We have uploaded pictures and audio from River Valley’s annual day celebrations on 24 December. This was a chance for colleagues from our three offices to meet informally. Most talks and songs are in Malayalam, but at least you can look at some pictures!!
Archive for the 'Work' Category
Louis Braille, the inventor of the reading and writing system for the blind, was born exactly 200 years ago. I listened to an inspiring BBC podcast about him this morning. His genius was such that the system is used today unchanged, and allows the blind to read at some 120 words per minute. Braille invented his system at the age of 15, and died by the age of 43 of tuberculosis. Continue reading ‘Mathematics for the blind’
Second time I have been amazed with technology today! This is a clever ad for a mini. The magazine has a bold black and white pattern of circles. You go to a web page (in German), switch on your webcam and hold the magazine (or a print of the pattern from the web site) in front of the webcam. Continue reading ‘Amazing interactive 3D display’
Here is an innovative way to input text on touchscreens. The guys who brought us T9, the predictive text input method now on most mobile phones, have now come up with a new way of entering words without lifting the finger or stylus off the screen. The computer will guess which word we are trying to type. I look forward to trying it out on the iPhone when it is released.
I have just discovered Evernote which is a great application for filing anything from ideas to pictures to business cards. You have to see it to believe it. I recommend you look at the introductory video on their site. It works particularly well in conjunction with the iPhone camera. Here is what has been most useful for me: Continue reading ‘Evernote’
Here is one of those moments where I said to myself: “I wish I had thought of that”.
Several episodes of the classic British comedy series “Dad’s Army” were thought to have been lost, due to the original videotape being wiped for re-use, some 40 years back. Then someone recently found black and white copies on 16mm film. Better than nothing, but of course colour infomation gone for ever – or so you would think. Continue reading ‘Colour retrieved from black and white film’
A couple of days ago we visited the site of our new office with our architects. Progress is good, and we are still on course for a February handover. I am really excited.
Sundays in Trivandrum are when I like to drop into the houses of our staff. Life here is simpler than in the west, and Sundays are usually spent at home with family and relatives who usually live nearby. I don’t like to give too much notice of my arrival, firstly so that they do not go to the trouble of preparing something special (according to local hospitality) and secondly because I am keen to see everyday life of our staff. Shan is my usual partner in crime, helping me find the houses, not always an easy task even when you have the address.
Yesterday we were invited to the marriage of Shalini, a staff member at River Valley. The ceremony is very brief, and can easily be missed by the guests, which numbered around 1000, typical in Kerala weddings. The huge costs of this brief gathering is on the shoulders of the bride’s family!
Take a look at this:
What is special about it? Well, it is made automatically from a 3D computer model, using a 3D printer. That’s right, a printer that produces a 3D object. These have been around for a long time, often called “rapid prototypers”, but have been very expensive. At last they are becoming affordable. This “print” is a sample kindly given to me by Remco Hosman who has just started a bureau service for printing in Amsterdam. Continue reading ‘3D printer’
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