DIY palette lounge

...made during a two days weekend project.

Another Cardboard Story...

I tried another version of a cardboard based iPhone/iPad stand. Please find the result below.

iPhone/iPad Cardboard stand

Who knew?

Heard about Sugru (sugru.com)? It's one 'thing' that should join every maker's tool box. It's a kind of modeling paste that you can form in the same manner. The difference is that approx. 30 min after brought in contact with air it hardens. It stick's to most materials and stays flexible. Best is: it resists temperatures from -50 to +150 degrees celsius. So it's dishwasher, cooking and polar proof. 

Long story short: I love it and I came up with an idea that I sent to the sugru guys a couple of weeks ago. So I won the 'fix of the month' award. Thanks for that! 

Find out more by reading their blog and have a look at the video.

ARDUINO GOES NETIO

Has anybody of you ever had the idea to have an Arduino board remotly controlled!? If the answer is yes the good message is: there is an wonderful iPhone / iPad / Android App for that called NetIO. It's a very powerful and besides that generic solution (it's not just the App!!) to get your friends Arduino and iPhone connected. It communicates via a socket interface, http request will be supported soon. It comes along with a very nice webtool to design the iPhone App frontend and function. The outcome is a configuration file which will be loaded to the iPhone by using the simple fileshare mechanism of iTunes (in the Apple case of course).


I did a simple test setup to control a LED or whatsoever by using NetIO. 


First thing I did was to do a bit of Arduino coding on the IDE version 0022 based on the code examples on the NetIO website. The hardware that's needed is the Arduino board plus a connected ethernet shield (see setup below). I adapted a view parts an ended up with the following sketch:


DROBBOX LINK of IDE 0022 Arduino sketch for remotely control a LED via the iPhone

Then I thought of the following hardware setup:

circuit setup

...and ended up with this:

layout

Of course it's not necessary to use the opto device. But the secondary circuit can simply be removed and the output could be used to connect to e.g. a remote control. In that case both circuits will be completely separated. You need to connect the ethernet cable and the power source for the Arduino.

layout in detail

As soon as that's done you can log on the NetIO webpage and design your App as described on the website.

NetIO Configurator screenshot

You can download my default.json file here:


DROPBOX LINK of default.json


After that you can download the xxx.Json file and add it to your iTunes library in the App/NetIO section. As soon as it is transferred to the iPhone correctly, the App connects to the Arduino and that's it. I know there is a bit more than that, but honestly: as soon as you worked out the system it's easy to adapt.

NetIO iPhone App screenshot

The good thing is that you can connect to multiple sources, also PC connectivity is given. And as soon as http requests are available with the App version 1.4, you could possibly control everything.


My next step will be to control a bit of my power stuff via FS20, like turning the lights on and off. My final goal is to setup a home automation server. And I guess it will be controlled via NetIO.

MUNKMARSCH

...still nice weather, what else to say!?

@ the Fährhaus Munkmarsch