Edinburgh Software

Combining Two Hobbies

2011-03-14T08:28:00.000-07:00

Currently I study Software Engineering in Edinburgh, during my time at Heriot-Watt, one thing I have been proud of is representing the University in the British University Karting Championship. Our team was organised and led by Keith Wilson and we have competed in both 2010 and 2011.

Here are five pictures from our latest round, I've tried to vary them rather than just showing the karts racing on the circuit.

The racing is intense for the duration with 35 karts on circuits around 1km long. Both photos are roughly halfway through a 25 minute sprint race with constant battles around the track.

I recently bought a cheap Opteka 0.20X Fisheye lens, it's now permanently stuck onto the 18-55mm which came with the camera. In my opinion it really spices up what is otherwise a fairly average (and underused) lens. Both pictures were taken just before the drivers began their races.

Driving back to Edinburgh from South Wales we were greeted with a flurry of snow, the visibility wasn't great but we carried on through the darkness. I'm not sure whether I like the illuminated road sign yet, I may remove it in post processing.

Cheers,
Drew
Edinburgh Software

My Introduction to Photography

2011-03-07T20:02:00.000-08:00

Towards the end of completing a placement as part of my Software Engineering degree in Edinburgh, I set off on a roadtrip around Europe. The main attraction was the Nürburgring Nordschleife and Spa Francorchamps, I'll save these for another post at some point. I'd been hankering for a DSLR for a while and the morning of us leaving, about 3 hours before the ferry, I blasted across town and bought a Canon from Currys. Not my most well thought out decision, but not one I've regretted since. Here are a small selection of my personal favourite photos from late 2010 and early 2011.

My flickr account is available at: flickr.com/bicycleshorts.

I am really enjoying photography as a new hobby but making sure to keep it fairly relaxed. I enjoy scrolling through other photographer's pictures but I'm avoiding reading tutorials and making the whole thing a little too clinical and precise.

Cheers,
Drew
Edinburgh Software

Modern Customer Service

2011-02-20T06:21:00.000-08:00

Why is bad customer service still around? The worst part is I'm talking about products/services aren't cheap, especially in the current climate. I thought I would make a list of my recent experiences:
The good:
- Balgeddie House Hotel, Fife: Planning my wedding here, they have been supportive, flexible and extremely helpful.
- Illegal Jacks, Edinburgh: Friendly staff, they were more than happy to help out (especially with choosing a Brewdog beer for some of my uninitiated friends).
- Caley Sample Room: The bar staff are great at pairing beers with food, or helping you choose as the night progresses. There is a problem though (see the ugly).
- Appellation Wines: Ashton is a great bloke, his staff are knowledgeable and helpful, the tastings are fantastic.
- Chat Le Roi, Antwerpen: Thoroughly recommend this café/bar to anyone who visits Antwerpen, one barmaid in particular was excellent, she basically organised our day and night in the city for us.

The bad:
- Virgin Active, Edinburgh Omni: Made absolutely no mention that my membership wasn't 'reciprocal', meaning I couldn't use other VA gyms. For me, this was bad salesmanship, misuse of the English language and mis-selling. I took it up with the Edinburgh Omni staff as well as the management, they weren't interested and wouldn't let me cancel my 3-month membership 2 months in.
- Vodafone: Generally their customer service was excellent, my issue is that they 'forgot' to ring me to tell me my contract was up and would have been more than happy to continue charging me after the due date had I not rang up to cancel. Very sneaky.
- Linden Hall, Northumberland: Why was the wedding coordinator so completely uninterested in our custom? Especially given the cost of their wedding packages, very disappointing.

The ugly:
- The Caley Sample Room is such a nice pub, I thought I would be going for years to come. Last night, the manager decided the best way to get a bunch of regulars to leave at closing up time was to tell us to "'expletive' off". As if this wasn't bad enough, while outside chatting, he decided to cause trouble and even asked if I would like to take my argument, "you shouldn't treat regulars like that, or they'll stop being regulars", down the street?! ~~Never going back and never recommending again~~ Update: The assistant manager of the CSR approached me in a different pub, half way across town, last night and apologised abundantly.

So what are your experiences around Edinburgh? Where are the best places to get excellent customer service?

Cheers,
Drew
Edinburgh Software

Removing the Facebook 'Pop up' Photo Viewer

2011-02-17T12:45:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, Facebook implemented a 'pop up' type viewer into their photo. Asides from creating an annoying black window over the top of your feed, it also stops you copying the link location - something I've found quite useful in sharing images with people outside your network/not on facebook.

I'm not the first person to find this trick to get rid of it, and there are some useful extensions and scripts available for various browsers. I am documenting this to try and spread the word around the internets as well as offering a simple image for people to send the less IT literate of us.

Edit: A friend (Andrew Dodd) has just pointed out that opening the image in a new tab (middle click or right click->open in new tab) rather than left clicking on it also works in both Firefox and Chrome (it's not possibly in Chrome).

Cheers,

Drew

Edinburgh Software

Software Contracting in Edinburgh

2011-02-14T13:56:00.000-08:00

I am currently finishing my studies at Heriot-Watt University, in Edinburgh. For 5 years I have been studying Computer Science, then moved to Software Engineering. I began a software contracting company a year and a half ago to work on some software side projects, as well as over summer breaks, alongside my degree. Over the years I've worked for some great software companies around Edinburgh, I've been really privileged and hope I can continue meeting enthusiastic people in the future.

I plan on starting a small blog to discuss my studies, my employment and my side projects. I've recently began venturing into photography and, while taking a more relaxed approach, think I've taken some pretty good snaps. I hope to get some good pictures this year in my free time with my non-software hobbies.