
On Air Light 2023: Easy DIY Status Light for Microsoft Teams and Zoom
In March 2020, I made an On Air Light for Microsoft Teams to indicate whether or not my camera was on for all of my […]

Send IoT Data to ThingSpeak using AT Commands (Arduino and SIM800L Tutorial)
Introduction The SIM800L module is a GSM/GPRS module that can be used to connect to the internet via a cellular network. It has a built-in […]

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 […]

You Can See the Earth Move Thanks to a Seismograph Board for the Raspberry Pi
I have been blogging about IoT and M2M for just about 15 years. In that timeframe, a lot of things happened. Nothing more significant than […]

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 […]

The Internet of Pinball: What an IoT Expert Has to Say About Stern Pinball’s Insider Connected Platform
I love pinball. I love IoT. They recently got mashed together with the launch of the Insider Connected™ Platform by Stern Pinball. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm_wd8Ey65I Stern Pinball […]

No Code: Interactive, IoT-enabled Halloween Pumpkin RGB Jack-o’-Lantern
I love Halloween and I love RGB LED lights. I have been creating jack-o'-lanterns since I was a kid. My dad taught me current limiting […]

No Code: On Air Light Controller For Live Streaming and Online Meetings
Back in March 2020, I created an On Air Light for Microsoft Teams and Zoom Meetings. I got a great response from this project. Some […]

My Toaster is Now on TikTok
@MyToaster has been on Twitter since December 2008. My toaster has built a following of over 2,000 people even though my toaster only tweets Toasting […]

The Data Science (and Some IoT) Behind Great BBQ
Smoking ribs or a pork shoulder requires lots of patience and practice. When everything works, you get to enjoy an amazing dinner. When things go […]

Predictive Maintenance: Going Next Level With the Ninja Foodi Air Fryer
I love my air fryer. Our Ninja Foodi Air Fryer became our family's go-to gadget during the stay-at-home order. When you order takeout, you probably […]

The Internet of Nouns: How Twitter and Foursquare Changed My Life
Social networks and location sharing apps took off in the late 2000's. These megatrends made a huge impact on my life and led me to […]

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 […]

‘On Air’ Light for Microsoft Teams and Zoom Meetings
Back in the '90s, the 1990's, I used to be a late-night radio show host on Froggy. I was known as Jeremiah Bullfrog. When I […]

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 […]

Lovebox: Internet of Things for Valentine’s Day
It's that time of year again… It's time to show the person who you love how much you love them with an internet-connected gift. I got […]

(My) History of the Internet of Things
Back in 2007, Jason Winters and I started working on what would become ioBridge, RealTime.io, and ThingSpeak. The phrase "Internet of Things" got added to the […]

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 […]

ThingSpeak at the Boston TechJam
I recently got the change to give a ThingSpeak IoT demo at Boston TechJam. MathWorks is one of the sponsors so we got to participate with other […]

Getting Ready for the Bay Area Maker Faire!
I have a lot of favorite times of the year. I get excited about the holidays, weekends, evenings, and days. I am usually filling each day with […]

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 […]

Use AWS DeepLens to Determine If Hotdog or Not Hotdog
While at re:Invent, I got to take a deep learning workshop to learn about the new capabilities of AWS such as SageMaker and Greengrass. We […]

How to Reset the Arduino MKR1000
I am working on a project that uses the Arduino MKR1000 with ThingSpeak. While working on my code, I uploaded a bad sketch to the […]