David Carr and John Kestner are hoping to raise $35,000 to “connect your things to the Internet, without a nerd degree.” The project, Twine, promises “the simplest possible way to get the objects in your life texting, tweeting or emailing.” No programming required.
Twine as pictured on the Kickstarter page is a tiny square that has internal and external sensors coupled with WiFi connectivity. According to the Kickstarter page, requires just two AAA batteries that will keep it running “for months.”
The sensors, so far, include an temperature sensor and an accelerometer – with external sensors planned, including magnetic and moisture sensors. A “breakout board” is also planned that would allow users to wire up additional sensors without any soldering. If there’s an easier way to add something to the Internet of Things, I haven’t seen it.
Twine hooks into a Web-based application called Spool. You can use this to set up rules for your Twine. It will send messages based on rules set up through the app. The page shows a screenshot of a rule based on the accelerometer being “knocked” after 7 p.m., to send a Tweet saying “Someone’s at the door.” Based on a few sensors, there’s quite a lot that you could do with the Twine. No word on whether the cloud service will eventually have any costs.
Though one of the selling points is “no programming required,” it’s not prohibited either. Twine would allow developers to hook a Twine into their code with HTTP requests.
If the team, called Supermechanical, meets and exceeds their funding goal then they’ll give Kickstarters the option of voting for more sensors in $10,000 increments. In other words, $45,000 should mean one additional sensor, $55,000 should mean two, etc.
They say that they’ve been working on prototypes, so now the next step is manufacturing. The goal is $35,000 and pledges of $99 or more come with a pre-order for a Twine. Pledges go all the way up to $500 or more, see the Kickstarter page for more.
This does look pretty cool, so I’m hoping it takes off. Not only as a consumer project – I can see this having lots of uses in business as well. The project is set to run through January 3, 2012 and already has nearly $3,500 in backing. What do you think, is the Twine set to the holiday gift of the year, or what?
