From bd8464abb8deee0d31bb84cc47cd3335c0e688d5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: schneefux Date: Tue, 24 May 2016 19:46:37 +0200 Subject: move posts into 'tech' section --- content/tech/internet-is-magic.md | 43 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 43 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/tech/internet-is-magic.md (limited to 'content/tech/internet-is-magic.md') diff --git a/content/tech/internet-is-magic.md b/content/tech/internet-is-magic.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d21027 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/tech/internet-is-magic.md @@ -0,0 +1,43 @@ +--- +categories: +- embedded +date: 2015-10-29 +title: Internet is magic - Glowing ponies show your friends' online status +aliases: +- /2015/10/29/internet-is-magic.html +--- + +Friendship is magic! I like the My Little Pony series, and two of my best friends, knowing that, surprised me with self-made versions of Twilight and Fluttershy at my birthday. + +![Twilight and Fluttershy](/images/internet-is-magic/twilight-fluttershy.jpg) + +_Aren't they adorable?_ + +As you can see in the picture, I grabbed some diffused LEDs and illuminated my ponies. + +That was kind of unexciting after a while. Luckily, I had an [ESP8266](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESP8266) to spare. These modules are small Arduino compatible WiFi modules, so with some programming knowledge you can control GPIOs via WiFi. + +Awesome! Let's connect the ponies to the world wide web. + +![Inside view](/images/internet-is-magic/inside.jpg) + +_Not much to see here_ + +I wrote a quick-and-dirty Arduino sketch, [uploaded it]({% post_url 2015-10-14-esp8266%}) and was able to control the LEDs via netcat. You can find the sketch [here](https://git.schneefux.xyz/?p=internet-is-magic;a=blob;f=luminate.ino;hb=HEAD). + +![Twilight glows](/images/internet-is-magic/twilight-glow.jpg) + +_The cables in the background supply power._ + +And now comes the fun part. Both of my friends chat with me via [Telegram](https://telegram.org). Unlike WhatsApp, Telegram has an open API that allows me to easily receive their online status. + +I installed the [telegram-cli](https://github.com/vysheng/tg) client on my [Raspberry Pi](https://raspberrypi.org), a cheap and small computer, and set up an autostart script. telegram-cli runs in bot mode, a python script updates the LEDs every minute. I uploaded the script [here](https://git.schneefux.xyz/?p=internet-is-magic;a=blob;f=client.py;hb=HEAD). + +So whenever my friends are online, their corresponding pony starts to glow. + +![Fluttershy glows](/images/internet-is-magic/fluttershy-glow.jpg) +![Twilight and Fluttershy glowing in the dark](/images/internet-is-magic/night.jpg) + +_When they light up at night, you can feel the magic._ + +If you want to build something similar to this, be sure to ask your friends whether it's okay for them that you monitor their presence all day long. -- cgit v1.3.1