ioBridge went online in November 2008. Since that time, we have had the chance to work some really brilliant “makers” from all walks of life. Maker Faire Bay Area 2009 is May 30 and 31st in San Mateo at the fairgrounds – a gathering of people that make things, re-purpose dusty equipment, and bend circuits – our kind of people. The ioBridge team will be there with an exhibitor booth. We look forward to meeting some of the people behind all of the blogs posts, YouTube videos, and forum posts. Our booth will be filled with gizmos to play with, setup, and configure. We invite you stop by and say, “Hi” and experiment and meet the ioBridge crew. We would love to meet you and see what projects your are working on. We have a few surprises in store, so check us out. If you can’t make it to the Maker Faire, follow the action on Twitter – our booth will be live on the web!
OharaRP created a wireless LED scrolling sign that displays messages received from the Internet. The sign uses an array of 8x8 LED modules connected together -- expandable to 16 segments. The LED’s are controlled by a MAX7219 controller board that can receive messages from an Xbee wireless module and is power by 5VDC (using a standard mini-USB plug). The sign has a wireless base station that forwards text and commands towards the sign relayed from Twitter or an ioBridge widget embedded on a website.
In this photo OharaRP sent IOBridge to the sign from his iPhone.
XBee Wireless LED Sign
If you would like to learn more about this project check OharaRP’s blog or watch his very instructional demonstration of his Wireless LED Sign Project on YouTube.
Jason has released a new ioBridge project that monitors water usage for his whole house in real-time. The system uses a water meter, an IO-204, and ioBridge data logging services. His first system monitored power usage, sunlight, and temperature which included a live demo mash-up with Google Charts.
On one channel of the IO-204, the water meter is connected to the digital input. On a digital state change, the module sends that data to the ioBridge servers. Included with the free user account is the ability to log two data feeds from your module. In this case, the type of log is a Digital Input Counting Log. Evey count is the equivalent to one gallon of water used. The project is rather interesting and the next step in conservation. Knowing water usage and finding your high water use times will help curb use in the long run. Details on the water meter project can be found on Jason’s blog and Instructables.
Since Jason’s Fishcam has hit the scene, there have been a few ioBridge-based aquarium monitor and control projects pop up. The fish cam has evolved into interactive displays, temperature monitoring, water level control, fish feeding, tank aeration, Twitter integration, killer gators, and burping frogs. The interface for full control and monitoring of aquariums are using a web browser or iPhone. The systems use the IO-204 Ethernet module to control outputs, lights, X10, and servos and monitor inputs, temperature, and water levels.
Check out Pete’s TankedCAM.com and Kevin’s BurpTheFrog.com for some really awesome interactive aquarium projects with full on Web 2.0 services.
Here is a cool video from TankedCAM demonstrating all of the interactive features.
