Category Archives: Uncategorized

Running a live stream studio from home

Since the start of lockdown, many of our clients at Bright Signals have approached us for broadcast solutions. They need ways to keep in touch with their customers and stakeholders, and need to find digital alternatives to events that would normally happen in the real world. Fortunately, I already had a pretty comprehensive photo, videoContinue reading “Running a live stream studio from home”

My Raspberry Pi cameras at Sport Relief

<![CDATA[For this year's Sport Relief, the BBC created an epic 57-hour game of Five-a-Side football outside their MediaCity HQ in Salford. As our contribution to this charitable cause, Bright Signals offered to install the Raspberry Pi-powered camera system I'd recently designed. I wrote some custom software for the BBC system and designed a unique laser-cutContinue reading “My Raspberry Pi cameras at Sport Relief”

Tennent's T5s is alive!

<![CDATA[A couple of months ago I helped the guys at Bright Signals prototype a new automated video capture, edit and upload technology for amateur sports. The prototype worked really well and I'm pleased to see it already deployed at several five-a-side football pitches around Glasgow. Here's a short piece from STV's Riverside Show introducing theContinue reading “Tennent's T5s is alive!”

A little piracy can be a good thing: what regional press can learn from Hollywood

<![CDATA[Earlier this month, Tom Thomson and I were invited to speak at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University.  It was a really interesting event with lots of great questions and participation from those attending. If anyone wants to hear it, the session is online at the University of Oxford site.

GoDaddy vs DigitalOcean: a real-world comparison of budget hosting

Four months ago I had an idea for a one-click, read-only burner email service that could be used for application testing, privacy, anti-spam, etc, etc.   The Beta service is live at Slippery Email and you can read more about the thought process behind it here. Update 9th October 2014: An interesting wave of feedbackContinue reading “GoDaddy vs DigitalOcean: a real-world comparison of budget hosting”

My home-built arcade cabinet featured on IKEA Hackers

<![CDATA[A couple of months ago I put together a retro arcade cabinet using our old TV, an X-Arcade Tankstank and a Mammut Children's shelf unit from IKEA. I'm quite pleased with the end result – I didn't want it to look like a bulky, black 1980's arcade cabinet, but I did want it to feelContinue reading “My home-built arcade cabinet featured on IKEA Hackers”

Glasgow's Star Turn

<![CDATA[This Monday we hosted the grand final of Glasgow’s Star Turn, a talent competition in the Evening Times for singers, dancers, comedians, musicians and other talented performers. The event was a great success, with an audience completely filling the Old Fruitmarket and a set of celebrity judges who were hugely impressed with the talent onContinue reading “Glasgow's Star Turn”