DSI display, Graphics, Silliness, Video

Muggles beware – this Harry Potter-inspired Daily Prophet newspaper uses a Raspberry Pi for a little Wizarding magic!

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Piet Rullens Jr visited The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and brought back loads of video footage. He wanted to do something special with the footage so he designed a copy of the Wizarding World’s Daily Prophet to be framed. Behind the frame, he mounted a Raspberry Pi official screen and cut a hole in the printed newspaper the exact size of the screen. A bit of scripting and the use of a PIR sensor to detect movement triggers the playing of the video footage. Rather neatly, the frame backs onto a cupboard into which he placed the power supply and drilled a hole to connect up the Raspberry Pi and screen. No untidy wires! Frankly, the whole thing looks completely seamless and totally cool. I want one! See it in action below and visit YouTube to give him a thumbs up! Thanks to Alex over at Raspberry Pi for spotting this!

Education, Geeky Techiness, Outreach, Raspberry Pi Foundation, Silliness

Raspberry Pi Foundation launches first Pioneers theme – Comedy!

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The Foundation have just announced the first theme for their Pioneers scheme – comedy! That’s right, teams must develop and hack together something which will make people laugh!

Pioneers is the Foundation’s latest attempt to engage with young makers. The scheme is aimed at 12-15 year olds who must form teams to hack, invent and make.

Accessories, Camera module, Photography, Security

Build a motion-activated security camera with the Raspberry Pi Zero

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Pi Zero mounted on the ZeroView

Mark West, a Brit now living in Norway, was convinced that he had some unwanted visitors in his garden. So, he decided to press into action a Raspberry Pi Zero as a security camera solution. He shopped at The Pi Hut and got hold of the Zero, the Pi NoIR Camera and a ZeroView sucker-mounting plate, together with some other components from various places. He then wrote Raspbian onto his SD card and then installed popular imaging solution Motion. He’s documented the entire process (thank goodness, because I really want to do this!) on his blog. There are also a couple of follow-up posts: here and here.

Accessories, Camera module, Nature, Photography, Reviews, Shopping

NatureBytes Raspberry Pi-powered nature camera comes to The Pi Hut

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A good few months ago, a new company called NatureBytes ran a Kickstarter to fund their Raspberry Pi-powered nature camera system. They delivered on their pledges in the middle of last year and they’re now at a point where they have a retail package available. This package is now sold at The Pi Hut. The kit requires some assembly, but this is well in the capabilities of non-technical people. I bought my in-laws a kit for Christmas and they had it up-and-running within a day and a half and love the results.

The kit comes with everything you need:

  • Weatherproof case
  • Electronic assembly holder (compatible with all Raspberry Pi models).
  • Nylon attachment strap
  • Raspberry Pi A +
  • Raspberry Pi v2 Camera module
  • PIR sensor
  • Jumper wires (3 different colours)
  • Li-ion battery (8800 Mah)
  • Seed LiPo Rider
  • SD Card (8GB micro SD)
  • USB flash drive 2.0 (4GB)
  • Real time clock
  • USB cable

The battery is enough to run the camera for 3-4 days (courtesy of the A+’s relatively low power requirements).

All in all, it’s a great, quality package that easily competes with other solutions out there. The case, in particular, is fantastic and very solid. Highly recommended.

The kit costs £130 from The Pi Hut – this may seem costly, but you get plenty for your money and it’s a well-thought-out product from very clever people!