I have created some DIY home automation in the past. This was based around using remote control of mains electrical sockets (Home automation – controlling Energenie power sockets using a Raspberry Pi) but I also used a home automation light on one of my home lights. Since then the number of commercial home automation devices […]

This year I’ve been creating a 3D model of a building for an outdoor model railway. Technically it’s a building for a weigh bridge rather than a house, but I’ve given it a Santa’s Grotto make-over for Christmas and so Christmas House sounds better. The building is designed in TinkerCAD based on a real building […]

There are many different misconceptions about creating model railways and the people that are involved. I’d therefore like to start by dispelling some of these myths and explaining what I think that model railways is about. The 3 Golden Rules of Model Railways Many people have come up with different rules for model railways, here’s […]

I’ve recently been having fun with some NeoPixels on the Raspberry Pi. NeoPixel is the name that Adafruit uses to refer to “Smart RGB LEDs with WS2811 / WS2812 integrated controllers”. I’m sure you’ll agree that NeoPixel has a better ring to it and as that’s the name of the Python library that I’m using. […]

Today is the weekend of the Raspberry Pi 6th Birthday. In the past the birthday has been celebrated with a large Raspberry Jam in Cambridge (organized by Mike Horne and Tim Richardson). I have been to the earlier birthday celebrations, supporting workshops run by others, giving presentations and running workshops. For 2018 the birthday celebrations […]

I backed the MeArm Pi kickstarter project earlier this year, and just received the finished product. It’s a, laser cut, plastic robot arm which has a built-in Raspberry Pi. It is created by Mime Industries who have previously created a similar robot arm without the build-in controller / Raspberry Pi. It can be controlled using […]

My book “Learn Electronics with Raspberry Pi” is included in the Lego Mindstorms and Robotics book bundle on Humble Bundle. Through this you can get over $500 worth of ebooks for a fraction of their normal price, with a portion of the money going towards the charity AbleGamers Foundation. As with all the Humble Bundles […]

I have now got a 3D printer. I haven’t done much with it yet and it’s a steep learning curve but I’m looking forward to getting into 3D printing. Choosing a 3D printer The first decision was which 3D printer to buy. There are a lot of different choices starting from little over £100 and […]

Around Halloween 2016 Element 14 ran a Costume Competition for wearable tech projects. Boo! Pi Costume Contest I was already working on a Wizard of Oz costume so I submitted my project to the competition. You can find out more about the Raspberry Pi – PiZero NeoPixel bow tie here. My costume was one of […]

I decided to create a Wizard of Oz costume for Halloween this year. As you probably know The Wizard of Oz wasn’t really a wizard at all. He used a mechanical machine to convince the citizens of Oz about his magical abilities. What you may not know is that he was more than just a […]