ThingSpeak Plus Third-party Hardware – an Alternative to ioBridge Hardware

In 2008, when ioBridge launched the IO-204 web gateway for the Internet of Things, there were very few hardware devices available to easily and cost-effectively build connected products. The Internet of Things has taken off with a wide array of companies now offering hardware devices to prototype and develop Internet of Things products and solutions.

In 2010, ioBridge launched ThingSpeak.com, an open data platform for the Internet of Things. From the beginning, ThingSpeak was designed to be hardware agnostic and ThingSpeak.com is now used by thousands of people to aggregate data from sensors and to control things using the ThingSpeak App, TalkBack. With ThingSpeak there are many hardware choices and the ThingSpeak tutorials provide examples of hardware platforms that talk to ThingSpeak including the Arduino, Spark Core, and mbed to name a few.

ThingSpeak IoT Platform

ioBridge has sold hardware on our store over the past six years as a means to demonstrate and enable our software. Now that so many hardware alternatives are available that work well with our ThingSpeak service, we have decided to stop selling hardware on our web store to refocus our effort on making it even easier to use third-party hardware with ThingSpeak. Stay tuned for more information.

ioBridge customers who have purchased ioBridge gateways can continue to use the ioBridge.com dashboard service, but we recommend that new customers consider using ThingSpeak with a third-party hardware platform of your choice.

Send Data to ThingSpeak with Arduino

Do you already have an Arduino with an Ethernet Shield? Connect some sensors and send the data to ThingSpeak with this simple Arduino Sketch.

Arduino Ethernet ThingSpeakOnce the data is collected by ThingSpeak, we have a number of ThingSpeak Apps that let you do something with it. Use ThingTweet to update Twitter if your Christmas Tree needs watered. Use React and TalkBack to control your thermostat. Use TweetControl to control a global network of lights!

[via ThingSpeak Tutorials]

Making Beer Social with the Internet of Things

Find your way to Winston-Salem, NC and have the beer that you have been following on social networks. Small Batch Beer Co. uses ioBridge Technology to tell their patrons how much beer is left in their tanks at their brewery. Small Batch specializes in making limited quantities of beer one barrel at a time and they rotate what they are brewing. Their loyal fans want to know how much is available and when to see if they are going to stop by for beer.

Small Batch Brewery IoT Animation

The team from Small Batch partnered with ioBridge and the marketing team at Mullen to create an interactive website, social feeds, and mobile apps to make beer social. “The technology behind the project was the easy part. Creating strong connections with people and what they love is the real value of the project,” said Jason Winters, Project Lead. “Beer is social.”

The technology behind the project uses an ioBridge Gamma Web Gateway and an Omega Continuous Level Reed Switch. The Gamma Gateway connects to the ioBridge Cloud and turns all of the raw tank level data into easily accessible data for web pages and applications via ioBridge’s API. And behind the scenes, Small Batch is able to set alerts, track environmental data, build dashboards for their suppliers, and control operations to optimize brewing conditions.

Visit the Small Batch Beer Co. website to get a taste of what they are brewing.

[via Small Batch Beer Co.]

Introducing TimeControl – Set Schedules for ioBridge Widgets

By using ThingSpeak’s TimeControl, you can set schedules for any of your ioBridge Widgets. This makes it possible to turn on your lights every day at 4pm. TimeControl allows for recurring schedules and one time controls set to a specific date and time.

ThingSpeak TimeControl Examples

ThingSpeak TimeControl Features

  • Recurring weekly schedules
  • One time scheduled actions
  • Fuzzy times – trigger an action at a random number of minutes around a scheduled time
  • Interface with any web service API

 

Getting Started

We have created a tutorial on how to scheduled ioBridge Widgets with the the ThingSpeak TimeControl service. This will help you understand how the ThingSpeak platform and ioBridge Widgets connect together.

[via ThingSpeak Community]

Internet of Things Debuts at Pittsburgh TechFest

Pittsburgh TechFest: “Bridging Pittsburgh’s software communities”

Join Hans Scharler as he presents, “The Internet of Things is Here, but Don’t be Scared”, at this year’s Pittsburgh TechFest at La Roche College on Saturday, June 7, 2014. This will be the first time that the Internet of Things makes it into the Pittsburgh TechFest as a topic.

Pittsburgh TechFest

The Pittsburgh TechFest is open to software development professionals from Southwestern Pennsylvania and surrounding areas to get together to talk and learn about coding, tools, agile, project management, etc.

Hans Scharler’s “Internet of Things” talk starts at 11:15 on June 7, 2014 in Room 311 at La Roche College in the Systems and Sciences track of the Pittsburgh TechFest. Hans will dive into the Internet of Things, software patterns, and ways to get started for developers of all experience levels.

Pittsburgh TechFest 2014

“The Internet of Things is Here, but Don’t be Scared” by Hans Scharler

11:15am – 12:15pm
June 7, 2014
Room 311
Tickets

La Roche College
Zappala College Center Building
9000 Babcock Blvd
Pittsburgh, PA 15237

[via Pittsburgh TechFest]