the disruptive technologist
Smart Home – first fix completed
It’s been a few years since I pulled network cable and a good 13 years since I did my last Smart Home structured cabling job. I was brought in to survey & cable this new build in Mid Cheshire to primarily include… A hard data network to each room, TV/Sat distribution, CCTV, door/main gate surveillance/entry and breakout’s for up to 3 wall mounted TV’s. That sees the cabling hidden behind the wall until needed.
The owner has raised some concerns regarding internal EMF, primarily the 868Mhz band used by many home heating solutions.
Thus secondary to the primary installation, I am heading a small development team working on an alternative “hard cabled” environmental control system able to monitor multiple temperature sensors and adjust boiler and radiator feed to multiple zones.
Pub Website – Final changes/awaiting new menu’s & signoff
The first web site I have built specifically designed to support Mobile Browsing it is also the first to be built using a new Jason based page builder adopted late 2018.
My initial brief was a simple re-design and refresh of the existing site, adding content management for easy update… as the pub was near a favourite tourist area I emphasised phone friendly browsing to help capture local visitor traffic.
However I was soon to discover a week latter over lunch… a beautiful fillet of line caught cod in home made batter, (I politely turned down the offer of a 24oz Steak) this was not typical pub food. Viewing the specials board and seeing some of the other dishes being plated up in the kitchen, I decided the built website was not right for the business.
Rebuilding it at no extra cost, the new site is a lighter, brighter and restaurant themed with subtle pub overtones. Still overhauling the sites supplied imagery, I see this being a work in progress but worth the effort.
Pi, Raspberry Pi…
A small credit card sized computer, or in our case half a credit card. The Raspberry Pi was developed by Britain’s Raspberry Pi Foundation in 2012 to give people an introduction to real computing.
These tiny single board computers run Linux and carry a 40 pin I/O header allowing novices & experts to build their own inexpensive hardware/software projects.
Many of my former projects used readily available technologies, re-purposed for alternative uses… The Pi is forming the foundation of a new three stage development project that could see these little computers driving a number of industry changing solutions.
Hallmark Gold Crown Website – initial working design presented to client
In 2018, Hallmark began refreshing its Gold Crown Program by funding two corporate re-fits of stores in Northwest England. I have been asked by one of these, to build a new website to reflect the stores new branding and fresh new look.
This is an opportunity to build a creative, unique web presence within an established global brand using high quality imagery and established formatting. Simply put, all the content (that takes me a great deal of time to produce) is available under licensing.
The final draft will have to be submitted for approval to Hallmark, but I am confident the design will carry favour with their management team.