*This page is not complete yet please check back*
It drives me nuts sometimes when I want to build something but can’t seem to settle on anything that sounds cool and has some practicality. So now we can take things to the next level, and I’ll give you some ideas and other helpful bits of information as I’m able. Owing to the note above, I recommend you check back on this page often. I may change the structure and methodology based on feedback so let me know what you think.
Some of these ideas are purely original ideas I’ve had; some are projects I’ve made from original ideas or tutorials. Others are from other people’s ideas or projects, and I have given credit anywhere necessary. I will update this page with new ideas as I can.
The theme you should come to expect is some degree of usefulness or practicality. I like to think of myself as a practical person, but I would be willing to bet I waste as much time as I save thinking about these things.
Home Automation:
Many smartphones and apps have features to connect up to smart devices in your home. You can use the pre-built app to turn on the lights or change the temperature on your thermostat, but I can tell you it is a lot more fun to build your own! Using Merkury lights that I found on sale from Walmart and by using a tool called mitmproxy I was able to write an app that automates many of the functions of the light in a much more complicated way than the Geeni app can… Well maybe it can but I didn’t even take the time to learn the app fully. I used Python to set up timers that turn the lights on and off, change color settings, based on calendar day and time of day.
To do this project you will need:
- mitmproxy
- smart light
- computer
- Geeni app
- Python or Java
I won’t give you more direction than that you should be able to read the documentation and figure out what to do from there.
| Skill | Time | H-P |
| Beginner | 6 hr | Complexe |
| Moderate | 3-4 hr | Simple |
| Expert | 1 hr or less | very simple |
Bank Login (bonus text balance):
Everyone has a variation of this project. My introduction to it was in the mid 2000’s when I took an online MOOC for Ruby. The instructor showed us how he setup an automated login to pay a monthly bill.
Doing this you will learn about several things including web-scrapping and interacting with web services. For a bonus step you could check your balance then text it to yourself daily. I have set something similar up using Python recently and Twilio.
To do this project you will need:
- Python or Java
- Selenium
- Twilio if you want to sms
| Skill | Time | H-P |
| Beginner | 5 hr +2 hr | Simple |
| Moderate | 2 hr + 1 hr | simple |
| Expert | 1 hr + 30 min | simple |
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