From 1984 to 1986 - My Sinclair Spectrum 48k

Reminiscing About the Playability of Spectrum 48k Games

Games are so much more sophisticated these days. Combining virtual reality and incredible 3D graphics....But sometimes I think back fondly to 3 summers in the 1980s (84-86) playing games like Jet Pac, Elite, The Great Escape, Boulder Dash, Manic Miner and Chuckie Egg on my trusty ZX Spectrum 48k.

Sure the keys were just rubber and often wore out from heavy keyboard bashing, trying to make your tiny pixel character jump from platform to platform, but the keyboard also had a comforting familiarity.

Games would take 5 minutes to load, making an unforgettable screeching noise as the data was transferred from casette tape to the computer.

Today there are PC emulators allowing you to play some of these old games, some of those are listed at http://www.worldofspectrum.org/, as well as screenshots of archived games.

Some of my friends had Commodore 64s, others BBC Microcomputers and even Oric-1s. But I would not have swapped any of those for my trusty old 48k Spectrum.

Hat's off to you Sir Clive Sinclair for creating a platform to brighten up rainy 80s summer days, with some thoroughly entertaining £1.99 games.

 

 

Toshiba demos 'Lytro chip,' converts phones to light-field cameras - See more at: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/mobile-phone/3428686/toshiba-demos-lytro-chip-converts-phones-to-light-field-cameras/#sthash.Wg2IRxtE.dpuf

Toshiba demos 'Lytro chip,' converts phones to light-field cameras - See more at: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/mobile-phone/3428686/toshiba-demos-lytro-chip-converts-phones-to-light-field-cameras/#sthash.Wg2IRxtE.dpuf

Toshiba demos 'Lytro chip,' converts phones to light-field cameras - See more at: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/mobile-phone/3428686/toshiba-demos-lytro-chip-converts-phones-to-light-field-cameras/#sthash.Wg2IRxtE.dpuf

3 Apps - Shopify, Xero and Vend Help Business Thrive

Taylor Stitch's Sales Triple After Implementing APPs

It's clear that the internet has revolutionised how we shop and discover new products. In this story from entrepreneur.com we learn about Michael Maher, Barrett Purdum and Mike Armenta's menswear shop "Taylor Stitch" and how business boomed.

This was in part thanks to a new strategy utilising Shopify to handle their e-commerce, Xero for bookkeeping duties and VendHQ to handle their store transactions. These apps cost around $200 per month but reaped almost immediate dividends:

".....Taylor Stitch's sales have tripled each year since launch and are expected to reach $1.5 million this year...."

If you operate an ecommerce store or online business, it may be worth having a closer look at the 3 apps listed above.

Thanks, Scott

Mobile Application Development Environments

A Rainy Day Brightened By An Interesting Read

Looking out of the window right now it's clear that the rain will be thwarting me from walking the dog this morning.

Thankfully there are some good articles to read, indeed a local Aberdeen company that I think highly of, Intellicore, have been cranking out some quality reports of late.

Here's a great one about understanding different development environments that is well worth a look if this topic is your cup of tea, here's a quote from the article:

".....When it comes to developer tools, Apple's Xcode is up there with some of the best. Xcode allows users to develop applications for both OSX and iOS and includes the instruments analysis tool, iOS simulator and the latest Mac OS X and iOS SDKs. The Xcode interface is incredibly easy to navigate and use and includes several helpful features....."

Frankly I thought they were all Windows fanboys up there at Intellicore, but reading the quote quickly above dispels that myth :)

Anyway back to my toast and coffee.

Best, Scott

Helpful Software an Aid to Visually Challenged Students?

Satvir Singh's Braille-Enabled Assistive Software

I stumbled across this interesting story from the Times of India this morning, highlighting the achievements of Satvir Singh, a student with visual disabilities. He was the first in India to use Braille-enabled software to take his exams in 2006, what's more he developed this himself!

Digging around I discovered that this software is called "Braille Face" and translates Braille into the Hindi language. At the moment not many others have been able to utilise this, however recently one of the exam boards in India has decided to allow students to also use assistive software to help them to take their exams. 

Hopefully like Satvir Singh they pass with flying colours! 

Cheers, Scott

Aberdeen Soup Kitchen Hailed As Success

Steve Bothwell and Daniel Roberts Try To Help Aberdeen's Homeless

There have been some harrowing stories in Scotland of late, especially related to the weather. Most people would have heard that recently almost 100 residents in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, were evacuated from their homes when the River Carron burst its banks and the water worryingly rose to waist-height in places.

That's why it's good to hear some positive news for a change and this story from the Evening Express definitely falls into that category.

The owner of an Aberdeen restaurant today hailed the success of a soup kitchen. Steve Bothwell, who runs Café 52, student Daniel Roberts, who was homeless as a teenager, and friend Eilidh White helped run the successful event.

You can read more about this story here at the Evening Express.

Workflows and Dialogs

The Difference Between Workflows and Dialogs in CRM

The end of the calendar year is almost upon us, and quality posts are not suprisingly thin on the ground in this winter season. Thankfully Intellicore has an interesting post over at their blog highlighting the difference between workflows and dialogs.

They reveal that there are 5 distinct differences between workflows and dialogs.

If you're interested in reading more, click here.

Logo Change: Out With The Old In With The New

A Much Needed Design Makeover For This Website

Just a quick note, I recently received a less than salubrious comment about the old header here at Softwareaberdeen.co.uk from a Website visitor.

The header hadn't been resized correctly, and frankly on some browsers looked like a piece of clip art that had randomly been tacked onto the header section of the site.

Frankly I threw it together back in april using the Photofiltre software program, at the time I was quite please with my amateurish effort, but now on reflection the new logo in the top right part of the site looks much better.

I hope you like it! It may be in a few months I decide to update it again, but in the meantime out with the old and in with the new as the old cliche goes.