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Showing posts with the label Audio

BirdNet-Pi: Techonology, AI, Nature and DIY all in one Project

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 I just got up and running with a new DIY project that absolutely amazes me.  It is called BirdNet-Pi and it is a software package running on a Raspberry Pi that uses AI analysis of audiograms to automatically identifies birds by sound in real time.  It is designed to run 24/7 and collects data on all of the birds it hears around your house.  It can even generate notifications that I can receive on my cell phone so I can come running if it detects a bird I haven't seen in my yard before.  Almost as amazing, it is a free, open-source project! I was clued in to this project by a Facebook ad for a BirdWeather PUC  (shown above).  This is a standalone device that does much of the above- listens and identifies birds that it hears.  It is fully integrated with the BirdWeather website and shares its data to the BirdWeather database.  You can look up real time ID results for any PUCs that are shared on their map.  Pretty cool!  I wanted one...

The Audio Industry Free Market is Failing Me.

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  I'm feeling pretty disappointed after looking for a receiver upgrade for my home theater system.  I recently ran across a spreadsheet comparison table I made ten years ago when I last thought about upgrading my 15-syear-old-so-obsolete-it-doesn't-even-have-HDMI-inputs receiver.  At that time, I decided it was not worth spending the money on a receiver that would probably be obsolete in another few years.  I was right! [pause for applause.]  That table showed that even the most expensive receiver I looked at, the $2K Denon AVR-4311CI is woefully out of date today.  It only supported HDMI v1.4!  That wouldn't be much use with my current 4K TV and computer.  In addition, none of those receivers were prepared for the rise of music streaming and wouldn't be able to play music from any of the streaming services available today. I recently struggled, and failed, to get the on-screen menus from either my receiver or SACD player (another obsolete piece o...

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