How Do You Solve A Problem Like BlackBerry


Photo of a BlackBerry phone with a colour screen and keyboard.

Recently RIM contact developers asking for feedback on why we were or were not planning on developing for Blackberry 10. I was paid $50 for my opinion - in Amazon vouchers. I hope this hasn't comprimised the honesty of my answers. These are just my thoughts - I can't claim that they would solve RIM's […]

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Raspberry Pi, Python, and 3G Dongles - oh my!


A 3G dongle stuck in a Raspberry Pi computer.

This is a bit of a brain dump / diary of what I've discovered about using 3G dongles to send SMS using Python on the Raspberry Pi. Here is how to use Python to send an SMS from the Raspberry Pi via a 3G USB dongle. In order to talk to the dongle, we need […]

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Making Hay While The Sun Shines


One of the perils of being a reluctant capitalist is the cognitive dissonance. Normally, on a sunny day, I look outside and smile. Blue skies, warmth, chance for an ice cream, people smiling, lovely. Yesterday, I saw the sun was shining, I rubbed my hands together and let out an Mr Burns-esque chuckle of delight. […]

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Soldering At The Science Museum


Last night, Google held its second "Luvvies and Boffins" event at The Science Museum. Part of the Science Museum Lates - an adults-only evening event. As well as tours of the museum exhibits, there was a chance at some hands-on science. We were led by an excellent team from Technology Will Save Us. A group […]

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SMS PDU in Python for Raspberry Pi


A 3G dongle stuck in a Raspberry Pi computer.

Cracking on with my Raspberry Pi, I've written my first program in Python. The aim - to be able to send an SMS via a 3G USB dongle. The problem - the way SMS needs to be encoded is hideously complicated. For example, suppose you want to send "This is a very simple message :-)" […]

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Raspberry Pi and Frontline SMS


(I think I'm the first person to try this - so I decided to document the process.) A few weeks ago, I won a Raspberry Pi at the #OTA12 hackday. It arrived on Friday, so I thought I would turn it into an SMS server using the incredible FrontlineSMS. 0. Setting up the Pi This […]

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Goodyear Blimp Docking with The Shard (Time Lapse)


As I was wandering over Waterloo Bridge, I spotted a Blimp flying above London. I find that Blimps have an otherworldly quality. Sleek, silent, and majestic. I fired off a few photos as it flew overhead. It then turned and went to approach The Shard. Where, finally, it docked and her passengers alighted. Here's the […]

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And THE LORD sayeth "Thou Shalt Give Free Parking To The Faithful"


Photo of a church in Woking.

My local council, Woking, have found themselves in a spot of bother recently. It has emerged that they are subsidising parking charges for specific Christians churches. If you belong to a different church, worship a different god, or just want to go shopping, you have to pay for parking. The total subsidy was at least […]

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QR Interview in Metro


Last month I gave an interview to the Metro newspaper about QR codes.

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Optical Theremin - Demo


At Over The Air I demonstrated what I considered a novel use for one of Android's sensors. I wanted to create a Theremin - a type of musical instrument which is played by moving one's hand over it - changing pitch and tone by moving nearer or further away. My first attempt used the proximity […]

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