I rate every pint I taste using the Untappd app. Think of it like TripAdvisor for lager, stout, cider, bitter, and all manner of other beery goodness. Seriously, I've reviewed over 600 different drinks Recently, I decided to see if I could self-host my beer check-ins. The first step - extracting my own data from… Continue reading →
Convert WebVTT to a Transcript using Python
by | | 1 comment | Read ~511 times.
I want to convert YouTube's auto-generated subtitles into a plain transcript. Why is this so hard? This blog post gives a more detailed explanation than my answer to this StackOverflow question. Here's what the subtitles look like when you view a video: And here's what the code which generates those subtitles looks like: 00:00:00.930 -->… Continue reading →
How to detect 3D video?
by | | Read ~118 times.
Here's an interesting conundrum. My TV can automatically detect when 3D video is being played and offers to switch into 3D mode - but how does the detection work? This post will give you a few strategies for detecting 3D images using Python. Firstly, some terminology. 3D videos are usually saved either as Side-By-Side images,… Continue reading →
Reconstructing 3D Models from The Last Jedi
by | | 3 comments | Read ~2,266 times.
A quick tutorial in how to recover 3D information from your favourite 3D movies. In this example, we'll be using Star Wars - The Last Jedi. tl;dr? Here's the end result (this video is silent): Grab the code on GitHub. Let's go! Take a screenshot of your favourite scene. Something with a clearly defined foreground… Continue reading →
Adjusting timestamps on images with Python
by | | Read ~867 times.
As ever, mostly notes to myself. I have a bunch of old images which don't have any timestamp associated with them. This quick Python script will add a DateTime EXIF metadata tag to an image. This uses piexif which can be installed using pip install piexif This simple script reads a photo, adds a timestamp,… Continue reading →
Long Exposures - Creating Average Frames From Movies
by | | 3 comments | Read ~7,180 times.
I read a Guardian article about an artist who set up an analogue camera in front of their TV, set it to long exposure, and set a movie playing. The result was a rather wonderful collection of images. You can see more of Jason Shulman's works Is there a way to automate this process? Yes!… Continue reading →
Replacing IFTTT - Part 1: RSS & Tumblr
by | | 5 comments | Read ~457 times.I've grown to loath IFTTT. What started out as a cool way to plug internet things together has being an opaque an uncommunicative company with no real interest in customer service. That's not surprising, I suppose, its paying customers are the companies who can't be bothered to develop a proper API and so just shove… Continue reading →
Which Twitter User Receives The Most Citations on Wikipedia?
by | | 3 comments | Read ~284 times.I few days ago, I was somewhat surprised to find that one of my Tweets had been used as a citation in Wikipedia! I began to wonder - how often are Tweets used in citations? It's possible to search for your own Tweets using this (somewhat obscure) link: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinkSearch&target=twitter.com%2Fedent Just edit the end of it… Continue reading →
Track deletions on Twitter - AKA build your own Politwoops
by | | Read ~666 times.
Twitter, as part of its never-ending quest to alienate users and appease the rich and powerful, have shut down Politwoops accounts. Politwoops monitored politicians' Twitter accounts and noted when they deleted a tweet. Most of the time deletions were done for the same reason we all deleted content - mispellings, broken links, etc - but… Continue reading →
Idiot's Guide To Getting Started with Raspberry Pi's GPIO Pins
by | | 13 comments | Read ~36,309 times.
The idiot in question being... me! It's been ages since I did any real electronics. Most of my work involves software and pre-assembled bits of kit. I thought that it was time I reacquainted myself with the joys of electricity 🙂 Because I'm fundamentally lazy, I purchased the all-in-one Raspberry Pi 2 kit from Vilros.… Continue reading →