TurtleBot3: First explorations
My TurtleBot3 is assembled and I look into the LiDAR and the first 3D visualizations of the space “seen” by the robot.
Read MoreRonnie James Dio
It took me years to appreciate Dio’s music. I try to understand why, now that I live 30 min away from the town he grew up in—Cortland, NY.
Read MoreBuilding the TurtleBot3 Burger
I got myself a TurtleBot3 Burger for my birthday, this year. Here I’m documenting the process of building the hardware and setting up the software.
Read MorePaying my dues
I’m not proficient in Jazz but I took a jazz theory class with the amazing Ryan Keberle and it has changed the way I listen to it. I particularly like John Coltrane’s music. A thing I learned about, then, is the idea of paying one’s dues. What a commenter on this forum calls: “Having put in the requisite amount…
Read MoreHomePod is not large enough to hide Siri’s flaws
Apple released its smart speaker, HomePod, on Monday. Not a big surprise: We were expecting them to. I was surprised by the angle they used, though, to sell it during the keynote. They really made it about music: Access to Apple Music, great sound, and its ability to understand where it sits and optimize its…
Read MoreTrying Particle’s Photon
I was excited to receive four ESP8266 ESP-01 but I ran into a few issues. I anticipated a few power issues from Arduino to the ESP8266 so I ordered a 5V – 3.3V adapter. The ESP8266 is not very breadboard friendly, so that made it easier without having to worry about power. Well, it turned out that…
Read MorePhantom YoYo High Sensitivity Moisture Sensor
My ESP8266 ESP-01 (see this post) was delayed so I got to use my moisture sensor tonight. It is much smaller than I expected (2.25 in) but it looks sturdy. 3 pins: VCC, GND, and OUT (analog). When wired to the board, but with no contact between electrodes, the sensor returned 0. In water, the sensor’s…
Read MoreFirst IoT steps
I have been building with Arduino for a while and one of my initial goals was to connect one to the Internet and experiment. Finally, I have decided to take the next step towards this goal. IoT hardware There are many ways to connect an Arduino (I use Uno for now but I might get a Mega soon—more…
Read MoreAmazon Echo: Two new devices in 14 days
On April 26, Amazon introduced a new device in the Echo ecosystem. From Amazon Developer’s Blog: “Echo Look is a hands-free camera and style assistant that helps customers look their best. Using just their voice, customers can take full-length photos and short videos so they can see themselves from every angle and create lookbooks using…
Read MoreTo Be Designed
On Tuesday, April 25, I attended To Be Designed, a one-day virtual conference produced by Rosenfeld Media. Topics were AI and UX heavy—awesome. The speakers were stellar. My notes are copious and I will probably have to watch some presentations again to absorb ideas. What are my key takeaways? IoT is about service Mike Kuniavsky‘s talk, The UX…
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