Make: Online : Building a shop presence notification system

Building a shop presence notification system

As a member of Hack Pittsburgh, our local hackerspace, one thing I've wanted to know if anyone else is there before I make the trek over. Well, so did Andy Leer and Marty McGuire, so they decided to build a shop presence notification system. They reasoned that they could measure the ambient light level to determine if someone was around, because people tend to turn on the lights when they show up. With this in mind, they hooked up a photocell to a donated iobridge module, and had a notification widget up on the website in record time. Excellent work!

Comments

Oldest comments listed first.

Posted by: Zak on November 21, 2009 at 7:23 AM

FYI

hacdc has a twitter feed for a similar sensor:
http://twitter.com/hacdcdoorman

Reply to this comment

Posted by: Matt Mets on November 23, 2009 at 3:51 AM

Cool! Any info on how you made it?

Reply to this comment

Posted by: shabadu on November 21, 2009 at 9:01 PM

That's pretty cool. You guys should get on board the hackerspace video bandwagon: http://pumpingstationone.org/hsMap/ A lot of the ones listed here have it.

Reply to this comment

Posted by: Matt Mets on November 23, 2009 at 3:46 AM

Nice map! We've talked about doing a video stream, but haven't come to an agreement about privacy concerns. If we get one up, we will definitely add it!

Reply to this comment

Name

Email Address

Title

Comments

Make: Online has a "be nice" commenting policy. Don't say anything here you wouldn't say to a person's face. We will use our discretion in removing comments we find offensive, spammy, self-promotional, or mean-spirited. See more on our Maker Community Guidelines page.

Subscribe to MAKE Magazine!

Subscribe today, save 42% and get web access to MAKE free. MAKE Digital Edition is available only to subscribers.

$34.95 / 1 year
(4 Quarterly Issues)

Subscribe now

Void your warranty, violate a user agreement, fry a circuit, blow a fuse, poke an eye out. Make: The risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things... Welcome to Make: Online!

Check out more videos from MAKE.

Connect with MAKE

	MAKE on Facebook Visit our Facebook page and become a fan of MAKE!
	MAKE on Twitter Follow our MAKE tweets!
	MAKE on Flickr Join our MAKE Flickr Pool!

make_tips on Twitter

Make: Online editors and authors!

Gareth Branwyn
Editor-in-Chief

Phillip Torrone
Senior Editor
| Web | Twitter

Becky Stern
Associate Editor
| AIM | Twitter

Marc de Vinck
Contributing Writer
| AIM | Twitter

John Park
Contributing Writer
| Twitter

Sean Ragan
Contributing Writer
| Twitter

Matt Mets
Contributing Writer
| AIM | Twitter

Dale Dougherty
Editor & Publisher
| Twitter

Shawn Connally
Managing Editor
| Twitter

Goli Mohammadi
Associate Managing Editor

Kip Kay Kip Kay
Weekend Projects
| AIM | Twitter

Collin Cunningham
Contributing Writer
| AIM | Twitter

Adam Flaherty
Contributing Writer
| AIM | Twitter

John Baichtal
Contributing Writer
| AIM | Twitter

More contributors: Mark Frauenfelder (Editor-in-Chief, MAKE magazine), Kipp Bradford (Technical Consultant/Writer), Chris Connors (Education), Diana Eng (Guest Author), Peter Horvath (Intern), Brian Jepson (O'Reilly Media), Robert Bruce Thompson (Science Room)

Suggest a Site!

Why advertise on MAKE?
Read what folks are saying about us!

Click here to advertise on MAKE!

Current Podcast

Weekend Project: Gourd Lanterns Turn hard-shell gourds into decorative party lights. Thanks go to Diane Gilleland for the original article in MAKE Volume 21. To download The Gourd Lanterns video click here and subscribe in iTunes. Check out the complete Gourd Lanterns article... More...