Mars Phoenix Lander

I nearly forgot to meantion that I watched the entire Nasa coverage of the Mars Phoenix Lander, land on Mars.

It was really exciting watching a Lander (first in my life-time) flawlessly land on another planet, first since 1976…

Catchup on things

Well It’s been over a month since my last post and I’ve been keeping busy with new projects and securing new busines for Network82.

We just become DivX DRM Partners, apparently the first in the UK since DivX DRM has only been live or a few months in the UK. I’ve been developing a tool that will use the DivX DRM API (flickQueue) and automated the Media Encryption process because it is quite complex and involved allot of file editing. But I’ve basically completed the tool and now adding the finishing touches so it automatically updates our main media control system. The DivX Encoding process on the DigitalRapid Encoder had some teething problems but we’ve managed to get it working now.

We’ve also secured Helm Development for a rather large web hosting company in Florida, USA. They are going to require some Helm3 and Helm4 development as well as a migration tool from Ensim Pro over to Helm. I’ve met the Ensim Pro dev team a Parallels so should be able to ask them questions about the development of ensim, how it works etc.

Good to be Back!

Well after a couple of well needed days off since my end of contract leaving doo with WebHost Automation / Parallels, I start back to work with Network82, catching up with the guys and discussing Project Film Nuar in Southampton before making it back to Bath in good time.

I’ve allot to crack on with, more so now that I have now also secured a development contract with a major US hosting company developing Helm3 and Helm4 modules, tools and addons…

Day of Cruft

Today has been quite interesting, With just over 2 weeks left at WebHost Automation / Parallels – I’m in an odd place where I can’t get motivated to finnish crufting what i’m working on..

Everyone I work with is in the same boat and the atmosphere is really quiet and tiering… It really knackers you out doing pointless bugger all, developing stuff that will likely never get released because the company that bought what I develop will most likely strap it..

But hayho, two weeks to go and I’m outta there… wohooo

Crufting Overload

So today, with my mango beer induced hangover, I’ve been really busy crufting the IIS7/MSFTP modules for Helm4 and Windows 2008 and also designing and spec’ing the architecture for Project “Film Nuar”..

Had allot of beer with chris last night, and we’d discussed many projects for our company Tastic Solutions, in particular what we’re going to focus on… So after several hours of planning, banter and mango beer consumption we now have something we can work on and push the Tastic forward…

Mango Beer

Another quiet drinking session with Chris Beer, my sidekick in Tasticness and fellow former Helm developer at WebHost Automation.

Tonight we’re going to enjoy the lushness of Mango Beer and splendid Pizza at 0′ (zero degrees) which is a MicroBrewery that does overpriced but amazing food, and fine wheat beers…

No dout i’ll have a cracking hangover tomorrow, but hey.. its Thursday and Everyone knows Thursday is the start of the weekend. !

New Job on “Project Film Nuar”

Well I have successfully accepted my new job working on a new innovative project for licensing and distruting movie rentals over the internet..

It’s a great project for me as I move away from Helm3 and Helm4 development as I leave WebHost Automation / SWsoft / Parallels.. I get to work from home, the money is good and I’ll save loads from no commuting or eating out at lunch – which means more money goes back into my savings stock pile…

It does mean I’ll have fortnightly trips to either Southampton or London for meetings with managment, but I’ll get to claim back the costs..

So “Project Film Nuar” is all set to role on the 2nd April, I call it “Project Film Nuar” because I don’t know what the company name will be yet, its a new startup project.. Very cool though..

Going Blog-Tastic

I’ve finally done it…!

I’ve become a blogger… So as this is my first post on my new blog… Hello and thank you for reading..

 Marty