Tag: Internet of Things

I’m not sure what kind of place it has though

Deus Ex Aria: The Evolution Of SmartWatch Control … Smart Strap for Pebble Time

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I’ve been waiting to see when smart straps would arrive for the Pebble Time. This one looks really cool, the only down side is the wait before they’re manufactured. It’s a whole year away! I guess I’ll wait. I’m sure there’ll be other people making smart straps in the interim.

IFTTT’s new Maker channel

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I’ve liked IFTTT (or IF as apparently they’re now called) since right back when they started. They’ve gone from strength and delivered some really interesting and useful functionality for connecting the internet in simple ways. They’ve also supported a lot of IoT (internet of things) devices, and now, with the new Maker channel they’re supporting anything you want to use to connect to the internet.

This is a big deal I think. It means all manner of devices can use the IFTTT service with an HTTP post request. I’ve already tried it with my twine device and it works really well. I’m thinking about how to use it with my Pebble Time too. The possibilities are limitless. However, for me, what will be really important is how to make it truly useful. Without that, it is just tinkering for tinkerings sake, and whilst that’s fun, from my perspective it doesn’t get you anywhere.

So, whilst I’ll be trying it out, I’ll mainly be looking for some really useful ways to use the new channel. If I find any that I think are worth sharing, I will.

Investing in Chirp.io

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I remember seeing Chirp.io back at a Music Tech Fest when it was at Ravensbourne college. It was an interesting idea and I was quite curious about it, but I wasn’t sure how I would use it and how it could be useful. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing of course. Sometimes it takes a while for things to find a place in my world and I like stuff to be actually useful to me.

So when I found that Chirp.io was equity funding on Crowdcube I thought I’d take a look. At the same time they’re expanding chirp into the IoT world with an SDK and Arduino code. It’s getting interesting now. Also, they’ve just announced a Chrome extension, which could be fun.

I wonder where they’ll go next.

What to do with my twine?

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twine-wireless-sensor-monitor-qtooth

I’ve had this little IoT device for ages now. It’s fun, it’s ok, but I’ve always struggled to find a real use for it. Something that I could do with it that would be even a tiny little bit useful. The latest use I had for it was on my Romo. I put the twine on the back of the Romo and it tweeted on any movement in the Romo.

That was ok. Nothing amazing, but ok. More than anything it was fun. But what I’d really like is a way to use the Twine so it serves an actual useful purpose. The biggest problem with achieving this seems to be the fact that the twine is wifi only so I can’t take it outside, can’t use it mobile. That’s really a problem for me.

But perhaps the bigger problem is what to actually use it for? That’s something I’ve never got to the bottom of.