Electronics

I’ve always been interested in electronics, ever since I was a young child. Though, when I was really young my interests were more about smashing spare electronics then doing anything constructive. Over time that changed and I developed a keen interest in learning how to build electronic devices.

Current Projects

Traffic Light My first idea for a project was a traffic light. Not a very exciting circuit compared to something like, say, Roomba… But a reasonable start that fulfilled one crucial project requirement: to use a Johnson Decade Counter and a 555 Timer.
Surreal Labs Toronto Information about the Toronto branch of Surreality Labs; A part time collaboration between myself and Randy Glenn. Although the Oakville branch can boast better lab facilities, my branch has a great view. We also have Hadley on our development team.

Past Projects

Jen’s Flashing Heart As part of my introduction to electronics, I purchased a kit to practice my soldering skills. On a trip to the parts stores with Randy and his crew of McMaster engineers I selected a flashing LED heart. The kit consisted of some LEDs, resistors, capacitors and a heart shaped board. The LEDs form two rows around the edge of the heart shaped board. The rows alternate their illumination flashing between the small heart and the larger outer heart. By the time i completed it… not all of the LEDs lit up. The outer row of hearts worked fine. However, the inner row had about half the LEDs out. Jen liked it anyway.

Software

Because it was easier to get into than electronics, I started playing with software first; Left the gear to Randy. Over time, I’ve gathered a strange mix of knowledge in different areas of software construction. I don’t write much code at work, anything I write takes the form of hobby project at home in my spare time.

Current Projects

Pi Times My friend Vivek was looking to publish some of his web comics quickly and on the cheap. So, we sat down one evening with Wordpress and put together Pi Times. Currently Vivek is running wild with content, pages and posts while I provide technical expertise and support. This is a hobby project in the truest sense with working being completed late nights and often over email.

Past Projects

Gravity Pad Gravity pad is the latest iteration of gravity toys i’ve coded. My first gravity toy was originally coded in QBasic after I discovered graphics mode. Recently, I discovered the Canvas tag implemented in Mozilla. After trying out a few drawing experiments and getting accustom to the Canvas object I started tinkering with gravity. Gravity Pad is the first workable version I produced.