Nik’s Bumblebee Project started off in 2011 with the goal of getting to know these amazing, social creatures. As he learned more, he found that the bees documented behavioral patterns were different from observed behavioral patterns due to climate change and unusual weather conditions. Nik observed countless hours of camera footage and discovered that the Queen’s hibernation schedule has been completely disrupted leading to disaster of new bumblebees and subsequent pollination which is critical to our food supply. There are many reports of a decline in pollination and is of global significance.

Earlier this year, Nik added sensors and a gateway from ioBridge to help automate and collect more data generated by these busy bees. The bee boxes now monitor temperature, track movement, count bees, and provide real-time feedback from the bumblebees by being connected to the cloud. The project looks to be evolving as new sensors and ideas will be incorporated over time.

“ioBridge is a big step forward in allowing us to automate and correlate environmental and activity data without resorting to manual CCTV analysis,” said Nik in an email interview. “It gives us the freedom not only to view and collect the data from anywhere remotely,  but also share it and tweet it – again helping to raise awareness.”

Nik was able to capture a photo of the first tweet triggered by a Bumblebee.

And, here’s what she said…

We were so happy to find out about this project. We didn’t know much about Bumblebees and learned a lot by following Nik’s project. Thanks for sharing and we hope to do our part to help raise awareness of the global impact and never ending curiosity that bumblebees generate.

To get more info about the Bumblebee Project visit LoveBumbl.es and follow the project on Twitter.

Last month Powercast put a live demo of their remote monitoring in the cloud solution on their website.  The layout below displays various Temperature, Humidity, Light and Carbon Dioxide sensors at different locations throughout the Powercast headquarters.

This is a great example of how ioBridge technology can be the missing piece of the puzzle in someone else’s solution.  We are seeing a growing level of interest from solution providers like Powercast that have their own existing technology, customers and applications.  We love these types of partnerships where our cloud connecting technology makes their solutions better and easier to manage.

“Soon, I will be able connect to the robots in my home, and MyRobots will provide me with their current status such as if all is well, they have a problem or even if they require maintenance. MyRobots will inform me in real-time of any action I need to take, thus facilitating the coexistence and communication between mankind and these increasingly intelligent machines.” -Mario Tremblay, RobotShop CEO

Internet of Things Scale

Social networking services like Twitter process over 200 million Tweets a day and when everyday objects and robots come online in the way that we see it, this number will be crushed. RobotShop built their new platform on top of ThingSpeak which is a highly scalable infrastructure for the Internet of Things created by ioBridge. ThingSpeak is open source and enables devices to interact with social networks, store data, send status updates, and track location all in real-time.

“We are excited that RobotShop selected ThingSpeak as the platform on which to build their innovative MyRobots portal. ThingSpeak is ioBridge’s open source Internet of Things cloud service. This partnership goes hand-in-hand with ioBridge’s vision of helping people benefit from being able to interact with a community of smart things” -Dr. Robert Mawrey, ioBridge CEO

MyRobots Platform

RobotShop’s domain knowledge is robots. By taking their passion for robots and pushing their ideas, they will make it very easy for robot manufactures to add the cloud, add engagement, and draw in consumers. They are well positioned with their knowledge and love of all things robot to create a successful cloud robotics platform that makes it look easy on the outside, while doing the heavy lifting on the inside.

‘Open’ for Business

MyRobots leveraged ThingSpeak to provide their platform an instant API. APIs are a way that developers can extend and interact with your system and come up with new things that you may not have originally planned for. Opening up APIs, providing source code, and letting others access data, will generate a new crop of users and ideas. And, new ideas are what the Internet of Things needs to be successful or we will see the momentum die out like we saw home automation die out 12 years ago.

In the article, “The Google Rush Toward Internet of Things”, Dana Blankenhorn, says “An open API would enable start-ups like Thingworx, for instance, bring electric utilities to the party. It lets companies like ioBridge bring cloud robotics to the party.” And, we agree. We could not have predicted that Roomba’s and robots would be using our technology to interact with each other. This is the awesome side effect of being ‘open’ for business and we are so thrilled that RobotShop brought a new idea to the table.

[via ioBridge / RobotShop Press Releases]

The article in Scientific American and Fast Company titled How the “Internet of Things” Is Turning Cities Into Living Organism talks about how this solution is a great example of using “Internet of Things” to immediately affect the environments we live in. I especially enjoyed the analogy of the sensors in the city being the “virtual nervous system”.

“By using the Internet to connect real-world sensors and control mechanisms to cloud-based control systems that can pull in streams from any other data source, including weather reports, these efforts enable conservation and money-saving measures that would have been impossible without this virtual nervous system.”

(Even Chris Anderson of Wired / The Long Tail gave this definition of the Internet of Things a ringing endorsement.)

Why this is BIG for the Internet of Things

I feel like this is all just the tip of the iceberg for the “Internet of Things”.  Solving problems like stormwater management are proving that the “Internet of Things” has a big part in solving real world problems, not just tweeting toasters.

Here’s a recipe:

1) Existing data / trends / models (i.e. weather, tides, sunlight)

2) Real time data (i.e. temperature, pressure, humidity, light)

3) “Things” that need to be controlled (i.e. fans, valves, motors)

4) Platforms for the “Internet of Things” (like what ioBridge makes)

Take a few parts real-time data analysis with existing data / trends / model, decide how and when the things that need to be controlled should function, then mix moderately with a platform for the “Internet of Things”.  What can it be used for?  This recipe goes well with agriculture, infrastructure, energy, water…   In the end you’ll have a way to solve many large real-time problems.

As you can see, most of the components 1-3 have already existed for years.  It is the recent emergence of platforms for the “Internet of Things” that provides that last mile to connect it all together and makes  automatically solving real problems in real-time a reality.

Yeah… It’s kind of a big deal.

[via Scientific American / Fast Company / Wall Street Journal ]

Here is a video introduction to CheerLights:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqi28Qcvvdg

To join the CheerLights project all you have to is build a controller that subscribes to the “cheerlights” keyword, receives the latest color command, and sets the color on your lights. So, when you see the color change know that the color it is now changing all across the world. Instructions on how to build your own physical controller are based around GE G-35 Color Effects Lights and the ioBridge IO-204, ConnectPort X2, or Arduino Ethernet.

The last color processed by CheerLights is accessed through the CheerLights Channel hosted on ThingSpeak. With that data you could this a lot further and build all sorts of applications that read in that color value and do something with it. Your application could be an Android widget that shows the latest color, a set of Christmas lights, ambient orb, or dynamically setting the background color of a website.

ioBridge has been working on a way to distribute a command from a social network and distribute to thousands of end points in real-time – a many to many issue. The technology behind CheerLights paves the way for an alert system that could cascade across the globe.

[via CheerLights.com]

This made me think back at how far ioBridge has come and where they were at that time.  The funny thing about it is the technology they are simulating could have just as well be using an ioBridge module.  Public access for internet users to control things in their house was something only super geeks could do at that time.  At the time this episode aired ioBridge only had a working prototype of public internet interactivity with Jason’s original fishcam that open and closed a gator’s mouth in his fish tank.

Obviously ioBridge has come a long way since that prototype, but it’s interesting to see how the ideas have been bouncing around for years but only now is it starting to get the attention where the number of Internet of Things devices now and in the future are in frequent conversations.

For your viewing pleasure I was able to find it on my search through YouTube and wanted to share it with all the Internet of Things fans out there.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kzjqBacF1k

Here are the episode links:

11/1/11 — Episode 163 — The Peggy Smedley Show

• Segment No. 1 — M2M News and Updates: Becoming Context-Aware and Internet of Things. Featuring Peggy Smedley, host of The Peggy Smedley Show.
• Segment No. 2 — M2M Solutions: Building an Internet of Things. Featuring Hans Scharler, cofounder, ioBridge.
• Segment No. 3 — The Business of M2M: Long-Term M2M Players. Featuring Marc Petock, vice president of global marketing and communications, Tridium.
• Segment No. 4 — M2M in Action: Behavioral Change. Featuring Featuring Peggy Smedley, and Mike Carrozzo, chief editor of Connected World magazine.

About The Peggy Smedley Show

The Peggy Smedley Show, the voice of M2M and connected devices, is an informative, yet fun, talk show hosted by Peggy Smedley, president of Specialty Publishing Co. The show broadcasts live for one hour each Tuesday at 12 noon CT. The Peggy Smedley Show features discussions with top newsmakers and technology companies, as well as in-depth analysis of the week’s biggest connected devices stories and trends.

Josh had some clear goals to ensure that the breast milk was stored properly:

1. Know the real-time temperature of the freezer
2. Send alerts if temperatures get too warm
3. Monitor the state of power at our home
4. Send alerts if power is out

In this case, adding some remote monitoring smarts to the otherwise “dumb” freezer, is the perfect solution. Josh ran a temperature probe into the freezer and connected it to a channel on the ioBridge Io-204 web gateway. On ioBridge.com, he created a data log to monitor the temperature of the freezer and set an email alert for the temperature required to store breast milk for an extended period of time. Josh also connected the Io-204 to the same power source as the freezer, so that if power was lost to the freezer it would also be lost the IO-204. ioBridge tracks whether these devices are connected, so that you can monitor their Online / Offline status. Josh cleverly connected an API call to the device to a site monitoring service and now is able to monitor the up time of his freezer just like monitoring the up time of a server.

The Internet of Things is in its infancy, but it can be very practical despite the recent articles referring to the number of devices to impress upon us just the sheer volume. To us it’s all about finding useful applications and introducing them to consumers to find our early majority product and service. We believe in and see a connected future, but we want it to be so useful that people don’t have to think about the technology. Like when you are using an iPad, are you concerned over capacitive touch technology or that it’s really easy to play games? Maybe by the time Josh’s baby grows up and enters college, the Internet of Things will be as common place and transparent as indoor plumbing.

Check out Josh’s blog for more details on setting up his breast milk monitoring system using ioBridge and a bonus project on using the Edimax Nanorouter to add Wi-Fi to the ioBridge IO-204 Monitor and Control Module.

[via MojoHo.com]

Stop by and meet the ioBridge team and pick up your free gift!

Here are the key subject areas for Remote Monitoring & Control 2011:

• SCADA and Data Acquisition
• Remote Networking Technology
• New Wireless Technologies
• Sensors for Monitoring and Management
• Condition and Equipment Monitoring
• Adapting and Upgrading Existing Networks
• Network Configuration and Design
• Industrial Control and Automation
• Telemetry
• Security Solutions (cyber and physical)
• Device Equipment Networking and Management
• Standby and Backup Power Systems
• Site and Security Access Control
• Solar/ Photovoltaic Energy Systems
• Fuel Cells
• Monitoring & Control of Mission Critical Assets
• Standalone Distributed Power
• Small-Scale Cogeneration
• Power Protection/Reliability Systems
• 24/7 and Remote Monitoring
• Testing & Maintenance
• Standards (ISA, NERC/FERC, IEC, DNP3, etc.)

So, as you can see, there is a little bit for everyone that’s looking to build next generation remote monitor and control applications. We hope to see you there!

Remote Monitoring & Control 2011 [info]

September 20-21

Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center [map]
2800 Opryland Drive
Nashville, TN 37214

Ryan released the beer cannon around New Years 2011, and since then, he has captured the imaginations of TV producers behind great shows on the Science Channel, Discovery, and The History Channel. The producers were creating a new series called, JUNKies for the Science Channel, where people turn junk into new things. They wanted to recreate Ryan’s mini-fridge beer cannon as part of one of the episodes. Hopefully, this episode will introduce the mainstream into Internet-control of things and inspire a whole new crop of innovations.

The “beer cannon” episode of JUNKies premieres on the Science Channel on September 8, 2011 at 10pm (EST). For more information about JUNKies, visit the Science Channel website.

Congrats, Ryan!

To use the new gauge widget, create an Analog Input Widget, External Monitor Widget, or Expression Widget, and select “Gauge” under the style option.

One of our many TideAlerts.com subscribers had the idea to “watch” the tide levels during Hurricane Irene. After analyzing the data, we observed something interesting. The period of the tides did not change, but the amplitudes (the high tide and low tide marks) were greatly exaggerated as Hurricane Irene passed through Cape Cod.

The ioBridge tide project is another example of how the Internet of Things is emerging. We started this project 3 years ago and it provides an extremely useful service and is only possible by aggregating tons of sensor data and sharing it with users, developers, and researchers. This application is based on open data from NOAA and users monitoring environmental information and tries to find more meaning than just being a collection site of data.

By the way, here is what the tides looked like during Hurricane Irene at one of our public monitoring sites:

The good news is that by the time Hurricane Irene made it to Massachusetts, the storm was weak and all of our tide sensor sites survived.

Check out the Technology Review article, Cape Cod is Tweeting, Thanks to the Internet of Things, for more information about our tide project or contact us at support@iobridge.com.

The charts have been upgraded to support many new features, including axis labeling, chart types, local timezone support, and enhanced browser compatibility. And here’s the best part… the new charts are available now.

The advanced charts have many new chart types available: Line, Spline, Step, Area, Column, and Bar. Depending on your application, you may find a chart type more suitable to represent the data. For example, if you are monitoring power or water, you may find that the Step or Column chart types convey more information at a glance. Now you have the perfect way to visualize your sensor data.

Visit the ioBridge Wiki to get more information on getting started with the new charts.

Let us know what you think. With our new charting platform, we have many new options at our disposal!

With ioBridge, customers are able to leverage an end-to-end application platform to create Web applications, mobile apps, and Web services. Customers are able to get Internet-connected products and services to market faster and at a lower cost by utilizing the ioBridge platform. These products are also able to connect to social networking sites, location-based services, and weather feeds such as Twitter, ThingSpeak, Google Latitude, Foursquare and WeatherBug.

Our background was M2M. The founding team of ioBridge worked on far-reaching M2M applications such as remote monitoring of medical devices, SCADA applications for pump and well monitoring, Oil and Gas pipeline monitoring, and substation power monitoring for Smart Grid applications. When we founded ioBridge we wanted to take our experience with M2M and couple that with our big ideas that everything should be Internet-enabled. To reinvent M2M, we had to create a new platform. Once a machine is connected, truly connected, that machine can leverage web services and social networking to ultimately enable first-of-their-kind applications.

ioBridge consists of many parts in concert with web services:

• Real-time push messaging from device to web services, web services to devices
• Multiple ways to interface with devices
• Low-power wireless sensors (we still have tide sensors connected to the web for over 2 years)
• Widget and application builders
• Multiple ways to interface with external web applications
• Native support to interface with WeatherBug, Google Weather, NOAA, Google Calculator, Yahoo Financials, Twitter, ThingSpeak, FourSquare, FaceBook, and any open API via our ThingHTTP app.

As a result, the ioBridge platform enables real applications that solve many of the traditional issues with a polling style M2M or SCADA solutions. We take full advantage of connecting things to web services. The additional benefit is low-cost. Maybe the biggest disruption that we have seen is cost. Since you can buy our dev kit for less than $200 and get a free suite of web services, you can start building an app immediately. Cost also lowers the barrier to entry for a whole host of new M2M customers that previously were cost prohibited from taking advantage of M2M applications.

In a recent article from the Yankee Group, Parlez-vous M2M?, Emily Green includes ideas about where M2M is going and some input from Dr. Robert Mawrey, the CEO of ioBridge. She also mentions how we “internet-enabled” a cranberry bog. Emily will be releasing a follow-up interview with Dan Luechauer, a cranberry bog owner, who has a completely  automated, remotely controlled and monitored cranberry bog via ioBridge technology. (Emily – Thanks for including us in your post and we look forward to your future articles.)

We have 100′s of examples just like Dan’s cranbrery bog. We look forward to sharing more applications with you. Visit the ioBridge Pro Applications section of our website for the latest info and ways to get started with ioBridge.

If you are considering adding remote control and monitoring to an existing product or creating a new web-based product and service, contact us now at oem@iobridge.com. Leverage our experience and take advantage of our first-of-its-kind, patent-pending Internet technology.

Here is a video introduction to the ioBridge platform and OEM Solutions that we offer:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eewM6MupNdo

Video transcript:

Let’s say you have created a product that you want to web-enable. In this video, we intend to give you a quick introduction of ioBridge and our OEM solutions.

To get started, visit www.ioBridge.com.

ioBridge is a platform to enable device interaction, remote control, and monitoring of devices via the Internet.

Once your product is connected, you can leverage the web to give your product a competitive edge. You can tap into web services such as email alerts, real-time monitoring, charts, reports, remote control, remote upgrades, user account management, and social networking.

The ioBridge platform is seamless. We can help you with any aspect of bringing your products to the Internet. We offer licensing of our patent-pending technology, custom web apps, custom mobile apps, product integration, website integration, and custom engineering services.

You may have questions on how to get started, so please contact us. We have worked with many customers and projects ranging from extremely large consumer product companies to helping startups companies create their prototypes.

If you want to learn more on how ioBridge can help you with the Internet of Things, contact us at oem@iobridge.com.

The Mini Fridge Beer Robot is featured in Popular Science magazine in the June 2011 issue: Inventions of the Year. In this PopSci, you can learn how-to create your very own beer firing robot with a step-by-step guide. The beer robot, dubbed the ioFridge, is the perfect connection between man and machine! And, when we created ioBridge, you better believe we saw a future of armed machines that are web-enabled. Congrats on making PopSci and getting us one step closer…

The Web of Things Workshop features the latest research on the bleeding edge of this emerging Internet of Things that everyone seems to be talking about as of recent. Hans Scharler, co-founder of ioBridge and ThingSpeak, will be presenting on his involvement with the business of The Internet of Things. Hans will provide some business cases, share ioBridge projects turned products, show the latest ioBridge technology, and demonstrate a live web of things project.

“I am thrilled to be participating with WoT2011 Workshop,” said Hans Scharler. “The workshop will have some great research presentations and you’ll have an opportunity to meet the innovators behind our emerging industry.”

In addition to the Web of Things Workshop, a hackathon will be held to bring together people from different industries to implement their ideas relating to the Internet of Things. Lots can happen at a hackathon, as you never know what will emerge. The concept is to have everyone focus on a particular area and see what gets created. We will be providing sensors, hardware, and access to web services to help enable some interesting applications. For more information and registration, visit the Web of Things Hackathon site.

Web of Thing Hackathon [info]

Saturday, June 11, 2011 - 9am – 5 pm

Gray Area Foundation for the Arts [map]
998 Market St.
San Francisco, CA 94102

Web of Things Workshop [info]

Sunday, June 12, 2011 – 9am – 5pm

Hotel Nikko San Francisco [map]
222 Mason Street
San Francisco, CA 94102

Water Pressure Gauge Showing 9 bars

ioBridge IO-204 Module Connected to Sensors

Elad says this is his first step into the Internet of Things and learned a lot before he goes full-scale. “This operation, of connection stuff to the web is called Internet Of Things (IOT). The thing can be any device, even a toaster like this guy did connecting his toaster to Twitter (also done with an IO-204 module).”

Elad also wanted to share the discovery process and hold a contest. Elad’s contest is open to anyone that can correlate the data presented on his Water Simulation blog. You have until June 30, 2011 to figure it out. Visit Elad’s blog for more information or look him up on Twitter.

[via Water Simulation]

HTML Apps on Dashboard

Visit the ioBridge Wiki for more information on the HTML App Widget.

Ignite Pittsburgh
Thursday, February 10, 2011

Brillobox
4104 Penn Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA

Doors open at 7pm

ignitepittsburgh.com

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVyLuosZ1rY

From the YouTube description:

This is the maiden voyage of my mini fridge that now shoots beers via iPhone. It is controlled by an iobridge via a web based iPhone interface and shoots the beers from an air cannon in the housing. Special thanks to Graham Phero for air cannon construction and Josh Lilly for web and graphic development.

Features:

• Vends 4 types of beer
• Broadcasts temperature
• Adjust temperature via iPhone
• Aim via webcam
• Auto tweet video per shot
• Fire beer with 50psi of deliciousness

Mini Fridge Beer Cannon Close-up

Update:

We got a chance to talk with the inventor of the Mini Fridge Beer Robot and here are some more details.

The app is served from a NetBeans server and interfaces with the ioBridge Widget API to send the controls for selecting the beer, aiming / firing the air cannon, and setting the fridge temperature. The app also displays the fridge temperature.

Here are screenshots of the iPhone web app in action:

Mini Fridge Beer Cannon Robot

“Perhaps the Best Beer Bot Ever To Grace a Dorm Room.”

-Gizmodo

This project is sure getting around with over 120k 200k views so far between YouTube and Break.com. To check the blog roundup, visit TUAW, Gizmodo, Break, BroBible, Wired.com, Engadget, and Comedy Central’s Tosh.0 Blog.

Here’s another take of the beer cannon in action:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMZfmbu6prU

Combine this with the Serv O’Beer and you have a complete drink delivery system.

Happy New Year! Cheers!

You can upgrade your modules over-the-web, by signing into the ioBridge.com Interface and selecting your module, then by clicking Details and Upgrade.

Here’s an overview of the new features:

• New Firmware – The new firmware adds support for a new variable space for 32-bit values and onboard set points. Other enhancements include wider support for network configurations such as ATM and Mobile Data Networks. We also added watch-dog timers in the event of module lockups.
• Variable Value Widget – Now you can control the variable value on your module. This means you can send values from a web service down to your module and use that value in your on-board rules. For eaxample, you could make a thermostat based on WeatherBug’s reported temperature.
• Widget Customizations – You can now change the hover label for chart widgets and the scaling on the analog gauge widgets. The Widget ID / Key is now prominently displayed on the widget editor. Chart widget times now display the users local time.
• Set Points – You can now compare input values to Variable Value 2 and create set points that can be changed.
• Additions to the Module Interface – You can now directly set the variable values from the interface. We have also added listeners for both sides of serial smart board traffic.
• HTTP POST Actions – This new feature allows you can send a custom HTTP POST as a server-side action. The new feature supports Basic Auth and the ability to customize a POST to any external service.
• Custom X10 Widget – Originally we supported X10 outlets through our web service. With this update, you can send custom X10 commands to support other X10 devices like thermostats.
• Data Feed API v2 – Updated the Data Feed API for the IO-204 and IO-204-PRO includes SSL support and a RESTful interface.

We look forward to seeing what you create with the new features. If any issues or questions arise, check our Wiki or feel free to contact us.

IOBR - Social Interactivity Toy for Kids

Here is a demonstration of the social thing toy for toddlers:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq1Th00tcPw

The IOBR uses the Brio Shape Sorting Box and the ioBridge IO-204 to connect the two systems together native using ioBridge web services. Their project uses the feature that two IO-204 modules (or more) can be linked together using the ioBridge web services.

IOBR Social Toy next to ioBridge IO-204

IOBR System Overview

If you are interested in learned more, visit the website passiripatti.com to find  a breakdown of the project, photos, and other amazing projects.

The Pittsburgh Perl Workshop will be held at the Carnegie Mellon University on October 9-10, 2010. The workshop is a gathering of Perl programmers from around the world to learn more and discuss the future of Perl.

Scharler discusses Perl and Internet of Things on his blog…

Internet of Things applications involve connecting sensors and controllers to the web. Perl is perfect for parsing lots of data, pushing data into databases, and connecting services together, known as “mashups”.

Hans will be demonstrating how to create a location-aware thermostat using off-the-shelf Perl’s CPAN modules. This Perl application is a mashup of the Google Latitude API, Weather APIs from Google and WeatherBug, and the ioBridge API. The thermostat is controlled by the location of a phone relative to the location of the house — shutting down the heating and cooling on the way out and turning everything back on by the time you return home.

Perl creator Larry Wall will also be giving the keynote speech! Join us…

The Pittsburgh Perl Workshop
October 9–10, 2010

Carnegie Mellon University
Gates Center
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Aleka will showcase some of their new products and services based on the ioBridge Platform at the “Innovation for a Smarter Planet” event by Wired Wessex located at the INTECH Science Centre and Planetarium. Aleka will demonstrate real-time power and resource monitoring technology, as well as, a home lighting control system accessible from a mobile phone.

The event is hosted by Andy Stanford-Clark, IBM Futurist, and features discussions on home automation, monitoring power consumption and water usage, remote control of electrical appliances “to make the planet smarter.”

Andy Stanford-Clark, IBM Distinguished Engineer and Master Inventor

Wired Wessex
Innovation for a Smarter Planet with Andy Stanford-Clark, IBM Futurist

Date: Thursday 30th of September, 2010
Time: 18:00 – 20:00

INTECH Centre, Telegraph Way, Morn Hill, Winchester, Hampshire, SO21 1HZ

Hans Scharler, of ioBridge, set out to make his thermostat aware of his location and the weather forecast. His project started off simple - adjust the thermostat as he leaves and when he returns. His real goals were to return to a comfortable house despite his schedule and to save money.

Scharler has lots to say about the matter…

A preset heating/cooling schedule only works when you are on schedule. What if you come home late? You have been wasting energy. What if you come home early? You might find a cold house.

Hans taps into location and weather data via an Application Programming Interface (API). He tracks his location using the Google Latitude service on his mobile phone and reads in the weather forecast from WeatherBug. Based on his position and the current weather, the system automatically sets his thermostat which is connected to his web application by the ioBridge IO-204. The IO-204 sits on your home network and what ever is connected to the IO-204 now has access to the web and any of the ioBridge web services.

Location Aware Home Automation

What’s next for this project? How about multi-person tracking? How about a coffee pot controlled by location? How about an office building regulating its power use considering only the location of its employees!?

ioBridge will incorporate location-awareness as a Plug In to the web services. You will be able to drop in Google Latitude connectivity native to the ioBridge platform. Other APIs that you have access to are Yahoo Financials, Google Calculator, WeatherBug, Weather.com, Google Weather, NOAA, Digg (although the API access is broken at the time), and Twitter. The ioBridge Plug In feature will allow you to connect to any API, even ones that are not prepackaged for you. With access to so much information, plus the ability to monitor and control devices, who knows what you will come up with. We were able to make a real-life Digg counter in about 10 minutes. Stay tuned.

For other coverage of this project, visit ReadWriteWeb, and MIT’s Technology Review.

Hans has all of the project code on his web site and details on how he linked the Google Latitude, WeatherBug, and ioBridge APIs together to create his location-aware thermostat.

"Hello World" on the LED Wall

You can draw your own images on the LED Wall yourself and also look through other people’s messages by visiting the project website at  wall.elnormo.net. If you visit the project site, you will also see how they created the LED Wall. Here’s a time-lapsed video of the project build.

LED Wall from Norm on Vimeo.

Here is a list of the key updates and new features:

Drag-and-drop Dashboard

Your dashboard is now customizable. You can move around your widgets to create a dashboard for your specific application or requirements. There are three columns your widgets can be place, where the center column is wider to accommodate charts and larger widgets. To drag a widget, click and hold on the Widget Label Bar and move it where you want it placed. To edit the widget quickly, click on the gear icon.

Drag-and-Drop Dashboard

Data Feed API v2

The Data Feed API has been completely updated. Our API is opening all of the time and we wanted to set the stage with a revamped Data Feed API with a RESTful interface. We added support for SSL and the ioBridge IO-204-PRO. We also added keys for the onboard variables that you can write to offline. Check out the Data Feed API v2 documentation for more information and the complete change list and sample projects.

Module Interface

We cleaned up the Module Interface by adding tabs and adding direct access to your Onboard Rules and Actions. From one interface you can setup the module, control outputs, and configure onboard rules and logic without using multiple sections of the interface.

Automated Setup

Prior to this update, you had to configure the channel settings and then create a widget. It’s easy to miss one of the steps. Now when you create an X10 Widget, for example, the interface automatically configures the channel for X10. This also works for Server-side Actions and Data Logging.

We hope that you put the new features to good use. Let us know how the new features and updates work out for you and keep us updated with anything new we should be doing. Stay tuned…we got more hardware and features that are coming soon…including an API for external plugins.

Here is the official press release via eRelease:

ioBridge Announces Funding and Commercial Contracts to Develop New Web-enabled Products and Services

MARLBOROUGH, MA – July 21, 2010 – ioBridge, Inc. (www.iobridge.com) sees rapid growth and announces series seed funding and multiple commercial contracts. ioBridge is the developer of Web-enabled hardware and cloud-based services and was recognized as providing one of the Top 10 Internet of Things Products for 2009 by ReadWriteWeb. ioBridge’s technology platform enables almost any device or thing to be monitored or controlled via the Internet.  The user base has grown very quickly, finding new applications for the flagship product, known as the ioBridge IO-204 monitor and control module. Users place the IO-204 on their network without setup and anything connected to the IO-204 is accessible securely via the Internet.

Users from around the world have created projects based on the IO-204 at their homes to remotely monitor fish tanks, open garage doors via a mobile phone, and report home energy use to social networks. Top technology magazines and Web sites, such as Popular Science, IEEE Spectrum, MIT’s Technology Review, and MAKE Magazine, featured ioBridge projects. The success of these projects attracted companies looking to use ioBridge hardware and engineering services to create new commercial products and use the technology for professional applications.

“Our inbox is filled with email from schools, businesses, and hobbyists alike looking to use our devices for their applications,” said Jason Winters, ioBridge’s President, Technology. “I am thrilled with the response.”

Over the past six months, ioBridge secured seed funding and landed commercial contracts for new consumer products and for a large scale environmental monitoring and control project. To support the growth, ioBridge added Robert Mawrey, Ph.D. as Chief Executive Officer and Hans Scharler as President, Software.

Robert Mawrey is the former Chief Information Officer of American Tower and brings with him twenty years of experience in electronic engineering, information technology, and strategic leadership. Robert holds a Ph.D. in Electronic Engineering from the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa.

Hans Scharler was formerly with TESSCO Technologies, where he designed and secured SCADA and Smart Grid networks for utilities. Prior to TESSCO, Hans released data management Web applications to manage learning programs and emergency response planning and reporting. Scharler is the co-author of “IP-based Physical Security” and holds lectures on network security and IP-based services.

ioBridge will be announcing the release of the ioBridge Professional Platform. The new platform includes hardware and Web services that will be available off-the-shelf to ease integration with consumer products and professional applications.

About ioBridge, Inc.

ioBridge, Inc. (www.iobridge.com) offers technology and services that enable almost anything to be Web-enabled and monitored and controlled over the Internet. ioBridge’s technology includes a Web services platform that customers can use to extend the technology for many applications.  ioBridge provides OEM and commercial integration services and licensing of core, patent-pending technologies.

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This is not as far off as it sounds. The ioBridge Platform was created to make it easy to connect anything to the web, store data from sensors, relay data to other networks, and present the data on websites. People are already creating very interesting projects, products, and services on top of the platform. And everyday we are surprised by the diversity of the projects.

The Internet Doorbell

Now joining the Internet of Things…The Doorbell. The Internet Doorbell project is by Jason Garland. He created a super easy project that connects his doorbell live to Twitter or really any social network via Ping.fm and ioBridge push services. The instant someone presses his doorbell, the doorbell updates the input status on the ioBridge IO-204 and pushes the message to ioBridge and Ping.fm which updates Twitter (@jgarland79). This is a first step, just think of where it could take you. One day your doorbell gets pressed, you get notified, and you start up a voice-over-IP session with your intercom system. You could interact with (or annoy) your visitor from anywhere in the world.

Check out Jason’s blog for more details on the Twittering Doorbell and other very interesting projects. We also noticed a web-enabled water meter updating water usage.

On a related project, one of our Maker Faire projects this year was the “transcontinental doorbell” – involving two IO-204s linked together. When the doorbell button at one site is pressed it rings a doorbell 2000 miles away in less than 300ms.

"Gonzo" loves his automated cat door

As with most projects, Rogier started searching the Internet and found some interesting projects. He got the idea to combine some of his favorite projects and make a remotely controlled cat door and alert system for his cat, “Gonzo”.

Here are some projects that inspired him:

• Flo Control
• Social Networking for My Toaster
• Twitter Enabled Cat Door

When the idea was there, the execution was very easy using the IObridge module and components.

Rogier installed a Cat Mate Cat Door in his basement. The cat door opens when the electromagnet senses a magnet in the cat’s collar. By running the sensor and switch over the the ioBridge IO-204, Rogier can be open and close the door remotely. He is also able to monitor  when the cat comes in and out of the door. The messages get pushed to Ping.fm via the IO-204 and ioBridge web service. Rogier and his neighbor follows his cat on Twitter @fellnasegonzo to make sure Gonzo is home safe and sound.

Cat Mate Automated Cat Door

Cat Door Switch and Sensor

Windows Mobile Cat Door Control App

Windows Home Server Interface

ioBridge is an exhibitor and sponsor at this year’s Maker Faire North Carolina. We will have on display web-enabled robots, toys, and interactive projects created by the ioBridge community. Some of those projects include, an iPhone controlled Donkey Kong and a remote controlled dog treat dispenser.

Maker Faire NC is free and open to the public. Stop by and visit us!

Maker Faire NC
Sunday, April 25, 2010 9AM - 9PM

Loehmann’s Plaza
1821 Hillandale Rd.
Durham, NC 27705

www.makerfairenc.com

Motion Feedback MP3 Player

Motion is detected with a Parallax PIR Sensor. When motion is detected, the output pin of the sensor goes high. That out is monitored by the ioBridge IO-204. With or without a network connection, the IO-204 sets the volume of a DIY MP3 Trigger board from SparkFun. The volume is controlled by sending serial strings to the MP3 Trigger. Steve took advantage of the new Onboard Rules that turn the IO-204 into a standalone controller. When the IO-204 is connected to the Internet, the IO-204 also data logs his activity by sending it to the ioBridge data logging service in the cloud.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7ozYBGHlto

To learn more about how to make your own, visit Instructables and Polymythic.com or YouTube. The project also is posted on Engadget and UberGizmo. Well done, Steve.

Martijn Pannevis (@PanMan) created the MomoMeter which is a physical meter that takes the pulse of Twitter for certain trending topics and hashtags. The thing gives you visual feedback on your pervasiveness on the real-time web. Martijn’s project uses an ioBridge IO-204, servo controller, and servo. He built a web app that queries the Twitter API and sends relative servo positions to the ioBridge Web API which moves the meter needle accordingly. Martijn Pannevis explains how to build your own internet of things thing with his presentation. (Photos by Filip Bunkens)

“Andy Leer will share with us his experiences using the ioBridge to create fun interactive web enabled dioramas. Find out how with a few minutes and some simple hardware you too can put almost anything on the web.”

Check it out…

Make: PGH: Meeting 1
Tuesday, March 9, 2010, 7pm – 9pm

Hack Pittsburgh
1936 5th Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15219

EasyDAQ and ioBridge Serial Relay Controller System Overview

Web access is provided by the ioBridge.com platform via widgets and the Static Widget API. The API provides a conduit for commands sent by HTTP or HTTPS POST/GET requests. HTML, LabVIEW, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, PHP and Ajax are access/programming options. Refer to the ioBridge Wiki for protocol and information on controlling the EasyDAQ SER8PRMx and SER16PRMxN relay cards using the ioBridge.com platform.

The system components are available for sale and worldwide distribution directly from EasyDAQ – visit EasyDAQ.biz for more information.

Web Powered Robot

The robot uses a pair of serial bluetooth adapters to form a wireless link with the ioBridge IO-204. The serial levels of the IO-204 are TTL and a circuit using the MAX-232 was required to allow the serial interface work properly. On the robot is a set of serial servo drivers that control the steering and speed.

IO-204 and Serial Bluetooth Adpater

The interface is standard web page using an embedded ioBridge.com serial widget to make the connection to the IO-204 base station module. You can control the direction and throttle by clicking on the itnerface and using the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard. The interface generates serial strings that the serial servo drivers react to when received. You can see the strings and the serial widget in the debug part of the web interface.

Web-based Robot Controls

Here is a YouTube video of the web powered robot in action – looks like a lot of fun to drive. One step closer…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UmOqWQZbcY

Santa vs. Domo

We wanted to take a moment and thank all of our customers, users, developers, and everyone that makes up the ioBridge Community. Our wish to you and yours is that you have a safe and happy holiday season. Enjoy your downtime, friends, and family.  See you in the New Year!

Enjoy some projects…

• Xmas-Box.com — Interactive Christmas lights sync to music, songs are selected on web site, and if you are local you can listen to the music on your radio as you watch
• Pacific Lights – Control Christmas lights in New Zealand
• Serv O’Beer – Have your iPhone pour a beverage for your New Year’s party
• Santa vs. Domo – Play with some interactive toys on Andy Leer’s blog and let Santa have it
• iPhone Controlled Lights – Control your Christmas lights with a touch of your iPhone using the open ioBridge PHP Proxy

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW1b7FM22yM

Cheers.

ioBridge is a Top 10 Internet of Things Product!

“Internet of Things” is the convergence of real world objects and the web. Allowing you to control and monitor things via web pages and web services. ioBridge has created a platform to allow any device to be connected to the web. From Twittering Toasters to Christmas Lights, our world-wide user community are creating an internet of things.

Visit ReadWiteWeb.com for more information and discover more about ioBridge and other Internet of Things products and services.

We are ecstatic to have this honor! Thanks!

Nathan Kennedy of Pacific Lights and Kennedy Technology has created an interactive display of reindeer and Christmas Star stakes covered in Christmas lights. You can watch his display all the way from New Zealand and switch them on or off on his website. He uses the ioBridge IO-204 connected to an arduino to control the lights on his website. It’s lots of fun controlling someone else’s holiday display.

Christmas Lights Controlled via a Web Page

Noel Portugal of Oracle has created an interactive holiday lights display using a mix of technologies. The result is Christmas lights synchronized to songs that are selectable on a web page, www.xmas-box.com. Inside the box are solid-state relays to control the lights, an Adafruit Wave Shield for Arduino Kit, and of course, the ioBridge IO-204 module to add some interactivity to his website. Noel details the procedure to create your very own Christmas Light Controller Box on Instructables.com and on his blog. On a related note, Noel also won third-place for his Dropping Spider ioBridge project featured on Instructables this Halloween! His neighbors must love him!

The Xmas Lights Controller Box in Action

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFg53oMUF5Q

Happy Holidays!

Hack Pittsburgh member Andy Leer created an interactive toy fight featuring Domo and Munny squaring off. You get to control one of the characters and watch the battle via a webcam live. Move over “Internet of Things”  - make way for the “Internet of Vengeful Toys”.

Munny vs. Domo

The Munny and Domokun are attached to servos. The servos are connected to the ioBridge servo controller and IO-204. You control the toys with  servo slider widgets. Andy’s blog mentions that the next version will have iPhone support.  Visit his blog to play and sweep the leg at the Domo Dojo.

The IO-204 connects to your network and establishes a link to the ioBridge web services  in the “cloud”. From there you can control, monitor, and share by using a point-and-click design interface or through open APIs.

We have released a new firmware called C4.0 which allows you to go beyond the cloud. C4.0 is an explosion of new features. You can create projects and products that work with the network cable unplugged. Using the ioBridge.com interface, you design rules and synchronize those rules to the module. Now, with or without the Internet connection, the module can make on-board decisions, turn fans on, control your lights, and sound buzzers.

The C4.0 firmware also includes high-frequency pulse counting. You may be asking yourself, “Why does pulse counting matter?” Well, pulse counting allows you to track inputs that are going on/off, around, or up and down. You can count the revolutions of your power meter. If you know how many times it spins around, you know how much power you have used. You can count the revolutions of a windmill to calculate wind speed. This feature keeps counting even if your network connection is not available.

Here’s more great news…If you already have the IO-204, you can upgrade your module to the new firmware by clicking upgrade on the module section of the ioBridge.com interface. All new orders ship loaded with C4.0 so you get all of the new features right out of the gate.

Details regarding the new firmware are available in the ioBridge Wiki. We are excited to see what you come up with!

ioBridge Demo

Friday, November 13th @ 7pm

HackPittsburgh Workshop

1936 5th Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15219

[Google Map]

HackPittsburgh.org

About HackPittsburgh

HackPGH is a non-profit group of makers from based in Pittsburgh, PA that runs a dedicated workshop for project development and training. To find out more about Hack Pittsburgh, visit HackPittsburgh.org – community-based activities, schedule of events, and projects.

Power to those who solder!

We have a steam powered steampunk pumpkin that blows smoke out if it’s ears. We have a spider dropping on it’s victim and snapping a photo and posting to Twitter via TwitPic. We also have a motion sensing, talking skull that scares co-workers in the owner’s cubicle. Check them out!

• Halloween Dropping Spider by Noel Portugal on My Electronics Notepad
• Jaw Dropping Skull (aka the Half Hour Hallow Hack) by Steve from Polymythic
• Steam Pumpkin by our own Hans Scharler of his personal blog called, “I am Shadowlord“

Well done guys. Thanks for your creative ideas and sharing your projects with the ioBridge community. And, Happy Halloween!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtpxKK6kfi4

Office Weather System

You can demo the system and check out the weather forecast, by visiting Ashley’s blog. While you are there check some other of his projects.

PIR Sensors, Webcam, and ioBridge IO-204 Module

Noel was able to pull this off with using the ioBridge Actions. An action is logic created through the ioBridge interface that allows automated events to occur. For example, an action can cause a servo to move to preset position, send an email, update your Facebook status, etc. In Noel’s case, he use the output of the PIR sensor to cause the servo to move to a set position. The output of the PIR is digital – “high” means motion detected and “low” means no motion.

Using two PIRs covering two regions, he was able to detect motion in two regions. If motion is sensed in one area, the webcam points in that direction and if motion is detected in the other area, the servo moves the camera to cover the other region. Very clever.

Here is a video of the webcam tracking in action:

The PIR sensor has been the subject of a recent Adafruit tutorial – it’s available on the Adafruit store and even your local Radio Shack (of all places). For more information about this ioBridge project and other projects Noel dreams up, visit his blog.

Follow MattsOffice on Twitter

Matt’s Twitter application allows him to make updates to his Twitter feed and send commands to his IO-204 to turn on lights, send messages to his serial LCD screen, and get temperatures and light sensor readings. He also has a nifty extension that allows you to see a view from his office by sending him a tweet, which takes a snap shot from a digital camera and posts it on TwitPic.

Go ahead, follow MattsOffice and send Matt a message to his LCD screen – “@MattsOffice lcd Awesome ioBridge Project”. For more details, check out matthewmorey.com, a brilliant article on ReadWriteWeb, or YouTube video demonstration of the home automation project in action.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVm1VKB43ww

ioBridge IO-204 Controlling Spark Fun LCD

The JavaScript on Marc’s blog post includes control and animations examples for the LCD display. The display can be driven by an open I/O channel using the serial out functionality or from a two-way serial smart board.

Here is a demo of the screen in action:

We are not sure what he is up to, but I for-see an interactive website in his future. He already has LED’s blinking when users visit one of his sites. Check out Marc’s blog called MarcAThing – Physically Mashed Up for some cool photos and projects. Dank u zeer!

Update:

The PHP Widget Control API is now a part of the ioBridge Wiki and includes a few enhancements.