Getting images straight from polar orbiting satellites A while ago, while browsing the internet, I found out that nowadays, with a cheap software-defined radio, or SDR, and some know-how, it is possible to receive signals directly from satellites and actively pull real time data from them. Space being one of my biggest interests, I immediately got to work to find out more on how to do it, and I’m going to report my findings and experiments in this post.

This project was part of a course I took at university on physics simulation theory. The goal was to code a program that used Montecarlo’s algorithms and Markov chains to accurately replicate the real behavior of a cloud of equally charged particles, able to affect up to one-distance neighbors and with continuity conditions at the borders. I specifically looked at some parameters of the system that described its behavior in an intuitive way:

I recently started playing around with a DJ console as a hobby. I’ve always listened to a lot of music, so I’ve been curious to try this out for some time. One thing that I immediately realized is that in order to use any mixing software, one needs “physical” .mp3 (or similar) files, streaming them directly from places like Spotify or Apple Music is just not possible. The problem was that I’ve been using Spotify for many years at this point, so I stopped collecting mp3 files long ago, and I needed a way to fix this issue in an easy and automated way.

From scheduling appointments to retrieving information, personal assistants have the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with technology. In a world where the volume and complexity of digital tasks continue to expand, having an intelligent companion to handle these tasks efficiently becomes ever more crucial. While giants like Google, Amazon, and Apple have made strides in this direction, I recognized the need for a solution that transcends brand boundaries and empowers users to harness the full potential of a personal assistant.

This project started a few years ago when I wanted a new animated wallpaper for my desktop, and I fell down the rabbit hole of how to source and group images taken from space. My research started by looking for high-quality videos that I could directly use, but there didn’t seem to be any good ones around. The next best thing I could do was compile a time-lapse of photos taken in succession from space, and luckily for me, the International Space Station, or ISS, has been doing just that for many years.

This is something I did back in 2018 when I got my first 3D printer, and I wanted to test if it was possible to fabricate parts out of aluminum. The idea was to use the printer to make a part out of cheap plastic, use it to mold a sand cast, and melt aluminum to pour in the cast, this would allow to self-fabricate parts out of stronger materials than plastic.