Adam Owen, Author at Adam's Blog

Google Translate’s Offline feature is perfect

October 11, 2014 / Adam Owen / 0 Comments

Ever found yourself in an awkward situation where you need to ask a question but are faced with a language barrier?

I was recently in Turkey and ended up exploring Fethiye market. I also feel it’s more respectful to at least attempt to speak Turkish where possible.

Anyway, to the point. I’d used the Google Translate app on my Galaxy S3 before, but didn’t realise until recently that you could download languages.

To download languages for offline translation:

1. Hit the menu button in the top right (or use the hardware menu button if your Android device has one).
2. Select ‘Settings’.
3. Select ‘Offline Languages’.
4. To download a language for offline translation, hit the pin next to the respective language.
5. Your selected language pack(s) will now be downloaded.

First FTTC Cabinet Installed in Welton

October 7, 2014 / Adam Owen / 0 Comments

A few weeks ago, a company sub-contracted by BT Openreach installed the first FTTC (Fibre-To-The-Cabinet) cabinet just outside in front of the Welton Exchange. Here’s a pic.

At last! Hooray! Brilliant! Fast internet!

Well actually, no, not necessarily.

After a lengthy discussion with a senior BT engineer earlier this year, it seems that we’re ‘too close’ to the Welton Exchange, meaning we personally won’t notice an improvement in broadband speed.

Afterall, the ‘fibre’ broadband we’re all sold in those adverts from BT, Sky etc. usually still has to make the ‘last mile’ (from the cabinet adjacent to the road to your home) via old-fashioned copper telephone wiring.

FTTH (Fibre-To-The-Home) or FTTP (Fibre-To-The-Premises) is the only true fibre. And it comes at a price.

I won’t be attending HostingCon Europe 2014

October 2, 2014 / Adam Owen / 0 Comments

Held annually in the US (with the exact city changing each year), with a more compact version in Asia, HostingCon is a well-known event in the web hosting and domains industry.

Whilst this event is usually held across the pond, it’s organisers decided to bring a smaller version of the event to Europe for the first time this year. Amsterdam to be more specific.

I had first planned to spend the week in Amsterdam to live-blog/tweet the event, but other commitments took priority. Watch this space for next year’s HostingCon Europe though!

My Week Working at Leeds Festival 2014

Working at Leeds Festival

As some of you may already know, I do a fair bit of event work, which started out as volunteering but I now end up doing paid event work across the UK.

However, this was my first time at a ‘major’ festival, but I still decided to see if I could get a job. In the end, I worked for Hotbox Events as a Zone Supervisor, supervising a team of around 10 volunteers each day. I worked the Early shift which was 9-5, Wednesday through to Monday, giving me enough time to grab something to eat after my shift, then head out to watch the bands.

Tuesday

I managed to finish a little early on the Tuesday, giving me enough time to. I decided to offer directions to my father, which was probably not the best option looking back, since I made us miss the turning. Anyway, we eventually navigated ourselves to the Blue Gate, through a farm/barn area, and down a track, which eventually led to a big open field for parking; conveniently placed right next to the Hotbox Events volunteer/staff compound!

I arrived on-site at Leeds Festival on the Tuesday night, with just enough time to get my tent setup before the 7pm briefing for volunteers & staff.

Two wristbands – one to get me into the staff compound, with the other allowing me access to the crew area and rest of the festival. Here are a couple of photos showing our staff compound and the crew/production area of Leeds Festival.

Wednesday

My shift on Wednesday started at 9am.

After I finished, I figured I’d go for a wander to see how the production crew were getting on setting up the main stage at Leeds Festival. By Wednesday evening, here’s how it looked. Still quite a bit to be done, but it seemed to be all hands on deck!