I showed up rather late to PinFest, paid the $20 entry fee, walked around the floor, and the power went completely out. While I was browsing, I noticed some original pinball art by Brian Allen of Flyland Designs. Brian has a humorous, quirky, and odd style that lends itself well to pinball, custom back glass, and poster art.

Brian did the poster for the event. He made 50 prints and got number one signed and numbered! The poster has a lot of detail that you discover as you take a closer look. I particularly like the fusion of styles, the planets, and the iconic shine of a pinball.

Thanks, Brian, for bringing your art to PinFest. I hope to see more of your work in the coming years.

You never know who you are going to run into. I was so happy to meet one of the first users of ThingSpeak! This is Andy Leer of Leer Media. Andy was introduced to my IoT projects back in 2008 at Hack Pittsburgh! He was instrumental in me being able to kickstart my startup and help support my growing community. Andy provided meeting space for my IoT Meetup in Pittsburgh.

A couple of the Mythbusters also showed up at the Bay Area Maker Faire. I got to talk about MathWorks software with both Adam Savage and Grant Imahara. Grant remembers using MATLAB quite a bit in his education and later his engineering projects.

Click to view slideshow.

I have been getting ready for this year’s Bay Area Maker Faire. Stop by the MathWorks booth to see our latest hardware projects and demos. We have giveaways and info on the latest products. See you soon at the Maker Faire!

May 16 – Online Tweet Chat about Big Data

Join Hans Scharler (@scharler) of ioBridge at 2pm EST for a Tweet Chat about Big Data, M2M, and Internet of Things Platforms. This will be a live chat via Twitter – use the hashtag #DataCW to follow the conversation and to post questions. Ask Us Anything!

May 17 – Internet of Things and OEMs (Canton, OH / Private Event)

Hans Scharler (@scharler) of ioBridge discusses the intersection of Internet of Things (IoT) technology with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Learn how to incorporate IoT strategies into your business plan and roadmap, increase customer engagement, and maintain your competitive advantages.

May 21 – EntreTech Forum: The Internet of Things – A new Frontier for Entrepreneurs (Waltham, MA)

Hans Scharler of ioBridge will be joining the EntreTech Forum to discuss Machine-to-Machine (M2M) and the Internet of Things from a startup perspective. I will share my thoughts on business opportunities, commercialization, and things that I have learned since I co-founded ioBridge in 2008. The next EntreTech Forum session will be May 21, 2013 – 6:30pm held at the Emerging Enterprise Center in Waltham, MA. EntreTech Forum is in association with the Northeastern University’s School of Technological Entrepreneurship. More Info

May 23 – Geoweb Summit Internet of Things Panel

Hans Scharler (@scharler) will be returning to the Geoweb Summit’s Internet of Things Panel on May 23, 2013 in Dumbo Spot, New York in New York City. We are excited to return for a second Geoweb Summit. This event is perfect those looking to explore the Internet of Things and looking to connect the digital realm to physical location. Registration for the Geoweb Summit is available at geowebsummit.com. More Info

May 30 – Internet of Things and OEMs – Part 2 (Canton, OH / Private Event)

Hans Scharler (@scharler) of ioBridge returns to discuss the intersection of Internet of Things (IoT) technology with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Learn how to incorporate IoT strategies into your business plan and roadmap, increase customer engagement, and maintain your competitive advantages.

June 7-9 – Connected World M2M App Challenge

Join Hans Scharler (@scharler) of ioBridge for a hackathon held in Silicon Value to build connected apps. Each participant will receive access to the RealTime.io cloud platform and an Iota Wi-Fi evaluation kit. You get a change to win cash, prizes, and fame. The top prize is a feature article in Connected World Magazine and $3,000. Hans will be on hand teaching Internet of Things concepts and everything about the ioBridge platform. More Info

June 10-12 – Connected World Conference (Santa Clara, CA)

Hans Scharler (@scharler) and Robert Mawrey (@mawrey) of ioBridge will running an interactive exhibit at the Connected World Conference in Silicon Valley. Booth #207 will feature the original Twitter Toaster, a social coffee maker, the new ioBridge IO-201, and first look at new ioBridge cloud services and apps. Follow the activity on Twitter using the #CWConf13 hashtag. More Info

June 28-29 – Driving the Internet of Things with Mobile Apps – Appcelerator Titanium Mobile Conference (Baltimore, MD)

ticonf.us is a new mobile development conference primarily based around JavaScript and Appcelerator Titanium.

The “Internet of Things” is a pervasive concept and movement where devices are being connected to the Internet and interaction with devices, social networks, and people are being built. In general things are sensors and actuators which include things such as temperature sensors, energy monitors, radiation detectors, lights, thermostats, and sprinklers.

In the talk “Driving the Internet of Things with Mobile Apps” by Hans Scharler (@scharler), you will discover that mobile apps are leading the development of the Internet of Things. A mobile device becomes the user interface for a device and all of the supporting features. An app is the center of the entire experience and in fact the mobile device is an Internet of Things device. In order to keep up, apps need to be nimble and must support iOS and Android out-of-the-box. Hans will discuss how Titanium is being used by ioBridge to solve the common issues and patterns for the Internet of Things. More Info

Feel free to contact me (Hans Scharler) if you are interested in having Hans participate in your next conference or meeting.