Here’s a basic tutorial on connecting Raspberry Pi to ThingSpeak for IoT applications. The tutorial uses a Dexter Industries Thermometer to measure the room temperature and post the data up on the ThingSpeak website.
RPi connects to ThingSpeak
IKEA Molgan is a battery powered night light with a built-in motion (PIR) sensor. This hack describes how to add the ESP8266 WiFi module and use it for motion detection and remote notification through Internet.
Night light notifies the user about motion detection through WiFi
My original plan was to use an cheap Ebay PIR and 3D printed case for this project but I happen to have a spareIkea Molgan PIR light lying around, I opened it up and take a peek inside and decided to work this hack with it, overall this is an attractive and cheap unit.
Removing the top dome was easy as it is friction fitted and held together with some tape, upon closer examination, it uses the same parts as most cheap Ebay PIR, just with a bigger dome lens, LEDs and battery holder. Running on 3 x AAA battery , voltage wise it is pretty ideal but I don’t think it will last too long once I hook the ESP8266 to it.
Nick Johnson from Arachnid Labs has designed a powerful and affordable signal generator (named Tsunami) based on the Arduino platform, and is now running a Kickstarter for making it available to electronics hobbyists worldwide.
The Tsunami is a powerful and flexible signal generator built on the Arduino platform. It’s the best way to get started experimenting with analog signals, and a great tool for a huge variety of tasks, too.
The tsunami takes the versatile processor behind the Arduino Leonardo, and combines it with a Direct Digital Synthesis chip, which makes generating analog signals incredibly straightforward. It also has flexible input and output circuitry, and an easy to use software library, to make working with analog signals as easy as blinking an LED.
Tsunami: Arduino based signal generator
Hackaday has just announced their second Hackaday Prize competition today.
Hackaday Prize 2015
Last year The Hackaday Prize began a movement, this year we’re solving problems that matter to everyone. The creative energy and years of experience found in our huge community of Hackers, Designers, and Engineers is waiting to be unleashed. Let’s use that potential and move humanity forward. This doesn’t mean one giant solution. Thousands of people, each lifting one stone, moves mountains.
Martin Harizanov’s WiFi-enabled thermostat runs entirely off the ESP8266 SoC and is controlled through a touch-friendly user interface running on mobile devices. His project also has broadcasting functionality, which allows the thermostat to send data to thingspeak.com or similar platforms.
Wifi controlled thermostat