blink1-tool for OpenWrt and Arduino Yun

Our command-line blink1-tool for blink(1) is available now as pre-compiled binaries for Arduino Yun and OpenWrt "brcm47xx" and "ar71xx" devices.  (The Yun is a "ar71xx" device running "linino"-flavored OpenWrt, routers like the Asus RT-N16 & Asus RT-N66U are "brcm47xx"-based)

If you're handy with shell scripts, you can whip up a quick bandwidth monitor light alert with blink(1) in a few minutes.  blink1-tool is pretty easy, for instance, this causes the blink(1) to flash cyan five times:

blink1-tool --rgb #99ddff --blink 3

Find the pre-built binaries on our blink(1) releases page.

(and if you're interested in how to build OpenWrt binaries from simple Makefiles, check out the Makefile for blink1-tool and the "wrt" and "yun" targets)

Chrome officially supports blink(1) hardware

Google wrote a blink(1) demo for Chrome!

Long ago we wrote test code to interface blink(1) with ChromeOS.  We were working towards a notification system for Chromebooks. It was shelved because our test was a big hack and proper USB HID device support for Chrome was on the horizon but wasn't available yet.

Now a year later,  as of Chrome 39.0.2140.0, the chrome.hid API is public and Google created a blink(1) demo showing how to use chrome.hid. It's just a simple set of RGB sliders but it's wonderful.

We're very excited by the development of USB HID and blink(1) support in Chrome.  Note that this works both Chromebooks and on Chrome for desktop OSes.  If there are any wizards out there who would like to help us get further on integrating blink(1) with Chrome, please drop us a line.

blink(1) in Hackaday Store

We are very excited that our blink(1) USB notification light is now available in the Hackaday Store.  Hackaday is a great website for engineers, tinkerers, and electronics hobbyists. The new Hackaday Store is a highly-curated selection of interesting open-source hardware projects. (and awesome Hackaday-themed swag)  blink(1) is entirely open source and is extremely hackable so we think it fits right in.  Thanks Hackaday, you guys are awesome!

Blink1Control v1.94 released

Blink1Control, our primary control app for controlling blink(1) and hooking up to IFTTT.com has been updated.  It fixes some long-standing bugs that really bugged us and improves functionality with Mac OS X's "App Nap" feature.

If you use Blink1Control, please upgrade to v1.94.

Get it now from blink1.thingm.com/blink1control.

For release notes, see our blink1 github releases page.

20% off in December for a blinkmas with blink(1)

Instead of cyber Mondays or black Fridays, we at ThingM think the entire month of December should be a time for discounts. For all of December, get 20% off of blink(1) USB notification lights and accessories! Use coupon code 20blinkmas2014 on buy.thingm.com.

blink(1) is a small USB light to give you glanceable notice of anything on your computer or the internet. It makes a great gift or a great present for yourself.  It's really useful in the workplace, as a monitoring tool or to let others know your availability.

If you're in the EU, you can get blink(1)s shipped same-day from a nearby Amazon distributor.

Check out our list of blink(1) resellers for links.

EU friends: blink(1) in all the Amazons

Just a reminder for anyone in the EU area.  Thanks to our friends at 1eyeddeer, you can get our blink(1) USB notification light at  the following country-specific Amazon stores:

• blink(1) on Amazon UK
• blink(1) on Amazon DE
• blink(1) on Amazon FR
• blink(1) on Amazon ES

These are in-stock in Amazon's warehouse and will ship immediately.  Now you can avoid the weirdly long shipping times and customs duties from ordering from the US.

blink(1) in the MakerShed!

We're pleased to announce that blink(1), our nifty USB LED notification light, is now available in the Maker Shed.

We love Make and are really excited that they are an official US distributor of blink(1). If you haven't already, consider subscribing to Make. Every issue has a lot of fun in it.

NotifierLight app has blink(1) support

NotifierLight is a Windows application that supports multiple types of notification lights and notification sources, including TAPI & OBDC. It's been in development since 2012, is open-source, and has a nice plugin architecture for new notification sources.

As of a month ago, NotifierLight now supports blink(1)!

If you are a .NET aficionado, you can write your own plugins pretty quickly.

The creator of NotifierLight also made these great door hanger or desk displays to let your co-workers know what the colors mean.

blink(1) unboxing & review by KevinsTechHelp

Youtube review channel KevinsTechHelp did a nice unboxing and quick review of blink(1).  Check it out below:

Tod speaking about blink(1) at Hackaday 10th

Hackaday, one of the oldest hacker blogs on the Net, is celebrating its 10th anniversary on 4 Oct 2014. There will workshops, build-offs, a party, and a mini-conference in the afternoon.

The event will be held at the location of Hackaday's new "HackASpace"  hackerspace, before they do the build out.

During the mini-conference, Hackaday asked Tod to do a lightning talk on the history of blink(1). It should be a lot of fun, come join!  Head over to the Eventbrite page to register.