{"id":20,"date":"2018-07-20T16:54:41","date_gmt":"2018-07-20T16:54:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stevenicklin.com\/blog\/?p=20"},"modified":"2018-07-20T16:55:38","modified_gmt":"2018-07-20T16:55:38","slug":"whats-in-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stevenicklin.com\/blog\/tech\/whats-in-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Whats in my office?"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a few Amazon Prime Day purchases this is what’s in my Aladdin’s cave of goodies….<\/p>\n

Before I start though, I have to re-iterate that everything here has a purpose – some things were bought on a whim but others most definitely weren’t – and even those there were, there was an idea in my mind that they could be used with something else….<\/p>\n

Latest Stuff<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Pride of place goes to my Amazon Echo Show<\/strong> – this has replaced a not-so-long-ago acquired Amazon Echo Spot, (which although a marvellous device was hampered by its small screen and has now been relegated to an alarm clock-cum-media player in a bedroom).\u00a0 As well as the usual Alexa responsibilities, this will be my test device when I expand my Alexa Skill knowledge from the Audio channel to Audio and Video – watch this space!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

MF RC522 RFID Reader Three Pack<\/strong> – want to build your own Oyster Card reader system.\u00a0 This is what you need.\u00a0 Separate blog on this soon….<\/p>\n

Raspberry Pi Zero WH<\/strong> – this is Pi #8 in my house, love the two Pi Zeroes and Pi 3B I have (plus four venerable Mk 1 Model B’s from 2012 gathering dust).\u00a0 This is a game-changer for home automation and other tinker jobs needing some processing power – needs nothing more than a phone charger to make it fly.\u00a0 More about this later.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

600 Pack of Resisters<\/strong> and 40 pack of jumper leads<\/strong> – having scratched around for old resisters and bits of wire sor hanging stuff of my Pi’s I’ve bit the bullet and orders some proper gear.\u00a0 More in a later blog about what its being used for.<\/p>\n

Existing Stuff<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

CEL Robox 3D Printer<\/strong> – this is the jewel in the crown – nearly 4 years old now but still pumping out great prints and so easy to use.\u00a0 This is the closest you’ll get to a Commodity 3D Printer that is as easy to use as a Commodity 2D Inkjet Printer<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Parrot Bebop 2 Drone<\/strong> – OK I lied.\u00a0 This is the jewel in the crown… well at least it is on a sunny day.\u00a0 Video quality is ‘just’ good enough but its the views you can get from up on high that make this my equal-favourite gadget.\u00a0 I paid extra for the FPV pack which brings a Playstation Like Controller and a useless pair of Goggles (useless with the Parrot but perfect as a Google Cardboard replacement).\u00a0 Twin batteries give me nearly 45 minutes flying time, enough to exhaust internal 8GB memory card but carrying a laptop with me solves this issue<\/p>\n