ThingM blog

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 2×4 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

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!

In case you were wondering, BlinkM and BlinkM MinM work with a 3.7 VDC lithium polymer battery.

(via Tech Art Blog)

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

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.

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!

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/

Thank you to Frédéric PFISTER who conducted some research on the BlinkM, LinkM and Sequencer. Below is the full article that was presented at the IASDR Conference last year in the Netherlands. Enjoy!

PLEASURABLE & EMOTIONALLY-ENRICHED EXPERIENCE_

LinkMs, MaxMs, MinMs available with Light with LED!!!

www.lightwithled.com