https://unop.uk/ Recent content on unop Hugo -- gohugo.io en-gb j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) © James Singleton Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://unop.uk/heat-pump-mid-season-performance-review/ Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/heat-pump-mid-season-performance-review/ Last year we replaced our (methane) gas boiler with an air-source heat pump. We’re a few months into the heating season, so time for an update on how it’s going. https://unop.uk/clearing-the-air/ Sat, 03 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/clearing-the-air/ I’ve just finished reading the “sequel” to Not the End of the World by Hannah Ritchie, Clearing the Air (A Hopeful Guide to Solving Climate Change - in 50 Questions and Answers), which I got for Christmas. https://unop.uk/greener-nights-history/ Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/greener-nights-history/ I recently made some small changes to my simple mobile-friendly web app to display the daily “Greener Nights” forecast from the Octopus Energy GB API. https://unop.uk/not-the-end-of-the-world/ Mon, 20 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/not-the-end-of-the-world/ When people ask me for a book recommendation on sustainability, I tell them to read Not the End of the World by Hannah Ritchie (How to be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet). https://unop.uk/all-electric/ Thu, 21 Aug 2025 19:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/all-electric/ We’ve gone all electric! Our gas supply has been disconnected, the gas meter removed and the gas standing charge gone. https://unop.uk/jobs-for-the-weekend/ Thu, 27 Mar 2025 20:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/jobs-for-the-weekend/ Time marches on. Here are some jobs to do before April and the start of the new tax year. https://unop.uk/its-not-easy-bein-red/ Sat, 06 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/its-not-easy-bein-red/ Unless you’ve been living under a landslide, it won’t have escaped your attention that we’ve recently had a very welcome change of leadership in the UK. https://unop.uk/solar-pv-and-home-battery---2022-report-and-advice/ Sun, 05 Mar 2023 19:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/solar-pv-and-home-battery---2022-report-and-advice/ This is a follow-up on my previous post about home energy, providing advice and experience after owning a solar PV and battery storage system for a while. https://unop.uk/project-no-go/ Wed, 21 Sep 2022 21:30:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/project-no-go/ In our quest to stop burning stuff, one of my projects for the summer of ‘22 was to try to burn no gas or oil directly at home (scope 1 emissions). https://unop.uk/the-road-to-renewable-energy/ Mon, 07 Mar 2022 14:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/the-road-to-renewable-energy/ The terrible situation in Ukraine is on all of our minds. I’m glad to see that UK aid is matching DEC donations and important work is also being done by local charities that need your support. https://unop.uk/python-on-the-edge/ Tue, 22 Feb 2022 12:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/python-on-the-edge/ My latest project involves running Python not only in the cloud (with Django and PostgreSQL) but also on remote edge devices (Raspberry Pis). https://unop.uk/an-influx-of-curling/ Mon, 21 Feb 2022 12:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/an-influx-of-curling/ The Winter Olympics are over and we seem to be pretty good at curling. I’ve been doing some curling myself. https://unop.uk/on-the-olympics-and-advertising/ Fri, 18 Feb 2022 10:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/on-the-olympics-and-advertising/ The latest Winter Olympic Games are almost over and I’ve enjoyed watching them. I prefer the Winter Games as the sports are simply crazier. https://unop.uk/cuckoo-broadband-gigabit-fibre-to-the-premises-review/ Thu, 17 Feb 2022 09:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/cuckoo-broadband-gigabit-fibre-to-the-premises-review/ We recently switched to Cuckoo Broadband’s “Eggceptional” 1 Gbps Fibre To The Premises (FTTP) service and so far are very happy with it. https://unop.uk/how-to-upgrade-a-.net-core-3.1-project-to-.net-6.0/ Wed, 16 Feb 2022 12:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/how-to-upgrade-a-.net-core-3.1-project-to-.net-6.0/ .NET is 20 years old this week and I’ve been using it for a big chunk of that. It’s come a long way since the early days when I started and is now cross-platform. https://unop.uk/getting-started-with-64-bit-raspberry-pi-os-bullseye-and-raspberry-pi-imager/ Mon, 07 Feb 2022 15:14:15 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/getting-started-with-64-bit-raspberry-pi-os-bullseye-and-raspberry-pi-imager/ The long-awaited 64-bit version of Raspberry Pi OS is out, joining the 32-bit and legacy options. Here’s how to set up a headless unit using Raspberry Pi Imager. https://unop.uk/discovering-an-ambiguous-url-with-brace-expansion/ Wed, 19 Jan 2022 16:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/discovering-an-ambiguous-url-with-brace-expansion/ Imagine a non-technical person has sent you a URL with a long random string in it, printed on paper in a font where I and l look identical (true story). https://unop.uk/using-django-rest-framework-token-authentication-with-python-requests/ Wed, 19 Jan 2022 15:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/using-django-rest-framework-token-authentication-with-python-requests/ I’m a big fan of Django REST framework. It’s great for making an API that is used by unattended processes or third-parties. https://unop.uk/securing-django-on-heroku-and-secret-key-generation/ Tue, 18 Jan 2022 16:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/securing-django-on-heroku-and-secret-key-generation/ Heroku is an easy platform to host a Django app on but you should set a few things to make sure your app is secure. https://unop.uk/electric-shift-web-app/ Mon, 17 Jan 2022 15:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/electric-shift-web-app/ We’re on the Octopus Go off-peak electricity tariff and often have flexibility about what day to charge the car or run appliances overnight. https://unop.uk/pi-hole-update-instructions/ Tue, 11 Jan 2022 15:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/pi-hole-update-instructions/ If you’re not already using the excellent Pi-hole® to improve your network performance by blocking trackers and bad ads then it’s very easy to install. https://unop.uk/huxley-2-new-updates/ Wed, 05 Jan 2022 16:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/huxley-2-new-updates/ Huxley 2, my cross-platform .NET JSON proxy for the GB railway Live Departure Boards SOAP API, has some new updates. You can try it out now on the demo server. https://unop.uk/django-uuid-tips/ Fri, 17 Dec 2021 16:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/django-uuid-tips/ I typically use universally unique identifiers (UUIDs), also known as globally unique identifiers (GUIDs), as the public IDs for objects in an application. https://unop.uk/green-resolution-2022/ Tue, 14 Dec 2021 09:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/green-resolution-2022/ A lot has changed in the last couple of years but the climate crisis hasn’t gone away. It feels like momentum is building, so hopefully we can speed up and make the changes needed quick enough. https://unop.uk/django-4-0-and-3-2-10/ Fri, 10 Dec 2021 15:45:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/django-4-0-and-3-2-10/ Django 4.0 is out and so is Django 3.2.10. Which one should you go for? 3.2.10 is the last minor release of this LTS version. https://unop.uk/django-database-migrations-tip/ Mon, 22 Nov 2021 15:45:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/django-database-migrations-tip/ I’ve been doing some more work with Django 3.2.9 (on Python 3.10) and I came across some sub-optimal migration strategies. I’m using PostgreSQL but this applies to any database. https://unop.uk/python-pyenv-shims-not-in-path-fix/ Thu, 18 Nov 2021 16:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/python-pyenv-shims-not-in-path-fix/ I was doing some work with Django 3.2.9 and Python 3.10 recently, and I came across a strange issue. The root cause of this was that the pyenv shims had disappeared from my PATH and so the system Python version was being used. https://unop.uk/dotnet-6-self-contained-single-file-apps/ Tue, 16 Nov 2021 15:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/dotnet-6-self-contained-single-file-apps/ Another year, another .NET Core release. .NET 6 is now out and although it contains some new features, the main things I think are significant are the continued push for high performance and that it is an LTS release. https://unop.uk/eco-measures-summary-and-tips/ Tue, 16 Nov 2021 09:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/eco-measures-summary-and-tips/ This is a short summary of my positive stories on how you can take action and do your bit to be more eco-friendly. https://unop.uk/other-eco-measures/ Thu, 11 Nov 2021 10:30:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/other-eco-measures/ This last post in my short series of positive stories on how you can take action and do your bit to be more eco-friendly is about other measures. https://unop.uk/low-carbon-heating/ Wed, 10 Nov 2021 09:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/low-carbon-heating/ This next post in my short series of positive stories on how you can take action and do your bit to be more eco-friendly is about low carbon heating and other measures. https://unop.uk/home-energy-cutting-costs-consuming-less-and-creating-your-own/ Thu, 04 Nov 2021 09:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/home-energy-cutting-costs-consuming-less-and-creating-your-own/ The next in my short series of positive stories on how you can take action and do your bit to be more eco-friendly is about home energy. https://unop.uk/advice-on-electric-vehicle-ownership-a-year-in/ Thu, 28 Oct 2021 09:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/advice-on-electric-vehicle-ownership-a-year-in/ It’s been a while since I last posted but don’t worry, I’m still here. Life can be pretty challenging but as COP26 is almost upon us I thought I’d write a short series of positive stories on how you can take action and do your bit to be more eco-friendly. https://unop.uk/resolutions-revisited/ Thu, 31 Dec 2020 16:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/resolutions-revisited/ It’s been a very challenging year. In some ways eventful and in other ways highly uneventful. Last year, I made some resolutions1. https://unop.uk/dotnet-5-self-contained-single-file-apps-linux/ Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/dotnet-5-self-contained-single-file-apps-linux/ .NET 5 is out on schedule (but with a reduced scope). The Core branding has gone but it’s the same modern cross-platform codebase and not the old Windows-only Framework. https://unop.uk/ev-reading/ Wed, 28 Oct 2020 10:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/ev-reading/ Time for another update! It’s been a hectic few months and I’ve got my hands full but here is a short summary. https://unop.uk/green-resolution-review-and-another-climate-crisis-reading-list/ Sat, 13 Jun 2020 05:53:41 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/green-resolution-review-and-another-climate-crisis-reading-list/ We’re almost halfway though the year, and what a weird year it is! I always thought 2020 would be significant, but for different reasons. https://unop.uk/octoyosu-agile-tariff-comparison-tool/ Wed, 10 Jun 2020 20:20:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/octoyosu-agile-tariff-comparison-tool/ Octoyosu is a small command line tool I’ve built that works out how much you would save on the Agile Octopus renewable electricity tariff1. https://unop.uk/octoplot-visualise-paid-energy-use-in-your-terminal/ Tue, 02 Jun 2020 07:51:20 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/octoplot-visualise-paid-energy-use-in-your-terminal/ Inspired by recent events1, I’ve polished and released one of the tools I built a few months ago to investigate agile electricity pricing from Octopus Energy2. https://unop.uk/baking-bread-drink-and-dregs/ Tue, 26 May 2020 10:46:46 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/baking-bread-drink-and-dregs/ Like many other people, I’ve recently been doing much more walking, cycling, reading, growing vegetables, cooking and baking. Is there anyone not making sourdough? https://unop.uk/pi-hole-extended-part-2/ Fri, 22 May 2020 10:00:14 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/pi-hole-extended-part-2/ In the previous post in this guide I covered how to make a router and filtering DNS server. In this second post I’ll cover updating, preventing DNS over HTTPS, extra filter lists and forcing all DNS traffic through your filter (such as Kindles and Chromecasts). https://unop.uk/huxley-2-release/ Fri, 15 May 2020 07:33:35 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/huxley-2-release/ 2022 update: There are some new updates to Huxley 2 and I now consider it feature-complete. There was not much interest in the below so it will only be updated to fix bugs or move to a new . https://unop.uk/pi-hole-extended-part-1/ Mon, 11 May 2020 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/pi-hole-extended-part-1/ The Pi-hole project is fantastic. It lets you easily set up an ad blocker on your home network to reduce both intrusive tracking and data usage. https://unop.uk/huxley-2/ Thu, 30 Apr 2020 12:09:40 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/huxley-2/ I’m pleased to announce Huxley 2, the new cross-platform .NET Core version of my JSON proxy for the GB railway Live Departure Boards SOAP API. https://unop.uk/remote-collaboration-business-product/ Thu, 26 Mar 2020 17:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/remote-collaboration-business-product/ For the last year I’ve been working on a business product to help with team cohesion and collaboration. It aims to improve productivity and connections by centralising company knowledge and easily sharing information with your teams. https://unop.uk/instabail-update/ Thu, 26 Mar 2020 11:11:11 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/instabail-update/ I’ve updated my InstaBail PWA 1 2 with new excuses and other improvements. InstaBail is a fun offline mobile web app that generates random excuses (bails) and easily lets you share them. https://unop.uk/whats-your-problem/ Wed, 19 Feb 2020 10:59:11 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/whats-your-problem/ I solve business problems with technology. If you’ve got a business problem then get in touch by email. I’d love to hear about your biggest business problems. https://unop.uk/advanced-email-sending-with-.net-core-and-mailkit/ Tue, 04 Feb 2020 06:08:10 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/advanced-email-sending-with-.net-core-and-mailkit/ I wrote previously about sending email in .NET Core with Office 365 and MailKit but, as that was just a getting started guide, I glossed over some of the complexities with email. https://unop.uk/climate-crisis-reading-list/ Sun, 02 Feb 2020 05:53:41 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/climate-crisis-reading-list/ We’re a month into the new year and new decade (and it’s a palindate1), so it’s time to see how things are going. https://unop.uk/resolutions/ Sat, 14 Dec 2019 09:28:44 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/resolutions/ It’s nearing the end of yet another year (and another decade), so it’s time to start thinking about New Year’s (and decade’s) resolutions. https://unop.uk/taking-the-train/ Tue, 03 Dec 2019 09:30:23 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/taking-the-train/ I’m a big fan of taking the train when travelling and for a recent trip to Portugal we went by rail from the UK. https://unop.uk/5-simple-steps-to-save-the-future/ Sat, 23 Nov 2019 10:31:51 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/5-simple-steps-to-save-the-future/ Recently I attended the think climate event in London, part of the 24 Hours of Reality campaign from Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project. https://unop.uk/a-year-of-weekly-posts/ Wed, 09 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/a-year-of-weekly-posts/ A year ago I committed to writing a least one post a week for the next year and this post marks the achievement of that goal. https://unop.uk/cutting-the-landline/ Fri, 04 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/cutting-the-landline/ Like many people, we had a phone line at home but no phone attached to it. The copper pair was just for internet but we still had to pay line rental on it. https://unop.uk/contactless-payment-ring-a-year-in/ Wed, 02 Oct 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/contactless-payment-ring-a-year-in/ I’ve been using my K Ring for contactless payments for well over a year now. Here are my thoughts on the experience. https://unop.uk/global-climate-strike-2/ Fri, 27 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/global-climate-strike-2/ ⌛ https://unop.uk/nothing-this-week/ Wed, 25 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/nothing-this-week/ No post this week. Get out there and support climate action! ⌛ https://unop.uk/global-climate-strike/ Fri, 20 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/global-climate-strike/ ⌛ https://unop.uk/microsoft-graph-api-and-.net-core/ Wed, 18 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/microsoft-graph-api-and-.net-core/ Graphs are awesome and a great way of showing trends. However, this post is about a different sort of graph, not the worrying one above. https://unop.uk/wait-for-the-patch/ Fri, 13 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/wait-for-the-patch/ Being an early adopter sucks. All you get is to be a free tester for the product. So, it’s usually worth waiting for at least the first patch before upgrading. https://unop.uk/getting-started-with-azure-devops-ci-part-5/ Wed, 11 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/getting-started-with-azure-devops-ci-part-5/ Continuous Delivery is not just about Continuous Integration (CI) but also about Continuous Deployment. I’ve covered CI over the previous posts in this series and now it’s time to deploy some releases using Azure DevOps. https://unop.uk/fixathon-finished/ Wed, 04 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/fixathon-finished/ The Climate Fixathon has now finished and judging stops at the end of today. There were 36 projects submitted and I’ve been very impressed. https://unop.uk/digital-climate-strike/ Wed, 28 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/digital-climate-strike/ You may have noticed a banner at the bottom of this site. If you’re interested in adding this to your own sites then read on. https://unop.uk/referral-header/ Fri, 23 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/referral-header/ When looking at website analytics, you may notice you can often see where a visitor has come from. How does this work? https://unop.uk/a-song-of-sun-and-wind/ Wed, 21 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/a-song-of-sun-and-wind/ Following on from my graph of the summer heat wave that afflicted large parts of Europe, I thought I’d expand on the increasingly extreme swings in our famously changeable British weather and the implications for our energy infrastructure. https://unop.uk/heat-wave/ Wed, 14 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/heat-wave/ It seems like a distant memory now but we had a brief heatwave in the UK last month. Here is a graph of the week starting the 22nd of July from a Bluetooth Low Energy temperature and humidity sensor connected to Home Assistant running on a low power Raspberry Pi 3A+. https://unop.uk/sending-email-in-.net-core-with-office-365-and-mailkit/ Fri, 09 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/sending-email-in-.net-core-with-office-365-and-mailkit/ You may have previously used SmtpClient to send email in .NET. However, that API is now obsolete and the current recommend method is to use the MailKit library. https://unop.uk/getting-started-with-azure-devops-ci-part-4/ Wed, 07 Aug 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/getting-started-with-azure-devops-ci-part-4/ For this post in my series on performing CI with Azure DevOps I’ll be covering build pipelines using YAML code and why this is better than the old manual method. https://unop.uk/svg-animation/ Fri, 02 Aug 2019 17:30:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/svg-animation/ The Climate Fixathon started today and I’m one of the judges, as I’m involved with Impact Makers and volunteered. One of the other IM projects is Offset Earth (a subscription service to fund climate crisis solutions) and I animated an SVG file for them. https://unop.uk/climate-fixathon/ Wed, 31 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/climate-fixathon/ The Climate Fixathon starts this Friday (it runs between the 2nd and 30th of August) and I’m excited to be one of the judges. https://unop.uk/getting-started-with-azure-devops-ci-part-3/ Wed, 24 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/getting-started-with-azure-devops-ci-part-3/ This was going to be a post about how to perform CI builds on Azure DevOps but there can be so many issues just hosting your code that I thought I should expand upon that first. https://unop.uk/piwigo-and-imagemagick-7/ Fri, 19 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/piwigo-and-imagemagick-7/ Piwigo is an open source web photo gallery. It can use ImageMagick to resize images if available (but falls-back to the GD library included in PHP if not). https://unop.uk/getting-started-with-azure-devops-ci-part-2/ Wed, 17 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/getting-started-with-azure-devops-ci-part-2/ This post follows on from my previous one on getting started with Azure DevOps. Read that first if you have yet to create an organisation, project or repository. https://unop.uk/getting-started-with-azure-devops-ci/ Wed, 10 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/getting-started-with-azure-devops-ci/ Azure DevOps is the latest re-branding of what used to be called VSTS (Visual Studio Team Services) and before that Visual Studio Online. https://unop.uk/get-involved-in-democracy/ Wed, 03 Jul 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/get-involved-in-democracy/ If you want to make change happen then you need to put the effort in. Posting things online is all well and good but really you need to give up your time (when you could be doing something more entertaining) and get involved in the democratic process, in person1. https://unop.uk/xiaomi-mijia-bluetooth-temperature-and-humidity-monitor-review/ Wed, 26 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/xiaomi-mijia-bluetooth-temperature-and-humidity-monitor-review/ I picked up a Xiaomi Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) temperature and humidity sensor (model code LYWSDCGQ) for just under £11 with the aim of regulating the working environment in my office more efficiently. https://unop.uk/rise-up-rise-up/ Wed, 19 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/rise-up-rise-up/ Rise up! Rise up! Take your head from your hands! The streets will be a better place when we start making demands. https://unop.uk/take-the-train/ Wed, 12 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/take-the-train/ Taking the train is a great way to travel. It’s more environmentally friendly, you get to see the countryside and you can be productive (I’m writing this on a train). https://unop.uk/time-to-react-london/ Wed, 05 Jun 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/time-to-react-london/ “It is time to act decisively. My message to governments is clear: tax pollution; end fossil fuel subsidies; and stop building new coal plants. https://unop.uk/whatsapp-link-proxy/ Wed, 29 May 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/whatsapp-link-proxy/ WhatsApp has been in the news recently for having a serious Remote Code Execution vulnerability exposed. If you haven’t yet then make sure that you update your apps, although unhelpfully the security fix wasn’t mentioned in the release notes. https://unop.uk/use-your-vote/ Wed, 22 May 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/use-your-vote/ If you are in the EU then tomorrow is your chance to vote. Make sure that you take the time to exercise your democratic right. https://unop.uk/smarty-pants/ Wed, 15 May 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/smarty-pants/ Last week giffgaff raised their prices. They gave existing customers a month’s notice (as they are required to do) but this cost increase was noticeably absent from all of the advertising they were doing last month, which included the old pricing. https://unop.uk/dotnet-core-3-0-and-dotnet-5-0/ Wed, 08 May 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/dotnet-core-3-0-and-dotnet-5-0/ There is a new preview version of .NET Core 3.0 out (preview 5) and I’ve been giving it a kick like I did the last one. https://unop.uk/your-planet-needs-you/ Wed, 01 May 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/your-planet-needs-you/ It’s May Day but for the planet it’s more of a Mayday (from m’aider, French for ‘help me’). In the almost 30 years since this famous photo was taken we haven’t made enough progress to avert a climate crisis. https://unop.uk/more-ideas-on-how-to-help-avoid-climate-breakdown/ Wed, 24 Apr 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/more-ideas-on-how-to-help-avoid-climate-breakdown/ Sir David Attenborough’s latest documentary, Climate Change: The Facts was, as expected, both excellent and terrifying. It’s available on iPlayer but you’ll need a VPN (that the BBC haven’t blocked) to watch it if you’re outside the UK (or you could try YouTube). https://unop.uk/how-to-help-avoid-climate-breakdown-as-a-technologist---summary/ Wed, 17 Apr 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/how-to-help-avoid-climate-breakdown-as-a-technologist---summary/ I’ve previous written at length on the climate crisis and what we can do about it. If you want a long read then you can take a look at my four-part “trilogy” (1, 2, 3 & 4) but to make the message easier to spread I’ll try to condense it down into a short simple idea. https://unop.uk/south-east-asia-craft-beer-scene/ Wed, 10 Apr 2019 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/south-east-asia-craft-beer-scene/ We’re finally back from our big trip and I’ve now published a mammoth beer blog post that I was working on throughout. https://unop.uk/vs-2019-dotnet-core-3/ Wed, 03 Apr 2019 17:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/vs-2019-dotnet-core-3/ Visual Studio 2019 has been released for Windows and macOS. However, .NET Core 3.0 and C# 8 are still in preview, coming later this year. https://unop.uk/starling-bank---transfer-funds-between-your-accounts/ Wed, 27 Mar 2019 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/starling-bank---transfer-funds-between-your-accounts/ I previously wrote about my generally positive experiences with Starling Bank. At the time it was difficult to move money between your accounts, for example between a personal and joint or business and personal account. https://unop.uk/k-ring-contactless-payments/ Wed, 20 Mar 2019 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/k-ring-contactless-payments/ For my wedding ring I bought what was at the time called a Kerv Ring (now known as a K Ring due to a trademark conflict). https://unop.uk/ecosia/ Wed, 13 Mar 2019 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/ecosia/ Ecosia is a non-profit search engine that uses its revenue to plant trees. It wraps Bing so the results should be the same as that, but it helps the planet in the process. https://unop.uk/scheduling-posts-with-hugo-and-netlify/ Wed, 06 Mar 2019 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/scheduling-posts-with-hugo-and-netlify/ After I moved this blog from Ghost to Hugo I wanted to find a way to schedule posts in the future. https://unop.uk/live-and-let-dry/ Wed, 27 Feb 2019 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/live-and-let-dry/ If you want to air your washing in public then my attitude is live and let dry 1. It’s no secret that tumble-driers are very energy intensive. https://unop.uk/protonmail-review/ Wed, 20 Feb 2019 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/protonmail-review/ I’ve started using ProtonMail for email, as a paying customer. Here are some of my thoughts on it. ProtonMail is a secure Swiss email hosting service and while it’s not cheap it does optionally come with a VPN. https://unop.uk/starting-a-tech-meetup/ Wed, 13 Feb 2019 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/starting-a-tech-meetup/ Tech meetups are a great place to socialise, talk shop and learn new skills. In London you’re spoilt for choice, in fact you have to be picky. https://unop.uk/play-services-and-your-typing-experience/ Wed, 06 Feb 2019 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/play-services-and-your-typing-experience/ Android is a great mobile OS and is based on Linux so has a pretty solid core. However, many of the mandatory Google apps and services that come bundled with it are not so great and have an annoying habit of ignoring user choices. https://unop.uk/starling-bank/ Wed, 30 Jan 2019 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/starling-bank/ Update: There is a follow-up post to this one here. There are lots of new challenger banks appearing on the market. https://unop.uk/whatsapp-with-that/ Wed, 23 Jan 2019 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/whatsapp-with-that/ In my post on smartphone fixes I touched upon turning off read receipts and presence indication in messaging apps. Here’s how to apply that to WhatsApp and some other tips too. https://unop.uk/dog-vs-swan/ Wed, 16 Jan 2019 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/dog-vs-swan/ I call this one Dog vs Swan. Swan wins! https://unop.uk/dell-xps-13-ubuntu-review/ Wed, 09 Jan 2019 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/dell-xps-13-ubuntu-review/ I decided to upgrade my ageing laptop that I’ve had for over five years. It still does a good job but with the insane state of the JavaScript development tooling today it was struggling. https://unop.uk/push-back-bot/ Wed, 02 Jan 2019 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/push-back-bot/ British Airways have started using robots to push their aeroplanes back from the stands at London Heathrow Terminal 5. However, they are not autonomous and are remotely controlled by a nearby operator. https://unop.uk/asp.net-core-2.2/ Wed, 26 Dec 2018 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/asp.net-core-2.2/ ASP.NET Core 2.2 is out, in time for some holiday projects. This looks to be mainly a performance release, which is great. https://unop.uk/winter-isnt-coming/ Wed, 19 Dec 2018 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/winter-isnt-coming/ Winter isn’t coming, at least not for me. I’m taking a break and spending a few months travelling around a warm, diverse and interesting part of the world. https://unop.uk/faraday-building-and-views-of-st-pauls/ Wed, 12 Dec 2018 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/faraday-building-and-views-of-st-pauls/ St Paul’s Cathedral is an iconic building in London and it can be seen from all over. However, these vistas are no accident. https://unop.uk/blackfriars-bridge/ Wed, 05 Dec 2018 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/blackfriars-bridge/ One of my favourite stations in London is Blackfriars. About five years ago it was rebuilt and is now the only station to span the river Thames. https://unop.uk/how-to-build-a-climbing-wall/ Wed, 28 Nov 2018 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/how-to-build-a-climbing-wall/ Ever wanted your own climbing wall? Here’s how to make a small domestic bouldering wall, suitable for under the stairs. https://unop.uk/taking-the-temperature-of-women-in-tech/ Wed, 21 Nov 2018 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/taking-the-temperature-of-women-in-tech/ It’s no secret that the technology industry has a diversity problem and that women are under-represented in particular. Women face challenges in general but it appears to be especially exaggerated in tech. https://unop.uk/ytterby-quarry/ Wed, 14 Nov 2018 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/ytterby-quarry/ This summer I took yet another trip to sunny Sweden. Having already been to Stockholm many times before, on this occasion we rented a house on the small island of Resaro, near Vaxholm (just in time to see England beat Sweden in the sportsball world cup). https://unop.uk/losing-my-virginity/ Wed, 07 Nov 2018 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/losing-my-virginity/ Update: I’ve changed mobile network providers again. You can read more about that here, where you’ll also find a referral link for a free month and a £10 Amazon voucher. https://unop.uk/vegan-rum-flapjacks-recipe/ Wed, 31 Oct 2018 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/vegan-rum-flapjacks-recipe/ To celebrate world vegan day tomorrow (and halloween today) I’ve devised this completely plant-based flapjack recipe. I’m no Rahul but I’ve bake-tested it and, although I may not get a handshake, I’ve confirmed that it won’t last long (even though it keeps well). https://unop.uk/how-to-get-your-life-back-from-your-smartphone/ Wed, 24 Oct 2018 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/how-to-get-your-life-back-from-your-smartphone/ It’s gradually becoming clear that social media and tech companies are the new big tobacco and that smartphones are the new smoking. https://unop.uk/netflix-and-obsolescence/ Wed, 17 Oct 2018 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/netflix-and-obsolescence/ The moral of this story is don’t update your mobile apps. Turn off auto-update and only manually update if apps stop working, if you really want a new feature or if there is a security patch. https://unop.uk/how-to-help-with-a-big-global-problem-as-a-technologist-part-4/ Wed, 10 Oct 2018 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/how-to-help-with-a-big-global-problem-as-a-technologist-part-4/ This is the fourth in a trilogy (because all the best trilogies have more than three parts) of posts on how you, as a technologist, can help address the global problem of climate change. https://unop.uk/how-to-help-with-a-big-global-problem-as-a-technologist-part-3/ Wed, 19 Sep 2018 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/how-to-help-with-a-big-global-problem-as-a-technologist-part-3/ This is the third and final piece in a trilogy of posts on how you, as a smart technologist, can help address the global problem of climate change. https://unop.uk/how-to-help-with-a-big-global-problem-as-a-technologist-part-2/ Thu, 30 Aug 2018 18:00:00 +0100 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/how-to-help-with-a-big-global-problem-as-a-technologist-part-2/ This is the second in a trilogy of posts on how you, as a technologist, can help address the global problem of climate change. https://unop.uk/how-to-help-with-a-big-global-problem-as-a-technologist-part-1/ Thu, 16 Aug 2018 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/how-to-help-with-a-big-global-problem-as-a-technologist-part-1/ Does it ever seem to you that people are focusing on the wrong problems and ignoring the real issues? There are many interesting psychological reasons behind this. https://unop.uk/migrating-from-ghost-to-hugo/ Thu, 09 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/migrating-from-ghost-to-hugo/ This post describes my experiences in migrating this blog from Ghost to Hugo. At the same time I switched hosts from Azure to Netlify (with GitLab source control), as there’s no point paying for a VM to run a site once you’ve moved it from a DB backed app to a static site. https://unop.uk/3-more-non-technical-book-recommendations/ Wed, 13 Jun 2018 03:43:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/3-more-non-technical-book-recommendations/ Following on from my previous list, here are some more good non-technical reads that aren’t about software but are enlightening. https://unop.uk/microsoft-and-github/ Sun, 10 Jun 2018 07:25:57 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/microsoft-and-github/ So, it’s finally official that Microsoft are acquiring GitHub. Overall, I think this is a positive strategic move for all concerned, but time will tell. https://unop.uk/gdpr/ Sat, 09 Jun 2018 19:18:43 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/gdpr/ Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last month, you will have heard of something called GDPR. The irony of getting so many emails due to a law designed to reduce the amount of spam you receive is a good example of the cobra effect. https://unop.uk/https-using-cloudflare-and-github-pages/ Sat, 09 Jun 2018 07:23:39 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/https-using-cloudflare-and-github-pages/ GitHub pages is a great static-site hosting resource but if you want to use it with a custom domain name and support HTTPS then you need to take some extra steps. https://unop.uk/6-non-technical-book-recommendations/ Sun, 03 Jun 2018 19:29:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/6-non-technical-book-recommendations/ It often comes up in tech circles that engineers and founders ask for advice on what non-technical books to read that aren’t simply fiction. https://unop.uk/asp-net-core-2-1-highlights-the-signalr-release/ Fri, 01 Jun 2018 20:56:48 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/asp-net-core-2-1-highlights-the-signalr-release/ Just in time for summer (at least for those of us in the northern hemisphere), there is a new minor release of ASP. https://unop.uk/learn-basic-programming-from-an-eleven-year-old/ Tue, 24 Apr 2018 19:56:54 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/learn-basic-programming-from-an-eleven-year-old/ Do you think you could learn how to program from a child? I recently found a book on programming in BASIC, written by an eleven-year-old and it is really rather good. https://unop.uk/build-and-release-all-pull-request-merge-results-in-tfs-2018-and-vsts/ Sun, 01 Apr 2018 19:53:41 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/build-and-release-all-pull-request-merge-results-in-tfs-2018-and-vsts/ Edit: VSTS is now called Azure DevOps but it’s essentially the same thing with a different UI. I have written an Azure DevOps guide series here. https://unop.uk/standup-desk-alerts/ Sun, 18 Feb 2018 13:09:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/standup-desk-alerts/ It’s easy to get desensitised to monitoring alerts if there are too many of them and then you get stuck in a rut of failure fatigue. https://unop.uk/build-and-release-all-branches-in-tfs-2018-and-vsts/ Sat, 17 Feb 2018 12:44:36 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/build-and-release-all-branches-in-tfs-2018-and-vsts/ Edit: VSTS is now called Azure DevOps but it’s essentially the same thing with a different UI. I have written an Azure DevOps guide series here. https://unop.uk/another-react-asp-net-core-video/ Sat, 10 Feb 2018 22:23:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/another-react-asp-net-core-video/ The video from my React and .NET Core 2.0 talk at Trainline last year is finally up. It’s similar to one I gave at the Financial Times, however it’s here for completeness. https://unop.uk/react-asp-net-core-talk/ Wed, 13 Dec 2017 19:45:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/react-asp-net-core-talk/ I gave another talk recently on React + ASP.NET Core (strangely enough, entitled React + ASP.NET Core = 👍). You can watch the video of the lightning (ten minute) version that I gave at the FT here: https://unop.uk/second-edition-net-book/ Wed, 11 Oct 2017 20:52:03 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/second-edition-net-book/ My latest book about cross-platform web app development on Windows, Mac and Linux is out now. You can get it here. https://unop.uk/ft-talk/ Sat, 07 Oct 2017 09:56:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/ft-talk/ I gave a talk at the Financial Times on ASP.NET Core 2.0, including a live demo running it with a React and Redux TypeScript client app on a Raspberry Pi. https://unop.uk/net-core-2-0-has-arrived/ Mon, 14 Aug 2017 19:47:06 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/net-core-2-0-has-arrived/ As suspected, .NET Core 2.0 has been released. There are also the 2.0 releases of .NET Standard (mentioned previously), Entity Framework Core and of course ASP. https://unop.uk/net-standard-2-0-final-and-library-support-list/ Sat, 12 Aug 2017 12:16:21 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/net-standard-2-0-final-and-library-support-list/ .NET Standard 2.0 is final and I suspect that .NET Core 2.0 is not too far away now either. It’s worth watching the announcements repository to stay on top of . https://unop.uk/on-asp-net-core-and-moving-targets/ Wed, 31 May 2017 19:16:51 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/on-asp-net-core-and-moving-targets/ I gave a talk at a London .NET user group meetup on ASP.NET Core and moving targets. You can watch the video but it looks like skills matter had some issues with the recording. https://unop.uk/building-a-web-app-in-react-and-asp-net-core-part-2/ Thu, 05 Jan 2017 17:33:59 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/building-a-web-app-in-react-and-asp-net-core-part-2/ In part one of this React series we built a client-side tube status mobile web app. In this part we’ll examine server-side rendering to generate some HTML. https://unop.uk/building-a-web-app-in-react-and-asp-net-core-part-1/ Wed, 28 Dec 2016 13:42:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/building-a-web-app-in-react-and-asp-net-core-part-1/ Let’s build an app in React! For this tutorial I’ll port my existing tube status page to the new framework. https://unop.uk/tfl-wifi-monitoring/ Wed, 21 Dec 2016 15:38:05 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/tfl-wifi-monitoring/ If you’ve been using the London Underground recently then you may have seen one of these posters about WiFi data collection. https://unop.uk/react-and-asp-net-core/ Mon, 19 Dec 2016 14:52:48 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/react-and-asp-net-core/ I’ve been trying out the React JavaScript framework and the integration with ASP.NET Core provided by the ReactJS.NET project. They play fairly nicely together but there are a few issues that I’ll document here to hopefully save others some time. https://unop.uk/visual-studio-2017-release-candidate-first-impressions/ Fri, 18 Nov 2016 18:30:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/visual-studio-2017-release-candidate-first-impressions/ The Visual Studio 2017 Release Candidate was recently previewed so I’ve tried it out, on an old 1 MacBook Pro (as I wouldn’t want to take out my main work machine). https://unop.uk/asp-net-core-1-1-and-visual-studio-for-mac/ Thu, 17 Nov 2016 18:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/asp-net-core-1-1-and-visual-studio-for-mac/ In my last post I covered using Xamarin Studio and VS Code on a Mac. Microsoft had some big announcements at Connect(); // 2016, including re-branding Xamarin Studio as Visual Studio for Mac and including support for . https://unop.uk/getting-started-with-c-sharp-and-cross-platform-dot-net-on-a-mac/ Wed, 16 Nov 2016 16:16:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/getting-started-with-c-sharp-and-cross-platform-dot-net-on-a-mac/ In my last post I covered building a cross-platform mobile game using Xamarin.Forms. The screenshots in that post were from Android but the best thing about Xamarin. https://unop.uk/more-experiments-with-xamarin-forms-cross-platform-app-development-in-c-and-emoji/ Wed, 16 Nov 2016 07:07:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/more-experiments-with-xamarin-forms-cross-platform-app-development-in-c-and-emoji/ In my previous post I introduced a simple mobile game that I made with Xamarin.Forms. That was pretty basic but I have since made an improved version that I will cover in this post. https://unop.uk/experiments-with-xamarin-forms-cross-platform-app-development-in-c/ Tue, 15 Nov 2016 06:54:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/experiments-with-xamarin-forms-cross-platform-app-development-in-c/ As covered in my previous post, I’ve been experimenting with Xamarin for building mobile apps in C#. I tried out various demo apps including multiple architectures for the classic todo list app. https://unop.uk/cross-platform-native-mobile-app-development-options/ Mon, 14 Nov 2016 06:34:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/cross-platform-native-mobile-app-development-options/ I was recently looking for a platform to build apps that run on both iOS and Android. I wanted to build native apps, not just web views packaged up for an app store. https://unop.uk/understanding-encryption-and-key-exchange/ Wed, 09 Nov 2016 03:30:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/understanding-encryption-and-key-exchange/ I find algorithms very interesting, particularly compression (especially for media) and encryption. However, they can be challenging to explain to a less-technical audience. https://unop.uk/do-you-accept-cash/ Mon, 07 Nov 2016 10:29:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/do-you-accept-cash/ Today there have been problems at Tesco Bank. Transactions have been frozen after 40,000 accounts had fraudulent activity detected. This reminds me, yet again, of the dangers of moving to a cashless society. https://unop.uk/on-ios-10-and-respecting-wifi-settings/ Sun, 06 Nov 2016 02:18:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/on-ios-10-and-respecting-wifi-settings/ I have an iPad that I use for testing things, but I rarely get it out. I store it with WiFi off to stop the battery from getting drained, otherwise it would poll for notifications and be dead when I need it. https://unop.uk/mobile-gb-rail-live-departure-boards/ Fri, 04 Nov 2016 01:01:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/mobile-gb-rail-live-departure-boards/ I’ve created some lightweight live departure boards for mobile use, in the same vein as my mobile friendly pragmatic tube status. https://unop.uk/ugo-rail-station-information-kiosk/ Tue, 01 Nov 2016 12:47:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/ugo-rail-station-information-kiosk/ Almost a year ago I built this prototype railway station information kiosk. It was my team’s entry in a train themed hackathon. https://unop.uk/on-google-maps-geotagging-and-privacy/ Thu, 27 Oct 2016 23:16:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/on-google-maps-geotagging-and-privacy/ Update: It appears that Google have pushed out at least two new on‑by‑default features since I wrote this (not that long ago). https://unop.uk/on-aws-vs-azure-vendor-lock-in-and-pricing-confusion-part-3/ Tue, 25 Oct 2016 10:01:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/on-aws-vs-azure-vendor-lock-in-and-pricing-confusion-part-3/ This is the final part of my three part cloud trilogy: AWS vs Azure Lock-in Pricing (this post) Pricing As mentioned in the first post in this series, cloud hosting may not be the best value option for you. https://unop.uk/latest-cleanweb-jobs-skill-statistics/ Mon, 24 Oct 2016 09:06:48 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/latest-cleanweb-jobs-skill-statistics/ I help run Cleanweb Jobs, a site that matches people to software jobs in the environment sector. The statistics of what skills candidates have compared to the skills employers are looking for are quite interesting. https://unop.uk/more-on-electric-vehicles/ Thu, 20 Oct 2016 13:51:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/more-on-electric-vehicles/ Previously, when I wrote about the advantages of EVs I didn’t cover autonomous driving and only focused on cars. Time to put that right. https://unop.uk/on-aws-vs-azure-vendor-lock-in-and-pricing-confusion-part-2/ Tue, 18 Oct 2016 10:01:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/on-aws-vs-azure-vendor-lock-in-and-pricing-confusion-part-2/ This is part two of my three part cloud trilogy: AWS vs Azure Lock-in (this post) Pricing Lock-In Cloud hosting can be very convenient and some of the value-add services that are offered on top of the basic packages can save a lot of time. https://unop.uk/pi-glowbe-mark-2/ Thu, 13 Oct 2016 16:34:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/pi-glowbe-mark-2/ I’ve noticed that (an older version of) this project features in volume two of the official Raspberry Pi projects book (on page 108). https://unop.uk/on-aws-vs-azure-vendor-lock-in-and-pricing-confusion-part-1/ Tue, 11 Oct 2016 11:10:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/on-aws-vs-azure-vendor-lock-in-and-pricing-confusion-part-1/ It’s about time that I wrote up my experiences using cloud hosting somewhere other than in a book. I’ve used both AWS and Azure extensively in a professional capacity. https://unop.uk/faraday-tour/ Mon, 03 Oct 2016 12:50:41 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/faraday-tour/ A personal hero of mine is Michael Faraday. A self-taught scientist who practically invented the field of electrical engineering. He also started the Christmas Lectures for young people, which are still going almost 200 years later. https://unop.uk/on-electric-vehicles/ Sun, 02 Oct 2016 01:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/on-electric-vehicles/ I’ve written some more on this topic. Covering Tesla, autonomous driving and public transport. Bret Victor put it well when he said: https://unop.uk/phone-numbers-for-examples-and-user-identification/ Sat, 01 Oct 2016 03:17:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/phone-numbers-for-examples-and-user-identification/ When testing a software system or mocking up examples for documentation you often want realistic values, but you shouldn’t simply make these up. https://unop.uk/automation-and-remote-jobs/ Fri, 30 Sep 2016 02:04:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/automation-and-remote-jobs/ Immigration has always been a hot political topic and, perhaps, even hotter recently. One of the main concerns appears to be a fear of jobs being taken, but I think this focuses on such a specific case that it misses the wood for the trees. https://unop.uk/net-core-1-0-1-and-net-standard/ Thu, 29 Sep 2016 10:49:47 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/net-core-1-0-1-and-net-standard/ There have been a few pieces of news in the .NET Core world recently. Firstly, .NET Core 1.0.1 shipped. This is just a small update that fixes some bugs and should give you more confidence in using ASP. https://unop.uk/huxley-staff-version/ Tue, 20 Sep 2016 10:43:30 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/huxley-staff-version/ Update: Huxley 2 is out now. Huxley is my open source project that proxies the Darwin SOAP API to simple HTTP JSON, for easy use in alternative cross-platform tech stacks. https://unop.uk/shutdown-scanner-is-shutting-down/ Mon, 19 Sep 2016 14:00:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/shutdown-scanner-is-shutting-down/ The hosted version of Shutdown Scanner (my service for monitoring how many of your computers have been left on wasting power) has now shut down. https://unop.uk/service-workers-vs-appcache/ Thu, 14 Jul 2016 17:44:31 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/service-workers-vs-appcache/ I’ve used the Application Cache (AppCache) successfully in many projects (such as InstaBail) but for my recent book I wrote about JavaScript Service Workers, as AppCache has been deprecated and Service Workers have replaced it, almost. https://unop.uk/audio-hardware-options-for-a-raspberry-pi/ Wed, 13 Jul 2016 11:21:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/audio-hardware-options-for-a-raspberry-pi/ I’m still using an old stereo for music, as the amps and speakers are great. Although now I have a Raspberry Pi set up as an internet radio, instead of a record deck for vinyl. https://unop.uk/block-bbc-breaking-news-on-all-devices/ Wed, 13 Jul 2016 09:42:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/block-bbc-breaking-news-on-all-devices/ Update The second part of this hack will stop working when the BBC get around to rolling out HTTPS at some point in the next year (second update: over a year after this post was written and it still hasn’t been done). https://unop.uk/azure-eu-regions-naming-confusion/ Tue, 12 Jul 2016 20:12:07 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/azure-eu-regions-naming-confusion/ Update Microsoft have opened two new Azure locations in the UK (Cardiff and London). However, I’m not sure they know exactly where these cities are, judging by the map (edit: they’ve fixed the map now). https://unop.uk/asp-net-core-library-and-framework-support-background/ Mon, 11 Jul 2016 14:39:24 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/asp-net-core-library-and-framework-support-background/ As part of my recent book, I started a documentation project to provide a support matrix of what .NET libraries and frameworks currently work with . https://unop.uk/wordpress-to-ghost/ Mon, 11 Jul 2016 13:47:50 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/wordpress-to-ghost/ I’ve been a bit busy recently (writing a book), but now that I have a bit of spare time I’ve moved my blog from WordPress to Ghost. https://unop.uk/my-book-asp-net-core-1-0-high-performance-is-out/ Thu, 30 Jun 2016 15:42:04 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/my-book-asp-net-core-1-0-high-performance-is-out/ I’ve written a book on how to build high performance web applications with Microsoft’s new open source and cross-platform framework; ASP. https://unop.uk/the-new-microsoft/ Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:00:23 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/the-new-microsoft/ Microsoft now ♥ Open Source and Linux. What’s going on? I gave a short lightning talk on this topic at a local tech gathering. https://unop.uk/pi-glowbe-raspberry-pi-wake-light/ Thu, 03 Mar 2016 16:50:18 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/pi-glowbe-raspberry-pi-wake-light/ There’s a new version of my Pi Glowbe (with more lumens) that you can read about here. This post was also featured in projects volume 2 (p108), without the environmental monitoring bit at the end. https://unop.uk/cleanweb-jobs/ Tue, 09 Feb 2016 12:22:52 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/cleanweb-jobs/ Cleanweb Jobs has shut down. You may want to try Tech For Good jobs instead. You may know that I help organize a community group called Cleanweb London. https://unop.uk/5-years-of-pragmatic-tube-statuses/ Fri, 13 Nov 2015 11:09:25 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/5-years-of-pragmatic-tube-statuses/ It’s been 5 years since I started this blog. So I thought I’d take a look back at my first post and see how times have changed. https://unop.uk/time-lapse-photography-with-a-raspberry-pi/ Tue, 10 Nov 2015 11:44:50 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/time-lapse-photography-with-a-raspberry-pi/ The following is an article I wrote for the MagPi (the official Raspberry Pi magazine) issue 39. You can download a PDF version or buy the DTF (Dead Tree Format) version. https://unop.uk/fullers-brewery-industrial-robot/ Sat, 12 Sep 2015 05:35:34 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/fullers-brewery-industrial-robot/ I recently went on a tour of the Fuller’s Griffin Brewery in Chiswick and came across this awesome industrial robot. It unloads and loads kegs between pallets and the filling line. https://unop.uk/9-views-and-sea-organ-croatia-solar-system-models/ Thu, 10 Sep 2015 05:56:01 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/9-views-and-sea-organ-croatia-solar-system-models/ I visited Croatia this summer and (in what has become a bit of a tradition) checked out a couple of solar system models. https://unop.uk/windows-10-iot-core-on-a-raspberry-pi-2/ Tue, 08 Sep 2015 05:37:02 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/windows-10-iot-core-on-a-raspberry-pi-2/ I’ve tried out Windows 10 on both an old MacBook Pro and on a Raspberry Pi version 2. This post is a more in depth look at interfacing the two together. https://unop.uk/crossness-pumping-station/ Sun, 06 Sep 2015 05:22:48 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/crossness-pumping-station/ You might think it mad to get up early on a damp Sunday morning to visit a sewage treatment works. You’d be right but then you’d miss out on seeing the restored and working Victorian steam engines at Crossness pumping station. https://unop.uk/raspberry-pi-sense-hat/ Fri, 04 Sep 2015 12:03:17 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/raspberry-pi-sense-hat/ I recently acquired a Sense HAT for the Raspberry Pi. This is the same hardware that will be sent in to space as part of the Astro Pi mission. https://unop.uk/contactless-payment-card-fraud-issue-you-might-not-know-about/ Tue, 01 Sep 2015 13:48:20 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/contactless-payment-card-fraud-issue-you-might-not-know-about/ Today the upper limit for contactless transactions rises from £20 to £30. While some worry about high tech fraudsters lifting card details there is a much simpler risk to be aware of. https://unop.uk/installing-windows-10-on-an-old-macbook-pro/ Wed, 26 Aug 2015 14:28:25 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/installing-windows-10-on-an-old-macbook-pro/ I wanted to have a play do serious research with Windows 10 IoT Core for Raspberry Pi 2 (read more about that here). https://unop.uk/computing-4-kids-education/ Mon, 24 Aug 2015 17:06:59 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/computing-4-kids-education/ I’ve just launched a new project, Computing 4 Kids Education (or C4KE for short). The aim is to help children learn computer science and coding. https://unop.uk/make-animated-gifs-with-imagemagick/ Fri, 21 Aug 2015 13:51:25 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/make-animated-gifs-with-imagemagick/ There’s been a recent resurgence in animated GIFs. Maybe it’s because they’re easier to share on GitHub, Imgur and Twitter. https://unop.uk/photos-of-the-otford-solar-system-model/ Sat, 15 Aug 2015 05:02:23 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/photos-of-the-otford-solar-system-model/ I wrote about the Otford Solar System before to celebrate the New Horizons flyby of Pluto. I’ve finally visited all the planets (including the long trip to Pluto). https://unop.uk/watching-the-final-season-of-the-last-flying-avro-vulcan-bomber/ Fri, 14 Aug 2015 16:42:07 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/watching-the-final-season-of-the-last-flying-avro-vulcan-bomber/ If you want to watch the Vulcan in action tomorrow for free. It is displaying at Airbourne 2015 in Eastbourne on Saturday the 15th of August at 14:29. https://unop.uk/raspberry-pi-model-b-comparison/ Fri, 14 Aug 2015 05:13:58 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/raspberry-pi-model-b-comparison/ I’ve got quite a few Raspberry Pi computers (all the model B versions). I thought I’d do a quick comparison and show how to identify them. https://unop.uk/reading-a-huge-text-file/ Thu, 13 Aug 2015 05:28:36 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/reading-a-huge-text-file/ Ever come across a file so massive that you can’t load it in a text editor? If you just want to examine it to discover the structure then this can be a real pain. https://unop.uk/windows-10-iot-core-public-release-for-raspberry-pi-2-install-and-first-impressions/ Wed, 12 Aug 2015 17:46:51 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/windows-10-iot-core-public-release-for-raspberry-pi-2-install-and-first-impressions/ Edit: In case it’s not clear from the below; Windows 10 IoT Core is nothing like the desktop Windows you may be used to. https://unop.uk/how-to-watch-bbc-news-videos-on-a-desktop-without-flash-in-safari/ Wed, 12 Aug 2015 12:26:12 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/how-to-watch-bbc-news-videos-on-a-desktop-without-flash-in-safari/ You may also like to read how to block the BBC News website Breaking News pop-up banner for all devices on your network, even when out and about. https://unop.uk/how-to-watch-bbc-news-videos-on-a-desktop-without-flash-in-firefox/ Tue, 11 Aug 2015 09:38:23 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/how-to-watch-bbc-news-videos-on-a-desktop-without-flash-in-firefox/ You may also like to read how to block the BBC News website Breaking News pop-up banner for all devices on your network, even when out and about. https://unop.uk/how-to-watch-bbc-news-videos-on-a-desktop-without-flash/ Fri, 07 Aug 2015 04:00:44 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/how-to-watch-bbc-news-videos-on-a-desktop-without-flash/ Update: I’ve written guides on how to do this in Firefox and Safari. I’ve written about how to block the breaking news banner on the BBC News website, including how to hack it into an anti-procrastination or prank playing tool on all of your devices (at least until HTTPS is rolled out). https://unop.uk/tube-strike-benefits-1-testing-opportunities/ Thu, 06 Aug 2015 08:35:21 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/tube-strike-benefits-1-testing-opportunities/ The monthly tube strike is pretty inconvenient but it does offer opportunities to test things. Here is what my LED strip looks like today. https://unop.uk/making-a-mobile-friendly-pragmatic-tube-status-page/ Wed, 05 Aug 2015 09:51:16 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/making-a-mobile-friendly-pragmatic-tube-status-page/ I’ve revisited an old project of mine. My original pragmatic tube status. I’ve updated it a bit over the years and I recently had to move it to a new host. https://unop.uk/led-lights-tube-status-display-strike-vs-normal/ Thu, 23 Jul 2015 08:00:26 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/led-lights-tube-status-display-strike-vs-normal/ I’ve been asked for a comparison of what my LED lights tube status alert project looks like during normal service versus disruption. https://unop.uk/breaking-the-news-blocking-the-bbc-news-breaking-banner-and-playing-pranks/ Wed, 22 Jul 2015 07:09:22 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/breaking-the-news-blocking-the-bbc-news-breaking-banner-and-playing-pranks/ Update: There’s a newer article about how to do this on all devices, including phones and tablets. TL;DR, block polling. https://unop.uk/radio-piradise/ Tue, 21 Jul 2015 11:08:46 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/radio-piradise/ Update: I’ve got this working and written about it here. I listen to a fair amount of Radio Paradise (an awesome internet radio station). https://unop.uk/experience-with-mobile-chrome-app-install-banner/ Mon, 20 Jul 2015 14:05:37 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/experience-with-mobile-chrome-app-install-banner/ I’ve written previously about using the new mobile app install banner in Chrome. It’s possible to test this by setting a flag (chrome://flags/#bypass-app-banner-engagement-checks) but I experienced some weird edge cases so I did a bit of digging (the beauty of open source). https://unop.uk/adding-basic-authentication-to-screenly-ose/ Thu, 16 Jul 2015 14:04:16 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/adding-basic-authentication-to-screenly-ose/ Update: Displaying a full screen web page on a Raspberry Pi is a very common use case. You may want to check out FullPageOS, which looks pretty similar to my original hacks but packaged up nicely into an OS image. https://unop.uk/physical-web-experiments-without-a-ble-beacon/ Thu, 16 Jul 2015 11:39:40 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/physical-web-experiments-without-a-ble-beacon/ After reading about Google’s new Eddystone protocol specification for BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) beacons similar to Apple’s iBeacon I wanted to try it out. https://unop.uk/led-strip-aurora-alerts/ Thu, 16 Jul 2015 09:03:19 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/led-strip-aurora-alerts/ I love my Blinky Tape LED strip (basically a NeoPixel with a built it USB microcontroller) and one of my lifelong ambitions is to see the northern lights (Aurora Borealis). https://unop.uk/otford-solar-system/ Wed, 15 Jul 2015 10:43:00 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/otford-solar-system/ To celebrate the New Horizons flyby of Pluto I thought I’d write about the Otford Solar System which claims to be “probably the largest scale model in the world”. https://unop.uk/instabail-ios-vs-android-home-screen-icons/ Sat, 11 Jul 2015 14:22:07 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/instabail-ios-vs-android-home-screen-icons/ I briefly mentioned in the last post that home screen icons on iOS and Android need to be different. Android supports transparent backgrounds while iOS does not. https://unop.uk/instabail-mobile-chrome-install-banner-experiment/ Thu, 09 Jul 2015 08:57:10 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/instabail-mobile-chrome-install-banner-experiment/ I’ve made a fun offline mobile web app that generates random excuses and easily lets you share them. It uses real-time train and tube delay information for more realistic bails. https://unop.uk/is-the-tube-on-strike-e2-80-bd/ Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:14:48 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/is-the-tube-on-strike-e2-80-bd/ There’s a lot of information about the current tube strike in London, but really it can be distilled down to one simple binary question. https://unop.uk/yo-flow-open-beta/ Fri, 03 Jul 2015 15:24:45 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/yo-flow-open-beta/ Yo Flow has now launched and is in open beta. This means that you can sign up and try it out but there might be some bugs so I’m not charging yet. https://unop.uk/yo-flow/ Fri, 29 May 2015 11:36:04 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/yo-flow/ I’ve launched the landing page for my new web app Yo Flow! It’s designed to help gyms and personal trainers induct their new clients. https://unop.uk/train-disruption-indicator-with-a-blinky-tape-rgb-led-strip-and-raspberry-pi/ Wed, 06 May 2015 09:42:53 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/train-disruption-indicator-with-a-blinky-tape-rgb-led-strip-and-raspberry-pi/ Having been inspired by this Blinky Tape blog post by the FT engineering team I thought I’d try to use mine to display some useful information. https://unop.uk/two-new-huxley-features-delays-and-crs-lookup/ Tue, 05 May 2015 15:51:07 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/two-new-huxley-features-delays-and-crs-lookup/ I’ve released a new version of Huxley (my UK train stations live departure board proxy) including some new features. https://unop.uk/spark-core-raspberry-pi-blinky-tape-awesome/ Thu, 12 Mar 2015 11:05:03 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/spark-core-raspberry-pi-blinky-tape-awesome/ I’ve made an updated version of my Spark Core Shower Room Door Sensor that adds a Raspberry Pi driving a Blinky Tape (RBG LED strip) to show the occupancy status. https://unop.uk/huxley-rail-api-proxy/ Mon, 09 Mar 2015 13:06:28 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/huxley-rail-api-proxy/ Update: Huxley 2 is out now. I recently hosted another Cleanweb London event and the theme this time was transport. https://unop.uk/process-funnel-diagram/ Wed, 07 Jan 2015 22:25:26 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/process-funnel-diagram/ I made a sales funnel inspired digram of how we do devops where I work. You can read the full post here: backstage. https://unop.uk/spark-core-xmas-tree-lights-10-minute-hack/ Mon, 29 Dec 2014 20:46:37 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/spark-core-xmas-tree-lights-10-minute-hack/ The office is being refurbished, so before the Christmas break I took down my shower room door monitor and used my spark core (with relay board) to do a very quick hack and remote control the Christmas tree lights from my phone. https://unop.uk/spark-core-shower-room-door-sensor/ Fri, 15 Aug 2014 17:51:11 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/spark-core-shower-room-door-sensor/ UPDATE: I’ve got a newer post on an improved version of this project with lots of LEDs and 11 times more awesome. https://unop.uk/sweden-solar-system-photos/ Fri, 15 Aug 2014 11:20:55 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/sweden-solar-system-photos/ On a recent visit to Stockholm I geeked out for a day and went on a hunt for planets in the world’s largest permanent scale model of the Solar System. https://unop.uk/raspberry-pi-electricity-monitor/ Sun, 03 Mar 2013 11:54:21 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/raspberry-pi-electricity-monitor/ Maplin have discontinued the electricity monitor used here. Indeed, Maplin themselves have been discontinued. ☹️ I have a couple of these spare that I got for a bargain price when they were heavily discounted. https://unop.uk/github/ Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:21:53 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/github/ I’ve started using GitHub to share my code, although I’m more of a Mercurial person and even use TFS when I have to. https://unop.uk/london-tube-status-updated/ Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:11:24 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/london-tube-status-updated/ I’ve updated the mobile London tube status at unop.uk/tube by tidying the code up a bit and using the official API. https://unop.uk/spotify-playlist-generator/ Thu, 21 Jul 2011 21:29:13 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/spotify-playlist-generator/ I’ve made a Spotify Playlist Generator that uses Last.fm to find songs by similar artists. Download the Playlist Generator or as a zip with the instructions. https://unop.uk/monitores-energy-saver-tool/ Wed, 11 May 2011 21:51:27 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/monitores-energy-saver-tool/ I came across this tool and think it’s awesome. I’ve been using it for a while and it works well. https://unop.uk/outlook-2010-email-delayed-send/ Wed, 11 May 2011 21:34:59 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/outlook-2010-email-delayed-send/ Ever sent an email then instantly regretted it or hit ctrl+enter when you actually meant to hit ctrl+k (check names)? You could just add a gibberish recipient to a draft email to prevent it sending, but there must be another way. https://unop.uk/remote-desktop-max-connections-fix/ Wed, 11 May 2011 21:24:42 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/remote-desktop-max-connections-fix/ If you have the problem of not being able to log on to a server because it has exceed the maximum number of connections (usually 2) here is an easy fix. https://unop.uk/home-made-soldering-iron-holder/ Wed, 11 May 2011 20:52:38 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/home-made-soldering-iron-holder/ I made this soldering iron holder a while ago. Here’s how to make one yourself from things you probably have lying around. https://unop.uk/bank-holiday-calendar-file/ Tue, 05 Apr 2011 21:23:17 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/bank-holiday-calendar-file/ The next 2 years are a bit special, as in the UK we get a couple of extra bank holidays (Royal Wedding and Diamond Jubilee). https://unop.uk/energy-saving-plug-and-water-widget-review/ Thu, 09 Dec 2010 19:13:39 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/energy-saving-plug-and-water-widget-review/ I applied for a free Energy Saving Plug and Water Widget through a government sponsored scheme and here are my thoughts. https://unop.uk/coffee-order-template/ Sun, 14 Nov 2010 18:03:47 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/coffee-order-template/ I made this coffee order template for taking orders when doing a coffee run. It’s designed for Costa but should work well at other coffee shops too. https://unop.uk/ms-office-file-shrink-tool/ Sun, 14 Nov 2010 17:52:55 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/ms-office-file-shrink-tool/ I created some software which reduces the size of Microsoft Office 2007+ files (.xlsx, .docx, etc.) called Office Shrink. It’s written in batch and makes use of 7-Zip, but was mainly an excuse to play with NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System). https://unop.uk/university-final-year-project-cbir/ Sun, 14 Nov 2010 17:05:41 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/university-final-year-project-cbir/ I’ve put up my University final year project (Scalable Visual Descriptors for Content Based Image Retrieval), which I wrote in LaTeX. https://unop.uk/iphone-tap-counter/ Sun, 14 Nov 2010 13:17:21 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/iphone-tap-counter/ I made a very quick iOS app for my iPhone to allow me to measure the frequency of things by recording the time period. https://unop.uk/improved-london-tube-status/ Sat, 13 Nov 2010 15:49:55 +0000 j.p.singleton+blog@gmail.com (James Singleton) https://unop.uk/improved-london-tube-status/ I live in London and cycle most places, mainly to avoid using the tube. Does it ever bother you when they claim to be operating a “good service” when what they really mean is just normal service?