At the end of June 30 this year, a leap second will be inserted (just before midnight UTC), making this day one second longer than normal.
I want to build a clock which will actually display the leap second, so I can watch it happen.
Changing keyboard layout on Windows 8
I was asked how to “reassign keyboard functions” on Windows 8, so that the characters produced by the keys match what’s physically printed on the keys. (Specifically, the @ symbol and the double-quote were swapped; we needed the @ symbol to be shift+2, and the double-quote to be shift+single-quote). This issue is resolved by setting the correct keyboard layout; here’s how to do it.
AKAI KDR-66RU digital radio
My radio died a few weeks ago, so after taking it back for a refund, I decided to jump into the brave new world of DAB+ digital radio. My approach to this was to buy the absolute cheapest DAB+ receiver I could find here in Melbourne, which turned out to be the AKAI KDR-66RU for $38 at Big W.
Integrating LiFX with Artemis
Introduction
Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator is an awesome game in which several people with several computers sit in a room together and take different roles on the bridge of a starship (Captain, Helm Officer, Weapons Officer, etc). The game runs on Windows. It can interface with DMX lighting using USB DMX controllers based on FTDI USB-serial chips, to do such things as turning the lights on the bridge red in a “red alert” situation.
I don’t have any DMX lights or FTDI chips, but I do have a smart light bulb from LIFX which is controllable over Wi-Fi. I’ve made this light bulb work with Artemis, although it’s a bit of a hack.