig about how they plan to develop antenna and alert him to the digital social footprint of people having conversations about antenna already and how time needs to be invested in that for feedback into this creative hub and how brand ambassadors (thanks for that @AlexiaL - good identification!)
in the social arena could help. i have put forward a bunch of suggestions and as one of the ambassadors i would like to try and cross the bridge and mediate into the hub what can be done in this engaging and 'always on' space.
excited to where this can go for nottingham. i personally think antenna is a blueprint of what a creative digital meeting space can be and with all our input i think we could roll in a variety of services to make something wonderful in addition to the services we already enjoy in there. i have posted this on the fibrestudio facebook pages and also on the antenna page on facebook. i would love it if you would engage with me with your feedback - if you would rather it go through me anon we can do that as well. i just want to get comments and feedback aired and try to do a weekly/fortnightly catchup show to see how those areas are being responded to.if you are a member of antenna or perhaps you might be if something was fixed for you let me know and i'll make sure in the order of things it is mentioned.
look out for a twitterwall on the screens soon. we need to decide on a hashtag as well people for 'chatting' around antenna i guess as well - #antennauk maybe - your thoughts please.so antenna has a dolby 5.1 studio in the basement. ..
i thought they had just a little studio. i had no idea what is actually in the basement. epic kit - looking forward to exploring more in the coming weeks and months what happens down there and maybe do some video streaming shows from down there for 'thegravity' and our weekly pcmprojects catchup shows.
need a few more people to get a facebook page url
quicklink | http://me.dm/link/fibrefacebook
I'd really appreciated a little 'like' loving on our fibre streaming studio facebook page we setup over the weekend. we are just a few people away from being able to assign the page a proper url instead of my faked out short url i made. i prefer the facebook pages url because they are easier to remind people with. we should have setup the page a long time ago. progress with the studio is going well and we have the greenscreen in and working and we are very pleased with it with the softboxes we have working on it. the next step is to get the camera fixed up on the ceiling near the main light, build a free standing stand of sorts and getting our audio locked down - which means better curtains and looking at better sound proofing. i'm going to be recording some more'thegravity' shows once i can lock down the video recording quality issues. seem to be getting blocky streaming out so going to try some local recording and upload that way. remember, drop by the url at the top of the post and give us a 'like' - it would really help us out! :) more soon! :)*update* - that was quick - we now have http://www.facebook.com/fibrecamp - thanks guys. do not forget to follow the posterous blog as well over at http://fibreca.mp as we expand out our template and studio. thanks!
need a few more people to get a facebook page url
quicklink | http://me.dm/link/fibrefacebook
I'd really appreciated a little 'like' loving on our fibre streamingstudio facebook page we setup over the weekend. we are just a few
people away from being able to assign the page a proper url instead of
my faked out short url i made. i prefer the facebook pages url
because they are easier to remind people with. we should have setup
the page a lot time ago. progress with the studio is going well and we have the greenscreen in
and working and we are very pleased with it with the softboxes we have
working on it. the next step is to get the camera fixed up on the
ceiling near the main light, build a free standing stand of sorts and
start getting our audio locked down - which means better curtains and
looking at better sound proofing. i'm going to be recording some more
'thegravity' shows once i can lock down the video recording quality
issues. seem to be getting blocky streaming out so going to try some
local records and upload that way. remember, drop by the url at the top of the post and give us a 'like'
- it would really help us out! :) more soon! :)
Tweetvite :: 'inception' viewing @ broadway cinema
via tweetvite.com
quicklink | http://tweetvite.com/event/inception
if your around in nottingham next week and you fancy grabbing a drink, some food and watching a movie on the friday evening do sign up on the tweetvite page - meeting at @antenna_uk.
hmm, i wonder how much it would be to hire that big hd screen at antenna to watch some classic geek movies on friday/saturday nights? - guess you would have to do a private viewing because not sure if they have a license for doing movie viewing like that.
Check out the tweetups on Tweetvite.
more 'clay' renders from @danielroseart coming in
so the style of the studio is really coming into context now.
thanks to @danielroseart for these renders. we will be doing a lot more render projects for a future ipad application - i suggest if you are looking for a 3d render artist or a canvas painter drop dan a line or let me know what you are looking for and i'll hook you up with dan.
holy 3d render batman - @danielroseart renders the fibrestudio
wow.
if your looking for an amazing 3d render artist @danielroseart just sorta blew my mind a little with his render of the office we currently have. it's even true to size. obviously this is a draft of the studio and a few things in that shot will change but the placement is pretty good (apart from the box needs to come forward and be bigger) and it's really great to have this level of quality rendering for use on the website for it. some things to note.. - middle box stand will be bigger more towards end of the frame- loving that glass fibre studio graphic with 'seethru' no colour
- lights will be attached to the frame at the front
- camera(s) will be above the door frame on a ledge
- mac pro to the left of the door
- possibly mount axis bonjour camera at back need to thank dan for rapidly pulling together a logo - because we REALLY needed one.
reorganising the fibre studio configuration layout
i was moving the studio around yesterday.
- ledge above door with bracket to camera @ head height
- sofa on the side wall for weekly show
- main free standing box for twin shot
- old style sofa seats and old reading lighting
- fixed webcam and blue snowball for video chat
- lighting attached to the gazebo I also came up with a genius idea yesterday that will be very useful for our projects on pcmprojects and also be useful for the studio. i'm keeping it a bit hush hush to raise a bit of excitement because we have to have something custom built and find some cash to enable us to be able to get the kit together. i promise you thou it's gonna be awesome. i spent a few hours yesterday making sure it would work on the configuration i wanted for the lowest possible footprint. more soon.. .
using camtwist + bluetooth numpad as presenter switcher
quicklink | microsoft bluetooth numpad
giving us enough buttons to switch between different views/camera angles to make the video more interesting to the viewer and disconnect us from having to have the computer near allowing us to relocate the computer to side tables around the studio instead of having the round table in the actual shot. my only concern at this stage is if certain applications have the ability to start and stop the stream - not all applications we use have the ability to hot-key certain actions.
we will be using this setup in the fibrestudio (which btw will have a new home at http://fibreca.mp - we are going to offer hotdesking shortly too) for switching between the main camera and the secondary dv input. we need to get additional stands and tripod mounts firstly to make these fixed assets. i did a little screencast showing you how this thing actually works utilizing camtwist as an example - but we know that boinxtv can switch between layers too.
pros
- you can switch to different shots without computerin shot/nearby.
- setup all the media for the client before they arrive at the studio.
- it's fracking bluetooth dude.
- using boinxtv you can switch natively between layers.
cons
- battery powered so another battery to have 'in stock' in the studio
camtwist / wirecast / ideas
- had a few times when the software 'locked up' - not uber reliable.
- have to play with the window capture sizing to get right
- wirecast can stream hq/hd automatically it has not hotkey ability :(
- another piece of software to have running/setup
- bit of a flick between 'sets' in camtwist may lose video as loads.
- noticed you had to restart camtwist to be able to set the sets from new
- would be great to start and stop wirecast broadcasting
- camtwist input main camera in wirecast, use boinxtv layers switching?
- can stop and start boinxtv rec/stop on a hotkey?
PCMprojects digital post-it 14th June 2010
We used boinxtv in basic mode today quickly and uploaded the content to vimeo. should have it setup to stream out to bambuser next week but it does not give us that better picture quality that wirecast does - we are testing a bunch of applications that give us different features that we can offer from the studio.
donations welcomed for a second lapel mic welcomed. we are actually looking around now for additional kit. first thing is a bluetooth keypad. you'll see why in the coming week.
Issuu - http://www.issuu.com
Mobile Roadie - http://mobileroadie.com
Mini Moo Cards - http://uk.moo.com/en/products/minicards.php
Band Central - http://www.bandcentral.com
Delivr - http://delivr.com
Miro Video Converter - http://www.mirovideoconverter.com
Scribd - http://www.scribd.com
Multiurl - http://www.multiurl.com
PCMprojects weekly digital postit 2nd of May 2010
afraid we had a few problems with our wirecast installation this week because we used the same code for our laptop as we did some mobile recording the other week which completely messed up our desktop machine. we are hoping to get this resolved for next week. for this week we used the web interface, camtwist and usual audio. expect the links CJ mentioned to be added later today.
phils links
cj links
introducing 'speedo' the logo for the fibre studio services
Setting up for a live video stream at nine am this morning talking all things data centre and nottingham with emnet this morning but before that i thought i would show you some of the cool branding we will be using for the studio. His name is 'speedo' - we like him a lot! :)
PCMprojects digital postit 18.may.2010
another weekly catchup postit note stream out of the @lacemarkethouse fibre studio about social media happenings in and around nottingham with mention of two great websites, pixlr and reclaiming your privacy on facebook plus news about the social media in business event on friday in richmond that we will be attending.
It's time to shout about our creatives in nottingham [repost]
THE science and technology industries in Nottingham have been getting a lot of the spotlight recently, and deservedly so. The Invest in Nottingham campaign has been shouting about Nottingham from the rooftops, and it's time for those of us in the city's creative industries to help ensure that the digital and creative assets are profiled equally highly.
At one end of the spectrum we have organisations such as Antenna and Crytec, who have built excellent reputations, and at the other end we have a huge amount of young creative talent coming out of Nottingham's two universities.
We need to create a collision of the city's technical expertise with our creative and communications skills – the combination will do wonders for Nottingham's economy.
A lot of creative people came to the recent promotional event at Centrepoint in London which showcased Nottingham's strengths and generated phenomenal interest in our offer.
We now need you and other creative industry players to put your weight behind the Invest in Nottingham campaign, and the event on May 27 that is luring people from the capital.
There should be greater profile for the creative industries on the 27th and there still could be. All you have to do is take part, and get involved.
The creative sector here is not that well led, and we need everyone to take the initiative. This way we can be a showcase for the creative talent in Nottingham and show we are not about bikes and tobacco anymore.
As Craig Chettle of Antenna told me, "we have a thriving creative industry in Nottingham but we're all busy getting on with business – we should take a bit of time to tell the outside world how good we are!"
So don't sit on your hands, come and get involved and use May 27 as a vehicle to promote your skills to potential clients from across the UK.
We could create a Creative Industries Day of our own, in September or October, and present our world-leading creative skills to external visitors, showing them that we are a very serious sector with great potential.
Nottingham is soon to become one of the top three broadband centres in the UK, thanks to a recent discovery that is being announced on the 27th.
All fibre optics are laid along railway lines, and they converge (just next to Homebase) in what has been described as the equivalent of a digital Heathrow airport. This hub is soon to be capitalised on, giving us one of the biggest broadband capacities in the UK – a huge bonus for all our creative industries. I hear they're telling us all about this on May 27.
E-mail kay@investinnottingham.co.uk to find out more about the Invest in Nottingham Day and discover how you can get involved, and let's make this the start of the creative industries self-promotion campaign!
Let me know what you think by e-mailing me at mark@markshaw.co.uk.
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