Update for arduino / python / rss reader – Weather!

I just whipped up this script that checks and displays the weather through rssweather.com. As always, it requires feedparser, an arduino, and a lcd screen. It is currently configured to read Burlington Vt’s weather, so if you don’t live there – change it in the python file. Check out the commenting for more info. Click …

gmail notifier project (for dummies)

I’ve been really interested in doing J4mie’s Physical Gmail Notifier ever since it came out in February. I only recently dropped into the project and got to learn a lot about python, plists, and arduino auto-reset functionality. I’m going to share what I’ve learned because I think there are lots of other people out there …

Removing the auto reset in Bare Bones Board Arduino

I’m currently working on a project that requires the Arduino to accept serial input from my mac. This would ordinarily be fine, but the auto-reset function means that the arduino resets whenever I send it data, and then it forgets the data! I emailed Paul at Modern Device company to ask if there was an …

Freeduino Bare Bones Board Build (w/Macro shots!)

Last night I built two Freeduino Bare Bones Boards. I had two kits. One was from Moderndevice, and one was from MAKE. They were essentially the same kit, but different versions. There was one resistor difference I believe. The first kit took me quite a while to put together – probably about an hour. The …

Lego NXT vs Arduino

I have always been interested in Lego NXT. It seems like a really easy way to get into robotics, and programming. I have never really figured out how functional it is in the “real world” (whatever that means) The other day a coworker was really pushing the idea on me telling me I needed to …

Sheesh… Sorry I haven’t called! It’s been a while!

so in the last lil’ bit I have not been blogging at all. Happily that has been because I’ve been swamped with projects, vacation, and work. Now I’ve got a big old backlog of updates on everything. Here we go! Grow your own shiitake mushroom log My beautiful girlfriend gave me a kit two years …