Related Posts

• 2018 Halloween IOT Clown Brought to you by Particle, DNN, and Open Source!

  

  I need to start out by saying that I’ve been inspired to do all this by some great guys in the Charlotte area and they are Dan Thyer, Mike Linnen, and Jay Ziobrowski… thanks for the motivation guys! I am either copying something creative I’ve seen them do or trying to imitate their passion, talent, and drive for Halloween and/or IOT projects. One day I hope to be as sharp and creative as they are. Halloween & IOT In 2016 I made a flame throwing pumpkin (copy-catting one of Dan’s inventions) and let’s just say some of the parents weren’t too keen on fire being near their kids and I also didn’t make any fans on the community’s HOA! Though, we all must start somewhere. In 2017 I went the safer route and made the AirGhost which is very similar to this year’s project. The IOT Clown This year I have created an IOT Clown. I did some testing and iterating on various ideas and concepts and there’s just no way to get around it… the thrust of compressed air brings a startling ...

• 2022 Halloween IOT Props & Recap

  

  This year I made 2 different Halloween IOT props. I used the same or similar techniques from the previous years... Actobotics for building out the structures and support, Particle.io for the IOT controller and software side, and pneumatic powered "mechs" from FrightProps.com for the movement. The new addition this year was adding in a FrightProps "Picoboo" controller to the setup, which brought on great possibilities. Adding this allowed me to add in audio and instantly cut power on and off to multiple outlets. So I turned lights on and off, fans on and off and strobed some strobe lights.  If you're interested in previous years implementations check them out below: 2021 - Halloween Fun House 2020 - IOT Coffin 2019 - IOT Clown + Slimer 2018 - IOT Clown 2017 - Airghost 2016 - Flame Throwing Pumpkin As I bult the devices I posted some behind the scenes FB posts and a tweet.. Some #Halloween #IOT goodness using components from @FrightProps @particle @ServoCity coupled with #DNNCMS and some ghetto code I wrote 🤡 pic.twitter.com/sxdQgZ99NE — Clint Patterson (@CBPSC) September 27, 2022 Then when Halloween came we were fortunate to have the rain ...

• Why Businesses Should Contribute to Open Source Software

  

  Last week I attended Microsoft’s Build Conference in Seattle. I was helping at the .NET Open Source booth which promoted the .NET Foundation and all things open source. The conference was very nice, and the energy level was high. I had conversations with a wide variety of people during the conference and it is obvious that Microsoft’s strategy of embracing open source is welcomed by developers. I Want My Developers to Contribute to OSS… but During one of my discussions a gentleman told me that his organization uses open source software (OSS) and he wants to allow his developers to contribute to OSS, but he needed to be able to justify it to his corporate leadership. His organization is a large, global organization so he needed solid and clear reasoning for why contributing to OSS is something his company should support. He asked me if I knew of any blogs or resources that could provide insight into this topic. I thought about it and while I’m sure there is info somewhere, I wasn’t aware of any specific blogs or content about this ...

• 2019 Particle Powered Fright Props

  

  .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } When we moved into the neighborhood everyone told us “Just wait til Halloween”. Well, they were right! Our friend up the street, Jay Ziobrowski, is super passionate about Halloween and turns his garage, driveway, and entire front yard into a magical haunted house that’s free to kids in the neighborhood. After doing this for several years, everyone in the neighborhood and surrounding area knows about this and the result is that our street gets blocked off by cops and is absolutely flooded during Halloween. It’s non-stop action from 4:30 to somewhere around 10pm and it’s a really fun time. After running out of candy in the first 2 hours on year 1 we knew we needed to step it up in following years. So, each year I’ve tried to contribute to the energy and excitement on our street by creating some type of Particle-based IOT Halloween ...

• 2020 Halloween IOT Coffin Clown

  

    In 2020 I updated the Halloween IOT setup to be a clown in a coffin that was controlled remotely from my site. We had a great time with it.   If you're interested in previous years implementations check them out below: 2019 - IOT Clown + Slimer 2018 - IOT Clown 2017 - Airghost 2016 - Flame Throwing Pumpkin Here's a video walking through this year's setup .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }  

• Microsoft, Open Source, & Why It's a Great Time to Be a .NET Developer

  

  As an open source enthusiast and a .NET developer I’ve been watching the transformation of Microsoft happen and it has been great to watch. You see I’m an avid user of DotNetNuke and if you know anything about DNN’s history you know that DNN was one of the earliest, if not the earliest, open source project in the .NET Ecosystem. From 2003 on DNN has been a pioneer in the .NET open source world. A lot has happened and several trends have come and gone in the Microsoft world since 2003. As an open source project built on Microsoft technology the notion of being open source wasn’t always a popular conversation topic. Being open source wasn’t “cool” and sometimes negative perceptions about open source solutions were visible. Boy have times changed! Microsoft is Serious About Open Source… and It’s Not Just Lip Service One of my college football coaches always said “Your words don’t mean anything, but your actions mean everything.” Actions are a really good sign of what someone really believes. Microsoft’s strategic shift to embracing and focusing on open source over the ...