Just when I thought my summer could begin with large, icy fruit drink whilst two viciously gorgeous Hawaiian women fan me with banana leaves (waking up to find a rotating desk fan and a carton of Tesco Value Breakfast Juice), an opportunity comes knocking at my door. There was actually no physical knocking, since these days everything is handled by e-mail, but I’m sure, like everything, there’s an app for that.

A friend, known by many as Rysiek, called me and let me know of an internship opportunity at Apple that was e-mailed round the Department of Computing. Us ISE folk are added to the DoC internal mailing list in the second year and are mostly annoyed by it as we are constantly spammed with messages about revision lectures for modules we don’t take and internal events we are not welcome to. But occasionally, something good works it’s way to us.

Without hesitation (or responding to the call from nature, which was very close to being redirected to voicemail) I got together my CV, and wrote up a cover letter to apply, ignoring the fact that I had no idea of start time, duration, location, pay, prior knowledge or anything a normal person would inquire about before applying for a job. Thing is, this was Apple.

For those of you that don’t know, or have yet to deduce from my previous blog posts, I am somewhat of an Apple fanboy. Doing a geeky subject, like my own, you find that you do have to defend Apple in normal conversation when you hold this status. Not because of any Mac vs PC rivalry (please tell me there are no PC Fanboys), but because it is a position that is worth a bit of ridicule for those who do equally geeky subjects. In spite of this, I happily defend my beloved company to the blue screen of death (oh wait, we don’t get those), and am so attached to my Macbook, that my future wife could very easily get me arrested for bigamy.

The interview was laid back, but still nerve-wracking simply because of location. Stockley Park is an industrial park like no other I have ever seen. The area has lakes, wine bars and a gym for all the employees that work there and these employees belong to some of the biggest companies in the world like Activision, Adobe, Hasbro and Sharp. Apple HQ itself was my vision of heaven. Aluminium and Glass computers everywhere, iPads and iPhones casually lying on desks. By the time I left, I had sweated through a t-shirt, a shirt, an expensive suite and an innocent stranger waiting next to me at the bus stop.

The rest of the week was dedicated to packing all my possessions (including a desk) into bags to be taken home. Since I live in London, it’s not the hassle that the majority of other students feel, as my Dad will be driving down, but it’s still not the most fun thing to do. After stripping all the post-its from my wall and demolishing my two red bull towers with tiny wrecking balls, it’s quite clear that the year is over and I am really going to miss the accommodation I’ve had this year. My house in Hammersmith was fantastic and it’s going to be hard to top. Now begins all the fun of cancelling providers, final bills and pleading with estate agents not to take our security deposit. This summer I move back to North West London and try to put my time to good use.

Thanks for Reading,

Chris xx

One thing I really like about my field and my subject is the immediate relevance it has once you take an interest in it. While medicine, physics, biology and any subject taught at university are incredibly useful and worthwhile, their applications as hobbies require a bit of creativity. When you find computers interesting, all you need is a computer to explore. When you find programming interesting, you can do it whenever you want with equipment that almost everyone owns nowadays.

While one day, my medics will be saving lives and doing the Heimlich Manoeuvre at restaurants, they can only help with minor medical issues at the moment. If they have any kind of problem with their computer that doesn’t involve part replacement, I can help them there and then, with knowledge picked up purely from an interest in my subject and the easy accessibility of information and equipment. Every day in ISE I learn more and more about the way a computer works and what the interesting patterns on the motherboard mean. Every day I build on the confidence I once felt when I first opened a computer purely to see what was going on inside (which subsequently led to my Playstation 2, my old MP3 player, my sister’s iPod Mini, an old set of speakers and any other battery powered device I could get my screwdriver on, all being surgically opened for my curiosity).

A few days ago I decided to clean out two years worth of dust from my treasured Macbook. So without hesitation or panic about ripping apart the most expensive thing I have ever bought, here’s is a lovely picture of my naked laptop (posted with consent):

Thanks for reading,

Chris xx

No matter how many mundane tasks get piled on my to-do list or how much I complain about life in general, and how far ahead of me it seems to be, I can rely on one absolute truth: one or two times a week I will be chatting to my housemates Cathal and/or Kumaran till 2 in the morning about something interesting. Last night it was about cinemas, piracy, the entertainment industry and (because of my geeky presence) technology.

The fate of the cinema has come into question a lot throughout it’s existence, and as visionaries in my field make the threat exponentially more daunting, one can’t help but wonder if we will have as many cinemas in 20 to 30 years. Back when televisions were invented, people no longer had to go to a cineplex to watch the news or the entertainment shows of the time (based on the oldest shows I am aware of: that’s Friends and the Simpsons). Then VHS tapes came out and put the concept of films in the cinema under threat. DVD’s made the quality of the home experience adequate and Blu-Ray has now made it comparable to that of a cinema. The internet has put a dent in DVD sales, through digital movies and piracy and all this has lead to the entertainment industry throwing a strop about losing money, despite making $3billion on Avatar (but that rant is for another day). Cinemas have been threatened so many times, and though numbers have decreased, they are still thriving and turning profits. I personally haven’t seen a cinema close down due to low attendance.

So why haven’t all of the fiendish individuals who use torrenting sites or websites that stream low quality movies (who are as bad as car thieves according to those ridiculous piracy prevention ads) wiped the Vues and the Cineworlds from existence? In my view, it’s because the cinema is all about the experience. Regardless of how high your TV resolution is or how much money you spent on your 7.2 surround sound system, it never has been comparable to the atmosphere or quality of a cinema. If you have the right amount of cash, you can get 100” HD projectors and a room with perfect acoustics, but it’s nothing compared to the sticky floors, the overpriced popcorn and the laugh/cry/shriek of strangers as they experience the movie with you. It’s true that convenience has meant I own a small DVD collection, and don’t go to the cinema as much as I did in secondary school, but films like Avatar, District 9 and Alice in Wonderland still make me long for that room and that screen. The internet as a distribution medium should be embraced, rather than restricted if companies wish to recoup the losses cinemas have endured (rather than restricting those who buy them legally now with DRM and such) and newer technologies like 3D should be utilised if they wish to recover this revenue stream. No matter how advanced our home entertainment systems get, cinemas will always be miles ahead, enough so for me to still wait in line for a big vat of salty popcorn. Cinemas will never die in my opinion, when 3D becomes something we are all accustomed to in our own homes, or on our own computer screens, I can’t wait to see what exciting technology the film industry uses to keep us in awe.

Thanks for reading,

Chris xx

Yesterday marked the end of a group project that I have been moaning about to those around me for almost 4 months. The final hurdle was a presentation to our seniors and at the event I got a chance to see what 3 of the other teams have been up to. One project that sparked my interest was titled: “the future of privacy”, in which the team spoke about a group called the “pragmatic majority”. This group is one that most of us, including myself, are a part of. They are the ones that are worried and are aware of the futility their privacy online, but continue to use services like Facebook and Amazon in exchange for your their personal details. My stance on online privacy (when it comes to information) has always been a mirror of my real life stance: anyone who decides to raid my bins and find out my bank details will be very disappointed, and none of the information that is that easily accessible is really of any worth. All they’ll leave with is some discarded coursework, proof that I buy a lot of things from Amazon and an overdrawn account when my student loan debts kick in. But with the Internet becoming so advanced and convenient, how long before I have to re-evaluate my lackadaisical approach to privacy.

I have a very active life online; that is to say: I have pretty much been a part of every kind of service imaginable. As a result, it’s fairly easy to find out things about me. But I am not alone in this. Last year, I was part of the assassins guild, which involved me being sent a photograph, a name and a department of two “targets” for me to kill. Using Facebook alone, I was able to extract more pictures, halls, addresses, phone number and, in one instance, plans for the evening, which resulted in me “killing” someone outside my local Nandos. Using Facebook alone, I could pinpoint where people would be at certain times of the day and even call them to taunt.

But at the same time, I don’t feel like my Facebook profile is a serious risk to my real-life self. My, possibly incorrect, opinion is that anyone with nefarious intentions will probably not find my online information of any use. The only things available are my mobile number, birthday and a few inebriated pictures of me at clubs round London. I guess I trust the internet as much as I trust the people in the street, I don’t padlock my bins, even though they are more than capable of discretely bin-raiding for bills and other documents should they chose.

So here is me in a nutshell:

• For all my extended views on life, the universe and everything: continue reading this Blog.
• For my unfiltered thoughts on all the mundane aspects of my life: follow my Twitter feed.
• If you know me in person and consider me a friend: add me on Facebook
• To find out if we are musically compatible: add me on LastFM
• If you fancy asking me a question anonymously: check out my Formsprings page
• If you want to ask me a question by email: cf308@imperial.ac.uk
• To listen to my voice, check out the EPOD website or watch the EPOD Youtube Channel

and if I can think of any others, I’ll let you know.

Thanks for reading,

Chris xx