Resume - Christian Wolff

How to reach me:

• E-Mail: christianwolff <at> scarabaeus <dot> org
• Phone: 415-307 3798

[This Resume as MSWord document or Adobe pdf]

• 2002-present: Linux software engineer at Sigma Designs (RealMagic MPEG/WMV decoder chip product line) (www.sigmadesigns.com), Milpitas (San Francisco Bay Area)
• 2002 Linux software developer at FinalScratch (www.finalscratch.com), Amsterdam
• 2001 Exhibit builder for the Exploratorium (www.exploratorium.edu), San Francisco
• 2001 Networking software developer for Smash TV (www.smash.tv), San Francisco
• 1999-2001 Lead software developer of the DVD department at convergence integrated media (www.convergence.de), Berlin.
  CTO for the U.S. subsidiary in San Francisco from 2000 on.
• 1997-1998 Soft- and Hardware developer for an interactive video studio for the Zeum in San Francisco, a children's museum (www.zeum.org)
• 1997 Web software developer for the Beta Lounge (www.betalounge.com), San Francisco
• 1997 Supporting webmaster at the news magazine "Der Spiegel" (www.spiegel.de), Hamburg
• 1990-1997 Software and electronics developer for the Ponton European Media Art Lab, an artist group experimenting with communications and new media (www.ponton.de [local copy], now www.ponton-lab.de), Hamburg and Hannover
• 1988 studies of mathematics, computer science and egyptology, University Göttingen
• 1988 finished school with "Abitur" (university entrance qualification)
• 1982 started programming at age 13
• Born Juli 10th, 1968 in Oldenburg i. O., Germany

• Programming languages
  • C
  • C++
  • Perl / CGI
  • PHP
  • Java
  • JavaScript / HTML
  • Pascal
• Operating systems
  • Linux
  • Unix
  • MacOS
  • BeOS
  • MS-DOS
  • MS-Windows
• Software technologies
  • Device driver development
  • Communication protocols development
  • Video and Audio application development
  • DVD and DVB/DTV set top box development
  • Audio and Video compression algorithms, esp. MPEG
  • TCP/IP Network programming
  • Web server development, including CGI, Java and Javascripts. Developing of administrative scripts.
  • SQL Database programming.
  • User interface design
  • 3D-Graphics Programming
  • Audiotex (Voicemail) systems, analog and ISDN
• Hardware technologies
  • Computer peripherals and interfaces development
  • Video and Audio hardware development
  • Telephone hardware development
  • Digital electronics development
  • PCB design and sample production
  • Video studio set up, consumer technology as well as professional equipment

• For SigmaDesigns, 2002-present (www.sigmadesigns.com)
  • Software engineer for a Linux hardware library for the EM86xx MPEG2/MPEG4/WMV HDTV decoding chips.
• For FinalScratch, Amsterdam 2002 (www.finalscratch.com)
  • Software developer for the Linux version of a vinyl record controlled audio playback application
• For the Exploratorium, San Francisco 2001 (www.exploratorium.edu)
  • Supporting technician for the broadcast of a solar eclipse from Zambia, Africa
  • Exhibit builder for the exhibit services division (Tasks included: computer configuration, electronics, electrical installation and machining)
• For convergence integrated media, Berlin and San Francisco 1999-2001 (www.convergence.de)
  • MPEG2 program and transport stream analyser
  • Linux device driver for a DVD/MPEG2 decoder card
  • DVD Navigator module for a Linux-based DVB-Set-top-box (www.linuxtv.org)
  • CTO, Administration of the convergence U.S. subsidiary office in San Francisco
• With SmashTV, San Francisco 1997-1998, 2001 (www.smash.tv)
  • "Beta Lounge", Web Server for weekly live web music show (www.betalounge.com)
  • "Production Lab" for the Zeum. (www.productionlab.com [local copy]) Included:
    • Interfacing illuminated buttons to computers and
    • Interfacing selector wheels to computers, both with self- developed interfaces
    • Low-level hardware driver development for these interfaces under BeOS
    • Live web audio/video streaming and video-on-demand, using GTS-server
    • Interfacing a video cross switcher, a room light controller and a time display system to a computer running BeOS
    • Development and production of a VU-meter PCB
    • Wiring of an audio/video studio
  • HTML-Chat with perl-scripts for the Beta Lounge
  • Store system and user tracking with php-scripts
  • Distributed stream syndication framework in perl
  • Remote user tracking of DVDs on PC-Based DVD Players
  • "Talking Bricks" for "Urban Renewal Laboratory", development of sound devices for public use, that play up to 2 minutes of sound off an EPROM.
  • "Feed Yourself", Web server for cooking show. (www.feedyourself.com [local copy])
  • "Fillmore Sessions", live webcast and digital images of rock concerts (www.thefillmoresessions.com)
• For the Spiegel news magazine, Hamburg 1997 (www.spiegel.de)
  • CGI-scripts for production of a web server with hourly updates.
  • CGI-scripts for news archives, full-text search and winning game.
  • Production of news articles from Quark Express onto web server
• On my own :
  • "scara.com" and "scarabeus.org", 1997-today
    Maintenance of a multi-server Linux system in the US and europe for domain and mail hosting.
  • "23 - Nothing is true. Everything is Permissible", Hannover and Cologne 1997 (www.dreiundzwanzig.de [local copy])
    Counseling for a major movie production about hackers working for the from KGB 1986 to '89, relating on the book "Illuminatus" by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea. I also have a credited role in the movie as "Scarabaeus".
  • Scroll Bar, Hamburg 1994
    Connected a scrolling text display (light-bulb based) to a PC and developed a control program for live-stage use for the purpose of announcing messages
  • ZIP-Code conversion, Göttingen 1993
    Retrieving of the subscriber addresses of several papers and magazines off an undocumented CPM-system and converting the ZIP- codes in these addresses to new ones, assigned by the local postal authority
  • "Generator", Göttingen 1989
    Multi user text chat with several modems and telephone lines in Göttingen (This webserver is still that same box, with some upgrades)
  • "Solaris", Göttingen 1988
    Bulletin board system in Göttingen, connected with other BBS's in the "Zerberus"-Network by daily message exchange.
• With the Ponton European Media Art Lab, Hamburg/Hannover (www.ponton.de):
  • "EPRI-Watch", Hannover and Brussels 1996-97 (www.epri.org)
    Information and communication service for european members of parliaments, based on netscape navigator. Document service for legislations of the european union, visualizing the ongoing process of these legislations in a diagram, that allowed access to all the documents involved. Also provider and starting point for internet services for the parliamentarians of the european parliament in brussels.
  • "Local Loop", Hannover 1995-97
    Continuation of the "Service Area" project on another platform, in a local context of Hannover and Lower Saxony. Now MS-Windows and C++ instead of MS-DOS and Turbo Pascal. I did the communication protocol and consultation.
  • "SWF3 Nachtfieber", Baden-Baden 1995
    TV and radio show on a german public law station, featuring a party in the host's flat with 50 to 80 guests in the studio, where the viewers could call in via 30 telephone lines, 30 modems or telenet and communicate with the guests or the host.
  • "Service Area", Hannover and Linz 1994
    Interactive tv-show with 3D-environment for the Ars Electronica in Linz. The users could connect via modem or Internet with a frontend program and navigate in a virtual 3D-world towards each other or on floating islands. There they could communicate with text, voice, music, drawing or video images.
  • "Inforuf", Hannover 1993-96
    Receiving of news information for pagers, puting these messages on the Internet.
  • "GetRTTY", Hannover 1993-96
    Scheduled receiving of radio Teletype transmissions from news agencies via short wave radio. The received texts were published in a BBS-system and put on a ftp server.
  • "AVIS", Hannover and Taiwan 1993-96
    A simple and cheap, non-microprocessor-based video to serial converter for video conferencing over modem connections. The "cheese box" was connected between computer and modem and transmitted every 2 seconds a video image with 19200 baud. The users could text-chat with each other, connecting one-on-one or, with a special server, also multi user, and see each other. I did the front end software development and helped on the interface hardware design.
  • "VSPACE", Hamburg 1993
    3-D visualization of the users in the "ponton voice box"
  • "Ponton Voice Box", Hamburg 1993
    Audiotex-system, an interactive multi-user audio system with chat forums and messaging between the users
  • "SIM-TV", Tokyo 1993
    Presenting the interactive technologies of "piazza virtuale" to the Asian audience on a NHK television show for 3 days.
  • "Piazza Virtuale", Kassel 1992
    Interactive live TV-show, where the viewer/user could use his telephone, his fax-machine or his modem to manifest himself on the TV-screen in different ways. I built a telephone interface, that could handle 20 telephone lines and read touch-tones off these lines. I also developed the data protocol that was used by all the computers to cooperate with each other, scheduled as well as manual controlling in real-time. I programmed controlling and visualization computers in Turbo Pascal and Lingo. I've done a lot of video tech stuff as well as the interfacing between different computer systems (mac, pc, amiga, next, atari st). The project ran for 100 days, several hours each day, on European satellites and German cable networks.
  • "Ballroom TV", Berlin 1991
    Live TV transmission from a discotheque on the Berlin cable network, where the viewers could call in with telephone, modem, or videophone and participate in the party.

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