The pinnacle of 17th century technology Introduction Since it was explained to me how pendulum-based mechanical clocks work, I ve had the idea bouncing in my head of an automated pendulum . We ll get to the physics lesson later but quite simply, the swing of the pendulum controls the tick-tock of the clock. So, if you want... Continue Reading
AI that is all yours AI models tend to live in large data centres and use powerful and power-hungry GPU compute. However, since there s an ecosystem of openly available models, we can download and run them privately on our own machines. Not unexpectedly, there s a subreddit for this as well. I don t want my LLM... Continue Reading
YT? YouTube? Taking notes while watching a YouTube video can be a bit annoying. I wanted a better way and I wanted it permissively licensed and free with no logins or tracking. So I built it Introducing YTNT YT NoteTaker makes it easy to take notes while playing a YouTube video. First, click this link... Continue Reading
A simple question? eThekwini is in the midst of a water supply crisis. If you don t live here, you may have seen the media coverage. Living in Verulam, I m experiencing this first hand. I really wanted to have something: that tells me whether I have water at home or not. that notifies me when pressure... Continue Reading
A few years ago, I recieved an IKEA SYMFONISK Bookshelf Speaker and was introduced to WiFi speakers, cheap multi-room audio and AirPlay for the first time. Since then, it s been a fun ride. I ve added Apple smart speakers, DIY Amplifiers, a WiFi Radio, a Subwoofer, an iPod HiFi and PMAP and they all seamlessly work... Continue Reading
Sharing the fun In my Home Input Monitor Part 1 – Water Pressure post, I introduced water pressure sensing for my home. After using it for a while, I shared access with a few community members so they could infer the area s water status from my readings. Having these new users exposed some deficiencies in... Continue Reading
Water, yum Every home requires multiple inputs and outputs for it s proper functioning. eg. Food in, food waste out, water in, waste water out, power in, power out (thanks Eskom). I wanted to monitor the utility inputs to our home. Today, it s about water. Pictured: Me when I can actually shower at home (Image Credit)... Continue Reading
Get moOde up and running on your Raspberry Pi (with Bluetooth, Spotify Connect and AirPlay). moOde is my go-to software for turning a Raspberry Pi into a true high quality audio streamer. I ve used it for a few projects and this is my standalone guide to setting it up. Read First: If significant time has... Continue Reading
Old speakers + Old hardware = new fun! It s February 2006. Steve Jobs, wearing his iconic Levi s and black turtleneck, reveals the latest product in the iPod lineup: The iPod Hi-Fi was released to the public on February 28, 2006 and discontinued 554 days later. It would take another ten years before Apple sold a... Continue Reading
PMAP First, a brief rant about Apple s AirPods: I have two pairs of Apple s 2nd Gen AirPods and the first pair is ready for the bin. Why? Because Apple has engineered these devices to be discarded once the battery (inevitably) dies. Am I supposed to just smile, shrug and give iStore another R3 000? Apple... Continue Reading