Today is Halloween and this holiday provides a wonderful excuse to hack on some spooky-themed projects.

We've curated a few of our favorite Halloween hacks in this post, ranging from a Raspberry Pi-controlled pumpkin to a Dracula dark theme for your Terminal.

Pumpkin Pi

This cleverly-named Pumpkin Pi project combines a Raspberry Pi with some custom open source Python code and a carved-out pumpkin to create a high-tech Jack o'Lantern.

The Jack o'Lantern can be controlled to change the colors of the LED lights inside the face and a motion sensor triggers a unique lighting sequence for people when they walk by.

Spotify-Powered Halloween Sound Effects

This Halloween Sound Effects u …

Short Message Service (SMS) text messages are ubiquitous for time-sensitive communication. They’re also easy to send at scale by combining a Django web application with an application programming interface (API).

In this tutorial, we will build a straightforward Django project with SMS capability that transmits messages to multiple recipients.

If you want to go further in learning either Python or the Twilio SMS API, check out the amazing TwilioQuest training game.

Required Project Dependencies

Python 3 is required for this tutorial because Python 2 will no longer be supported after December 31, 2019. We’ll use Python 3.8 to build this tutorial.

We will also use the following application dependencies in our application:

• Django web framework, version 2.2.x
• pip and virtualenv
• The Twilio Python helper library, version 6.32.0 or greater
• A free Twilio account. Sign up to get an account so you can use the Twilio APIs

If …

Sending and receiving SMS is easy with the Twilio API, but what if you want to send regularly-scheduled reminders from your Laravel web applications? In this tutorial, we'll combine Laravel, Twilio Programmable SMS and cron to send daily reminders that are stored in a Laravel data model.

Project Dependencies

We'll need the following dependencies to complete this tutorial:

• PHP version 7+
• Composer installed globally
• Your Twilio credentials, which you can sign up for an account for free

We can start building our project once you have PHP 7 and Composer installed. We'll sign up for a Twilio account at the appropriate step in the tutorial.

All of the code for the project can be found within this Git repository on GitHub.

Create a Laravel Project with Composer and the Twilio Helper Library

In your terminal, start a new Laravel project named reminder-app using the following command:

Python programmers love to help – the community publishes detailed tutorials for their fellow developers every day. Over the last month, we’ve been collecting some of those posts we found most helpful.

Each tutorial is easy enough for beginner-level programmers to follow. More experienced developers should be able to breeze through the code while building a useful project, or use them as convenient refreshers.

Whichever bucket you belong to, enjoy the posts!

Exercising, or Slacking? Build a Python Bot for Either

The term "bot" feels so 2017 in this community. However, they are still a great way to learn how to build Python applications.

• Create Your Own Personal Training Exercise Bot with Python, Zappa, AWS and Twilio SMS by Matthew Vielkind via Twilio
• Build a Slack Bot that Mimics Your Colleagues by Casey Kinsey via Lofty Labs

Use Bokeh to Visualize All the Data!

Bokeh, the wonderful Python visualization library …

WhatsApp is a global messaging service that helps billions of people communicate with each other. Applications can now also programmatically interact with people on the service using the Twilio Messaging API and Twilio's Java Helper Library. Let's learn how to quickly send messages to people from a new or existing Java application.

Installing Dependencies

Our local development environment needs the following dependencies to properly send WhatsApp messages from Java.

• Java SE version 7 or higher
• A free Twilio account with an activated WhatsApp Sandbox
• The Twilio Java Helper Library

First, install Java on your development machine if you do not already have it. You can also read this detailed tutorial on setting up your Java development environment if you are having trouble.

Next, log into your existing Twilio account or sign up for a new free Twilio account.

Take note of your Account SID and Auth Token when …

WhatsApp es un servicio de mensajería over-the-top OTT extensamente usado alrededor del mundo. En este tutorial, aprenderemos cómo rápidamente enviar mensajes de Whatsapp a través de la API de mensajería de Twilio con un código reusable que se puede agregar a cualquier aplicación de Python.

Configuración ambiente de desarrollo

Necesitamos tener las siguientes dependencias instaladas en nuestro ambiente de desarrollo local para enviar mensajes de WhatsApp.

• Python version 2 o 3 
• Una cuenta de Twilio con el Sandbox de WhatsApp activado
• La librería de ayuda de Twilio para Python

Si no tiene Python instalado actualmente en su máquina, vaya a la página  de descargas de Python e instale la versión más reciente.

Siguiente, Ingrese a su cuenta actual de Twilio o regístrese para adquirir una cuenta de Twilio nueva.

Después de ingresar a la consola de Twilio, tome nota de su Account SID y su Auth Token. …

WhatsApp ist ein weltweit stark verbreiteter Over-the-Top (OTT)-Messaging-Dienst. In diesem Tutorial zeigen wir Ihnen, wie Sie WhatsApp-Nachrichten schnell über die Twilio Messaging API versenden können, mit wiederverwendbarem Code, der jeder Python-Anwendung hinzugefügt werden kann.

Einrichtung der Entwicklungsumgebung

Zum Senden von WhatsApp Nachrichten benötigen Sie die folgenden Abhängigkeiten, die in unserer lokalen Entwicklungsumgebung installiert sind.

• Python Version 2 oder 3
• Einen kostenlosen Twilio account mit einer aktivierten WhatsApp Sandbox
• The Twilio Python Helper Library

Wenn Sie Python noch nicht auf Ihrem Rechner installiert haben, gehen Sie auf die Python-Download-Seite und installieren Sie jetzt die neueste Version.

Loggen Sie sich dann in Ihr bestehendes Twilio-Konto ein oder melden Sie sich für ein neues kostenloses Twilio-Konto an.

Nachdem Sie sich bei der Twilio-Konsole angemeldet haben, notieren Sie sich Ihre Konto-SID und Ihr Auth Token. Die Konto-SID ist ein eindeutiger Identifikator für Ihr Konto, während der Auth Token ein geheimer Schlüssel ist, der …

WhatsApp is an over-the-top (OTT) messaging service widely used throughout the world. In this tutorial, we will learn how to quickly send WhatsApp messages through the Twilio Messaging API with reusable code that can be added to any Python application.

Development Environment Setup

We need the following dependencies installed on our local development environment to send WhatsApp messages.

• Python version 2 or 3
• A free Twilio account with an activated WhatsApp Sandbox
• The Twilio Python Helper Library

If you do not have Python already installed on your machine, go to the Python downloads page and install the latest version now.

Next, log into your existing Twilio account or sign up for a new free Twilio account.

After you log into the Twilio Console, take note of your Account SID and Auth Token. The Account SID is a unique identifier for your account while the Auth Token is …

Amazon Web Services (AWS) Lambda is a usage-based service that can run arbitrary Python 3.6 code in response to developer-defined events. For example, if a new JPEG file is uploaded to AWS S3 then AWS Lambda can execute Python code to respond to resize the image on S3.

Let’s learn how to use AWS Lambda with a manual test event trigger to send outbound text messages via a Python Lambda function that calls the Twilio SMS REST API.

Getting Started with AWS Lambda

Sign up for a new Amazon Web Services account, which provides a free tier for new users, or sign into your existing AWS account.

After you sign up go to the main Console page that looks like the following screen.

As shown in the sc …