Thursday, March 28, 2013

Fight For Internet Freedom!

I've shown support for internet freedom before, but the need for more support is greater than ever! Visit freepress for tons of great information to get started and also check out & sign the Declaration of Internet Freedom. Also check out this CISPA petition, and contact your representatives, senators, everyone and tell them how you feel!

Lastly, show your support by putting up some of these posters courtesy of Freepress Flicker.

Here's 8.5x11 JPG image for the poster:




Here's a link to a 8.5x11 PDF of the poster via Mediafire.

Enjoy and spread the word!

-Eli

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi. 

Quite possibly the most simple yet powerful computer ever made. It doesn't have much for specs: 256MB of RAM, CPU, and GPU, HDMI port, 2 USB ports, RCA port, Ethernet port, and an SD card slot.

Even though it doesn't have much for specs, it was made this way on purpose. This little (45g) computer was made for coding and programming.

People have made this little guy do some pretty cool things. Some people have used it for robotics, send to the edge of space, and so much more!

I want to push the Raspberry Pi to its limits and beyond!

My Idea

I want to use the Raspberry Pi and other open source software to basically create the perfect operating system and personal assistant.

I want to use a RPi along with:

  • Microsoft Kinect
    • For speech recognition and motion recognition
  • 55" Computer Monitor
    • This will be the final purchase and feature of this build. It's also touchscreen as another way to input information.
  • HD DVR Security System
    • Mainly using this for the cameras. I will use open source facial recognition along with the cameras to alert me when someone is at the door and if their face is recognized it will tell me who is at the door.
  • i'm Watch
    • This runs on a modified version of the Android operating system, so I will modify it most likely by just making an app where it will give me any alerts I setup.
  • Weather Station
    • Obviously you need weather, so I found some open source software along with a personal weather station to give me relevant weather information.
  • Automated Lighting
    • I'm still working out how this will work, but basically the computer will turn on the lights when I get out of bed in the morning and turn them off when I go to sleep.
Besides these other pieces of hardware and software, this is what I want the operating system to be like:

  • Simple yet powerful
  • Intuitive
  • Personal Assistant
    • I want to develop the most advanced personal assistant in existence. Big goal...yeah but I think I can do it
    • It needs to be able to learn and "think"
    • Understand and execute voice commands (i.e. "I want to watch a harlem shake video on YouTube" or "Play my favorite Pandora radio station")
  • Distro of linux
    • Obviously since linux is open source, that's where I'm going to be building from. To start off, I will be using the Raspbian distro but once I start getting into the "real" programming of the operating system, I will be working from open source linux
All the software I will be using to create this "operating system" will be open source and I hope it works. I don't know when I will start making this crazy awesome system, but I hope to start realitively soon...especially because a RPi is only $35!

For more information on the Raspberry Pi check out their website! http://www.raspberrypi.org/

-Eli