Leeds City College officially opens its University Centre

Leeds City College, one of the largest FE institutions in the country, has officially opened its University Centre.

Based at the former College House on Park Lane, a ribbon cutting ceremony took place in the presence of the West Yorkshire Lieutenancy’s Major Stan Hardy, the college’s principal Colin Booth OBE and the University Centre’s Dean of Higher Education, Janet Faulkner.

The first intake of higher education (HE) students at the newly refurbished building have been enjoying a relaxed, supportive and adult learning environment, away from the main body of college students.

Janet Faulkner said: “After months of planning and construction work, we’re thrilled to see the finished product and formally open its doors to the students.

“The University Centre will provide excellent tutor support, generous bursary schemes and lower tuition fees. Strong partnerships with employers and extensive work experience opportunities will also be available.”

Due to the increase in Leeds City College’s degree level provision, the University Centre was designed so that HE students can benefit from a university type experience. The Centre’s courses are flexible to suit individuals from a variety of backgrounds, providing options which can fit around existing work and life commitments.

The University Centre’s industry relevant qualifications have been written in consultation with employers, key industry partners and its validating body, The Open University. For more information, visit www.leedscitycollege.ac.uk/university-centre/

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After a sold out event in Manchester, iPlayGaming is expanding to Leeds in early November with festival food, drink, console gaming and an awesome atmosphere.

It all began Summer 2015 at Gorilla Club in Manchester. The dream was to bring people together and to make social gaming a reality. Inspired from childhood memories, sitting around a Commodore 64 with a group of friends. Long-term gaming enthusiast Michael and a socialite Charlotte felt other gamers must miss the social interaction of gaming together now that online gaming has taken precedent. So the idea of a Saturday night out with food, drink and the chance to game with likeminded people was born. iPlayGaming festivals feature a massive selection of multiplayer console games including some of the best retros from the last 30 years, as well as the latest releases. With a range of gaming areas, including one on one play, and the opportunity to show off your skills by competing in a tournament.

Strictly over 18’s, iPlayGaming Festivals are brimming with enthusiastic people ready to show off their skills or lack of. It’s a place where groups come together to share the love of gaming and enjoy a social night out. With multiplayer consoles everywhere and arcade machines from back in the day, players get together to compete for fun while spectators spur them on with every move. The winners are cheered, every loss laughed away and friendships are made.

There will be an informal cup, small prizes, but the main element is everyone getting there and enjoying themselves. iPlayGaming is your new excuse to socialise, share gaming and showcase your skills. Get your mates together and we’ll see you there!

There has been so much interest in this new style of gaming event that iPlayGaming will be touring the UK in 2016 visiting every major city. Tickets are strictly limited to 350 attendees so booking early is essential to get involved in this fantastic night out. www.iplaygaming.co.uk

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50 extra tickets have been released by LeedsHack, the North of England’s largest free-to-attend Hack Day, following funding received from Sky.

The event, taking place between 22nd and 23rd August at Leeds City Museum, is now set to play host to more than 120 of the nation’s brightest coders, programmers and designers. Catering, overnight stay at the venue and the cost of all utilities (electricity, wifi, water) will be provided free of charge to every registered participant.

To get your hands on one of the 50 new tickets visit http://leedshack.org.

Organisers are expecting more than 75 innovative hard and software projects to be developed during the event. Categories include Most Entertaining Hack, Making On Demand TV Social, Most Over Engineered Hack and Solve a Local Issue.

Dom Hodgson, Founder of LeedsHack, says:

Sky’s investment in our annual event means we can continue to provide the biggest meeting place possible for the country’s best digital brains to experiment with new advances in technology and extend their know-how – all in the name of fun.”

Matt Grest, head of technology for Sky in Leeds, adds: “LeedsHack is a fantastic way to bring together the technology community and showcase the talent in England. We believe that this region is well on the way to be a globally-renowned technology hub and we want to ensure that our expansion in the region strengthens that reputation – both in terms of our branded output and our support of its digital pioneers. We’re really excited to be both sponsoring this event and also rolling up our sleeves and getting involved.”

Today’s announcement follows hot on the heels of the news of Sky’s new world-class technology hub in Leeds. Opening later this year, it will create up to 400 tech jobs.

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MAJORITY OF PEOPLE ACROSS LEEDS DON’T REGULARLY RECYCLE ELECTRICALS BUT THEY WANT TO ‘DO THE RIGHT THING’

A new survey has revealed that a quarter of people across Leeds regularly throw old and used electrical items such as radios, kettles, mobile phones, irons and hairdryers in the general waste bin. Interestingly, half of the respondents didn’t recycle old electricals because they didn’t know how to and 65% wanted to find out more.

The UK-wide survey carried out by REPIC – the UK’s largest WEEE producer compliance scheme – also found that 28% of the respondents thought that mobile phones couldn’t be recycled and over two thirds (68%) weren’t aware that cookers, tumble dryers and dishwashers could be recycled.

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is the fastest growing waste stream in the UK – yet when it comes to recycling – it’s currently given the least attention in UK homes. Impressively 80% of people surveyed in Leeds always recycle paper and cardboard, over three quarters (75%) recycle tins and bottles and 68% recycle kitchen and garden waste. Figures however dropped for recycling electricals with just 41% of respondents saying they always recycled them.

Reassuringly the environmental impact of e-waste was a concern for the majority of people questioned, 58% thought that it was hazardous for the environment and wanted more information on this.

Dr Philip Morton, CEO of REPIC says:

Overall the survey findings are very encouraging. There are plenty of good intentions and the majority of people are keen to find out which electrical products can be recycled and how they should be disposed of. It’s also great to see that young people in particular are curious to find out more. It is clear that consumer awareness is the key to improved collection volumes. Most people want to “do the right thing” all they need is the right information.”

He adds: “Wherever practical old electricals should be reused and, if they can’t be, the WEEE needs to be recycled. The best way is to take it to a household recycling centre to enable recovery of secondary materials for manufacturing new items. No need to make a special trip just take it next time you go with other recyclables; that way it saves time, money and the environment because it’s all done in one journey. For larger items, many local councils offer collection services and some retailers provide take-back schemes where old electricals goods can be dropped off when people replace their products.”

Full information on recycling WEEE can be found on REPIC’s Responsible Recycling website www.responsible-recycling.co.uk

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A Step by Step Guide to Shooting the Night Sky

Paul Reiffer – Shooting the Night Sky

Night/Astro/Star/Star-trail Photography – whatever you want to call it, this is a genre which has become increasingly popular over the past couple of years (partly connected with the increase in sensitivity of reasonably-priced camera sensors over the same period). The irony being, it’s also one of the easiest forms of photography that yields some of the most impressive results if you get it right.

Given the chance for some downtime while travelling around the New Zealand wilderness in our “Jucy Casa” campervan, I reflected on the sheer volume of exactly the same questions which were asked by the people around us while shooting at Lake Tekapo. So, with that in mind, here’s “Paul’s Guide to Star Photography” – hopefully in bite-sized chunks that are easier to digest than a Jimmy’s Pie!

The above image is a single frame from the camera, no “photoshop tricks” or playing, and here’s the funny thing – with the right tools, it was also really easy to capture. So, let’s get started:

You’re going to need some specific camera equipment to do it justice. In order to capture a sharp, (relatively) noise-free, clear and vibrant image you do need some things in your kit bag:

·         Lens with a *minimum* f/2.8 aperture, preferably lower

·         Lens of 16mm or wider (35mm equivalent)

·         Camera body with a full frame sensor if possible

·         The capability to shoot at a minimum of ISO1600 at night with low noise

·         The ability to manually focus on infinity

·         Manual mode, with exposures of 25-30 seconds

·         A RED headlamp, dimmable(!)

·         A source of soft light in different colours if you want to “light-paint”

To read the rest of this blog please click here.

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Protecting your Laptop

Your PC/LAPTOP will be your lifeline at university and it would be wise to pay it some TLC…

…there would be nothing worse than it failing the night before an assignment deadline. Here are a few tips to keeping it sweet! Dr Geek

VIRUS PROTECTION

Virus protection needn’t cost a lot, in fact I would suggest it needn’t cost anything.  Antivirus or anti-virus software (often abbreviated as AV) is computer software used to prevent, detect and remove malicious software. Antivirus software was originally developed to detect and remove computer viruses, hence the name. However, with the proliferation of other kinds of malware, antivirus software started to provide protection from other computer threats. Keep your choosen AV software up to date and scan file downloads and email attachements every single time. The ace news is that, in my opinion, the best PC AV solution is free (also for MACS). Visit the AVAST website for more information and download the software: http://www.avast.com

FIREWALL

My laptop kept over heating – So I turned off the firewall. Alright so it wasn’t that funny. What isn’t funny is not having a FIREWALL. A firewall is a software or hardware-based network security system that controls the incoming and outgoing network traffic. A firewall establishes a barrier between a trusted, secure internal network and another network (e.g., the Internet) that is not assumed to be secure and trusted. HUH?

Simply put, it keeps the bad guys out. You decide what applications have permission to access the internet like your browser for example or your email client. If a suspect piece of software is trying to access the internet from your machine… you can stop it in its tracks. Get a free firewall from ZONEALARM at http://www.zonealarm.co.uk/ Look for the Free Firewall Option.

DEFRAG

Files are never stored in a single location on your hard drive. Imagine your hard drive is a music shop. On Monday morning every album/CD is in the correct place and all arranged alphabetically. The staff can find albums with ease when requested. However, by Friday the shop is a mess and not only are the albums/CDs all in the wrong locations, the CD’s are all in the wrong cases. It takes longer to find an album requested by a customer. This store needs a defrag.

A defrag takes files that are in various locations and recombines them (putting the CDs back in the right cases). Commonly accessed files will also be place at the beginning of the hard drive. Overall your hard drive will read and write data faster. Defragging is easy. Do a google search for Defrag my hard drive with the name of operating system and version you use ie Windows 7 or Windows 8.

PASSWORDS

I needed a password with eight characters so I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Crikey!!! How many passwords do we have to have these days? A thousand different social media sites, email logins, banking details… Not a day goes by where we hear a story about some big company being hacked and user passwords being compromised. So here’s a few tips.

Don’t use personal information like pet names or birthdates, they can be guessed. Try to avoid real words, these can be guess too by a piece of software in what is called a brute force attack. Mix in upper and lower case with a few numbers. Never never never use the same password more than once, if it gets compromised then it will end up on a global database for other hackers to add to their dictionary of passwords. Change your password every at least every 90 days. Writing them down, is a no no especially if are for online banking services for example – don’t do it!

BACKUP YOUR DATAZ

You’ll be producing some of the finest academic work of your life at university and you don’t want to pass on that chance of the Nobel Prize for Physics because of a HDD Failure. Backing up your important work will ensure that you have another copy to present to the Nobel Prize committee one day. External hard drives are as cheap as chips these days. Consider buying one and backing up those files often. If a external drive is financially out of the question consider using optical media such as DVD’s or CD’s.

Speeding up a computer is quite simple – as long as you have an open 3rd floor window.

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