Whilst working from home it's useful for the family to know when I am on a video call or just a voice call. I was first looking at Busy bar which I came across via Hiro Report, but couldn't justify the cost of it and as I had a raspberry pi zero and a Blink! sitting around, I decided to build something simple myself. Maybe one day I could make it more complex and build a version using the Pico 2 W Unicorn Galactic?

Hardware

• Raspberry Pi Zero W
• Power Supply
• Blink!

Software Part 1 - LED Control Server

This is the application that runs on the Raspberry Pi and controls the lights based on a simple API call. I deploy this to my Raspberry Pi through Balena for ease of management and updates - then I can just push a new copy of the code into git and balena will automatically deploy it to my Raspberry Pi.

The API Call is very simple and currently accepts a GET request with parameters for the red, green and blue values (between 0 and 255) - really this should probably be a PUT request but using GET made testing with a browser simpler. The light is switched off with a DELETE call (or another GET with 0 for each parameter).

You can see the code for this in the light directory.

Software Part 2 - Webcam detection tool

This part runs on my laptop and detects when the webcam is in use through monitoring the system log - if a change in state is detected, it then sends an API call to the Raspberry Pi to switch the light on or off as appropriate.

The tricky part here was the detection of the webcam - I found a few different samples and a useful reddit thread (which I can't find now - will add the link later!) on ways to detect the webcam being operational on MacOS and it seems it is liable to change between MacOS versions - looking for eventMessages containing AVCaptureSessionDidStartRunningNotification, AVCaptureSessionDidStopRunningNotification or stopRunning seems to work for the things I've tested on Sequoia.

The alternative route I was considering was to use OverSight to trigger a CLI app and leave the detection to them - but having the CLI detect it was more interesting to build.

You can see the code for this part in the cli directory.

The code for this project lives at github.com/rickymoorhouse/status-light.

We decided to take a short family break on the Isle of Wight dung the school Easter holidays. We found accommodation in Yarmouth through Airbnb at a lovely spot overlooking the River Yar.

On Thursday morning we took the WightLink ferry over to the island in the morning and as we got there early they put us on the earlier ferry so we arrived to the Isle of Wight just after ten o'clock. We decided to head to Alum Bay and spend the day there. We first went to the viewpoint to see the Needles and then took the stairs down to the bay as dogs weren't allowed on the chair lift we knew we had to do this both ways!

We found a nice spot on the beach to sit and have our picnic and relax. Nova had a good time exploring around us and found her comfiest spot to sit was on Jess.

After a relaxing time on the beach we headed back up to the cliff top - Nova managed the just set of stairs but wanted to be carried up the bigger set. At the top we browsed the shops and had ice creams whilst listening to the live music. We then took the bus across to the Needles battery where we explored the headland and enjoyed the views all around before heading in to see the battery itself. From there you cold see exactly it why was a strategic point to be armed as it overlooked the entrance to the Solent - noone was getting in without passing into its range. We got drinks from the cafe before heading for the bus stop to return to Alum Bay.

We then checked into our cottage, had fish and chips and enjoyed the sunset - of course Nova managed to be the first one to try out the outdoor shower as she found something smelly to roll in.

The next day we explored from where we were staying down the route of the old railway line along the side of the river - we got to the End of the Line Cafe and then headed back and had a relaxing afternnon at the boat house - making use of the sauna and garden to enjoy the fantastic weather. In the afternoon Laura and I headed out for another wander along the railway path along to the end and back along the coast, stopping at Off the Rails for a drink along the way. Then in the evening we headed up into Yarmouth and out on the pier before collecting pizzas to take back to the boathouse to enjoy in the garden.

I was fortunate to finally get a chance to visit my team in Kochi and had a fantastic few days with them, it was so great to be able to spend some time face to face after working together remotely for several years. I travelled to Kochi via Chennai with British Airways. In Chennai this meant I arrived through the international terminal and then had to clear immigration and head over to the domestic terminal next door. Immigration all went smoothly but then at the domestic terminal they didn't recognise my boarding pass for the Indigo codeshare that British Airways had given me, so I had to get help at the check in desks. Once this was all resolved I had to pass through security again and all went smoothly, efficient boarding and a short flight later I arrived in Kochi around 9 in the morning and was met by Akhil and Midhun at the airport to take me to the office.

I didn't have very much time to explore Kochi, with arriving on Monday morning and heading back over to Chennai on the Thursday night to spend a day with the team there on Friday but we managed to get away earlier one afternoon and head to the coast - then on the way it poured with rain so we ended up at a nice spot, Old Lighthouse Lounge, overlooking the coast where we could get some food and drink.

I tried a lot of different foods (whilst sticking to the less spicy options) heading to different places with the team each day I was there - I think my favourite was the local fish wrapped with spices and baked in a banana leaf followed closely by parotta (a flakey layered flatbread) and some of the different paneer based dishes.

There was a real buzz in the office there and it was fantastic seeing the sense of community there and the collaboration that went on within the teams. I managed to have a lot of conversations with different groups across the team, a few one on ones and a couple of full team meetings, but there's lots more that could easily taken another week as the time flew by too quickly. I hope to see them all again soon!

For 5 weeks, Hiro ran a photography challenge series with the aim to focus on different techniques in photographic composition each week. I joined in from the start and found it really insightful to try and use the particular techniques during the week as I took photos. Some of these were much harder to find opportunities for than others and it was interesting to see other peoples photos shared on social media during the challenge as well.

Here are the photos I took with each technique during the challenge (and a couple I added in subsequently)

1. The Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds challenge is all about getting your subject out of the middle of the frame.

2. Lines

Leading lines are lines within the frame of your shot that naturally draw the viewer’s eye to your subject.

Diagonal lines accomplish something similar but don’t always have to point directly at your subject

3. Frames

This technique asks you to find ways to create a frame around your subject in your composition. This might be a doorway, a trellis, trees hanging over a path, a window, shadows around a patch of light, and so on.

I struggled with this one - whilst I found possible frames - there wasn't a subject around to frame them with! After the week I managed to get this one with the blossom framing the building at the University of Birmingham:

4. Subject Isolation + Contrast

Contrast is a really cool element of photography that can be used a lot of different ways. It could be very visual by putting a brightly lit subject against a dark background, or color based by contrasting a bright red rose against green foliage, or even conceptual with something like capturing someone who is clearly quite happy on a bus surrounded by dour fellow passengers.

5. The Golden Spiral

The Golden Spiral technique is all about leveraging the elements in your photo to draw your viewer's eyes around the frame en route to settling on your principal subject.

Again I didn't manage to get any photos for this one but am hoping to try in the future.

Oslo