If you, like Stimpy, can’t stop yourself from pressing buttons due to
Space Madness, Spark has something for you. A new product, called the
Spark Button, is essentially just that: a button. What will happen when
you press it? Maybe something good? Maybe something bad? I guess we’ll
never know.But what we will know is that this is essentially an interface device for the Spark interface, allowing you to change light colors, signal a web app, or even improve your doorbell.
“The Button is halfway between a DIY/Maker project and a consumer product. Anybody can buy it, plug it in, and start using it without any circuitry or writing code,” said CEO Zach Supalla. “But it’s also totally hackable; the circuit board’s exposed, and it’ll come with our new dev kit as the centerpiece. It’s a fun toy that provides the first step into building something more powerful.”
The button is up for pre-order now.
The Spark is essentially a mini web server and the Photon is the latest version of their development platform. The chip essentially allows you to build prototypes quickly and easily and connect them to the Internet with a minimum of fuss.
“We wanted to build an ‘Internet Button’ because we wanted to make it easier for people to make interactions between the web and real life,” said Supalla. “We built an integration with IFTTT and we thought an “Internet Button” would be the perfect example product where you can say ‘If the button is pressed then do something on the Internet.'”
The button has 11 addressable, color-changing LEDs, four small buttons on the back, and an accelerometer. It connects to Wi-Fi and can be programmed via USB like any standard Arduino device. Why do you need it? Although it’s a bit esoteric, it makes for a great test bed for hacking together time-tracking systems, notifiers, and robotics projects. It also lights up.
Now if you’ll excuse me I need to make an IFTTT script that turns off the Internet when I slam my head down on a button.