A quick round up of the fascinating talks at the Hackaday London Unconference. This was a slight twist on the usual unconference format. There was only one room - so it was a single track event. There were three invited speakers who had presentations of 15 minutes - everyone else pitched for 7 minute slots. […] Read More
Review: IR Dome USB WebCam - perfect for Raspberry Pi
The good folk at Ailipu Technology have sent me a fist-sized USB camera to review. This is a cheap and simple way to get external video into a home server like a Raspberry Pi. This is the, slightly cumbersomely named, elp-usb100w05mt-dl36. What's in the box? The USB cable is around 5 metres long, and is […] Read More
LG 360 Camera Review
I've just bought an LG 360 - at £150, it's one of the cheapest dual lens cameras on the market. This an excellent bit of kit. Easy to use, impressive results, and an app which works pretty well. A single click button to take photos and videos, recording audio in surround sound, and perfect for […] Read More
Import Images From A Migrated WordPress
Here's how to solve a common WordPress problem. I want to re-import all my blog's images into the media library. I've moved my blog to a new host - but kept the same domain name. I started with a new WordPress install, the uploads folder still has all my images, but WordPress can't see them. […] Read More
A USB Charger That Goes Up To 11 10
The good folks at Ntonpower have sent me this utterly ridiculous, and fantastically over-powered USB charger. It has ten frickin' ports each one capable of delivering 2.4 amps. So, what's it like? Straight up, it looks like a plastic toast rack. It's a chunky beast, but surprisingly lightweight. You won't have trouble lifting it, but […] Read More
Mapping in HTML - a proposal for a new element
This is a sketch of a proposal for a new HTML element to simplify displaying maps on a website. I'd like your comments and criticisms before I submit it. This is born out of my frustration of using different JavaScript mapping solutions - my phone has a mapping app, why do I need to share […] Read More
Bug with Google Pay and Amex
It is impossible to contact large companies to report a bug in their software. So I'm reduced to writing snarky blog posts about it in the vague hope that a Social Media Manager will see the issue and raise it with the appropriate team. Welcome to 2017! Google Pay now supports American Express cards in […] Read More
Review: Sonoff 433 RF WiFi bridge
The good folk at Sonoff have sent me yet another gadget to review. This is a slightly curious device - an IP to 433MHz remote. This allows a smartphone to control smarthome gadgets which usually require an RF remote control. It costs £8 plus postage direct from Itead. This is similar to an Infrared device […] Read More
Using YouTube to Transcode Videos to DASH on the Command Line
This is part of my redecentralisation efforts to liberate my videos from YouTube. MPEG-DASH is a simple method of streaming videos which doesn't require any specialised server software. You convert a high resolution video into a series of smaller resolution videos. You chop each of the videos up into several chunks. As the video plays, […] Read More
Alexa - what bin day is it?
Bin day is the most magical time of the week! Children of all ages cry "Which bins is it?! Oh! Which bins?" Is today recycling day? Or green waste day? Or humble landfill day? Should my food caddy go out? Gosh! Who can keep track? I mean, obviously I could look at my calendar. Or […] Read More