Category: News

Ethical hacking….

Month 5 came early, in fact I have had it delivered as only the introduction video has appeared on the course site.

This month is all about cyber security, and how to test it, and hopefully improve it.

In the box are a couple of tools I have heard about but never used, and some components to make some “spy glasses”

We have bespoke versions of a “Rubber ducky” and. “Flipper zero”. And a tiny camera module with special board.

The ducky is a special usb stick that I believe can be used to hack systems if programmed correctly then plugged in. This is why you should never plug in an unknown usb device into your computer without precautions!

The Flipper is, I believe, a device that can detect, and connect to, WiFi networks, and do “things” in them. I think simple things like turning over channels on WiFi tv’s, or more complex things like getting access to databases or other “connected” devices.

The camera is self explanatory I hope. I was expecting it to come with glasses, but that’s easy enough to add in.

I’m not sure if I’ll be making any videos about this month again, as I don’t know how much will be suitable, or ethical, to film!

Let me know what you think!

As I pass the halfway point on the CraftingTable Academy course, I will be continuing to build on the Raspberry pi, adding some real world interaction.

In this months box is a selection of parts for use with Hone Assistant, I free to use, local, non subscription tool that will let me sense and control several parts of my house.

So I have: 2 bulbs, 2 plugs, a button, a temperature/humidity sensor, a switch, a controller, a PIR sensor and a door sensor.

Being a US based company/ course I was expecting the plugs to need an adaptor, which was supplied, with one to convert from uk plug to the smart plug, and another to convert back to uk. I already have a uk/us adaptor for the solder station, so my plan is to use that for one plug, and the other for the us mains adaptor for the pi itself!

I wasn’t expecting trouble with the bulbs, but that’s exactly what I have.

The bulbs are a screw fit, which most of my light sockets are not, the bayonet fitting being more common here. But more importantly they require us power, which is only 110v. We have 240.

Ohh, the screw fitting is also 1mm different to the uk screw standard too. Just for good luck.

I could get adaptors and power converters, but it’s actually much cheaper for me to just ignore the bulbs and buy uk versions. So that’s what I have done. When they arrive I’ll get them paired up and we should be good!

Next up I need to install the Home Assistant software in the pi, and learn how to work it! Wish me luck!

It’s here! The month I’ve been exited about!

Included in this month are all the components required to make a self contained ai computer. These include a Raspberry pi board with an “ai Hat” that adds specific power for ai tasks, a touchscreen, camera, microphone and more!

It started well, getting the components assembled was very easy, all plug and play. The screen is powered from the board and has touch inputs so no keyboard is needed, although it does make thing easier! After getting the operating system installed on an SD card everything boots up and I have a portable computer!

I know nothing about the Raspberry os, so relied heavily on my personal ai Taisia to help getting it setup.

The downside to getting in on the start of a new course is that things aren’t quite settled. I had trouble with a couple of the lessons this month so resorted to using Taisia to generate code and help me get the camera installed and looking. This took a lot longer than I expected, and it still isn’t quite right, but it works! I now have an icon on my desktop that launches a feed from the camera that the ai “sees” and tries to recognise items on the screen. It seems to find items well but doesn’t get them right all the time. I will persevere and tweet it to get it better, but for now I am happy with my progress!

Next up is voice recognition, and then getting it to respond with its own voice. Taisia 3.0 is on her way!

I have recieved and opened my second month of the Ai/ coding Academy from Crafting Table. And it looks great!

After the first months “repeat” of electronics and components I already had, this month brings much needed improvements to my home setup.

This month we are learning pcb stuff, and have the gear to make our own version of a Uno board: the boards, components, tools and information online.

The first thing in the box is a soldering station.

Now I have a couple of soldering irons, and have done a fair bit of electronics work in the past (I actually have a GCSE in Electronics!) but I have never used a proper station. This is temperature controlled and has easily changeable tips for the iron. I am looking forward to getting to grips with it.

To use it on: prototype boards.

A selection of sizes, all ready for components to be inserted through the holes and soldered in place. With some wires to make connections between them.

To make life easier we also have some “helping hands” to hold the board and components in place while soldering. Because it gets hot and fingers are not a good idea!

And finally, when things don’t go as expected, we have a tester.

Again, I have others, but this one has an oscilloscope function that I will need to learn all about!

All in all I am very pleased with this months pack and will be delving in to make my own circuits!

I expect I will be making a couple of videos about this months progress, you know where to find them when they arrive!

Not long until month 3, where the end result should be a complete ai cube…. See you soon!

I have just signed up to the Crafting Table Academy, a six month course in coding, electronics and AI.

A continuation of the electronics kits I’ve been doing (and have more to do when I get around to them!) each month had several videos and resources to study and hopefully understand as well as a delivery of useful things to build and create.

Month 1 is, for me, the least interesting as I think I’ve covered most of it previously, but revision is always useful!

This month they delivered a toolbox packed with electronic supplies, including several full boards, basically enough to do all of the courses they provide from the 30 days lost in space through to the nebula raiders box, and all the others in between. As I already have them all I wasn’t too bothered by the parts, but having more components is always useful for other projects.

The coursework this month mainly covers the stuff from the 30days course, which I have completed once and am currently working through it again anyway.

Over the coming months I’ll be delving into to prototyping circuit boards, home automation, 3d printing and making an AI cube, and learning some hacking skills!

I don’t think I’ll be making videos about the course, so t doesn’t really lend itself to that sort of cover, but I do plan on continuing posts about it, so make sure you check back for updates!

And the course is still available at the moment, although there are limited spaces available! See if you can still join me at CraftingTable.com

After changing my streaming software and my microphone, I thought “why not?” And took the plunge to change my entire editing suite!

I’ve gone from Pinnacle, which I’ve used in one version or another for about 20 years to DaVici Resolve which is much more powerful, has added features and shouldn’t give me the glitches I’ve been having Ona me off for a while.

I’ve had a play around yesterday and started to convert (well, entirely recreate) my existing projects in the new software.

First thoughts are that it’s nice, not too different in its basic operation, just lots of little muscle memory things I have to unlearn and relearn the new systems.

I’ll keep you updated as to my progress, and how I adapt!

Been having some trouble the last couple of weeks with my microphone. I spent a few hours at the weekend trying to sort it out, playing with noise gates, compression, eq, all the settings I only have a vague understanding of.

No luck. I can have the same settings on my Yeti mic and my headset mic, but still have dropouts on my main Yeti.

As I am unable to be sure I can record any bench stuff with decent audio (apologies in advance for the occasional drop in the videos I’ve recorded while I had the problem!) I’ve bitten the bullet and ordered myself a replacement.

The world of microphones has changed a lot in the last 6 or 7 years since I bought this one, and I spent some time last night researching and watching some reviews.

I’ve gone for a good mid range usb mic, recommend by several YouTube channels that usually know what they are talking about. It should be delivered later today, and I plan on making an upgrade video about it tomorrow. I’ll release it to channel members and Patreons first, then a general release in a week or so.

So stick around to check it out!

I’ve been playing with new streaming software, Meld Studio.

So far it’s been nice, much more streamlined than Obs, my old system.

It’s going to take a while to get used to it and sort everything out to my satisfaction, but I hope it will soon be making my livestreams look a little nicer.

They are still in Beta, and adding new features every few weeks, but so far so good.

Let me know if you notice a difference in the next few streams, and if you think it’s a good change!

I am revamping my Discord server, so if you want to have another place to chat and ask questions head over and join up!

https://discord.gg/B9Pvr98E

If you don’t know Discord, it’s a free site where you can have “rooms” to chat in and post pictures for others to see. I’ve made a few different rooms for different topics, if you’d like any others creating just shout!

Hope to see you in there soon!

I am planning on relaunching the Thursday “Evening with” streams, but will need some help!
If you’d like to drop in for a chat one week, drop me a message and we can work it out.
It will be the old format of general chat about life, the universe and everything (except politics and religion!) for the usual hour or so.
It’d be great to see some old and new faces, even if it’s just for a few minutes at a time.

It’s that, you you just end up with me talking to myself for a while…..

So leave a comment, send me a mail or drop into my DM”s and we will see when we can chat!