I want to track and graph everything, which includes power consumption in my flat. But checking and regularly values and writing them down in spreadsheet is tiresome. Then I found this guide and after some modifications I've managed to collect actual power consumption, send it to Prometheus and see graphs in Grafana.
LIFX bulbs are great, but when you just need to turn them on, off or just change brightness, it can be not very comfortable, to do this simple task by app. So I decided to create much simpler way to do this. And then I came across NodeMCU, small development board similar to Arduino with integrated Wi-Fi, with cost of about $5.
Project LIFX: The Light Bulb Reinvented has collected in november 2012 more than $1.3 million (goal set to 100 thousand). It's goal was to manufacture RGB-W LED bulbs LIFX, which you can control via WiFi. Author promised, they'll be ready in march 2013, but path to the final product was more difficult than expected. My 4 bulbs arrived in february 2014, so I've had to wait 15 months, but it was worth it.
Problem: When ajax request has cache off it always creates request with timestamp e.g. _=1456134256000, and as it is get parameter, views are called and Drupal cache is not hit. And when cache is on, request is made without timestamp, and browser returns data from it's cache, so it doesn't hit server. What I needed is that script gets past browser cache, but hits Drupal cache.
I've finally done it, this is my blog. Since it's my job to create websites, it has come to creating my web.
I will write here, if I will at all, about various tech (IoT) gadgets which I have or will create with RaspberryPi, NodeMCU etc. Meanwhile I'll try to continue with something I've begun on http://spaceunicorn.sk, reviews of gadgets from kickstarter or indiegogo. I can not forget about cosplay (the "cos" part). And there will be also something inbetween or something completely different, but I'll try to keep it technical.
And now, welcome to my laboratory.
Lightpack is set of RGB LED strips, thanks to which you can add backlight similar to Phillips Ambilight to any display, with a slight difference - you can set it up as you like and you don't need to buy new TV to get this effect. All you need is computer screen you already have and Lightpack. Id default setting you can use backlight asi extended light, which averages color and brightness from what's on screen and illuminates wall behind your display, this creates effect of larger screen, is easy on your eyes and looks nice. Or you can use Lightpack to create psycho effects, in time notifications via IFTTT, or with different plugins and provided API anything you can code.