Electronics was my first love but it has been ages since I was hands-on with it last. Infact, I don't even remember touching a soldering iron except for doing a few bits required for work at university. Hopefully, that's all about to change.

I am making a (really) concerted effort to get (back) into some practical electronics, partly motivated by a renewed interest in robotics and partly because I have a few ideas I want to try out. I got my old stuff out a week or so ago, only to find out that I no longer have most of the essential gear I need. Consequently, it has been a demanding few days for my wallet as I stocked up on components and some absolutely essential tools - including a new multimeter and a new solder station. I've opted to build a dual-polarity variable bench-top power supply myself (which is essential for almost all work) rather than buying it as these don't come cheap.

First on my list of things to do is get myself acquainted with the TI 16-bit MSP430 series of microcontrollers and the popular ARM 32-bit microcontrollers. I know I'm going to have a fun time tinkering with these MCU's - hopefully it'd be more fun than that I had toying with the Microchip PIC devices. For now, I'm still waiting for the chips to be delivered and for my exams (which begins tomorrow) to be over...

Wish me luck!

My blog got a mention on HFM's brand new technology show "Tech Talk" which aired last night. They talked a bit about the findings revealed in my relatively recent post titled "Fingerprinting Thaana". Thanks to Ripha and Niyaz (the creators/presenters of the programme) for the appreciative words. I am glad to know that you guys read my blog!

I think they did a good job with the programme, especially given that it was their first show and that they did it live. I wish them the best with their future shows...

Listen to the clipping from the show:

One of the last website projects I had worked under Technova in 2007 was the website for Muizzu, Suood & Co. law firm. The website was completed and went live towards the end of the year. They were one of the easiest to deal with clients we've had and I'm pretty happy with the outcome of the project.

The MSC website was among the first to use our new slimmed-down Content Management System designed with small businesses in mind, focussing on delivering a website quickly together with basic content editing facilities. Technova will be launching a low-budget website development package based on the new system sometime soon.