Inside View

Watching Giroptic 360 Delivery Schedule

IRELAND'S AUGUST BANK holiday weekend has arrived but my Giroptic 360 camera hasn't. I reckon the Chinese production line has slowed down and that translates into another 40 day delay.

I had carved out a special spot where I could connected the camera to a mains power source for several hours before creating my first 360 video. And I hope I can do that before mid-September.

Google Shares Where You Work

Screenshot from my Xperia phone.

WHEN I FIRST SAW the names of people on my Google Maps next to pinpoints where they worked, I remembered that I told Google that I did not mind sharing my home or work location (and then I spoofed my home location).

The screenshot (above) shows the names of several people I wouldn't mind meeting over a cup of coffee when going to Dublin. The embedded image (below) shows what you might see if you ever find yourself near the work stations of some of the most creative animators and multimedia production students in Ireland.

Sitting down on a Point of Interest

WE HAVE ON-BOARD maps that guide us to Points of Interest (POIs) and handheld maps that show starred POIs that follow us as we upgrade phones and browsers. Today, I sat down on a POI from 1942, read supporting documentation about the POI (see photo below and my Northern Ireland photoset) and recorded some thoughts about the whole process that I hope will cause my five year old son to retrace my steps when he inherits my POI dataset as part of his family heritage.

Six Unorthodox Productivity Methods h/t @FortuneMagazine

The 15 June 2016 Fortune Magazine offers six unorthodox methods some companies have tried to boost employee output. I've written some of these ideas down in my journal (below).

No Weeping Now with Parade

WE ARRIVED in Northern Ireland during Parade Season and every fourth town within easy driving distance has a parade on July 12th. While the drums beat, I spent part of a quiet morning looking out at part of the 350 acres that comprised RAF Greencastle, lands surrounding the cottage where we are staying.

Rumbling B-17 Above Sand Cottage #kilkeel

WHEN MY IRISH in-laws were toddlers, the rumbling sound of Boeing B-17 bombers roared overhead Sand Cottage, a very quiet self-catering bungalow just outside Kilkeel in Northern Ireland.

Saving those young voices

I HAVE A GADGET drawer full of cables, microphones and recorders and our two kids enjoy cobbling together audio equipment in order to create sound clips they can record and share.
Our preferred method of recording involves using a local app (Alon MP3 or iOS or HiQ MP3 on Android) and then uploading to my blog or to AudioBoom. We also use Anchor, a free app on iOS.
The handy thing about local recording is knowing a smart background process is saving the audio clips into OneDrive where we can pull the clips for remixing. I really wish my dad had recorded myself and my four brothers while we were growing up but that was before cassette recording. So I'm doing my part with smartphones and cables.
[Photo of XLR Dylan.]

First Time for Northern Parades #kilkeel

AFTER 20 YEARS in Ireland, I'm going to see my first parade in Northern Ireland. I expect to see placards about #remain in view since most of the voters in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU during the recent Brexit referendum.

We will be near Kilkeel in County Down, enjoying the coastline and sampling local cuisine, including fresh prawns and excellent ice cream. Since data roaming charges will kill my discretionary funds, I don't expect to use my phone while outside the Republic of Ireland. But I am downloading 175 MB of Google Maps for the Kilkeel area along with a wealth of Trip Advisor tips before we leave for the three hour and 22 minute journey north of the border.

On Being A Light Amidst The Darkness

There is darkness all around us. This week, of all weeks, that is clear.

Young black men shot by police thousands of mile apart - and then five police officers killed in an ambush by an angry assailant seemingly intent on vengance. Police officers, in this case, who were doing their jobs of protecting a peaceful protest against those earlier shootings.

Just a week earlier a bomb exploded at an airport in Istanbul, Turkey killing over 40 people and injuring hundreds more... a terrorist attack at a bakery claimed over 20 lives in Dhaka, Bangladesh... a weekend bombing in a market in Baghdad, Iraq, left close to 300 dead... and bombs rocked three cities in Saudi Arabia, including near a mosque in the holy city of Medina.

via www.danyork.com

When I feel totally lost, I try to listen to words of others who have walked through the darkness instead of despairing about the chaos around them.

RT @magsamond 100 Days until #CodeEU

TWITTER NOTIFICATIONS tell me we are within 100 days of Code Week EU. We're planning on doing our part in this highly important initiative alongside Get Coding Kids.