Tony is a Geek

I've been a little quiet on the "work orientated" technical / geek front for most of this year.  The main reason being, I re-focused my geeki-ness - mainly due to the work I was doing here last year: http://tonyisageek.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/ibm-bmw-and-iot.html Now, I've officially migrated to the IBM Watson group , where my role is to help transform businesses using Cloud based Cognitive technologies that can think like a human, using the IBM Watson API services. Here's an official Vodafone press release on something I've been contributing to: Vodafone to use artificial intelligence to speed up online queries TOBi, Vodafone’s new artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, is now helping some customers online It will be available soon in the My Vodafone app new messaging service as well, so customers can speak to advisors whenever they want Vodafone UK has launched TOBi – the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot – as an innovative way of offeri...

Millimeter-Scale Computing.  Real-life smart dust. The Cubisens TM   platform by CubeWorks enables the first truly autonomous wireless sensing platform measuring less than a millimeter. Cubisens systems are able to sense and process their environment, wirelessly transmit the results or store them for later usage. The versaltility of the Cubisens platform allows multiple units to be combined together to tackle larger monitoring and sensing applications CHECK THEM OUT HERE There is a great article (that led me to the above site), that you can read HERE.   Here's the snippet that caught my attention: ' The idea is to bring neural networks to the Internet of Things. “A lot of motion detection cameras take pictures of branches moving in the wind—that’s not very helpful,” says Blaauw. Security cameras and other connected devices are not smart enough to tell the difference between a burglar and a tree, so they waste energy sending uninteresting footage to the clo...

I was just pointed at this little gem by a good friend.  I am very impressed. "Joker Eco-system is an open hardware and open software project, available at fair price! First of all it’s a personal mobile Linux server with Intel x86 64-bit CPU and battery. Additional modules available – IoT, SDR, Storage, Network, E-Ink Display and many more." "Joker personal server now can move where you need it most. Thanks to Joker Walker module with two motors and treads. Neural networks (NN) used for  processing images  from camera and for  speech recognition . You can say “Hey Joker, follow me” or “Hey Joker, best WiFi signal” or implement your own features!" CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE I'll take one, including the main module, the empathy and walker modules please.  Then using the existing software I can achieve what I was attempting to do with ArcTuRus.  Yeah, I know, it's cheating a little bit...but hey, time is flying by and ArcTuRus has j...

My fun and games with a 2001 1.8i VVC MG F......... CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

During 2016, I was pondering a game idea, potentially using VR or AR about travelling about in a multi-dimensional universe.  As is always true, my concept & vision was set very very high - I had the vision, but lacked the skills & tooling to make it happen.  I got hold of Unity and UnrealEngine, took some courses on how to make basic things using C# and C++ for either engine, then....well, then work/work took a higher priority... isn't that always the way?  I see it more of a "delay it" than a "drop it", I will come back to my vision some time soon..... ...and then I noticed this little gem on KickStarter.  The vision sounds familiar, very familiar - there must have been something floating around the ether during 2016 that a few of us tuned into.  Well, I bow down to "Ed" for finding the time, having the patience and having access to a group of skilled people to help him with his vision.  I also love the 80s pixel approach. Have I backed...

Well, seeing as I spent quite a bit of time there last year , seems right to post the official news: CHECK OUT THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE "Some clients will be a permanent fixture at IBM offices in Munich. BMW employees will work at the new center to place Watson voice control into cars and explore ways to create personalized experiences." CHECK OUT THE IBM OFFICIAL SITE HERE

VR Desktop is an app for Mac that enables you to use a VR headset such as the Oculus Rift to interact with macOS in a Virtual Desktop Environment. With VR Desktop, users can work, game, or otherwise interact with their Mac while using a VR headset. You can load up custom virtual environments such as a Desk or Space scene, and create virtual screens for maximising productivity. There’s been many naysayers ruling out Mac as a VR platform. We’re here to prove that Macs are capable of useful VR applications. VR Desktop works on modern Macs with discrete graphics cards. VR Desktop is compatible with Oculus Rift DK2 and macOS 10.11 and later.  We are targeting Oculus Rift CV1 and HTC Vive support as soon as those devices support the Mac platform. Our sources tells us that HTC will be adding Mac support for Vive in Q1/Q2. Checkout the Product Website HERE Might be about time to dig out the Oculus Rift that is still boxed up under my desk and give it some use? ...

This is where the "magic" happens....well, when I'm not doing the above in various hotels.... You can look at it like this: or, you can look at it like that: and now that "work/work" has finished...time to put on some music and have some fun (you might have noticed some things have moved around) [full panoramic this time]:

On my retro-month journey, as I mentioned previously, I found a drawer with a broken  PSP 1000, a working PSP 1003  and a couple of games. I purchased a new PSU for the PSP 1003 device and a new higher capacity battery, when they arrived, I juiced them up and the PSP 1003 fire up and worked a treat.  I even managed to get it connected to the WiFi (albeit to the "guest network" as it needs to have security turned off). I downloaded the latest firmware, rebooted and it works great. Then, whilst wandering through town over the weekend, I noticed a couple of PSP 2003 devices in one of those cash convertor shop windows.  Whilst the missus was in the "knitting shop", I popped in asked to have a look.  Naturally, it had no PSU and no UMDs to test it.  For £15 I thought I'd take a gamble.... it looked to be in relatively good condition, no damage anywhere and the screen and buttons all felt pretty non-abused. I got home, plugged in the PSU and charged up th...

You have a laptop Mac.  You have a portable MiniDisc player.  You want the two to work together.  How on earth do you go about it?   Read on.....read on...... CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE UPDATE - Enhanced portable MiniDisc player AND a MiniDisc player "in the home"