I’ve just recently bought a Macbook Pro for myself, after having used a MBP at work for 4 years. I find it to be a really powerful development environment for the development I do, in languages such as Java, PHP, Ruby, Python and JS. Here is what I use day-to-day: OSX El Capitan I haven’t found anything not to like about this upgrade. I don’t use a lot of external devices, for which Bruce has found problems with El Capitan’s new restricted driver management for Arduinos and others. I like the fact I can use split screen functionality to side-by-side two windows easily, a feature that I very much like in Windows 10 too. ...

So, I have totally bought in to the home automation craze that is currently ’the next big thing’ in the technology world in 2015. Apple has released iOS 9 with their HomeKit home automation framework, Google have the Nest series of smart devices, and there are numerous emerging competitors and hundreds of devices out there right now that will network together in your home. For the uninitiated, a ‘virtual assistant’ is a cloud-connected voice processing system which you can ’talk’ to. This is how a voice assistant essentially works: ...

If you haven’t seen If This Then That.com then I encourage you to check it out. It has a number of ways of automating your life, and can do things like text message you when you get mentioned on Twitter, up to deactivate your smart alarm when you’re nearing your house. This message will (hopefully) be posted on my Facebook page and my Twitter account, all thanks to IFTTT.com.

I am learning JS for work. This is a pretty good summary of the most common scoping rules in JavaScript: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/500431/what-is-the-scope-of-variables-in-javascript

Whether you agree with Myers-Briggs personality profiling or not, like fellow BBC’er Ian Forrester I have found them a useful frame of reference from which to discuss my personality, because I see similarities between my perception of me, and the classification. I took the Myers-Briggs personality profiling, and it has labelled me on several occasions an INTP: INTPs are marked by a quiet, stoic, modest, and aloof exterior that masks strong creativity and enthusiasm for novel possibilities. Their weaknesses include poor organization, insensitivity to social niceties, and a tendency to get lost in abstractions. Keirsey referred to INTPs as Architects, one of the four types belonging to the temperament he called the Rationals … I – Introversion preferred to extraversion: INTPs tend to be quiet and reserved. They generally prefer interacting with a few close friends rather than a wide circle of acquaintances, and they expend energy in social situations (whereas extraverts gain energy). ...

I’ve finished my 6U Eurorack case. It took me 9 months to build, buying a couple of modules a month. Goals I wanted to make a self-contained dual voice synthesizer that would interface with my 2x Doepfer Dark Energy MK1s and my Microbrute, on a budget. I also wanted to add some random sound generation features. I chose to make the synthesizer out of Doepfer modules because they are easy to find cheap second-hand, and also because they are well-engineered. (If they’re good enough for Kraftwerk, who am I to complain?) ...

Some things I have been meaning to investigate in my own time, but haven’t, because life just gets in the way. Maths - It might surprise a few people that, as a software developer, I never took maths to A-level. I picked up a bit of maths in my CS degree, but I never really got a firm grounding in it. This has prevented me from understanding and coding advanced stuff in game development, understanding audio to a decent level, and generally doing things in which I consider the more interesting fields of computing. Music Theory - I have been getting better at playing the piano/keyboard by ear, but I have never fully learned to read music, and I would like to. Electronics - I would love to be able to build simple DIY synthesiser module kits for my Eurorack setup. I imagine I’d have to start on something small though. It would be great if I could take courses in these subjects, via the OU or something similar. I just have to find the time.

Now that I am midway through the year, I thought I’d revisit the goals I set myself at the start of the year , to see what has changed. Career Goals Settle into my new role at the BBC as Test Manager - I suppose this has not been achieved. I will have more updates soon (hopefully) but a change of direction is likely to happen. Pushing for a place to be opened up in Platform Test to employ someone from the Extend Scheme - This has been achieved, and someone will be joining Platform Test from the Extend scheme in October, I’m happy to say. Creative Goals Get better at music production - This has been achieved. I have been working with my friend I will call ‘G’, which has massively improved my production skills. I have posted music that I see as much better to Soundcloud. Social Goals Getting married - Well.. things didn’t work out with that. But I have a new girlfriend who will hopefully be moving to live with me, so things seem to be recovering there. Making friends with more people that share the same interests - Partly achieved. G is a good example of someone that I have met through looking for friends with the same interest. Financial Goals Saving more over the course of the year - Partly achieved. I have bought a house, so now I am in a quite a bit of debt, but the money I will be putting towards my mortgage will be money I am effectively ‘saving’ because it will be put into the value of the house. Joining a pension scheme - Achieved. Health Goals Adopt a regular form of keeping fit - Not achieved. I have a gym even closer to where I live, 5 minutes walk, so hopefully I will use it more soon. It is difficult for me, as the medication I’m on makes me feel tired all the time, but they do say that exercise improves energy levels. Conclusion Although I’ve achieved the majority of my goals, I haven’t achieved two of the major goals - around my job and around exercise, which are both things I need to work on. There is still time left this year to make a difference in these areas.

This requires you to have a subscription to Apple Music and a 3G/4G/wireless data connection, but it is so useful! Using this tip, you can be walking along with your iPhone in your pocket and your Apple earphones in, and then change music just by pressing a button on the earphones remote control and saying ‘Play (your favourite band)’. 1. Activate Siri and subscribe to Apple Music. I used to subscribe to Spotify so I switched to Apple Music when I realised the advantages of the integration on my phone, and the wider selection of music. You will also need to set Siri to stream music over your cellular network, this can be done in the ‘Music’ section of iOS settings. ...

My Eurorack modular has been progressing. I’ve added several low-cost modules, a Doepfer A-138b audio mixer module so I can mix the audio outputs of the oscilators, the noise output, and my Doepfer Dark Energy modules. I found this so useful with the Dark Energys that I have ordered another mixer. This I can use to mix audio before sending it to the filter, for example, or mix audio before sending it to a VCA to be amplified. I also added another envelope generator, Doepfer A-140, a sturdy workhorse and also useful for triggering the filter independently of the VCA envelope. Then I added a syncable LFO.. I already have 4 LFOs from the quad-LFO module in the top right, but I wanted a LFO with a reset option that I can use for MIDI syncing. On order is also a A-148 S&H (sample and hold) module which I will use for generating interesting random tones once I have expanded the ‘generative music’ theme of my setup a bit more. ...