Tony is a Geek

Not an exhaustive list, but a very good one to skim through..... If you take nothing extra away from this, at least the ` NODE_ENV=production ` should be applied (3 times faster running) CHECK IT OUT HERE

Having a little bit of an internet wander over lunch, whilst at a customer site in London, I stumbled over this great resource.  Obviously, it raised an eyebrow for me as it's the next step up from Critter-bot :-D   ( I did say that I would wander off on the scope, didn't I...well, I'll finish the basic version first before venturing onto this project, I promise ) So checkout the interactive web page here that allows you to "drive" a virtual rover around: https://opensourcerover.jpl.nasa.gov/ Then, select the 2nd [O] dot on the right-hand side and you'll see it switch from the official Rover to the one you can build!  Select the 3rd [O] dot to get to the instructions..... Well, that'll just take you to the Github repo here:  https://github.com/nasa-jpl/open-source-rover The really good thing about this is that they have decided to use a Raspberry Pi as the "brain". Something we all have knocking around.  It looks like the motors ...

Apart from rebuilding my "old" Dell latitude 1501 (from about 2005) and breathing new more than capable life into it with a lubuntu installation (that is actually pretty awesome), I set about making this with my trusty new soldering iron: Yes, yes, those are pistons that those chips are going to be controlling...okay, maybe not... Mounted up on top of a Raspberry Pi Zero W...ready and waiting for me to write the code for them to do something.  Maybe next week... I'll also do a write-up of all the steps I've taken (there has been a lot of fiddling, screwing up and redoing going on), to get espeak / pocketsphinx and webcams to work consistently.

So, today after wrapping up the work-work, I decided that I was waaaaaay overdue digging out the Arduino's and Raspberry Pi's that I've got stuffed into various drawers. To be honest, I'd forgotten 1/2 the stuff I've bought over the past X period of time.  Turns out, I've got quite a few "spare parts" that actually can be put together to make a "whole". So I thought, hey, why not - it's been a while since I built the ArcTuRus (higher consciousness / sub consciousness - dual brained) robot, that is still sitting on the shelf (over there -----> ) This time though, I thought I'd just make a start at something simple, ie. get some navigation sorted out or movement via some motorised wheels and controlled by a motor-controller board, then use a usb mic to listen for commands and a usb speaker for shouting abuse at me and shoe-horn a camera in so the little critter can "see" the world around it and who knows, probably u...

" TensorFlow™ is an open source software library for high performance numerical computation. Its flexible architecture allows easy deployment of computation across a variety of platforms (CPUs, GPUs, TPUs), and from desktops to clusters of servers to mobile and edge devices. Originally developed by researchers and engineers from the Google Brain team within Google’s AI organization, it comes with strong support for machine learning and deep learning and the flexible numerical computation core is used across many other scientific domains. " And now, you can run TensorFlow on a Pi..... Check out the instructions here: https://www.tensorflow.org/install/install_raspbian One of these days, I'll get around to doing this.....but today, I'm too busy getting my 3D printer printing ABS properly for this Phone holder and watching a UMD of Dark Crystal .....

So, the word PostCast conjures up the 2000's post-internet bubble bursting era for me, I thought they'd died out and been replaced by online streaming services.... apparently not. Whilst re-organising the layout of my home office, I decided to move my re-configured AppleMac (now running UBuntu) to be closer to hand/ear. I fired up VLC and then I noticed Internet / Podcasts, so thought I'd do a DuckDuckGo search. Which took me here:  https://www.wired.co.uk/article/best-podcasts Which led me here:   https://www.gimletmedia.com/sandra Which is now currently playing in the background as I type this.  I'd forgotten how good audio-books were.  Actually, the Sandra podcast is rather amusing take on Alexa.  Give it a listen.  Feel free to point me towards any podcasts that you might like.

This is purely posted as a reminder that I need to purchase one of these (when I get the funds!) You can see my problem - I have to use a traditional jack to jack the vehicles up, then slide in wheel ramps under each wheel (it does the job) The MG F experience: The Subaru Sambar experience: The Standard Vanguard experience: Ah, so now you realise one of the problems.  I'd like to see you get that jack underneath the car to be able to get it up in the air to put the wheel ramps in place....oh and then go to the other end of the car and ....okay, trust me, without having to physically remove the bumpers each time, there is no way to jack up this car.  Yes, yes, it is a problem of my own making because I made it so low.  BUT, I just recently attempted to do some work under the front of our Fiat 500 and it was actually too low to get the trolley jack underneath also..... (yes, I'm trying to justify the purchase)

As you know, I've been a bit of a fanboi over the past year for all things to do with Virtual / Digital Humans ( Avatars - yes, I said that word ) UBS has teamed up with IBM and avatar biometrics outfit FaceMe to build two "animated digital assistants", which will now be tested over three months. CHECK OUT the original article here: https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/32350/ubs-puts-digital-clone-of-chief-investment-officer-in-branch What is of more interest to me is what technology is being used to make/render the Digital Humans. Enter (another) New Zealand based Digital company - ( it makes you wonder if all these companies originally did work on Lord Of the Rings or other similar movies and are now switching all that knowledge to this area? just a theory ) Anyway, here's another quick video showing the general offering from the FaceMe company .

There comes a time when it's not all about "you"... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-44696284 I met Debbie last week and she kind of changed my view on life quite a bit.  Sometimes we get so wrapped up in 'doing the work', we forget to sit back and take stock of just how much of an impact what we are doing is having (in a positive way) on real people living real lives. I'm truly humbled to be working on this initiative and helping to make people's lives better.

https://hackernoon.com/38-actions-and-insights-to-become-a-better-software-architect-f135e2de9a1b Just like this person, I get asked a lot "so what do you do?". Until a few years ago ( when I got caught out and it was very embarrassing ), I used to say, "Oh me, I'm a plumber".  Said in an Ironic Software development way, meaning I work on all the software plumbing that is hidden out of view, but is essential to making the things do what you need them to, not the literal "water based / kitchen / bathroom plumber person" ( of whom I have the utmost respect for, as they do a tremendous job that I am more than happy to pay for their services to do as it is beyond my skill set ).  Yep, that was an awkward 15 minutes chatting in a kitchen with a real plumber, wanting to open the oven, crawl inside and hope they walk away.  anyway.... So now, I just say, "Oh me, I help companies to build Skynet".  This creates two options of conversation co...