Podcasts, Pi and Python

by Les Pounder

Podcasts



Earlier this week I was interviewed for episode 18 of the Raspi.Today Podcast, hosted by ex Linux User and Developer magazine editor Russell Barnes.

Russell was keen to know more about my work with the Raspberry Pi and Arduino platforms and how I found being a freelancer.

Russell is a very eloquent and articulate person with a great attention to detail, as you would expect from an editor. He is also passionate about the Pi and that is plain to see.

Please head over to Raspi.Today and take a look at all of the great work that Russell has achieved.

Pi

This afternoon I was working with Tom Sale a primary teacher who loves the Raspberry Pi. Tom and I are working together to make Blackpool a hub of Raspberry Pi tech, and we are doing this via.

Hackpool: A hackday for children to build their own version of the Blackpool Illuminations, via the Raspberry Pi.

PA Consulting Health Technology: Building a device to monitor the health of a person using the Raspberry Pi and any other off the shelf pieces of kit.

Raspberry Pi CPD: Special twilight sessions where we can help teachers to work with the Pi and make the most of their budgets.

Raspberry Pi Bank: A suite of machines ready to use for anyone eager to learn more about the Pi. Installing these into libraries would be a key part of the project.

Python

Tom has bought another Kickstarter, this time it is estimote a small rubber rock that houses a Bluetooth 4 Low Energy chip powered by a watch battery. It can work with a series of applications to give mobile apps a physical connection.

These devices are installed in an office, shop or museum and broadcast their location and details to an application installed on your phone. We used locly to create apps that pushed data to your phone when you were near to an estimote. This could be used in an art gallery / museum to inform patrons of a particular piece of art via an video or audio file.

Being the hacker that I am, I had a look for a Python library to work with it, and found this from Switch Doc Labs. It scans for these beacons and when found reports their details. I altered it to search for a particular MAC address and when found play a fanfare :)

Here's the script that I hacked together.

Great fun, if a little pricy at £100 for 3 :O

Another great day, thanks to the Raspberry Pi.