ThingM May Newsletter!

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TOD PRESENTED AT MAKES "HARDWARE INNOVATION" WORKSHOP

As open source software did for the rapid proliferation and growth of the Web economy, open source hardware has been the key accelerator inspiring innovations in design, products and devices from makers at the forefront of the maker movement. Already, critical areas dependent on new technology - such as medical devices and scientific instrumentation - are deploying some of this early innovation. What's more, opportunities are rife for the integration of software and hardware devices to optimize processes and products. Surrounded by his heroes Tod did a wonderful job of unveiling ThingMs newest project - blink(1).

Learn more: http://makezine.com/hardware-innovation-workshop/keynotes.csp

2012 MAKER FAIRE This years 2012 Maker Farie was another action packed affair! We enjoyed seeing everyone who was able to make it out - Below is a link to a clip of Tod talking on MAKE LIVE - enjoy!

http://www.livestream.com/makelive/video?clipId=pla_668f0395-1ad0-4e90-bbe7-4459f3c9fa3d&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb

THINGM BLOG Boy do we have exciting new projects on the blog for you! This month we focused on sharing the awesomeness of LinkMs as well as a wonderful student project involving BlinkMs - if you haven't see it or in case you want to check it out again just click the link below!

http://blog.thingm.com/

SUBMIT THINGM PROJECTS Do you have any amazing ThingM projects that you would like to share? We're currently looking for new ThingM projects to post to our blog. If you have photos, a project description that talks about your experience with our products, video, or any other material you would like to share, please email us. We look forward to seeing some amazing projects!

BlinkM + SmartFence!

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The Achitecture Department of the University of Michigan has a yearly design course called SmartSurfaces.  The 2011 focus was ‘Power’ – in the form of electricity in a localized grid and in terms of taking control by becoming an example of self-reliance. The clients were Power House Productions (PHP) - an incorporated nonprofit whose mission is to develop and implement neighborhood stabilization strategies in a Detroit neighborhood near Hamtramck.

Team SmartFence designed and built a security fence out of polycarbonate tubes. The interactive 'fence' is has motion sensors that trigger BlinkMs as people pass by. The sensors also collect data that is sent to a computer so the owners of the Power House would be able to monitor patterns and unusual activity.

Team SmartFence: Brian Muscat (School of Art & Design) Kevin Wayne (Materials Science & Engineering) Lauren Vasey (Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning) Keenan Hurlin May (Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning) Ben Hagenhofer-Daniell (Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning) Stephanie Nixon (School of Art & Design)

Faculty: John Marshall (School of Art & Design) Karl Daubmann (Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Plannng) Max Shtein (Materials Science & Engineering)

 

 

 

WireM's are Awesome!

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WireM is a connector kit for the BlinkM family of Smart LED products that makes creating multi-BlinkM installations fast and easy.  It contains all parts needed to make BlinkM strands controlled by LinkM or Arduino with up to 10 BlinkM devices.

WireM works with any combination of BlinkMs, MaxMs, MinMs, FreeMs and CtrlMs, making prototyping fast and easy. No soldering is required. Put connectors wherever you want on the ribbon cable, plug into your BlinkMs, plug in a controller--or just a 5v power supply if you want an easy way to make a power bus--and go! Buy multiple kits if you want more than 10 BlinkMs on a single bus.

WireM includes:

  • 10 feet of ribbon cable
  • 10 2x4 pin connectors to connect BlinkMs
  • A 4-pin header to connect to LinkM or a breadboard for Arduino

What you can use WireM for:

  • Create an extension cable for your BlinkM casemod
  • Easily wire up a multi-BlinkM string of festive lights
  • Create a BlinkM Cylon
  • Experiment with multiple I2C devices with Arduino

Where can you get an amazing WireM?  Please visit our online store where they can be purchased directly:

http://store.thingm.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=10

 

ThingM April Newsletter!

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MIKE PRESENTING AT "PRODUCTS ARE HARD" CONFERENCE ThingMs Co-Founder Mike Kuniavsky - will be presnting at the upcoming "Products are Hard" Conference! Taking place in San Franicisco on May 1st, Mike's presentation is entittled "Lean Hardware at Startups in Bigcos".

Learn more at:

http://productsarehard.com/

THINGM BLOG We have exciting new projects up on the ThingM blog! Featured this month is a ThingM Technology Sketch called LockM. LockM is a portable and secure personal thumb drive, adding a sense of protection and high design to an everyday experience. Please visit our blog to learn more.

Alex George's Mini Main Street Electrical Parade features ThingM's very own BlinkM - as well as LinkM at SALC!

http://blog.thingm.com/

MAKER FAIRE ThingM will once again be at the annual San Mateo Maker Faire. This is a wonderful two day festival that includes electronics, robots, and driving cupcakes just to name a few. Please come say hello and check out new projects - we'll be in the Make Shed!

http://makerfaire.com/bayarea/2012/

SUBMIT THINGM PROJECTS Do you have any amazing ThingM projects that you would like to share? We're currently looking for new ThingM projects to post to our blog. If you have photos, a project description that talks about your experience with our products, video, or any other material you would like to share, please email us. We look forward to seeing some amazing projects!

LinkM at SLAC

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LinkM at SLAC Wow, one of our products is in use at a particle accelerator! Check out the LinkM on that board!

JimP at SLAC writes us to say:

The attached picture shows the board programmer we've developed using the LinkM as an interface to test and debug the mezzanine cards we're building for the Cluster-on-Board (COB) project. The small card on the left is a Virtex4 system-on-chip device which is used as a 10 Gbit data processing module. This DPM has an I2C chain which stores small amounts of persistent data like bootstrap and TCP/IP info. The blue connector on the upper right goes to another type of board (an ATCA Rear Transmission Module) with similar requirements. We've also added a JTAG chain for processor support.

So far, we've got four of these, and are on track to make another 10 in the coming months. (Which reminds me that I have to call SparkFun for more dongles...)

Thanks a lot for putting this product out, it has saved us at least a month of development time.

ThingM Technology Sketch: LockM

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WHAT'S A TECHNOLOGY SKETCH? As part of our product development process, ThingM creates Technology Sketches, which are examples of early stage conceptual approaches to how a product might work, rather than actual fully-functional systems. We believe in lightweight, agile, user-centered product development, which means that we focus on users' experiences first and technological details later.

LockM is a portable and secure personal thumb drive, adding a sense of protection and high design to an everyday experience.

Inspired by the familiar interface of the combination lock, LockM uses a customizable  combination to access your data on-the-go. The discreet opening at the bottom keeps your combination safe from peepers and, when you're not using your thumb drive, a quick swipe of the dials scramble the code and disables access to your content.

LockM is designed to give you security when you need it, ease of mind if you lose it, and will make you feel better about taking important data with you.

Learn More at the ThingM website: http://thingm.com/sketches/lockm.html

 

 

BlinkM in the Miniature Main Street Electrical Parade!

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Kf3ZSLptxU&feature=youtu.be http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZUFWQtqjXE&feature=youtu.be

Mechanizing a Miniature Main Street Electrical Parade Two years in the making, it's a mechanized miniature Main Street Electrical Parade. Utilizing miniatures from the Olszewski Disneyland Collection, the Electrical Parade has been motorized to travel down Main Street U.S.A. and put to a nighttime show of music. The floats are illuminated with BlinkMs that are attached to a hidden chain system under the street and are powered by contact rails along the parade route.

It's no exaggeration to say that BlinkMs came to the rescue for this project. Creator Alex George needed a practical way to illuminate the floats in a way that  could control changes in color and even add some twinkling effects similar to the actual parade.  Each BlinkM could be programmed to do it's own thing in a stand alone fashion greatly simplified that goal.  Alex also networked them together for future plans of synchronizing their playback for a more complex light show.

More on the artist at: http://www.bygeorgeithinkyouvegotit.com/miniparade.html

The miniature Electrical Parade travels down this z-scale Main Street U.S.A. thanks to a hidden chain which pulls the floats along a slot in the road.

BlinkMs illuminate each float from underneath the street.

The chain system which defines the parade path is completed. Notice the special tabbed links to which the BlinkMs will be attached.

A backstage view as the parade proceeds from its hidden underground queue up to Main Street.

ThingM March 2012 Newsletter!

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TOD'S SILVER SCREEN DEBUT Unchained Reaction, Discovery Channels new show judged by Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman of MythBusters — is a new six-part series that pits two teams of varying backgrounds against each other to build an elaborate chain-reaction contraption. Who is on the very first season premier you ask? Why it is our very own ThingM Co-Founder Tod Kurt!

The episode is titled " Heavy vs. Light" and Adam and Jamie challenge a team of electronics experts and a team of set carpenters to build the most creative multi-step "heavy-vs-light" themed machine. Please visit the sight and watch!

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/unchained-reaction/about-episode-5.html

NEW DISTRIBUTOR ThingM has also welcomed a new distributor to the fold. Light With LED! Please visit them:

http://lightwithled.com/

MIKE'S BLOG Mike has been collecting demo phones over the last several years, inadvertently documenting the last great design push before the iPhone created a consistant trend of black rectangles. Since February Mike has been photographing and blogging a phone a day on Orange Cone. Please click the link to review and learn more!

http://orangecone.com/archives/2012/03/

SUBMIT THINGM PROJECTS Do you have any amazing ThingM projects that you would like to share? We're currently looking for new ThingM projects to post to our blog. If you have photos, a project description that talks about your experience with our products, video, or any other material you would like to share, please email us. We look forward to seeing some amazing projects!

BlinkM in the Energy Harvesting Playground!

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Created by the Computational Design Lab at Carnegie Mellon University - team members Deren Guler, Yen-Chia Hsu, Zack Jacobson-Weaver, Tobias Sonne, and Sharon Winter created the Energy harvesting playground.  A tangible interaction playground for kids and adults to have fun together and to harvest human energy. There are four features in energy harvesting playground, each of them has different functions and components as following:

1. Self-Sufficient Power Supply While biking and seesawing, human energy can be turned into electric power by the bike wheel and the flywheel on seesaw through two motor generators. The flywheel mechanical structure keeps the wheel spining continuously. Then the power will be used to charge batteries.

2. Wheel Animation While biking and seesawing, the animation wheel is powered up and rotates . People can watch the wheel animation through a small hole.

3. BlinkM Bike Light Two blinkM LEDs are installed on the bike. Arduino changes the color of BlinkM LEDs according to the value of photoresiter when people bike.

4. Light Color Changing and Blinking First, the arduino microcontroller under the seesaw controls the color of LED strips according to the input value of the accelerometer installed on the middle of the seesaw. Second, when people bike and the tape light barrier on the bike wheel blocks the photoresister on the bike frame, arduino blinks the LED strips according to the changes of sensor value.

 

 

For more information and a video please visit: http://code.arc.cmu.edu/workinprogess/energy-harvesting-playground-2/