I quite enjoyed Chemistry in Secondary School: I think I even did a CSYS course in it. However, I remember always having problems with the concept of a Mole and the calculations surrounding it. I’m not sure if I was being particularly dim, or just didn’t have enough context be able to relate to itContinue reading “Moles, Avogadro’s Number, and Atomic Mass Units”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Turn it Off and On Again
I’ve been doing a lot of interesting projects recently, so I decided to restart my blog. I wanted to keep the old articles, mainly for my own interest: However, I think things like the etched brass domino mask I made are still pretty cool. I decided to use WordPress.com, which meant I had to rescueContinue reading “Turn it Off and On Again”
Interactive fiction
Great! Finally found a decent IF interpreter for android: text fiction Now playing Anchorhead on my tablet. Really liking the SMS style interface, and it works really well with the android slidy keyboard.
Mobile development on Android and iOS
I’ve been doing a spot of iOS and android development for some sample apps today, which I’ve not done for a while. TL/DR: Yuck, ObjectiveC is a horrible blast from the past. Yuck, Java is a horrible blast from the past. About even then 🙂
MongoDb optimisation for scale
I redesigned the schema for one of our MongoDb clusters today. In doing so, I managed to reduce request times by 1.5 orders of magnitude! We’re now sustaining request times of roughly 30ms. The first mongo schema was about 400ms on average, with occasional bursts to over a second. 30ms is also much better thanContinue reading “MongoDb optimisation for scale”
PHP MongoDb replicaset gotcha
Ran into a gotcha with PHP+MongoDb the other day. Now, PHP ain't my favourite language, but its what Piwik is written in so I'm stuck with it for that. I've partially ported Piwik to use mongodb (vs mysql) as a storage system for scalability reasons. The problem is that if you're connecting to a mongodbContinue reading “PHP MongoDb replicaset gotcha”
Return to the joggler
Now that Intel have a slightly less crap driver for the Poulsbo/GMA500 chipset, with the more recent EMGD driver, I’ve converted one of my O2 Jogglers to be a touchscreen media player in the kitchen. I’m using Arch Linux, and I’ve just released some AUR packages to support it. If you install: joggler-xorg-conf linux-joggler It’ll have aContinue reading “Return to the joggler”
A Walk in the Wind
A 15 minute walk in the winds currently battering Edinburgh. NOTE: This is a binaural recording; you MUST use headphones to get the proper effect!
check_fus
While I'm at it, Check_fus Downloader is a windows app, which can download and decrypt official Samsung firmware updates directly from Samsung's servers. Avoids having to hunt about on forums!
GAN / UMA / WIFI Calling / Signal Booster on the Galaxy S II
I’ve been happily using my Galaxy S II for the last few months, and of course I’ve replaced the original firmware with a custom one. However, recently a colleague acquired one as well. His had the stock Orange firmware, and has a special app called “Signal Boost”. Searching around, I found that this is actuallyContinue reading “GAN / UMA / WIFI Calling / Signal Booster on the Galaxy S II”
