CheerLights is an “Internet of Things” project that I created back in 2011 to help teach people IoT concepts. I consider it a “Hello, World” project to learn IoT protocols, microcontroller programming, and LED light control. CheerLights is a global network of synchronized colored lights. Everyone subscribes to the latest CheerLights color and sets their lights to the same color. The color is either set on the CheerLights Discord Server by anyone.
Projects
World’s First GPT for IoT? Learn IoT From the CheerLights Expert GPT powered by ChatGPT.
CheerLights has entered the chat… the ChatGPT. We are experiencing the capabilities and limitations of AI collectively. After OpenAI's Dev Day, I have been thinking […]
Moving away from X/Twitter: CheerLights is now a Discord IoT project
CheerLights is an Internet of Things (IoT) project that allows people from all over the world to synchronize the color of their lights to the […]
CheerLights for Halloween
Are you ready? Ready for another season of CheerLights? I love seeing CheerLights have a longer and longer season as the years go by. Last […]
Give the Gift of CheerLights this Holiday Season
Tis' the season. CheerLights season! This might be my favorite time of year. I love seeing people build IoT projects, share their experiences, and control […]
Internet-connected Lofi Girl Shadowbox
Lofi Girl got me through countless hours of programming and PowerPoint creating. Lofi Girl is a mix of low-fidelity music and 2D animation that streams […]
#FearLights: CheerLights for Halloween
Just to have a little fun this year… make a CheerLights display for Halloween… #FearLights. And, yeah, you can use the hashtag "#fearlights" on Twitter […]
The IoT Debugger App for ThingSpeak Now Includes a CheerLights Example
I updated the IoT Debugger app to fix some bugs and while I was there I added a new default example for CheerLights. I just […]
Early Experimentation: Interactive Twitch Live Streams, AI Produced Lo-Fi Music, and IoT
I have been experimenting with a new idea for interactive live streams. I wanted to share some of my early findings and results. Do you […]
Updates to the CheerLights IoT Project: Node-RED, JavaScript, Twitch, and Discord
Over the past couple of weeks, we have made some updates and upgrades to the CheerLights IoT project. The changes expand the supported IoT platforms […]
New CheerLights Installation at MathWorks Lakeside Campus
For the CheerLights 10th Anniversary, we added a new CheerLights display at the MathWorks Lakeside Campus in Natick, Massachusetts. MathWorks Lakeside Campus – CheerLights Tree […]
Worldwide Network of Lights: CheerLights Turns 10
I released CheerLights 10 years ago! I introduced the project to HackPGH makerspace in Pittsburgh, PA. I was lucky to recruit a couple of people […]
CheerLights for Raspberry Pi Zero W and Blinkt!
Well, it's that time of year… CheerLights time of year! I started CheerLights back in 2011 with one set of lights. Now there are lights […]
Adafruit Matrix Portal LED Display Diffused Acrylic Stand
I bought some parts over at Adafruit to build some ThingSpeak and CheerLights projects. If you know me, I am always attracted to multicolored lights […]
Real-time Colors on CheerLights
CheerLights now supports the MQTT protocol. This means that devices and apps can receive real-time updates to changes in the CheerLights color without polling for […]
Control IFTTT Webhooks with MATLAB
Yesterday, I built an integration between IFTTT and my Philips Hue lights in my office. I wanted the Philips Hue lights to change to the […]
Use the New MQTT Service from ThingSpeak for Real-time CheerLights Updates
It's that time again. That time when people all across the world synchronize their lights together with CheerLights! People have built amazing CheerLights displays. I […]
CheerLights Robot for Your Nursery
I shared my latest project over on my Nursery Hacks website. It combines some of my favorite things… IoT, CheerLights, ThingSpeak, Particle, and building things […]
CheerLights – What Will You Build?
My friend Ankit (The Coder) created a video for the CheerLights project. This video features trees at the MathWorks headquarters in Natick, MA that are […]
CheerLights with LIFX Wi-Fi Light Bulbs
My mom asked me to setup a CheerLights lamp in their living room to stay connected with me. I was thrilled that she asked me […]
CheerLights is Back!
CheerLights 2014 is growing quickly… CheerLights is an “Internet of Things” project created by Hans Scharler that allows people’s lights all across the world to synchronize to […]
CheerLights is Back for the Holidays
For the third holiday season in a row, the CheerLights project is gearing up. The idea behind CheerLights is to show that we are all connected […]
CheerLights: my lights are linked to everyone else’s
If you have been following my projects for the last 12 years, you probably figured out that I must have a master plan. And this […]
For more about the history of CheerLights, read the article: The CheerLights Origin Story: Arduino, IoT, Twitter, and Community