news / blog

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2008-11-05

Another exam aced :) Just one more and I go straight from cool, cruising living of a student to being a responsible and valued member of society. That's a good thing, right?

2008-10-24

I just cam back from the SYSTEMs, an annual IT fair in Munich - and cursing myself that I even went there. For most booths I didn't even recognize what the company was offering. There are two explanations for that: First, I just lack the basic knowledge of the respective business area (possible, after all, the SYSTEMS is a B2B-only fair) or the slogans and posters actually didn't say anything comprehensible (this suits my ego better ;) ). I guess it's a little of both. Also, I guess they just didn't try to be anyhow interesting; I mean, there are more possibilities to design a booth than just hollow-phrase posters on dry-walls surrounding a few desks with big screens showing ... nothing really.

The other frustration is the information I actually got: From the few firms that remotely interested me, none was ready to offer me a position to do a doctor's degree. Either they didn't do doctorands at all (IBM for example - wtf?) or they need me to go somewhere. I could (possibly) start in Paolo Alto or Cambridge or Zurich (as the closest location) but not in Munich. Well, hopefully, I just spoke to the wrong people of the wrong companies.

UPDATE: Seems like I'm not the only one frustrated with the fair: The SYSTEMS is officially dead!

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2008-10-13

I spent quite a few hours in the last days filming and cutting a little video of AudioPhield to show off its cool features. Take a look at the AudioPhield page to watch the movie. Especially, if you thought that the description is too darn long to read (a thought that even crossed my brain). There are no details or technical explanations but you should get a decent impression of what I was whining about all those months. Have fun!

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2008-09-16

! IT'S DONE !

My diploma thesis is finally done and currently at a copyshop. Take a look at its sciency goodness for yourself: DA THESIS.

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2008-09-10

I almost watched "The 6th sense" the other day. "Almost" because before even my TV booted fully (yes, nowadays TVs _boot_. I wait for booting refrigerator - damn, bad pun, way too late) my nerves got the better of me and I returned to writing bad English. I'm referring to my diploma thesis right now but, well, if you meant this blog, you were on the safe side either, hm?

Where was I? Right, the 6th sense, too chicken to watch. However, the title stuck with me and finally reached the conclusion that it's *bullshit*. Of a heavy bull! Why? Because the list of the 5 senses is complete. By definition! Don't believe me? Then, let's recapitulate:

1. Sense of vision
2. Sense of hearing
3. Sense of smell
4. Sense of taste
5. EVERYTHING THE FUCK ELSE. Getting touched? I felt that. Taking a bath that's just to cold? Feels ... brrrr. Stabbed your finger? Owwy, feews hurty. Accelerating really fast? Duh, felt it in my stomach? Knowing where your limbs are when you wake up and have still your eyes closed? That's also feeling of course. And, of course, you knew sometimes you had to pee before the cushion got all squishy - because you FELT it.

So, in a sentence: 6th senses are impossible. By definition. "EVERYTHING THE FUCK ELSE" is the one thing even Gödel can't top. And anyways: That creepy kid was seeing dead people. Wow, seeing, now that's unusual.

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2008-08-21

I think it's funny when people write "mopstly" instead of "mostly". Haha.
But then again, I'm German, you wouldn't understand ... like most Germans.

This blog is not dead, but my desire to write updates is seriously ill right now. I'm so caught up in my diploma thesis that I literally don't let myself loiter and litter this lovely luisure blog with lousy letters for little laughter. Or, I just did. Oh well.

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2008-08-01

Greeeetz from Malta

A more elaborate report follows soon!

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2008-07-14

Heal the world!

Do I hear a whiny "but I can't"? No you can't. Or do you? It has never been so easy to help fight cancer, malaria or aids. Or the climate. Or proteins and prime-numbers. And you don't even have to get up to help. Just follow this link to The World Community Grid, install BOINC and feel smug: You make a difference.

BOINC is a very clever piece of software that divides big computation problems into small(-ish) chunks and sends the pieces all over the web to good people's machines (like yours!) to solve them. This way, the interwebs becomes a great supercomputer with computing powers exceeding easily that of "ordinary" supercomputers! So, basically, you allow your CPU, which is bored all the time anyways - just look into your task-manager, to go out and play. And you should, this wickedly fast meta-machine was set on trail to hunt down solutions, all mankind can appreciate (not dying is fun!). And no, BOINC won't trouble or annoy you in any way, if you don't want to. All you spend is CPU-power wasted anyway and a few cents for the energy your CPU eats more than usual. More energy == Climate-Killing? Then set BOINC to fight that climate!

If you have a PS3 you keep running all day just for fun or (seriously? O_o) to surf the webtubes, you can contribute, too! Just look in your CrossMenu for "Folding@Home". Actually, thanks to good programming and GPU-usage, the PS3 is a even more powerful node than your average PC.
So be good, spend CPU-cycles!

... and yes, I run BOINC. And I just spread the word. So I can feel even better than you. Win.

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2008-07-06

Anyone interested in information visualization? I just found a very beautiful visualization of your music-listen-behaviour based on the last.fm database here:

www.diametunim.com/muse/

And here's a picture of such a visualization of my very own behaviour:

For an interactive version, just enter "KoMaXX" as user-name, and see, what kind of crap I like to listen to ;)

If you want something similar embarrassing, just get a last.fm-account and enter your name in the site after the link above.

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2013-12-14

projects

Below, you'll find a list of projects I did - or am still at. Of course, no project is ever finished, but some are, well, sleeping peacefully.
Not all of this stuff was done on my own, people who helped are honored on the respective subpages.

Flipz

Get your brain juices flowing with this fun pattern-juggling puzzle game.

Or, humiliate your friends in a two-player hot seat match!

hAiR

This project was created in an Augmented Reality course at my university. You put a kind of helmet on your head and the computer tracks your head and blends hairstyles on your head. If the result is not exactly what you wanted, you can use different "brushes" to modify, how extrem the style looks, change the color or even add new new strands.

photopolis

Another university project. The program takes your complete photo library and builds houses according to the date when the picture was taken and assembles them to create a city. Then, you can explore this city with typical fps-controls. So, if you have enough pictures, you can stroll through your memories: Take the christmas road and turn right to the 2004-avenue.

FourWins3D

This program started as a hhh (half-hour hack) during a short trip in the holidays: I love playing a game of four in a row once in a while and forgot to take my set. Well, I never forget my loyal notebook, so I hacked something at least playable together. Then hacking was fun again - so, the current version is fully 3D and playable over the web.

AudioPhield

My major university project. Goal of this program is to make your computer listen to music similar to the way humans do to automatically estimate musical attributes like speed, used instruments, rhythmic components, and so on. Then, AudioPhield depicts a new kind of interface for new ways to interact with your music.collection

VsGolf

One of the most interesting projects I was involved in. You play a kind of virtual team-golf-game: Virtual balls lie around anywhere in the city and especially in home-areas. Balls in your home-area are bad, they cause your time to lose points - so kick them out of your area, when you find them. The real kicker about this game is that it is played via your cellphone! You find a ball by (perhaps randomly) walking over its position and kick it by stepping back and running over the place, where the ball lies. Real fun, if you have a mobile phone with GPS!

PoRoBa

This project is the main cause for the existance of this site - and also names the domain. A huge part of this site is dedicated to that game.

2013-10-29

lnx

Ok, I know what you think: "WTF?? A 'links'-section? This is sooo nineties and embarassing private homepage" ... Well - it is ;) But this links section is there for ME mostly. I just want to have my links handy wherever I am. Yesyes, I know, there's del.icio.us and stuff like that, but I like this style better ;)

Legal note: I do not check all sites below frequently! At the time, I placed the link, these sites did not offend against any German or international law I'm aware of. However, sites change - if one of the sites offends now, I'm sorry and take my recommendation back. Please let me know, so I can delete the link!

2013-07-17

studies

Below, you'll find a list of courses I did during my studies at the LMU in munich. This is as much for me to remember what I actually did as for anyone, who is interested in what I should know and what the LMU offers.
On the bottom of the page, there is a table of stuff I'm experienced in, technical stuff that is.

2012-12-12

vita

1982-07-26	Born in Tirschenreuth. Slippery, I guess.
1988 - 1992	Elementary school "Marienschule" in Tirschenreuth
1992 - 2001	High school "Stiftland Gymnasium Tirschenreuth". Got the diploma with an average of 1.3. Graduated in Latin, Maths, Physics and Religion.
1997 - 2000	Part of the "Mystique Factory", a group of six students who intended to write a new kind of computer game named "northern blades" (something like a "battlezone" - though battlezone wasn't out yet - in a fantasy-setting). We got pretty far, but too much ambition paired with no time left, because of the final exams, ended it.
2001 - 2002	Military service as a medic.
2002	Started studying media informatics at the LMU in Munich.
2004	Intermediate diploma. Average exam-score: 1.2. Overall diploma-grade: 1.4
2005 - 2006	Worked as assistant scientist at the chair of media-informatics at the LMU.
2006	Started developing PoRoBa
2007	Completed my project thesis (the first part of "AudioPhield"). Grade: 1.0
2007-06-15	Started developing and filling this site.
2008-09-16	Handed in my diploma thesis.
2008-12-01	Started working at the Aloqa GmbH.
2010-09-01	Aloqa bought by Motorola Mobility Inc.
2011-08-15	Lead designer and lead engineer at Motorola Mobility Inc, Sunnyvale
2012-10-06	Co-Founder and CXO at Pockets United GmbH, Munich

2010-08-23

creations

This page contains all kind of stuff I did. Computer stuff. No big projects, nothing fancy, nothing I'm particularily proud of. But, well, I put it here anyway. You can't stop me. Take anything you like below and use it for whatever you like, but please refer to me or this site, when you do so!

Well, soon ... ish

2009-10-22

uhm ... what? where am I?

So, you stumbled on this page and have no idea, what you're doing here. I, the almighty king of this realm, have no idea, either.

But here's what this page is all about: This is the private homepage of a single person, KoMaXX, and what you will find here may be typical for private homepages. So, there is a blog (stupid ranting about ... uhm ... we'll see), self-glorification, some projects, finished or for ever under development, and stuff like that. Most of this half of the site, the komaxx-part, is effectively my playground and virtual business card.

Feel free to roam around and look smug. And if you own a PocketPC, take a look at PoRoBa, perhaps you'll like it.

2009-10-02

faq

Frequently asked questions. Mail me what's missing!

What does "PoRoBa" mean?: "Pocket Round Based". You are allowed to snicker. When I started the project, I didn't realize that German "rundenbasierte" games are called "turn based" in English. And now I stick to it. After all, "poroba" does also mean "slavery" in Czech. That's appropriate, I sometime feel like a slave to this project.
Does PoRoBa work on VGA-PDAs?: My guess is: "no". I don't have VGA-gear, so I can't test it. If I'll finally have one, it will work.
Is there a version for my PalmOS/MacOS/Android/Symbian?: Sorry, Windows Mobile only. PoRoBy is written in C# footing on the .net compact framework. As long as this framework and something similar to the gapi.dll are not available for other platforms, there will be no support. I don't want to rewrite everything.