Outside Holiday Lights Controlled by Twitter
Reb and company added some ColorEffects lights to the outside of their house to connect to the CheerLights project. Just think… you controlling outside lights at this house, plus Christmas trees, and 1000’s of other lights and apps with a single Tweet to CheerLights.
[via Reb Livingston]
CheerLights-enabled Christmas Tree with Color Backlighting
[mlinnen] is using the Color Kinetics ColorBlast to light up his Christmas tree. Normally the ColorBlast 6 is used for outdoor flood lighting, but this makes for a stunning back light to a Christmas tree. Check out BitBucket for the project details and code.
Arduino Ethernet + ShiftBrite LED = CheerLights
Ben Konosky wrote some Arduino source code to allow an Arduino with Ethernet Shield to connect to the CheerLights API (via ThingSpeak) and adjust the color of a ChiftBrite LED module. Ben’s trick was to get all of the libraries to fit on the Arduino’s file space. This code is highly reusable and should make it easy for those that are making CheerLights with ShiftBrite lights. Ben’s code is available now on GitHub and more information can be found on his “Little Piece of the Web” blog.
Here is a demonstration of shifting between colors using Arduino Ethernet and ShiftBrite LEDs:
OMG IT WORKED!!! @Cheerlights is the coolest thing ever!
CheerioBot: It can be your friend or enemy
It was bound to happen. When you start connecting things, they may turn on you. CheerioBot can be your follower or rebel against your control. This amazing little bot can tweet it’s own colors when the CheerLights Twitter feed is slow. It’s very interesting to think that this device is essentially in a symbiotic relationship with itself and the rest of the world. As with any “good” bot, CheerioBot can turn against the system and rebel by setting itself to another color than what CheerLights is telling it to. I never imagined this when I created CheerLights, but now I can’t imagine the project without the CheerioBot!
[via Hack a Day]
USB CheerLights for your Desktop
As promised pete@rasterweb posted the details on how he created a USB version of CheerLights for your desktop. The build produces stunning results and seems easy to replicate. I think this will be the gift of the season for next year’s holidays.
CheerLights on Hack a Day
Awesome! CheerLights get a mention on Hack a Day:
They say that the holidays are a time to gather with others, which usually translates into spending time with friends and family. The folks at ioBridge Labs thought that while friends and family certainly are a big part of the holidays, it would be pretty cool to gather together flocks of strangers by using the Internet to synchronize their Christmas lights.
Call or TXT CheerLights for the Latest Color
We created a new app using Twilio + ioBridge to read in the latest CheerLights color from the ThingSpeak API. If you call or TXT the CheerLights Hotline, our app will reply with a holiday greating and the latest color.
CheerLights Hotline: +1 385-282-4337 (Call or TXT)
Developers can learn more about it here.
CheerLights iPhone App from SunshineApps
Here’s an app for the iPhone that shows you the latest CheerLights color. Now, you can join others connected to the CheerLights project with just a smartphone. Big thanks to SunshineApps for contributing to the project.
More info on CheerLights iPhone Apps…
Milwaukee Makerspace CheerLights Build
[Pete] from Milwaukee Makerspace created his own version of CheerLights using Arduino and ShiftBrite. Looks like he modified his cool Light Organ project as a starting point. Bonus points for using a Perl for the Internet of Things. Pete says to check back for more details…
