I’ve been busy developing lots of stuff lately. Most things will never make it on to my site, but that doesn’t mean I’m not hard at work. Here’s a quick overview.

Software development

  • I’m developing a limited IRC client with a fellow student as part of my Computer Networking course.
  • For my Multimedia Technology course, I’ve worked with another fellow student to implement simple lossy image compression of RAW files using DCT, quantisation and run-length encoding. It is limited to grayscale images in order to keep the assignment down to a manageable level. A grayscale YUV420 video encoder with lossy compression using RLE and P-frames is currently in the works.
  • A few months ago I finally started writing a Qt-powered version of ICS Notifier, a Google Calendar notifier that I’ve been using internally for a while. I first developed this idea last year and implemented it in C# using Microsoft Visual C#, but thanks to Qt and my improved programming skills I can make it work across platforms. Development is currently on indefinite hiatus though.

Website development

  • I’ve been working on a big update for The Belgian DVB-T Resource. The design will be done internally as well. I want to collect data the frequencies, channels, location and coverage area of Belgian DVB-T masts so that I can show people, given their postal code, which channels they will be able to receive and how they can tune in. I want to take my time to make look good and easy-to-use, so it may never even make it to the outside world.

    I’d also need certain data from Norkring/VRT and RTBF to make the improved coverage checker work. The screenshot on your right is a quick-and-dirty mockup of the frontpage and will improve before (and if) the site goes live. And yes, I will replace that royalty-free photo preview with an actually purchased copy if I go through with this.

Other stuff

  • Your Face is a SaxophoneI’m in the process of providing Dutch translation for Your Face is a Saxophone Episode 1. YFIAS is a fan-funded cartoon web series about an advertising agency.

    The Universal Subtitles website makes this process much easier than downloading the SRT file and doing it manually.
    Update: done! Hopefully the subs will make it into subtitles list of the official video.

  • As part of an assignment for my Science Philosophy course, I’m writing a paper on the impact of the internet on society. I’ll be looking at things like access to information and the effect of the internet on our attention spans. I’m also curious to see if people’s perceived value of copyrighted content has gone down because it’s so easy to create a copy of an MP3, a movie file or a piece of software. I won’t be doing original research for this course, but I will use existing work to find answers to these and other topics.