Boredom-bred Tech Ideas

So while waiting for the board to arrive, I'll make a list of items that need to be fitted into the 10 by 5cm form factor. The SBC (duh) An expansion board A mic array Speakers Low profile heatsink LED strips (lower priority) Battery pack (highly unlikely) The price to pay for higher performance is higher CPU temperatures. So I will need to find a way to effectively cool the OPi. This could include the use of a low powered fan. Since we are using the OPi Zero 2 Plus, we are not able to take advantage of the 40 pin GPIO like on the RPi. And I couldn't find anything for the 26 pin GPIO that the OPi comes with. So cheating time~ With the expansion board, we now have a total of 3 USB 2.0 ports, a 3.5mm TRRS video and audio out, an IR Receiver, and an onboard microphone. An onboard microphone is less than ideal, as the assistant needs to be able to be used without it taped to side of your mouth. So I set off searching for a USB mic array. A mic array basically more than one mic wo...

Mycroft AI has been a project of interest to me. I recently got to thinking whether I am able to build a Mycroft AI assistant (like actually doing it instead of dreaming that it will come to life). So while day dreaming the other day, I remembered that Mycroft AI can be run either from the command line on Linux, or burnt onto an SD card and subsequently running it on a Raspberry Pi 3B or better. Android is also supported but I am lazy to try to learn how to use Android Studio. By now, I think I have made it quite clear that I will try everything in the world to avoid using a Raspberry Pi. And also when I was dreaming, the thought that came to me was "why not build the while thing in an Echo Dot or Home Mini form factor?" (about 10x5cm). I decided that I need to use smaller SBCs so I can have more freedom with the build. But small SBCs are not the most powerful in the market. So I set out to search for Small SBCs that have the tech specs to stand a chance against th...

I have never enabled any of the voice assistants in any of the device I own/owned, nor have I owned any voice assistant devices. " WHATTTTTTT??? " Yes. I have never liked the idea of a company being able to use my voice to allow them to earn money. Don't believe me? Use your personal assistant and ask it to search for something. The next time you visit any webpages that serves advertisements, keep an eye out for advertisements that was tailored to the search term you used. While I understand that these companies need to keep our voices to improve their speech to text services, I am not comfortable with the fact that our voices can be used to serve us advertisements. Thus effectively earning money out of our voices. Also, I agree that such devices are out there to make our lives easier, lazier, and cozier (in a good way). And they are versatile too! You can connect these devices to make your home a smart home. It still does not change the fact that our voices are used to g...