Suddenly, here we are, 2021! And what a hideous year 2020 was what with coronavirus, insane politics both sides of the Atlantic, a climate emergency and a world turned upside down. I could use all that as an excuse for seemingly abandoning Planet Keef, but that would be too easy. I was actually very busy in the shed in 2020 and started many projects. I just didn't manage to finish any of them as videos. Here's a little rundown of some of the videos that I started but haven't (yet) finished. A SMALL LED VIDEO LIGHT This was intended to be a quick and easy project using an Anglepoise desk lamp as the adjustable stand with a square biscuit tin fixed on as a reflector. My plan was to stuff 10 metres of LED strip inside this, and then cover the front of the tin with some kind of diffusing material. Unfortunately I only got as far as removing the old light and its shade from the stand. I wanted to 3D print a bracket to connect the tin to the stand, but the printer was out of act...

When I was a kid - maybe 11 - I got an electronics kit for Christmas. It promised the ability to make all kinds of exciting projects, including building a radio. Of course, being a child I wanted to run before I could walk, so I went straight to the radio project, couldn't make it work, and the kit didn't get used much after that. Now I'm a bit more than a kid, somewhat more patient and methodical, and I've got a new electronics kit. Basically it contains an Arduino Uno R3 and lots of other components including motors, LEDs and LED displays, sensors, buzzers, breadboards and wires. Sadly, it doesn't contain the things you need to make a radio. And I haven't entirely grown out of the learning to walk thing - I wanted to make an LED light up, so I touched the two termini to a 9V battery. And POOM!. It did light up. Briefly. Then a smell of burning pervaded the air. And I had a dead LED. In this video I'm unboxing the kit and then doing my first project....