Monthly Archives: March 2014

Yes – THE @BadAstronomer (Phil Plait) has an ISS-Above

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It’s only fitting.. as in a way Phil is responsible for me developing the ISS-Above.  You see – three years ago he posted a link to a project he heard about called ISS-Lamp (which actually became a Kickstarter called ISS-Notify).    

badastronomer-iss-lamp

 

You will even see on that page a comment I MADE about the article.

I followed that link in June 2011 and became a backer of THAT project.   Three years later – and no sign of that device – so I decided to build my own version (of very different design and capabilities).

I remembered Phils interest in that project – and his comment about his (lack of) soldering skills (something we share in common).

badastronomer-iss-lamp-02

So I sent Phil his ISS-Above earlier in the month – and he must have turned it on today.. as it has just started to send Tweets when the ISS passes by Boulder, CO.

badastronomer

How flipping nerdawesome is that?

 

 

As promised the release code now supports @Raspberrypiface C&D plus the Blink(1) from @thingm

Blink(1) from Thingm, Display Devices, Highlight, PiFace Control & Display

Before the ISS-Aboves are shipped I have been adding a lot of much needed features to the code – one thing I promised during the Kickstarter was to include support for a couple of new display devices.

I am pleased to announce the release code will support the PiFace  Control and Display which is an add-on 16 char x 2 line display – plus it will also support the Blink(1) from ThingM.

AWESOMESAUCE!

Video will be posted later.

Archive of the @TWiT tv Coding 101 special all about the ISSAbove

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This is the archive of the Episode 9 of the TWiT.tv Coding 101 special all about the ISS-Above.   The show was recorded at their studios in Petaluma, CA on March 14th and then broadcast on the live programming channel (as a pre-recorded special of course) at 1:30pm PDT on Thursday March 20th.

Further information on this episode is here.

Thank you TWiT & Padre & Sharon it was such an honor to be invited on to your show!

Watch the @TWiT Coding 101 special all about the ISS-Above at 1:30pm PDT Thursday

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code1400_0Last Friday (March 14th) I was the guest on a special episode of TWiT.TV’s Coding 101 video podcast. The episode will be played out live tomorrow at 1:30pm PDT on http://live.twit.tv.

I’ll be on their live chat if you have any questions.

At TWiT.TV studios with the hosts of Coding 101 - Shannon Morse and Fr Patrick Ballecer (Padre).

At TWiT.TV studios with the hosts of Coding 101 – Shannon Morse and Fr Patrick Ballecer (Padre).

These episodes are usually 30 minutes but it went nearly an hour (we covered a LOT of information). I believe they will be showing it all – and it will be available afterwards as a downloadable podcast or on-demand video on Youtube (I’ll share the link when that is available).

A little “backstory” here. I am an avid watcher of the TWiT.TV network – so it was an absolute and total honor for me to be invited up to the TWiT studios in Petaluma,CA. I enjoyed every second I spent up with TWiT and I hope I get invited back.

Patrick Norton and Shannon Morse - host of Tekzilla

ISS-Above featured on @tekzilla video podcast by @Snubs – one of “5 Awesome Raspberry Pi Builds”

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tekzilla-01The ISS-Above was featured in the Tuesday 18th show of Tekzilla “5 Awesome Raspberry Pi Builds”

I met Patrick Norman briefly at the studios of TWiT.tv in Petaluma, CA last week when I was being interviewed on a special feature show all about the ISS-Above.  Shannon Morse was the co-host for THAT show on TWiT and was so inspired by the project that she wanted to feature it on Tekzilla as one of these 5 Awesome Raspberry Pi tricks.

The ISS-Above is featured 2min 33sec in to the show.

I particular loved Shannon’s passion and interest in the whole ISS-Above project and I love how she showed almost all of the features including the web site app I built on the Pi.

Thank you Shannon!

More information in the FULL EPISODE

 

On a Road Trip – to be a guest on @TWiT TV’s Coding 101 show this Friday at 2:30pm PT

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Following the nice review/mention of ISS-Above by Leo Laporte (The Tech Guy) on his show on Sunday Feb 2nd I have been invited to be a guest on a special episode of the Coding 101 show.   I’ll be driving the 400+ miles from Pasadena to Petaluma, CA in the morning which is where the TWiT.tv studios are located.

This will be a 30 minute show that is being “pre-taped” this Friday (14th March). The show is usually broadcast live each week on Thursday at 1:30pm PT but next weeks show (featuring ISS-Above) will actually be taped this Friday at around 2:30pm PT.

code1400_0The Coding 101 hosts, “Padre” (Fr. Robert Ballecer) and Shannon Morse, have featured projects with the Raspberry Pi platform before – so this is no stranger to the TWiT.TV studios. Padre will be grilling me on all aspects of the project and how I came to choose the Raspberry Pi platform and we’ll be going over the entire development process and launch through Kickstarter.

Even though we are just “taping” this show to be officially played out next week – you can actually “tune in” to the live “taping”. Just head to http://live.twit.tv/ shortly before 2:30PM on Friday and you should see all the shenanigans.

After this show Padre has also invited me to be on a little 10 minute segment of the Know How show.

Can’t get me enough of TWiT.TV!

ISS-Above at The Griffith Observatory – Monday 10th March

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Griffith-2

Well… actually I am speaking and presenting the ISS-Above at the March 2014 monthly meeting of the Los Angeles Astronomical Association. The meeting is on Monday 10th from 8pm to 10pm at the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater. My presentation will be for 30 minutes.

Although the Griffith Observatory is closed on Mondays.. it is of course open for this meeting. When you arrive… just mention you are a friend of the presenter (that would be me of course).

See you there!

ISS-Above worldwide reach – is your country represented?

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Table showing the worldwide locations for the ISS-Above devices from the KickstarterThe recent Kickstarter for ISS-Above has devices heading to 17 countries around the world.  Is your country represented?

If not… you can still purchase one via the ISS-Above Kickstarter Grace Period Purchase option.

The furthest North is the one going to Sweden (Stockholm) which is at 59 degrees north.  Now.. as the ISS orbits between 56 degrees north and south it will never be directly overhead for that device.   But still… it will nevertheless be above their horizon very frequently and visible sometimes as well.

I am still waiting to hear back from 16 backers with their shipping address details – so there may still be additional countries.