Category: Hardware

  • Siri-controlled DND 🎧 for my office room

    Siri-controlled DND 🎧 for my office room

    Pausing notifications on your phone is great. The iPhone’s Do Not Disturb (DND) feature is also great. Would it not be awesome if we had a DND for our room/office? Well, that was when I had an idea for a mini project.

    My nephews and I went to a local electronics store and bought some gadgets. I just bought the ESP32-C3, which has two USB-C ports.

    These were the steps I did in order. Of course, ChatGPT helped me every step of the way.

    1. I ensured the ESP32 was working by running a blinking sketch, which I created using Arduino IDE.
    2. I then created an on-off switch using the BOOT button on the ESP32. This would turn the LED to switch between Green and Red alternatively each time you press the BOOT button the the microcontroller.
    3. Then I connected the ESP32 to Blynk.
    4. Once it was connected to Blynk with the token, etc. I used three links:
      • One would turn the Green light on when a GET request is sent to it.
      • The other would turn the Red light on when a request was sent to it.
      • The third one would give the current status of the light.
    5. Then I did some configurations using Siri Shortcuts. They were:
      • Office Green: which would essentially visit the above link I spoke about followed by turning off Do Not Disturb on the iPhone/Apple Watch.
      • Office Red: which would essentially visit the second link above, followed by turning on Do Not Disturb on the iPhone/Apple Watch.
      • Office Switch: this would get the current status of the light. If the currentStatus was 1, it would run Office Green, otherwise it would run Office Red.

    The end result was something like this:

    In case you have any inspiring ideas for such projects, feel free to build on it and share to the world!

    If you find this post inspiring, I have done my job. If you asked yourself why not just close the door instead of this contraption? Well, then you have done your job of critical thinking.

    Cheers!

  • Get SSD for a solid performance boost!

    When buying a new computer, we look at a few specs such as the processor, memory, storage and sometimes graphics. However, many of us fail to realize that what is actually slowing down our computer is the good old Hard Drive. Let’s take a look at one solution for this.

    Last week, I purchased a new laptop. After discussions with a good friend, I was convinced that the best way to increase performance is to get an SSD. (more…)

  • A quick look at the Onion Omega!

    Those of you who have worked with or heard of the Raspberry Pi know how awesome the tiny device is. The power of a full blown computer was literally in the palm of your hand, allowing you to experiment with cool projects and get your ideas and experiments to shape.

    Onion Omega package
    Onion Omega package

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  • Dell KB216 – a review

    I was looking for a nice keyboard to complement the Logitech M325 Wireless Mouse.

    However, the Computer stores seemed to have only Wireless Keyboard + Mouse combo, which would make my M325 redundant.

    (more…)

  • Arduino: a revamped tiny Sketch

    Couple of days ago I wrote a post about how I got started with an Arduino UNO and wrote my first Sketch (a Sketch is an App written using Arduino IDE and and uploaded to the board via Serial). Click here to read it.

    The Starter Kit had an LED attached to a a very small PCB with four pins. Picking it up I realized it was an RGB LED with three resistors printed on it. Neat!

    IMG_20151227_085209
    RGB LED board

    I knew what I wanted to do with it. 

    (more…)

  • Arduino: a tiny Sketch

    A friend of mine gifted me an Arduino UNO starter kit a while ago. I didn’t have the time and motivation back then to dabble in it.

    Fast forwarding to this day, I watched Massimo Banzi’s TED Talk in the morning, one of the guys who helped invent the Arduino. It was inspiring.

    So, what is it anyway? Arduino is a credit-card sized micro-controlled board that can be be used for a whole lot of purposes,  so much that one could dedicate his life on researching the everyday potential of it.

    Arduino UNO
    Arduino UNO

    The beautiful thing about this tiny device is that it is so easy to get started once you have the starter kit. In fact, I only started in the morning. Even more beautiful is that the whole project is open-source, from the hardware to software to everything in between. You could even make your own board!

    (more…)