Archive for January, 2010
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
TechMeetup Aberdeen #3 – 20th January 2010
On 20th January yet another great night was had at TechMeetup Aberdeen, although the turnout was slightly smaller this month. We kicked off with the usual networking, fuelled by beer and pizza.
Fully Configurable Video Encoding
The evenings talks began with brilliant introduction to Fully Configurable Video Encoding, given by James Philp of RGU. James started by introducing video compression and giving some examples of why it’s needed. He then discussed market needs, such as internet TV and hardware encoding, and the potential solutions offered by a run-time configurable video codec. From there he went on to demonstrate the universal decoder that the team at RGU are working on and its uses/advantages etc.
The talk was well received with many questions being asked during the Q&A session that followed the talk. Issues of security, power on restricted devices and potential effects on standards were discussed.
Care and feeding of Techies
The second talk was given by local business owner Pete Henderson. Pete gave an informative and entertaining talk about the ups and downs of running a software business, and taking it from start-up to international company. Pete started out programming in RM-BASIC and HP/L offshore during the 80’s. In 1988 he started a product development company, then called Aardvark (check out the video for the reason why!), now Pisys. He gave a brief run-through of the company’s history, giving sound advice along the way on pitfalls to avoid, things to remember and how to manage different types of teams. Pete finished off by telling us where he envisioned Pisys going in the future and then taking some questions from the audience.
The videos for James’ and Pete’s talks are now available on Vimeo.
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
TechMeetup Glasgow #8
Boom,boom, boom, it’s 2010 and time for the 1st TechMeetup Glasgow of the year. We’ve got two great speakers lined up with a great opportunity to meet both old and new tech acquaintances. As usual the great people at Wellness & Health Innovation are making it possible enjoy the evening with some pizza and beer.
The speakers this month once again span the technology world. Presenting this month are:
John Carlos presenting on the experiences of building http://www.thisiscentralstation.com/, a creative social network for people interested in art, film and design
Jay Jagpal talking about Adobe Flash & Flex, how it can be used today and how it will drive iPhone and multitouch development tomorrow.
So if that sounds like a great line up, come along. We’re in the usual place, the glorious Saltire Centre at Caledonian University, at the usual time 7pm for beer & pizza. Talks start 8pm sharpish and we finish up by 10pm. If you’ve never attended a TechMeetup, don’t worry – we’re a friendly bunch. No need to pay, register, or even let us know that you’re coming. Just bring yourself, your bonne humeur, and your inquisitive tech-mind.
TechMeetup #8
Kick-off at 7pm, finishing at 10pm.
Ground floor of the Saltire Building.
Glasgow Caledonian University
See you next week.
P.S. You can download a map to the Saltire Centre from here. We’re in building “10″.
Thanks to Wellness & Health Innovation and Glasgow Caledonian University for making TechMeetup Glasgow possible and successful.
The videos for Carlos’ and Jay’s talks are now available on Vimeo.
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
Tech Meetup Aberdeen #3 – 20th January 2010
A Happy New Year to everyone!
The time & location: Wed, 20th Jan, North Side Meston Building, Aberdeen Uni (map) 6:30 onwards.
The show must go on as they say and we are starting the year with two great talks. The first talk is from Pete Henderson who will discuss the ups and downs of running a technical software company. The second talk from James Philp will show us how to end the never ending search for the right video codec. There will be pizza & beer too of course.
Care and feeding of Techies
Pisys are a software development company with offices in Aberdeen, Houston and (strangely) Swansea and Oldmeldrum. They specialise in a range of products for a number of diverse markets – from school performance management systems to multi million $ immersive training simulators.
In this talk founder Pete Henderson will talk about the many ups, occasional downs and the often surreal experience of running a technical software company.
Fully Configurable Video Coding: The future of digital video
Imagine never again having a video that won’t play because of an unknown or obscure codec.
Imagine never needing to replace a set-top box whenever a new broadcast technology is invented.
Fully Configurable Video Coding represents a major step forward in how video is transmitted to the consumer.
Using sophisticated techniques, the software required to decode a video sequence by the end user is sent along with the video sequence data itself. This results in both improved performance and a quick and easy way for developers to get their new video coding techniques to the end user without the headache of waiting for widespread market adoption of their ideas.
Hope to see you all there.