We like adventure... and the eNTERFACE has proven to be an adventure. At least for some of our team members.
We have had our first lost: Nicolau, from Bucharest. He could not make it to the workshop because he had an accident while going to the airport to take the flight that he had to take to come to Istanbul :(
Then, upon arrival from Romania Valentin was sick and by night, as pale as a ghost...
No luck!
But fortunatelly we have only being warming our engines up. We are already working hard. And next weeks are going to be busy...
Friday, 20 July 2007
Sunday, 15 July 2007
Arrived in Istanbul
What can I say?
I just cannot complain. The trip to Istambul has been easy. Since I left Nice, at 9 a.m. (punctual flight !!) and I landed at Instanbul's airport (commuting in Munich) no major incidents.
Once in Istanbul I have to admit that I have been very much pleased at seeing that Turkish authorities have everything under control. The complete process from getting the visa (10 eur) to pasing the passport control has been smooth, alightly long, but easy.
What about the luggage? It was already there on my way out. Just perfect!!!
The most exciting part of trip has been the taxi ride to the University Campus. Taxi drivers here are MAD!!! Really... As much as I love car races, I just think that this guy thought he out of his mind. He saw himself as some Schumacher or something. Right, left, right gain.... Beep, beep, I want my way!! (well, this I'm making it up 'cause I don't know Turkish) Taking the exit at the last milisecond... I have to admit that I have some fun there... It should scare me, I know, but I basically think that these guys have developed some way of surviving in this wild traffic, so nobody better to drive you around. Fortunately I do not have to drive myself.
The SuperDom is a nice facility, new. It is located in a pretty modern part of the campus. After dinning (ep, yes! a kebab, a real one!)we have been for a walk around the most ancient part of the university. It is very nice, and from there you have a very impressive view over the Bosphorus Channel.
Ok, Ok, this picture is not mine, I did not have my camera on me. Nevertheless, you can get an idea of what it is.
We have already been informally introduced to students and other members that have arrived today. Tomorrow at 8.30 we officially start the Workshop. One whole day of presentations while we wait for those that still have to arrive.
I just cannot complain. The trip to Istambul has been easy. Since I left Nice, at 9 a.m. (punctual flight !!) and I landed at Instanbul's airport (commuting in Munich) no major incidents.
Once in Istanbul I have to admit that I have been very much pleased at seeing that Turkish authorities have everything under control. The complete process from getting the visa (10 eur) to pasing the passport control has been smooth, alightly long, but easy.
What about the luggage? It was already there on my way out. Just perfect!!!
The most exciting part of trip has been the taxi ride to the University Campus. Taxi drivers here are MAD!!! Really... As much as I love car races, I just think that this guy thought he out of his mind. He saw himself as some Schumacher or something. Right, left, right gain.... Beep, beep, I want my way!! (well, this I'm making it up 'cause I don't know Turkish) Taking the exit at the last milisecond... I have to admit that I have some fun there... It should scare me, I know, but I basically think that these guys have developed some way of surviving in this wild traffic, so nobody better to drive you around. Fortunately I do not have to drive myself.
The SuperDom is a nice facility, new. It is located in a pretty modern part of the campus. After dinning (ep, yes! a kebab, a real one!)we have been for a walk around the most ancient part of the university. It is very nice, and from there you have a very impressive view over the Bosphorus Channel.
Ok, Ok, this picture is not mine, I did not have my camera on me. Nevertheless, you can get an idea of what it is.
We have already been informally introduced to students and other members that have arrived today. Tomorrow at 8.30 we officially start the Workshop. One whole day of presentations while we wait for those that still have to arrive.
Monday, 2 July 2007
Only two weeks to go
And in these two weeks we have to make sure that we get everything ready.
I guess that is mostly my task. And I have started by getting a couple of nice webcams that we will be using.
In 4 weeks we have to develop a complete architecture for multimedia communications (video+audio+text+anything else)... What is the big deal? Skype and others seem to do that!! Well, guess what? Skype does not do multiparty teleconferencing, and the latest product that was using such a platform for multiparty videconference (Festoon) seems to have gone out of business.
I admit that there exist several products on the market that, in exchange of a reasonable amount of money, give multipoint video streaming... but it is not our purpose to pay for a product that we do not even know it will fit our needs. So we will probably create our own platform exploiting those services that already other free commercial products provide. So multiparty audio and text from Skype will be good enough, and for the video... we will most likely rely on streaming from IP cameras... We just want to build a proof of concept. We will not reinvent the wheel.
What will this platform allow us to do? It will be the backbone of a series of services for enhanced interaction in multimedia communications for remote meetings. For our brief project we will develop a vote registration system that will manage, count votes and summarize the complete voting procedure regardless of the medium a specific participant is using to connect to the meeting.
It is going to be very challenging to have all this done in only four weeks!!! I fully trust our team...
C U in two weeks.
I guess that is mostly my task. And I have started by getting a couple of nice webcams that we will be using.
In 4 weeks we have to develop a complete architecture for multimedia communications (video+audio+text+anything else)... What is the big deal? Skype and others seem to do that!! Well, guess what? Skype does not do multiparty teleconferencing, and the latest product that was using such a platform for multiparty videconference (Festoon) seems to have gone out of business.
I admit that there exist several products on the market that, in exchange of a reasonable amount of money, give multipoint video streaming... but it is not our purpose to pay for a product that we do not even know it will fit our needs. So we will probably create our own platform exploiting those services that already other free commercial products provide. So multiparty audio and text from Skype will be good enough, and for the video... we will most likely rely on streaming from IP cameras... We just want to build a proof of concept. We will not reinvent the wheel.
What will this platform allow us to do? It will be the backbone of a series of services for enhanced interaction in multimedia communications for remote meetings. For our brief project we will develop a vote registration system that will manage, count votes and summarize the complete voting procedure regardless of the medium a specific participant is using to connect to the meeting.
It is going to be very challenging to have all this done in only four weeks!!! I fully trust our team...
C U in two weeks.
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