I went to Dublin
Yesterday, I went to Dublin for the day, to see Professor Paddy Nixon at University College Dublin, to discuss the possibility of me doing a PhD.
It was all pretty cool, the flight over was OK, and I managed to find my way to the University (Eventually!).
The centre itself was really cool, Mac mini's stuck up on the walls under displays that should eventually alter depending upon what is nearby. (e.g. if the system senses you are close, it may display a welcome message, or perhaps remind you that you are late for a meeting or something!)
The people there were really nice too, everyone was very friendly, and they all seemed very intelligent!
The research group, under the umbrella of Pervasive computing, are developing some really interesting things, most pertinantly, a platform or API thinger for accessing a network nodes through a 'gossipping' like protocol, kinda like P2P, which connects and updates information on all nodes throughout the system like an epedemic. (i'm told it will take over the world). Thats probably a really poor explanation, but thats how I understood it!
There was a guy there (summer student), who had developed a cool interface, very similar to the one Neil blogged about.
After having a long chat with the Professor, I went off into to Dublin centre to see what it was like, I stopped at the Palace Bar for a quick pint (or two) of Guiness, then headed back to the airport for the flight home!
Now all I need to decide, is whether i've got the balls to do a PhD, or forget it and get a job!
Advice most welcome!