Well there's your problem!

Posted on September 17, 2014 in Tech, Tinkering, Man Shed.

Damaged and torn gear from one of the AR Drone props.

I'm no expert in the dynamics of flight, but I'm fairly certain that the props are supposed to turn.

Last week my AR Drone took a nose dive into the curb of a pavement, before pirouetting through the air to land on its feet. It's not uncommon for the drone to bounce around a little if it crashes with an odd angle, the flexible props usually bounce it harmlessly off walls, etc.

As the drone sat there I thought how lucky I was that it finished on its feet, and that I didn't need to go flipping it over again. I presses the Take Off button and watched as three of the four props turned, realising there was a problem I stabbed for the Emergency cut off button, but not before it flipped itself over and onto its back.

Read more…


I am Groot

Posted on August 31, 2014 in My Life, Our Animals.

A photo of Groot at about 8 weeks old.

Meet Groot, our new little kitten. When we went on holiday we expected to bring home a few souvenirs, but I'm not sure a cat was one of them.

The day before leaving Sussex to drive back to Scotland we were told by a family member of some new born kittens that needed a home. In what was a very impulsive decision we agreed we should get one, and after seeing a tiny ginger ball of fluff that seemed to be channeling Shrek's Puss in Boots, we were committed.

Update

Groot has proven to be a bundle of cuteness, and now has his own Twitter account. Follow @GrootTheCat for a constant stream of kitten goodness.


Ducklings Live

Posted on April 17, 2014 in Our Animals.

Duckth Vader drinking from his water feeder. A very cute duck photo

Updates:

The camera is no longer live, but you can still view the video below.


22/04 - They are drinking and eating on their own now with no prompting from us, and seem to be a lot stronger than they were.

Read more…


Hacking the Sony LiveView

Posted on February 23, 2014 in Code, Tech, Tinkering.

The Sony LiveView

This weekend I had my first success getting the Sony LiveView to do anything other than switch on and show "00:00". Ever since I bought the LiveView in early 2012, I've been checking in on the progress of various groups that have been trying to hack it.

The LiveView was an appealing gadget to tinker with. Nearing it's retirement many sites were selling it cheap, for example I picked mine up for just £12 from play.com.

With a little help from a python script written by Andrew de Quincey, I managed to get the watch running. I was able to control the LED, feedback button presses, and send message and menu data. I still haven't managed to get images to send, but it's only a matter of time.

Read more…


SHED 1.0

Posted on February 08, 2014 in Man Shed, Arduino.

My automated sockets relay wired into the Arduino

For a while I've been working on building a set of Internet enabled sockets, with the goal of being able to control everything in my shed from my phone, laptop, or from a set of sensors and switches.

I had my first successful test a short while ago.

Read more…