Portfolio of Niklas Bivald

A Hyper Island student and founder of Bivald/IT

"While currently studying digital media at Hyper Island Niklas Bivald is a swedish freelancer and founder of Bivald/IT.”

Snyggast Chatten

"Snyggast Chatten – A Swedish youth chat where over ten thousands people meets daily to talk, discuss and enjoy themselves”

Online since 2001 Snyggast Chatten is my longest spanning project yet. What I started as a challenge five years ago has evolved to a full-fledged community with over ten thousand users daily. Technically it’s a heavyweight: a well-balanced mix of HTML/CSS and AJAX for the user and Flash/ Perl/ PHP/ mySQL balanced over several servers. These servers are handling IRC (chat), Web cams, SMS, Logging, spam protection and more. But for the user all this is a smooth ride. Sign in, log on, view pictures, use your web cam, dig through archives. Express yourself. Enjoy yourself.

The chat is unique in the way in which it is connected to the main site that is originally an image community. You may choose to chat either in public in any or our rooms but also in private. When talking in private you will see the other person’s images, you’ll see their age and in which town they live in.

The crew

I am the lead developer in charge of design, programming and implementation. I am also the lead administrator and with a crew of ten helping to keep track of our users.

» Read more about Snyggast Chatten and its constant development

The Old Picture Company (December 2006 - 2007)

"The Old Picture Company’s main business is selling beautiful old vintage pictures”

The Old Picture Company's main business is selling beautiful old vintage pictures. The system is built on the popular web shop OS-Commerce with a customized layout. I was brought in to install the system, customize it and connect it to Dibs-Debitech Scandinavia’s leading e-commerce payment provider. I also wrote shipping modules to match their type of business.

Search engine optimization

Since the shop is online and fully functional we are now entering part two of the project – search engine optimization. Being visible on Google is a keystone for web shops and search engine optimization, SEO, is a growing business.

There are three levels of SEO:

• White
• Grey
• Black

White means using approved methods and standards to create sites and getting a higher position on Google. Grey is using methods considered immoral and semi-legal. Black is trying to manipulate the system using a number of techniques which if caught will get you blacklisted on Google – your site would simply not be listed.

Bivald/IT makes standard compliant websites designed to be accessible by search engine and uses only White methods to increase your position.

MobileRobotics (May 2005)

"In 2005 there was not much information available on programming Bluetooth on the Java Micro Edition and the PalmOS platform - suffice to say the quality of the sources varied. That's where we came in, to contribute to the community”

MobileRobotics is a good example on new innovative technology. We created a wireless Lego Mindstorm robot that could be controlled by a regular cell phone. The cell phone was connected over Bluetooth to a Palm hand held on the device, which then translated everything from Bluetooth to infrared and relayed it to the Mindstorm control unit. My task was to create the software for the cell phone, document and make the main website.

The project was quite a success and the feedback very positive. Since it’s release in may 2005 The source code has been downloaded more then 2100 times and the site has had over 287 000 hits.

We chose this subject due to the fact that all three of us had a vast interest in the evolving, new wireless technologies and because it would oppose a real challenge. It could also be a chance for us to provide documentation and code to open source programmers, we thought, since it’s quite difficult to find extensive applicable code examples using Java Micro Edition/Wireless Edition and the PalmOS C++ Bluetooth library.

It was a way for us to contribute to the open source communites of Java, C++ and Lego Mindstorms.

More information, images and movie clips can be found on mobilerobotics.sf.net

» Read more about mobileRobotics

Lindfors Event (2006)

"The client and I had a good continues dialog where we specified what needed to be done, revised priorities and discussed the progress on the project”

Lindfors Event needed a complete and rather complex three-piece system – a web shop, a rental site and a corporate website. They needed it with a user friendly and clean layout made to fit their very needs. All this with a rather short deadline.

I was working single handedly with the project which meant that I managed the communication with the client, I made the layout and the backend system. The client and I had a good continues dialog where we specified what needed to be done, revised priorities and discussed the progress on the project.

This continues dialog is something I’ve received very positive feedback from several client. They are kept updated on the progress on regular basis and can monitor the progress.

» View the corporate website
» View the rental system
» View the webbshop

Snabber (2006-2007)

"I am hired as a consult on the project to complete smaller tasks ranging from complex JavaScript to ASP coding. We have a good co-operation with an effective dialog”

Snabber is a web site service provided by the entrepreneur Mattias Ohlson. It is a service where you can create a quality web site and host it on their servers with a few clicks. You can edit your page as you see fit without the need for knowledge in coding and programming.

I am hired as a consult on the project to complete smaller tasks ranging from complex JavaScript to ASP coding. We have a good co-operation with an effective dialog.

Security Audits for web applications and sites (2006 – 2007)

"Most of the sites I've audited had atleast one major security hole”

While my main business with Bivald/IT is advertising, design and programming I also perform security audits for web application and sites. I perform the same tasks as a real attacker would, only for the company and not for harmful purposes. The client either pays per hour or, which is often preferred, a specified amount per security hole found. Most of the sites have a couple of minor holes and maybe one or two large.

I’ve performed security audits on a range of sites, including but not exclusively the popular SMS provider www.mosms.se for Jeansson Media AB and www.proinet.se. Ive also investigated the security on larger Swedish communities such as Playahead and Snyggast.se when doing research for an article and found serious holes.

More about communities and how to protect one self can be found in my two-part article.

» Read more about Bivald/IT

Hyper Island

"During my time at Hyper Island we’ve finished a handfull of projects covering several areas. We’ve made short motion clips for sites, explored new ways of using existing technology and gaining business experience in the project Creative Development”

During my time at Hyper Island we’ve finished a handfull of projects covering several areas. We’ve made short motion clips for sites, explored new ways of using existing technology and gaining business experience in the project Creative Development. The motion intro were personal but the rest made in groups of five – often with each member given a specific role.

Creative Development

The Creative Development project was focused on business. How to come up with ideas, write business plans and budgets. Lecturers such as Mikael Ahlström from Sproutpark gave us valuable insight in how to develop ideas and companies and how venture capital works. My role in the project was project manager.

The project was intense but rewarding – a description also fitting the project manager role for this project. I gained valuable insight on how to divide tasks, how to motivate the group and push them when necessary. We also learned about the business world and tips and tricks when promoting companies but most of all we gained experience - we presented the ideas to real banks and real venture capital companies. We learned about the questions they ask, their demands and how they reason.

Experience Technology

In Experience Technology (October 2006) we were given the task to go in-depth and search for creative new ways to use existing technology. The idea was for the class to learn and explore the more technical part of IT. Our group were given a mouse and a keyboard and turned it into a digital wall which you painted and navigated on with the help of two gloves (mouse, keyboard).

Since I was familiar with the technique used – how to rebuild a mouse and a keyboard as well as how to create the interface in Flash – I had more of an advisory role in the projekt. This made it possible for all team members to gain as much experience and knowledge as possible. Something that might might not have been possible if I had a more strict project manager role where I gave more direct instructions. It also made it possible for me to help several other groups advance and create their solutions with GPS and other more advanced techniques.

After the project we invited companies and schools to see what we – Crew 12 – had created. Over 300 people came and visited our exhibit and the feedback was overall very positive.

Motion clip

In September 2006 we were given the task to create a twenty seconds motion intro in only 48 hours. My contribution was named boxed-in.

» View motion clip

A List Apart

"When doing research for the articles I found that many of Swedens most visited communities (Playahead, Snyggast) were vulnerable”

During spring 2006 I wrote a serie of articles for the very popular webbmagazine A List Apart. The two articles were about XSS – or cross site scripting – attacks and how to protect your site. This typ of attack can be very harmfull and when doing research for the articles I found that many of Swedens most visited communities (Playahead, Snyggast) were vulnerable.

XSS attacks – harmfull Javascript

During a XSS attack you trick the community into displaying harmfull Javascript, most often in your presentation or in a comment. When the user enteres the JavaScript executes a series of commands of the attackers choice ranging from writing in automaticly in a guestbook to deleting the account. You can mimick almost any user command except those requiring a password.

» Read more about XSS and how to protect your site in part one and part two on A List Apart.

Swedish Rhetoric Article Published (2006)

"My Swedish undergrade thesis in rhetoric was published in the Nordic magazine RetorikMagasinet”

My Swedish undergrade thesis in rhetoric was published in the Nordic magazine RetorikMagasinet. The magazine is the only Nordic magazine to cover a broad range of rhetoric and is read by many students and professors.

» More about RetorikMagasinet (in swedish)
» More about my education in rhetoric

» Other articles written by me

Extended portfolio

These are smaller projects i've made and the documentation therefor is limited. If you wish to know more about any of them please contact me