The Raspberry Pi Foundation have blogged about this great project from Germans Holger and Henrike Körber. They are using a USB high-sensitivity microphone to pick up on bat calls. This is plugged into a Raspberry Pi which records the data and allows them to graphically represent the calls and manipulate the sound waves into something which can be heard by humans. Read the blog post at the Foundation’s site or head over to the German-language project description.
The organisers of the long-running Egham Raspberry Jam have just announced their ninth event, which will take place on the Sunday 11th October at Gartner HQ from 2-5pm. You can book free tickets to the event here. Part of the Jam is a Show and Tell competition – you can win prizes by taking along your project including an official case signed by Eben Upton (pictured)! Read more about the Jam on Albert’s blog.
Alex Eames has been looking at recent updates to the Python library everybody uses, RPi.GPIO, and has noticed something. The old variable RPI_REVISION has been deprecated (replaced) by something more useful: RPI_INFO. This new variable outputs a Python dictionary detailing the revision of GPIO pins, the amount of RAM onboard and various items to do with the Pi’s design revision. You can read more about his investigation of the new variable over at RasPi.TV.
Also of note GPIO-wise is that Alex’s current Kickstarter is coming to an end in a few days. The GPIO reference ruler is a 15cm long ruler filled with RPi.GPIO reference material as well as a place-it-over-the-pins GPIO reference guide. It’s cheap at £4 and is just what you need to remind yourself about the RPi.GPIO commands if (like me) you forget all the time! You can take a look at the Kickstarter here. It recently hit a stretch goal which means that Alex will be donating a bunch of rulers to the Raspberry Pi Foundation to use on their educational course Picademy.
Shea Silverman has blogged about creating a bluetooth iBeacon by using a Bluetooth dongle with a Raspberry Pi. He’s written comprehensive, though brief, instructions for setting up the iBeacon and then gone on to explain how to alter the downloadable software to define your beacon data and read it using a custom iPhone app. Read the instructions here. A more comprehensive guide is available over at Adafruit. As Barry Byford has pointed out on Twitter, though, it’s worth noting that there are some restrictions around using the iBeacon name. The new Eddystone format is open and supports similar functionality. There is a Python implementation of the Eddystone URL beacon here.
Over at TechRadar, the guys and girls from Linux Format have blogged about creating a burglar alarm for your home. The system uses a PIR sensor to detect movement and then takes a picture and a video then uses an online service to send this to a mobile phone via SMS. They’ve included all the code you need to replicate the system. Read all about it here.
Due to demand, The Centre for Computing History in Cambridge has announced an expansion of their summer programme with additional workshops and events taking place in the next month or so. A few of these are Raspberry Pi-related so I thought I’d share them with you.
I would book up quick if you’re in the area. Prices are generally £7/£5 for adults/children.
