Tech in our daily lives
It's fine for us to sit here and tell you about our passion for technology, but what better way to explain it than real life examples. We'll give you an insight into how our creative consultants use technology in their daily lives.
Here are a few stories:
Matt - A few months ago it started to get really irksome having to get up 20 minutes before I wanted coffee, to turn on the coffee machine giving it time to heat and get up to pressure. After buying a cheap timer from a local store and setting my “wake up” alarm to go off a little bit later than usual I was disappointed to find that the timer had failed as soon as the coffee machines pump had turned on to fill the tank. The machine was stone cold, and off.
Back to the drawing board here. I went riffing through my boxes of electrical stuff, found a solid-state relay, rated for 40amps, a bit more than the cheap one and with the help of Google I used an Arduino Uno, a clocking module and a bunch of cables out of my old Fiat to control said relay.
Next morning after setting my alarm a little later again, I got to the kitchen to find the machine hot and ready to go. Perfect! The next step is to automate it a little more, by seeing that my iPhone is connected to the WiFi at home, the machine will turn on during the times it is set to be. If the phone isn’t connected, then the machine will remain off. The idea behind this is that if we are on holiday or away for whatever reason, the 4-million-watt coffee machine won’t be wasting power for no reason.
Just another way that Italian car parts and coffee are inextricably linked.
Andrew - Last weekend I cleaned out an old machine and turned it into a Media Server. This gave me the opportunity to breathe life into a computer rather than throwing it away. I hooked it up with HDMI to my TV and speakers, so I'm able to watch my movie library or listen to my music library, running in the background without it slowing down my main computer. I just needed to make sure to set the power settings so that it wakes up when I want to use it, saving power when I don't. You can also use Spotify Connect to remotely control Spotify with your phone, and use Plex to play movies and music that you've got stored on your hard drive. I'm also putting together training videos for my volunteer fire brigade. We start by filming components of the training with our phones, then I edit and compile them on my Mac and export them to YouTube so we can watch them back and comment on improvements or alternative methods. Anyone can do this kind of thing with a smartphone and some free video editing software.
Logan - My Dad started brewing beer after last Christmas, then decided that he had to ‘tech-ify’ it. He has set up an Aduino microprocessor with a WiFi relay and a temperature logger on the brewery. The microprocessor has an LCD screen that displays temperature and humidity information, as well as pushing the information to a website where you can view all this information and turn on a heater if it gets too cold. Useful if you’re stuck away from your house and need to check on your beer!
WiFi Relay
Temperature Logger
Temperature and humidity
These examples just go to show how many different ways technology can be utilised to support our lives. This new technology focused world is exciting.