By @edent · Doctor Who Doctor Who Phones · 4 comments · 800 words · read ~206 times.
Guess who's back, back again! If you're new to the blog series, this is where I attempt to identify all the mobile phones used by The Doctor and their companions. The 2024 series is incredible. Lots of plot, not too much exposition, and a whole bunch of mystery. I love it when Doctor Who goes […]
Continue reading →By @edent · barcamp hackathon · 3 comments · 200 words
Last week, I was part of the BarCamp London Hackathon. It had all the usual ups and downs of a Hackathon - laptops crashing, APIs failing, and HDMI ports breaking. We had a massive projector for participants to show off their work. The HDMI connection was… shit. Sorry, there's no better way to put it. […]
Continue reading →By @edent · 3d printing health · 2 comments · 350 words · read ~773 times.
As previously mentioned, I recently had a some dental issues and learned how to view a CT Scan in 3D using Linux. At a hackathon last week, my friend Sidd brought along a 3D printer. How hard is it to convert a CT scan to a file suitable for printing? Slightly trickier than I expected! […]
Continue reading →By @edent · CyberSecurity nhs · 400 words
Over the last few weeks, I've had several people ask me about the recent hack on the NHS. A ransomware attack has meant that several hospitals have cancelled operations and there is now an urgent demand for blood donors. What does it say about the state of NHS IT that this attack has happened? Nothing. […]
Continue reading →By @edent · emfcamp python tildagon · 2 comments · 500 words
The Tildagon has 2MB of RAM. That's not enough to do... well, most things you'd want to do with a computer! There's not much processing power, so running complex image decoding algorithms might be a bit beyond it. Is there a simple image format which can be parsed and displayed? Yes! The ancient Portable PixMap […]
Continue reading →By @edent · falsehoods programming · 8 comments · 300 words · read ~202 times.
(Mostly written in response to this issue on the Awesome Falsehoods list) For those new to the format, there is a popular meme about things which computer programmers erroneously believe. This isn't intended to shame anyone - just to point out things which may not be immediately obvious to the neophyte. There's nothing us Brits […]
Continue reading →By @edent · emf emfcamp python tildagon · 1 comment · 400 words
I'm beginning my adventures in MicroPython in the hope that I'll have something interesting working on the Tildagon Badge for EMF2026. Here's a basic implementation of a clockface. Here's how to set the time on the badge. There's a hardware clock which should keep time between reboots. Install mpremote on your computer. Connect the Tildagon […]
Continue reading →By @edent · democracy GE2024 · 450 words · read ~237 times.
In an ideal world, people wouldn't drop litter. There would be plentiful bins and people would be responsible with their rubbish. In a slightly less ideal world, the local council would have enough money to clean up the mess left by people. But we don't live in an ideal world. People are ignorant and selfish. […]
Continue reading →By @edent · emf emfcamp python QR Codes · 2 comments · 950 words · read ~531 times.
This was a bit of a labour of love - and something I wanted to get running during EMF Camp. I'm documenting in the hope it'll be useful for EMF 2026! Here's the end result: Background I'm going to assume that you have updated your badge to the latest firmware version. You will also need […]
Continue reading →By @edent · FoI GE2024 politics tax · 5 comments · 500 words · read ~223 times.
Freedom of Information law is brilliant! It allows ordinary people to ask questions of the powerful and get solid answers. Sometimes these questions are sensible and journalistic. Sometimes they're vexatious. Sometimes they're a little silly. The silly ones can be fun to answer. It's a good chance for a politician to show their human side. […]
Continue reading →