Icon Finder

I stumbled upon this pretty cool site that helps you find icons. Quite useful when making a quick app. Link below.

FindIcons

Mapper - Map now rotates to follow user's direction

I found a property of the user's current location that shows the direction of motion. On every user update, I rotate the view to reflect the user's new direction. I'll post a more in depth tutorial when I have time. Check out the screenshot below to see it in action.

WikiSpeedster - update

I've got the refresh URL working, but I'm having some trouble adding speed signs to the database. They don't seem to be received on the other end when I do a subsequent refresh.

I also had a problem with mapView didUpdateUserLocation, as it was only called one time. Turns out I needed to link the mapView object to a map view in the xib. Once I added that in it worked fine. Updated screenshot below.

Article Summarization using Machine Learning

There's nothing more fun than writing a machine learning algorithm while watching Terminator. I decided to take a crack at summarizing tech articles without any knowledge of existing algorithms. I used ruby to make a script that stored memory in one file, and filtered output in another file. The filtered output is somewhat "choppy", but I think it did an alright job. The links to the articles, as well as my summaries can be found below.

Facebook profiles accurately predict job performance

Summary:
profile That s the advice conscientiousness extraversion agreeableness and neuroticism Six months later the researchers compared evaluations of are of course subjective but job seekers shouldn t necessarily worry that they need to clean up their Facebook profile For instance Don Kluemper one of signaled openness to new experiences and adventurousness while also looked at evaluations drawn from Facebook profiles and academic success Kluemper says that report which included a larger sample 244 and found academic Kluemper Despite the studies companies shouldn been enough research yet to definitive connection between profiles and job offers indicator done

Google to sell heads up display by years end

Summary:
data connection tilting scroll month We are told it is very quick learn and once user adept at navigation it becomes second nature almost indistinguishable low resolution built actively discussing and dozens futuristic projects One most rather than like those that people see on smartphones The glasses will send data to looked at about potential business models with Disruptions column last year Apple engineers are also exploring wearable computing but the company is taking a different route focusing on computers that strap around someone s wrist Last week The San Jose Mercury News discovered plans by Google to build a 120 million electronics testing facility that will be involved in testing precision optical technology

Googlighting

Summary:
other just watch video above It s raises some very valid points Change is hard for everyone Switching from Office to Google Docs isn t an easy switch Many features are still missing from Google s productivity suite It s not a direct replacement Typing in the cloud editing Microsoft Office might be disappearing from some shops but others rely on it as much as the office s coffeepot Google will no doubt fire back with its own quirky advert You can always count on Microsoft and Google s marketing department for a good show


It obviously needs some tweaking, but I think it's a start for an hour's work.

Keys of Learning

This is my Fourth Year Design project at the University of Waterloo. It's been 8 months in the making, and is due in March. The goal is to provide a better learning mechanism for kids trying to learn how to play the piano. The solution consists of an embedded tablet and Arduino board to process mistakes and show corrections.

Pictured below is the custom shell I'm building to hold the piano. Once it has been built it will be stained either red or blue (or another eye catching color). The main blocker at the moment is installing electromagnets into the keys to actuate their movement (similar to a player piano) for teaching purposes.

WikiSpeedster

I stumbled upon a website called www.wikispeedia.org which aims to store every speed limit sign in the world online. They do this thanks to users who submit data through a smart phone app as they find them. The app links their current location to the speed sign value, which is then stored in the database.

I'm in the process of making my own app to do this; screenshots below. Later on I'm planning on using their database for an app I have in mind. I should have the app finished in a few hours' time, hopefully sometime tomorrow.

Mapper - New Settings page

For now it only controls map type and signing in to social networks. Might add a few more features eventually. I'm using the background from the notification center as the views background. Looks sick.

Mapper

Mapper is an iPhone application I made to use while I'm driving. I was originally using the native iPhone map, but I got tired of constantly having to find my location repeatedly.

Mapper automatically locks on to your location as you move. It also scans your address book and adds every contact with an address. If that contact has a phone number, that too is displayed on the pin's pop-up box. Clicking on a pin (like in the picture) and clicking call will call that person. Clicking message will record your voice and translate it into text for use in a text message (currently under construction, which is what the play button is for). I've also extended the status bar, adding speed, current city, and temperature. There's also a button that marks your parking spot, which can be useful.

Check for it in the app store in a few months when I get all the features completed.

Zebes

This is my Zebes box, running Ubuntu 11.10. I've set it up a 130GB partition as a Time Machine backup for my Mac. Works pretty well for the time being, but backups seem to be wiped clean every two weeks or so. :/

MovieHub

Several months ago I decided to create MovieHub, a web based controller for the movies stored on my local server, Tourian (which is hooked up to a flatscreen). The server is running WAMP, so it can only be accessed locally. I wrote a php script that scans my movie and TV folder, inserts them in a database to keep track of ratings and play counts, and then displays them using some basic HTML. I also found a handy html parser which I use to search the movie on Google images, and use the first result as the movie poster.

MovieHub web interface 

When the image/title are clicked, the movie begins playing on the TV hooked up to Tourian. This means any device with an internet browser is now a controller. Ont op of this, I've made an iPhone app which does the same thing (I was getting annoyed with looking at the web interface on my iPhone).

MovieHub iPhone interface

One caveat is in order to get VLC to play the movie, VLC needs to be running. This is because I'm using the HTTP interface for VLC (accessible at localhost:8080 or something), which is what the VLC remote uses. This problem only occurs on Windows, since Linux and Mac (?) let you take over the screen.

Hello World!

I'm creating this blog to keep track of all the projects I'm working on. Feel free to send me a message if you want to help out.