Technology - now working and on the blink

After finishing university for Christmas I've been busy. 1 live and another VT show. But that's normal.

I've spent some of the past couple of days setting up a test server for AllDay DJ (I'm now operating 2). The system is streaming fine from an old Duron 1.6GHz box I've got kicking around the house. This is all complete with in-house "Donkey FM" jingles. Well, you've got to test it with realistic audio. :P

Although I now have a few test rigs, development has come to a standstill at the moment due to university commitments. Specifically, I've got a sizable solo software development project to complete by April. It eats up a fair amount of time.

On another topic - we've had some technology fail. I'm currently shacking up with family for Christmas where they have a Sky HD box. All well and good, except it's throwing up an error. Specifically moaning about a lack of HDCP (encrypted content protection) support on the TV. Odd for something that's worked fine for a number of months. I've got a funny feeling that it's the set top box on the blink. However, the usual sky box fixes don't work. Go figure...

Pronouncing Local Names On Air

Local radio is made up of a number of different local aspects - stories, views, geographical knowledge, etc. Well, at least that's what it's supposed to be and most stations do it.

However, one issue that comes up from time to time is pronouncing place names. It can make you stick out like a sore thumb if you get a name obviously wrong. However, with a lot of names there's even some disagreement between the locals.

Take the example of Crossford, a village near Dunfermline. Is it crossf-OAR-d or crossf-OR-d? I'm more likely to pronounce it OAR, but that's due to going to school in the Dunfermline area.

My personal point of view is local place names should be pronounced properly if possible (be prepared to see "flem" on pronunciation sheets in Scotland!) otherwise phonetically.

As an exercise - why not try to figure out these Scottish place names that are occasionally mispronounced on air:

Kirkcaldy

East Wemyss

Scone

Falkirk

Broughty Ferry

And the answers (from my personal knowledge, may be wrong, etc.):

Kirkcaldy - Kirk-aw-dy

East Wemyss - East Weems

Auchtermuchty - As spelt but "ch" is as per the Scottish loch

Scone - Skoon

Falkirk - Fall-kirk

Broughty Ferry - Br-aw-ty Ferry

Feel free to add your viewpoint or pronunciations you see wrong all the time in the comments section.

Raisin Weekend

Ah, it's almost upon us - one of the strangest traditions I've ever seen. It maily consists of academic families getting drunk and finishes with  the children having a foam fight in the quad. It's another one of these uni traditions I don't get invloved in. However, the people I live with have academic children this year so I' ve got no choice.

Let's just hope they don't make too much of a mess!

A 64-bit problem

Just as my workload shoots up, a problem is discovered in AllDay DJ. It's an interesting one at that. It turns out that one of the libraries AllDay DJ makes use of no longer exists in the 64-bit Microsoft operating systems (Windows Vista/7) but does in the 32-bit version. There's a supposed workaround for this and I'm looking to test it as soon as I can get a hold of a 64-bit OS ofr my machine.

In other news, I thought I'd take 5 mins from my day to see if the code for v3 I haven't touched in a while works on Linux. It does! Check out the screenshot below:

[caption id="attachment_177" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Screenshot Of AllDay DJ 3 in Linux"][/caption]

In my humble opinion, it doesn't look too bad on an Ubuntu desktop.

Hibernate-ification

I decided to take the plunge today. Thanks to the magic of version control it's not an irreversable plunge but still a big one to take. I've decided to refactor the database code for AllDay DJ 3.

A few hours in and I'm most of the way there. That may be down to a bit of forward planning though - I designed the database code around the idea of "repositories". I.e. if you want to store or retrive something, you do it in the repository. Thankfully that all fits into the Hibernate approach.

Yup, I've gone for the complete ORM (Object Relational Modelling) approach. It has the upshot for users of allowing you to choose what database engine you want to use (providing it's supported by Hibernate) and as a developer, I see reduced development time and a better tie into the object model.

As with all things in life - there's a down side. Joins are a mix of being easier and more complex (depending on the object relationships). One specific example that comes to mind is the design I've got for the schedule. I won't give too much away, so let's just say the database schema in v3 is far more normalised.

3G Access... Fun & Games

It's a well publicised option for getting internet on the move or if you've no landline. That's why I've had to take up such access. I may as well give you the highs and lows.

Well, I practically live under the tower, so reception is excellent. The service when accessable is nippy enough though it can be painful to use SSH over. The joys of the round trip time.

However, I have run into a slight issue. Look at the line above again - "when accessable". Yup - I've had a few connection issues. Though, that's down to the dongle. I tried the same SIM card on a mobile phone connected to the laptop via. bluetooth - no issues. Just excessively slow...

So, it's the best I've got and I can't complain too much about the service. It does seem a little better than travelling on the X24 makes it out to be.

The Great Move South

To say the last couple of weeks were chaos would be an understatement. I've made the move south of the border. For only a few months mind you, but it's still a big move anyway.

South of the border is a big place. So it's probably appropriate to give you more information. It's Bath I'm in. Working for a small but well known company over the next three months.

Now, I've only been here less than a week but it is possible to give my first impressions of Bath. It's a historic place (but then where isn't?) with architechture if you're into it. The place is only a few miles from Bristol but seems to be fairly seperated.

I'm currently staying in university halls. Floor 8 at that! So I'll probably be a bit fitter by the end of the summer. Talking of which, I plan to make a few weekend trips out of the place during the summer break. I've been to Bristol before, however, last time I was in the place, the bus I was on crashed. So it's probably not a good move to return too quickly. But there are other options, I can explore the "west" or even venture east towards London.