Random projects and posts

Using YouTube RSS feed to a DataTable c#

Posted Friday 17 August 2018 19:27 Page View Counter 61

I have added a new page to the blog which lists my latest uploads on my YouTube channel. I found that YouTube has a rss feed for channels which can be used in a RSS reader. The format of the RSS urls is http://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UC3rrX8tBXk8eGutDTAHdXDQ with the channel_id being the ID of the selected YouTube channel. The XML returned is formatted as: <feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"...

View Using YouTube RSS feed to a DataTable c# post

Lower Case URLs and C# Code Updates

Posted Sunday 29 July 2018 13:58 Page View Counter 275

Over the past 2 months there has been a heatwave in the United Kingdom and so we haven’t been doing many electronics or new projects due to the high temperatures in the loft workshop. We have been spending time working on our website projects...

View Lower Case URLs and C# Code Updates post

Solar Hot Water to 1-Wire Interface

Posted Wednesday 30 May 2018 21:54 Page View Counter 703

After the removal of our Raspberry Pi based home data logger and the installation of the Mosquitto MQTT and Home Assistant Data Logging system in March this year we have not been able to monitor the solar hot water pump status as we did before. The...

View Solar Hot Water to 1-Wire Interface post

Bitmap to Byte array for e-ink display

Posted Saturday 28 April 2018 12:51 Page View Counter 970

Over the past few months Andrew has been working on a new circuit for a custom home alarm system to replace our current hardwired commercial alarm. For the display panel on the new alarm we are going to be using a e-ink display to show the status...

View Bitmap to Byte array for e-ink display post

Twenty Years of being Self Employed

Posted Wednesday 04 April 2018 20:34 Page View Counter 768

I don't normally write personal posts about myself but with 2018 being the 20th anniversary of starting my own business Apexweb, I thought I would write about the ups and downs of the past twenty years of being self employed. Twenty years ago...

View Twenty Years of being Self Employed post

Mosquitto MQTT and Home Assistant Data Logging

Posted Wednesday 14 March 2018 17:13 Page View Counter 1758

We have removed the Raspberry Pi based data logger from our home and moved the logging hardware and new software to the Gigabit Internet Gateway Network PC which we installed in December 2017. The old Raspberry Pi system was initially designed...

View Mosquitto MQTT and Home Assistant Data Logging post

Goodbye Disqus, Hello HTTPS with Lets Encrypt

Posted Thursday 22 February 2018 16:03 Page View Counter 2086

I have decided to remove the disqus comment system from my blog posts. I have had a few issues with the disqus system including: Post order – oldest posts not always on top. Links to other sites and spam. Long load times Lot of external...

View Goodbye Disqus, Hello HTTPS with Lets Encrypt post

YouTube demonetisation email arrived

Posted Wednesday 21 February 2018 16:51 Page View Counter 1368

After a few weeks of reading about all the YouTube channels losing their ability to display adverts and receive a small income from their videos the email from YouTube has finally arrived for my YouTube channel to tell me that I can no longer access...

View YouTube demonetisation email arrived post

Nest Thermostat and Smoke API with DotNet

Posted Saturday 10 February 2018 18:46 Page View Counter 1479

This code example shows how you can use C# in either a Windows application or asp.net website to retrieve data from the Nest API to show information for your Nest Thermostat or Nest Smoke Alarms. Before starting to write your code, you need to create...

View Nest Thermostat and Smoke API with DotNet post

Gigabit Internet Gateway Network PC

Posted Saturday 16 December 2017 17:12 Page View Counter 2262

Following from our home network upgrade in August 2017 we have been trying to find a way to add global adblocking for the computers, tablets and phones connected to our network and to run additional software. We had tried using Pi-hole® software...

View Gigabit Internet Gateway Network PC post

Blog and website upgrades to Bootstrap 4

Posted Sunday 12 November 2017 16:33 Page View Counter 1438

Over the past few weeks we have been working on some of our own websites to rewrite the code and pages to use Bootstrap which is an open source toolkit for developing with HTML, CSS, and JS. In the past we have always written our own responsive...

View Blog and website upgrades to Bootstrap 4 post

Pick and Place Software Version 2-2 Update

Posted Monday 06 November 2017 16:04 Page View Counter 2446

Another software update to the Pick and Place Controller Software for the DIY pick and place machine. Since the UI redesign earlier this year I have now changed the vision system to use AForge.NET to read from the USB webcams and display on the screen...

View Pick and Place Software Version 2-2 Update post

Google Analytics PageSpeed Insights Error Fix

Posted Thursday 14 September 2017 20:15 Page View Counter 2320

We test websites using tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to check the speed of their websites and find any potential issues with the content or other issues. One problem we often find about regarding the Google PageSpeed Insights...

View Google Analytics PageSpeed Insights Error Fix post

tp-link LB130 Smart Wi-Fi LED Bulb Python Control

Posted Wednesday 30 August 2017 13:28 Page View Counter 4145

A few weeks ago, we purchased a tp-link LB130 smart bulb to use with the Home Assistant software we had been trying on the Raspberry Pi. The support for the bulb in the Home Assistant software was limited and so Andrew started to decode the data using...

View tp-link LB130 Smart Wi-Fi LED Bulb Python Control post

Milling Machine Ballscrew End Float Fix

Posted Monday 28 August 2017 13:19 Page View Counter 2134

We converted our Axminster SIEG Super X1 micro mill to use ballscrews back in 2010 and every few months of use we have had to adjust the bearings to eliminate any backlash on the X and Y axis drives. The original drive couplings fitted onto the...

View Milling Machine Ballscrew End Float Fix post

Home Network Upgrade

Posted Tuesday 22 August 2017 21:37 Page View Counter 3176

The home network installation for our computers was first setup using 10BASE2 coax connections when we only had 2 computers and one was connected to the internet via a modem. Since then we have upgraded to using first network hubs then switches for...

View Home Network Upgrade post

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18