Memory Mapping – Thoughts from the Shower

"Thoughts" can be likened to massively parallel webs of self-sustaining activation among the neural circuits of the brain. One characteristic of the brain, which enables rich across-domain representations, is the ability to arbitrarily link the results of different neuronal sub-processes. For example, when we think of "an orange" we combine at least visual, auditory, and … Continue reading Memory Mapping – Thoughts from the Shower →

Git / GitHub Workflow for Raspberry Pi

A quick aide-memoire for using GitHub: Create directory with 'Project Name' in Dropbox directory (extra layer of automated backup) cd 'Project Name' git init Create / copy initial files Create .gitignore file for Project git add [Files - if all can use .] git status [Check correct] git commit -m "First Commit" Go to github.com … Continue reading Git / GitHub Workflow for Raspberry Pi →

First Steps into the Quantified Self: Getting to Know the Fitbit API

Today I have been experimenting with the Fitbit API. Here are some rather amateurish steps for getting data from Fitbit's "cloud". Simple Client Setup for Public Data 1. Get and setup a Fitbit product. I have access to a set of Fitbit scales (the "Aria"). The Fitbit Force looks quite good; I may get one … Continue reading First Steps into the Quantified Self: Getting to Know the Fitbit API →

Charting Energy Use with Flask

I have developed a version of the Energy Monitor from this post that instead uses Python to display the data on an internal network. The code can be found here: https://github.com/benhoyle/FlaskEnergyMeter. I use Flask to render a basic template to obtain search parameters: The code on the back-end then connects to my SQLite3 database and extracts the data … Continue reading Charting Energy Use with Flask →

Hiding Secrets from GitHub (or using ConfigParser)

As I get into the habit of using git and github for versioning I need to make sure that I hide personal settings and passwords. To do this I use ConfigParser in Python. It's pretty easy. Creating the Configuration File First create a 'config.ini' file in your code directory. I generally use a text editor or … Continue reading Hiding Secrets from GitHub (or using ConfigParser) →

…and PiMatrix!

Face Detection with the Raspberry Pi Camera Board

I have a very basic face detection routine running with the Raspberry Pi camera board. To do this I used Robidouille's library functions (see previous post). I then modified the raspicam_cv.c example to use the face detection routine from Learning OpenCV. There were some tweaks so I will post the code below. You also need … Continue reading Face Detection with the Raspberry Pi Camera Board →

Hacker News Update: Raspicam & WeMo

A quick update on my recent discoveries. Raspicam I now have a Raspberry Pi Camera Board (Raspicam)! There is a brilliant combo deal on at the moment allowing you to buy a Raspicam, Model A + 4GB SD card for about £35 (including VAT + shipping!)! That's £35 for a device that can run OpenCV … Continue reading Hacker News Update: Raspicam & WeMo →

Magic Lights: Controlling Hue with a Raspberry Pi

This post shows you how to control the Hue light bulbs using a Raspberry Pi. In particular, it shows you how to fade up your lights half an hour before to sunset. In true Heath Robinson style the solution is rather convoluted. But hey, that's where the fun resides. Email me, Sun First, we set … Continue reading Magic Lights: Controlling Hue with a Raspberry Pi →

Doing Useful Things with WeMo Motion

Using both the WeMo Motion rules and IFTTT allows you to do certain things with this motion detector. However, to expand our possibilities it would help if we could store our motion data and make it accessible to the programs that we write. To store our motion data in a database we need a bit … Continue reading Doing Useful Things with WeMo Motion →