ideas asylum

TaskMonifier

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:43:02 +0000

TaskMonifier is a small C# application which monitors the CPU utilisation and when this falls beneath a pre-set level and user-defined action will be triggered. I wrote this to enable me to easily get notifications when a processing-intensive task (like data analysis, panorama stitching or video encoding) had finished.

It’s currently unsupported

Jamie’s Blog

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:05:50 +0000

I’ve kept a blog since 2001 although with the recent advent of Twitter and Google+, I haven’t been blogging with the same frequency.

NEXtended

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:20:59 +0000

NEXtended is a blog for Sony NEX users

UrlPipe

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:20:04 +0000

UrlPipe was my first app built with node.js and Redis.

I wanted to easily suck files down off the Internet and straight to Dropbox, without doing the download-upload dance. It’s particularly for mobile devices or computers which don’t have the Dropbox client installed (like my work laptop).

The core was written an a day but I’ve tweaked the architecture and code over time. It now uses an autoscaling worker infrastructure (on Heroku), mediated using Redis as a basic store and queue.

The source code is available on Github or just start using the app right now

Photo Albums

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:19:30 +0000

A more comprehensive selection of photos is available in the gallery. These are primarily family photos or of particular events, but I’m gradually adding more of a general portfolio.

Hot off the Memory Card

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:18:59 +0000

I publish a small selection of my best or most interesting photographs at my photoblog, Hot off the Memory Card.

In 2009, I published one new photo every day for each of the 365 days. The images were typically shot at the weekends so I could make to get interesting photos.

Dual Pricing

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:18:40 +0000

Dual Pricing was a small website which allowed the public to compare UK Sterling prices and the Euro equivalents being charged in Ireland. At this time, many shops would display both the Sterling and Euro prices and these could be entered into the site. The site would calculate the actual markup being applied by the shots by removing the differences in VAT and currency rates.

It was featured in national newspapers and several regional radio stations. Although previously hosted at dualpricing.ie, it is now archived at dualpricing.heroku.com (unmaintained)

Shutter Scouts

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:18:00 +0000

Like so many things, getting great photographs is about planning and being in the (cliched) right place at the right time. But landscape photographers don’t have any control over the weather conditions. The best we can do is to scout out potential locations, visualise the shots we want and the conditions we need, and hope we remember those great ideas when the weather Gods shine.

Shutter Scouts is a weather-forecast and notification service for landscape photographers. It acts like a smart notebook: you enter your ideas, the location and the desired weather conditions. Shutter Scouts will rank the ideas according to distance, and how well the weather and tidal conditions match. Need a beautiful moonlit shot of Kinsale, Ireland? You’ll need a full moon, clear skies, high tide and no wind. With Shutter Scouts, you have some chance of remembering this idea and catching this shot!

Shutter Scouts is currently in hibernation (technically, the app is up but I can’t justify the running/data costs without a good business model).