Twitter iPhone App – TweetStack!

April 11th, 2009

For those of you twittering on an iPhone or iPod Touch, you might be interested to learn that there’s a new application you can use for speeding up relies, DMs, RTs, and more, it’s called TweetStack.

TweetStack also lets you import your TweetDeck settings, you can see how to do that here.

tweetstack

According to Mashable, the TweetStack can do other cool stuff like geo-tagging your photos:

TweetStack lacks the beautiful and sleek design of Tweetie, but once you notice that you can create stacks (ie. groups) based on TwitPic (TwitPic reviews) tags, your current location, Twitter friends, and any search term that strikes your fancy, we think you’ll be impressed. Now throw in the fact that tapping a user’s avatar gives you the option to view that user’s profile, create a group, or add the user to an existing group. Oh, and tapping a tweet itself will let you send a reply or dm, retweet it, or add it as a favorite.

via mashable

Twitter Hack – How to Make an RFID Cat Tracker!

April 11th, 2009

Couple days ago, we saw the cat-tracking Tweeting Cat Door that will let you know when your cat has left the house. (and came back)  Now, we found something even better than that, an RFID cat tracker that will let you track the cat when he/she is within certain boundaries of RFID signals, a much better solution for those of you who either don’t have a cat door or simply want to track your cat within a specified area.

This gadget is called CATaLOG, cat tracking/logging system based on Arduino, RS232 RFID module, and Arduino Ethernet Shield.

rfid-twitter

The author Pete has open sourced the code so if you got some soldering skills, just get the parts, simply put it together, load the code, and you should be set to go so you can track your cat via twitter.  (You can see an example of the device working @BobbinAndTuffin.

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(screenshot of @BobbinAndTuffin)

The CATaLOG project aims to track our two cats Bobbin and Tuffin as they go in and out of the house so we can see which cat spends more time outside, what their favourite time to go out is, and also get sent SMS messages if a cat goes missing for a certain amount of time.

Great job Pete and make sure to let us know on any future Twitter Hacks via @TweetHacking.

CATaLOG Homepage

via hackedgadgets

Tweet No Evil T-Shirt!

April 11th, 2009

If you are a true twitter addict, you will probably like this shirt, Tweet No Evil, just $9 each. (via uberreview)

tweet-no-evil

Twitter Hack – Twitter Popcorn Robot!

April 10th, 2009

So, you are going to watch movie in 10 minutes when you get home from work?

Simply send a tweet to your Twitter Popcorn Robot before you leave your work (assuming you live 10 minutes away) and enjoy the popcorn when you get home, all ready to be served.

Does this sound like a cool Twitter robot?

Yes, it’s actually real and William Self(@robedorobotics) has put together an amazing Twitter Popcorn robot using a netbook, USB infrared transmitter, USB-based sensors and controllers.

William also says he will be updating with more features so we will keep our eyes glued to his blog.

Soon, you’ll see our wheeled robots gaining new structure: arms, grippers and maybe even a humanoid torso. We’re not promising a fully capable R2-D2 or Rosie robot. Those would probably cost you $50,000. We are promising good technology and useful robots. Plus fun. Plenty of fun.

Keep up the great work and don’t forget to tip us first @tweethacking on your next Twitter Hack projects.

via engadget

Here’s the video of it in action:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

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(Send a tweet to start the popcorn!)

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(The robot will not only make the popcorn, it will bring it to your couch.)

Twitter Hack – How to Monitor Your Power Usage Using Tweet-A-Watt!

April 10th, 2009

I remember meeting Lady Ada (@adafruit) at Maker Faire back in 2007, she was ALWAYS working on something new.  It seems that she just released a DIY kit called Tweet-A-Watt, a wireless power meter that will tweet your power usage to any desired Twitter account, you can see a demo here of it working live @tweetawatt.

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The Tweet-A-Watt is basically composed of wireless RF XBee modules, Arduino (or even your computer, I do highly recommend Comfile’s CUBLOC modules too which are easily programmed in BASIC), USB FTDI module, and other electrical components.

Most of the parts come along with the Tweet-A-Watt Kit as listed here:

  • 2  XBee modules (one for receiver, one for transmitter)
  • 2  XBee adapter kits (ditto)
  • 1  USB FTDI cable (for updating, configuring and receiving data from XBee)
  • 1  bag of parts including 10,000uF capacitor, 220uF capacitor, 2 1% 10K resistors, 2 1% 4.7K resistors, 5mm green LED, 6″ rainbow ribbon cable, and 2 pieces of 1/8″ and 1/16″ heatshrink

I’ve personally worked with people in the power industries, specifically power meters using RS485 communication to store power usage but this Tweet-A-Watt kit clearly demonstrates what kind of things you can do with Twitter.  (For example, you can “tweet” the power usage and simply grab the RSS feed of your Twitter power meter account to republish or re-use for power usage stats.)

I know that PG&E recently announced that they are installing wireless power meters all over the country, (which I’ve actually seen one as of last week, they dugg up my friend’s lawn to do that.) this Twitter method seems to me a lot better solution for that. (a little too late but…)

For those of  you who want to monitor individual power outlets, this Tweet-A-Watt might be the perfect twattering tool.  I do also have to add that the kit is only $90, not a bad investment for a really fun Twitter Hack project.

Keep up the good work Lady Ada!

via hackaday

power-meter-twitter

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Twitter Hack – How to Make a Sonar Distance Twitter Buzzer!

April 8th, 2009

Using an ultrasonic range finder modules from SparkFun and Arduino microcontroller as the controller, Josh over at blog.joshuamcginnis.com has created an awesome DIY sonar distance Twitter buzzer that will tweet the distance he’s sitting/standing from his laptop.

Now, this might look very useless but it can come in handy for security applications or other DIY projects that need status updates via Twitter.

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Here’s the screenshot of @hereandaway, which will tell you how far Josh is sitting from the computer:

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Great job Josh, let us know on any new updates with your cool sonar project, perhaps you can make a wireless version and stick it on your dog…

arduino & sonar returns your distance away from the computer and it is displayed on the screen. the farther away you are from the computer the larger the text and the greener the screen. the closer you are, the smaller the text and the redder the screen. get within 5 inches and a buzzer alarms. distance is twittered.

via hacks blog

Twitter Hack – DIY Tweeting Washing Machine!

April 8th, 2009

A perfect Twitter application is the one that uses 9 volt power for BS2 (Basic Stamp Microcontroller), connected serially to a server, and also “tweets” when your clothes are done, thus DIY Tweeting Washing Machine is born.

I am sure you can recall countless times waiting helplessly at a laundry room, now there’s a better solution, make yourself one of these tweeting washing machines.

tweeting-washing-machine

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You will need the following and a little hacking will be involved:

BS2 – Basic Stamp 2 or even CUBLOC modules work too. (or Arduino) – These are basically microcontrollers you can program in BASIC language, very easy to program.

BetaBrite – BetaBrite sells these giant LED modules which can easily be hooked up to a Basic Stamp to display messages.  Of course, these might actually have ethernet connectivity too, in which case you can “tweet” the status to Twitter.

Here’s a screenshot of what kinds of tweets you can expect after washing your clothes: (@pimpy3wash)

pimpy

Can you imagine now how helpful this gadget would be for you?

Twitter Hack – How to Make a Tweeting Cat Door!

April 8th, 2009

More and more hackers and engineers are learning the value of  Twitter’s microblogging platform and this Tweeting Cat Door is another such great feat that will update you the status of your cat door.  Whether your cat is leaving town or coming home with his/her friends, you will be sure to be tweeted if they go through the cat door.

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Here’s a screenshot of the updates on the Tweeting Cat Door, you can follow @GusAndPenny.

Each cat has a small RFID tag on the collar. When a cat is in the close proximity of the door, a small RFID reader reads the tag and if the cat is authorized, a servo will unlock the cat door. The RFID reader and the servo controller are connected to an old laptop. The software on the laptop is written in Delphi and for each “cat door event” is sending a Twitter message and a picture to twitter.com

via diy blog

Twitter Hack – Baker Tweet Updates Baking Status on Twitter!

April 8th, 2009

Twitter Hacking has been going sorta crazy lately, with cool hacks like the Botannicals which can tell you when your plants need watering.

Of course, don’t forget about Baker Tweet, this gadget will “tweet” whatever is coming out of your oven, you can follow @albionsoven to see what Albion’s Oven is cooking.

According to the Baker Tweet page:

BakerTweet allows businesses to use Twitter to communicate in real-time about offers, pricing and stock from a device that can withstand kitchen peril and is much simpler to operate than a laptop or a mobile.

Here’s a picture of what it looks like:

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And here’s a video demo:

How It Works:

it’s a bakery-proof box that sends messages wirelessly to Twitter. The clever bit is that the baker can update their messages and things they’re selling using a simple web interface. Obviously not something that you’d do mid-bake but it’s an important feature for future-proofing the device.

This might come in handy for those of you bakers who need to know what’s coming out of your oven in real-time.  I see a lot of good applications for this in the near future for many bakeries out there.

via hackedgadgets

Twitter Soars Past 14 Million Users!

April 7th, 2009

Twitter hasn’t been exactly popular “all” of last couple years but media-hype seems to have added another 4 Million users in the last 30 days to total at 14 Million users. (via @Andrew303)

Web traffic doubling every month of this year certainly proves that Twitter might be onto something here, sorta like a rocketship about to take off.

facebook

Of course, Twitter is still far behind Facebook but it’s certain that Twitter is on a sharp-rise this year, Facebook may succomb as Twitter’s lunch in couple years.