Hello Post | Interactive Art & Computational Design, Spring 2014

Welcome to my post.

I am a masters in music and technology student, which is a half music, half CS, and half ECE degree. As such, I am very interested in computers, both hardware and software, as well as music. I started programming over ten years ago and cannot even remember when I played my first song. I also compose my own music and like to tinker with guitar pedals.

My interests don’t stop with music and computers though. I love to play sports (doesn’t matter which sport), craft beers (the hoppier the better!), and gaming (of both the video and the board variety).

Second Screen

All engineering students at the University of Waterloo are required to complete an upper year design project during their last year and a half at school with a group of three to five members. This project is supposed to be an actual product which the students could theoretically start a company around after they graduate (and quite a number do). My team worked on Second Screen.

Second Screen is a TV buddy application, design to enhance your experience watching TV shows. Upon opening, it will listen through your phone’s microphone for up to 30 seconds and, using acoustic fingerprinting, figure out what TV show and what episode you are currently watching as well as the current time in the show you are at. It will then display information in real time as the show goes on, such as relevant plot points, show trivia, first appearances by actors, and friend’s comments. There is also a list of dialogue shown as it is spoken.

Second Screen Workflow