This is the first photo of the moon with my 6″ newtonian reflector. Taken 6th November 2011.
Nov 112011
Sep 092011
Last winter, whilst exploring ideas for a possible research proposal, I wrote a prototype desktop web application to help people learn the Mindfulness of Breathing. It formed the basis of an assignment that you can read about in a previous blog post. The application, BreathFollower, is still running on Google App Engine at http://breathfollower.appspot.com/ . Almost as soon as I started developing that application I began to regret not developing it for the mobile phone. BreathFollower won’t even run on an iPad. I thought that if you could cradle the application in your hands, in a similar position to the cosmic mudra, and tap the screen with your thumb to interact with it, it would be more effective. As soon as my assignments were out of the way I started on a phone based application. Continue reading »
I have long been excited about HTML5 having access to a geolocation data. It should make it possible to build a whole range of applications for phones and other devices that are cross platform but make use of the users location. Unfortunately reality bites when you try and actually build an application based on the technology.
I have been working with Sencha Touch and the Ext.util.Geolocation object but am having problems with accuracy. I have noted the following behaviour.
When I call for a location on iPhone (3G) and iPad (v1) I get a one with around 1.3km accuracy. Basically it places me at one of two spots about 1km apart. If I switch to the native maps app then it places my position within 10m of where I am standing – that “wow it knows where I am” accuracy . Switch back to my web app and the first call to the GeoLocation returns similar accuracy. Any subsequent calls return the old inaccurate positions. Continue reading »
Aug 202011
You will see from previous posts that I have been on the Mindfulness MSc at Bangor University for the past year. This will be the tenth post that comes in that Bangor MSc category. If you were to read through all the older posts you would see that I have become disenchanted with the course and will not be surprised that I am stopping. I have now completed the Foundation module and the Research module and have sufficient marks to exit the course with a Post Graduate Certificate in Mindfulness Approaches. Continue reading »
Aug 202011
Find attached my fourth and final assignment for the Bangor Mindfulness course. This one is for the Research module. It is supposed to be a description of a research project that you intend to do later in the course in a form close to what would be suitable for submission to the ethics panel.
The proposal makes reference to a prototype application I developed that you can access at http://breathfollower.appspot.com/ if you would like to try it for yourself. I have done some work to take this further as a mobile application and will blog on it if I get it to a state worthy of release.
By the time I was writing this up I had decided I wouldn’t proceed with the course so it was a kind of fantasy proposal rather than a serious one. I did a ten minute presentation on it and the tutors pointed out that they didn’t think it would produce an effect in the two week duration of the experiment but I did nothing to change this and the marked me down accordingly. I got 69% which is just 1% short of an ‘A’ – always the bridesmaid never the bride I guess 
I hope you enjoy reading the assignment.
I’ll put another post together in the next few day summarising my reasons for leaving the Bangor course.
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