August 2025 – Meetup

Thanks to everyone who came along to the August meetup!

A big shoutout to Tree Thunk for sponsoring the event — your support means a lot. And of course, a huge thank you to Codeweavers for hosting us again. These meetups wouldn’t be possible without your ongoing generosity.

Talk

Digital Twins & GenAI

Dr Mehak Memon — Lecturer in Computing, Liverpool John Moores University

Slides

The session will explore the possibilities of futuristic solutions.

We will dive into possibility of simulating cities, societies and even humans before making real-world decisions.

We will discover how the physical and virtual worlds can collide to create smarter, faster, and more resilient systems.

This session offers a comprehensive dive into the world of Digital Twins, exploring their core components, various types, and how they function across different industries.

We’ll examine the tangible benefits of digital twins ranging from operational efficiency to predictive maintenance and how their integration with Generative AI (GenAI) is pushing the boundaries of innovation.

We’ll dive into why the UK is becoming a global leader in this space, driven by initiatives like the National Digital Twin Programme, and explore how this shift is opening doors for startups, new careers, and future-ready talent.

Whether you’re curious about how digital twins are used to predict climate impact, optimize infrastructure, or personalize healthcare or you’re just wondering where you fit into this rapidly growing landscape this session promises inspiration, insight, and a glimpse at the future we’re already building.

Thanks, Ian Knight, for photographing the event for us.

July 2025 – Meetup

Thanks to everyone who came along to the July meetup!

A big shoutout to Tree Thunk for sponsoring the event — your support means a lot. And of course, a huge thank you to Codeweavers for hosting us again. These meetups wouldn’t be possible without your ongoing generosity.

Talk

.NET, IoT and Hedgehogs!

Mike Irving — Senior Web Developer, Klipboard

Using C# / .NET Technologies and IoT to curate and automate video footage of garden hedgehogs.

An experimental journey through device access, cloud storage, serverless functions, and a public website.

With an insight into problem-solving changes necessary to bring the code cross-platform to run on Linux on a Raspberry Pi.

Thanks, Ed Barton, for photographing the event for us.

June 2025 – Meetup

Thanks to everyone who came along to the June meetup!

A big shoutout to Tree Thunk for sponsoring the event — your support means a lot. And of course, a huge thank you to Codeweavers for hosting us again. These meetups wouldn’t be possible without your ongoing generosity.

Talk

Zero to Production using AI

Elliot Evans — Lead Full Stack Developer, Tree Thunk

Recently, TreeThunk was asked to create a web application for a local sports company. With limited time and resources, Elliot goes through how AI helps you make an MVP ready for users.

Thanks, Ed Barton, for photographing the event for us.

May 2025 – Meetup

Thanks to everyone who came along to the June meetup!

A big shoutout to Tree Thunk for sponsoring the event — your support means a lot. And of course, a huge thank you to Codeweavers for hosting us again. These meetups wouldn’t be possible without your ongoing generosity.

Talk

Turning Prototypes into Products

Barry Cook and Tom Wiggans, Langstrath Audio

We’ll describe our journey from ideas through prototypes (used in a West-End theatre and a major musical touring the UK) to products.

Along the way, we’ve formed a new company, found suppliers, needed a web site, refined user interfaces and overcome technical challenges.

Our leading product – EC24, a dynamics processor – is widely used but little known outside professional audio circles … we aim to rectify that by demonstrating it in operation.

Thanks, Ed Barton, for photographing the event for us.

April 2025 – Meetup

Thanks to everyone who came along to the April meetup!

A big shoutout to Tree Thunk for sponsoring the event — your support means a lot. And of course, a huge thank you to Codeweavers for hosting us again. These meetups wouldn’t be possible without your ongoing generosity.

Talk

StrangerChat – the challenges of an anonymous chatting platform

Patrick Bowen — Software Engineer, Mi-Voice

Patrick shared the story behind StrangerChat, his Discord bot that facilitates anonymous chats inspired by Omegle. The bot randomly connects users for private conversations and has now facilitated over 12.5 million messages among 50,000 people. While the technical implementation was relatively straightforward, the real complexity came in managing safety, moderation, and privacy.

Patrick’s talk covered how content moderation quickly became the most demanding part of the project. Early on, he relied on manual review of user reports, but as the platform grew, this wasn’t sustainable. He eventually introduced automated systems, including OpenAI’s moderation tools, to help review conversations and enforce community guidelines. The platform also added features like age verification and separated NSFW and SFW channels to reduce risks.

Privacy and ethics were central themes of the talk. Patrick spoke openly about the uncomfortable tension between wanting to protect users and needing visibility into conversations to do so. Logging chats raised difficult questions about user consent and data handling, particularly in an environment designed to be anonymous.

Despite the challenges, StrangerChat has found its place as a low-friction, anonymous social tool on Discord. Patrick closed with a personal touch—sharing that his own marriage began with an anonymous chat on Omegle years ago, highlighting how these platforms can facilitate meaningful, real-world connections.