Pachube :: blog

January Internet of Things Meetups [videos]

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:34:00 +0000

We have been meeting consistently each month at Meetups in London, NYC, and Amsterdam with like minded enthusiasts to riff together on "Internet of Things topics". If you are in or around any of these cities, you should come and join us! This month we heard from all kinds of different projects, some of which you can see in the videos below the break, including:

Britta Riley from Windowfarms
Liz Barry from PublicLab
Vincent Schipper and Alexander Zeh from NetworkLab
Amran Anjum and Arnd Marijnissen from the Amsterdam Hackspace
Stefano Ingarro who came all the way from Turin to talk about EveryAware
Gonzalo Garcia-Perate from Hintsights
Haiyan Zhang from Ideo talking about geigermaps
Ben Redford talking about Olly the smelly robot
Ben Pirt from Pachube

A new group is starting this month in Barcelona! Check it out.

Internet of Things London Meetup 1/20/12 from Ed Borden on Vimeo.

Internet of Things Amsterdam Meetup 1/21/12 from Ed Borden on Vimeo.

Internet of Things NYC Meetup 1/12/12 from Ed Borden on Vimeo.

#airqualityegg: People participating in the conversation about air quality

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:41:00 +0000

Last month I blogged about a community project called AirQualityEgg aimed at giving citizens a way to participate in the conversation about air quality. You can read about it here. You can also join the google group, read/contribute to the wiki, or add your email to this list if you want to know where to go to buy one when we start taking orders.

Credit: Albert Chao

One thing that's been strongly validated in the month since has been an intense interest from communities and individuals all over the world in their local air quality. People from five continents have reached out to offer their support in various ways, over 150 people have indicated they are interested in purchasing an Egg, and 70 people have showed up to workshops in two different cities . There are 50 people participating in the google group discussions. This has obviously struck a nerve. People want to know.

AirQualityEgg got picked up by Javaun Moradi, a technologist at NPR (American news/media syndicator), who blogged about its implications for journalism. He says:

News organizations are uniquely positioned to serve as ethical overseers...or facilitators of open public dialog [for initiatives like AirQualityEgg]. For lack of a better term, I’ll call this ‘citizen engagement journalism’: applying the newsroom’s tools and values to advance the cause of journalism by means other than reporting. It’s a responsibility that is every bit as noble as reporting and can achieve the journalism goals of informing the public, investigating corruption, speaking for the voiceless, and seeking truth.

AJ Fisher, a technologist at a data consultancy in Melbourne, also picked up on AirQualityEgg as part of a concept he's defining as the "Sensor Commons", or "a future state whereby we have data available to us, in real time, from a multitude of sensors that are relatively similar in design and method of data acquisition, [and whose] data is freely available." This is a fantastic way to describe what is in essence a cultural revolution fomented by the reality of a billion connected people communicating directly with each other and with sensors embedded in the world around them. AirQualityEgg is right in the middle of this, and I have no doubt that as word of the project spreads, more groups will continue talking about how this type of activism will change their life/work/town/etc.

The biggest criticism of the project has always been around the sensor components themselves. The project aims to use low-cost, off-the-shelf, easy-to-use components to give us information that is currently only supplied by $50K scientific equipment. Last month in Amsterdam, over 30 attendees traveled in from 5 countries to attend a one day workshop which aimed to move a step forward on this sensor aspect of the project. There was a fantastic mix between hardware engineers, software developers, and "philosophers" (ie. non-technical participants who wanted to contribute in whatever ways they could). We were able to break into working groups to tackle different tasks and sensor components, and by the end of the day (after only 4-5 hours of solid work time), we had live data we could look at from a good number of sensors. We took these outside to test with the exhaust from a Vespa and got a feel for how the output from these sensors would look. Patrick Beeker, one of the attendees, blogged about how it went here. Groups in Amsterdam and NYC continue to work on this in real time.

Now that we're getting further away from the holidays, momentum is starting to pick back up. There have been some impromtu gatherings in NYC with some of the attendees of the last workshop and as well as others who have become interested. Most notably, Albert Chao and Eulani Labay have been charging forward on the Industrial Design of the product. They've been thinking hard about various aspects of how the system will work and have also been able to run off some prototypes on a 3D printer. While some have questioned the interest in this seemingly gimmicky "egg" concept so early in the life of the project, one of our primary goals here is user engagement for the purposes of building a community. That requires close attention to details that are quite different than the requirements around evaluating sensor components.

Credit: Albert Chao

However, at these gatherings, it's also become clear that the application aspect of the product hasn't yet been given enough consideration. As we've started to tackle the questions of how this sensor network will proliferate, and then, how the network will persist, we keep coming back to what people will actually DO with it. Moreover, designing the various aspects of the Egg in parallel creates a challenge as each element impacts the rest. So, as we move toward the zen state where considerations for sensors, product design and the application are in perfect harmony, things are inevitably changing. Some of the biggest changes:

- The Egg was originally conceived as the sensor enclosure itself. This was perceived as a way to facilitate people building a relationship with this project/movement/concept. The problem is that it's supposed to be outside gathering sensor data. So, sensors have been removed to a cheap, nondescript box and the Egg has been re-positioned inside and given a button and an LED. This gives a way for the user to actually create and receive feedback from the community. What that actually is has not yet been defined.

- Inside/Outside: The types of pollutants that are inside are very different from outside. It's been enough of a challenge to tackle the outside sensors, and so the "inside air quality" portion of the project is getting nixed for now. A future extension of the project could address this.

Moving forward, the 30 day goals are the following:

Create and install prototypes of the sensor unit in NYC and Amsterdam. We want to see data coming in.
Define the physical product and how the system works together.
Define the application and user experience.
Launch a Kickstarter campaign. This will allow for the gauging of interest and crowdsourcing of the funding for the project in one motion.

You can help and be a part of this!

All the functional groups are updating the wiki and the google group asap. You should join these to keep up to date in real time. Important discussion will be happening there.
We will physically meet in NYC to make some decisions about the user experience/application on 1/31 and then again on 2/6 to shoot the Kickstarter video. These are all open events as part of the IoT NYC Meetup.
Spread the word. Share/tweet this blog post!
Buy an Air Quality Egg! When we start taking orders, I will let you know where to go to buy one if you go and add your email to this list.

Thank you to all of the participants so far, including:

Internet of Things Amsterdam Meetup
Casper Koomen
Axel Roest <-- props
Amran Anjum
Bas Mijling
Dorien Zandbergen
Peter Manolescue
Xi SiZhe
Hans Blaauw
Cesar Garcia
Sara Alvarellos
Hans Blaauw
Jeffrey De Sadelaer
Chris Davis
Wout Tankik
Kristof De Buysere
Adrian McEwen
Patrick Beeker
Joseph Timkovsky
Hans Crijns
Ivo van den Maagdenberg
Olivier Brechon
Martin Havranek

Internet of Things NYC Meetup
Eulani Labay
Albert Chao
Volkan Unsal
Joe Saavedra
Leif Percifield

New features: Frozen feed triggers edition

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 02:18:00 +0000

Some new features recently went live! Unfortunately, a lot of these normally slip under the radar, but as a resolution for the New Year, we're going to be better at talking these up. After all, our awesome development team is busy making magic... and people gotta know.

- Frozen Feed Triggers

This is one of the most-requested features we've had in the past year. Frozen triggers are sent when there is a 15 minute period of inactivity on a datastream. Live triggers work the same, but are fired when a datastream becomes live (i.e. is updated after being frozen).

One of the best uses for the new frozen and live triggers is make a datastream send a tweet when it becomes frozen. To do that when logged in, first visit the feed page (e.g. https://pachube.com/feeds/504). Next pick the datastream you'd like to be notified for. In the 'Triggers' section, select 'Twitter' from the dropdown menu next to the 'Add a Trigger' link. Then click 'Add a 'Trigger'. In the configuration for the new trigger you may have to log in to the Twitter account you'd like to use. Once that is done you can set the trigger to "Send a tweet when value goes frozen" and customise the text of the tweet. When you're done customizing the tweet text click "Save", and your trigger is all set up. If you want to test your new trigger, click the Debug button and your account will send a tweet simulating the datastream becoming frozen.

- New Docs

The API Docs have been completely reformatted so they are much easier to navigate, view examples, and find stuff. Even better, the beta feature docs aren't hidden anymore! Check them out.

- Delete ranges of datapoints

Previously, you could only pass single datapoints to the API for deletion. You can now specify start and end times and a duration in the event of bad or corrupt data being uploaded to Pachube. This is documented here.

People talking about Things that tweet

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:58:00 +0000

We talk a lot at Pachube about empowering communities. The best communities develop important conversations, demand action, curate leadership, and ultimately produce some kind of output that matters. We've been thinking hard about how our global data platform intersects with global communities and how we can help facilitate this new kind of collaboration around real-time data. This has recently manifested itself in two very simple ways:

- Things tweeting (see our Twitter triggers tutorial video)

Engine bay lights at Crystal Park Fire Station in Manitou Springs, Colorado

Freezing conditions in Dublin, Ireland

Power service availability for coconut oil mills in Perambra, India

In looking through Pachube trigger activity, it's interesting to note that there are quite a few people with Twitter triggers set up to tweet data that is very specifically useful to only themselves. For example, there might be no context, units, or description whatsoever. While this is a fine use case, it's interesting to see how in the examples above, people were able to go one step further and translate their triggers into information that has wider implications. So, instead of "temperature outside my house," @DubFreezeAlert is making a statement about freezing conditions. Or, instead of "voltage levels from the transformer on my road," @sunish is providing power failure alerts. He could go even further and make some statement about what areas "Phase 2" affects, etc.

Here's the best part: Since you are able to place triggers not only on your own datastreams but on other peoples' as well (if they choose to make their data public), if you are interested in a certain datapoint or event related to that data, then you can create the trigger yourself. So, if you wanted to go and improve @sunish's power alerts in some way, you can simply go and do that.

- Comment threads on feed pages

Questioning the meaning or context of each others' data

Learning from each others' experiences

Pachube isn't just about data. For us, data simply sets the stage or provides the subject matter. It's the people that add their experiences, goals, and passions into the mix that create richness around the mundane. Without this, the Internet of Things is like a sketched painting without color. It's incomplete. The most important work -- making sense of it all -- requires participation from people. We're starting to see that become a reality here.

Opening University energy data so people can understand their own impact

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:37:00 +0000

Pachube Pioneer: Derek Foster
Resides: Sheffield, UK
Occupation: PhD Researcher
Web: http://www.derekfoster.net/
Pachube Feeds: http://pachu.be/24356
Data: Electricity

At the University of Lincoln 60 miles outside of London, there are a range of buildings that vary in age from hundreds of years old to brand new. Derek Foster, a researcher at Lincoln, is working on a project to show that just because some of these buildings weren't designed for electrical systems doesn’t necessarily mean that they must be less efficient than their newer counterparts. Why? It turns out the energy usage habits of the people inside the buildings make a huge difference! He posits: “With the understanding that automated systems can only go so far in reducing consumption, we must adopt the view that people are not just noise when looking at a buildings energy usage, they have a huge impact.”

As an example, this graph shows energy usage in December 2010 compared to the same period the previous year. Since much of the UK suffered a severe cold snap in December 2010, many people were unable to commute in, resulting in low staffing levels. Derek's theory: "The absence of ‘people activity’ significantly flattened the graph, highlighting the potential of behavior change. Of course it is not possible to completely eliminate this activity, as employees use a range of necessary facilities to carry out their working responsibilities. Rather, we can target a reduction."

After establishing that people (not just automated systems) and how they use energy is important, Derek then moved on to experiment with how to provide them with feedback on their day to day consumption levels. The first hurdle Derek had to overcome was extracting energy usage data out of proprietary storage systems in some dark data dungeon on-site at the University. "It took considerable effort to contact these vendors for technical information, understand the implementation, and then provide a ‘bolt-on’ solution to export this closed data into the Pachube platform,” he said.

The next hurdle was developing ways to easily and usefully communicate this information to occupants of the buildings.

“Although we understand the need for our carbon managers to access energy data with proprietary software for analytical purposes, the full potential and usefulness of energy data can only be realised … we can abstract away from complex energy metrics so employees can understand simpler metaphors for a kilowatt hour, the context of 50 litres of water or the Co2 impact of a 100 cubic meters of gas.

Our work uses social media channels to maximise outreach and impact in raising awareness of energy consumption in an organisational setting. [We have] a Facebook application that displays comparative live energy feedback to groups of friends. See our Wattsup and Power Ballads papers.

We are also implementing energy awareness services through Twitter where you can send a simple tweet to one of our energy handles and receive a response back with more information on the requested building’s energy. By sending the name of any one of our campus buildings to the twitter handle @lincolnEnergy you will receive a response with a shortened link to that particular buildings 24hr energy graph as generated by Pachube. I also plan on using the bot to post random updates on our energy data. This is just the start and hope to be as innovative as possible with it, time allowing.

It's really all about raising awareness of energy by maximizing social media impact and making the energy data available through as many channels as possible. We hope that our work with open energy data and subsequent publishing on Pachube is seen as the way forward for other higher education organizations in the UK and would be glad to have them on board with us!”

Sending triggers with Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Pirt) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:45:00 +0000

One of the pieces of functionality we've been working away on is a way to make it easy for users to automatically send tweets when triggers are fired. Because this is based on a plugin system, it makes it much easier to build more plugins, so this is the first of hopefully many different options for being able to send triggers via different methods. Let us know if you have any special requests.
If you're an avid Twitter user then you might also find it interesting to create a feed to automatically track your Twitter stats via Pachube. With this plugin you could even automatically tweet when they change! Check out the app here. Check out the screencast for a demo below the break:

You can help build an open air quality sensor network

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:43:00 +0000

Where's the data? Look outside your window -- have you ever wondered what the quality of the air is out there? I mean RIGHT. OUT. THERE. 12 inches from your face. If so, you are out of luck. The air quality data collected by the government is likely sampled from far, far away and then applied to you on a regional level, almost completely useless from the standpoint of trying to understand or change the local dynamics of pollution that affect you. Not good. If you're interested in joining a community of people who are going to change that, read on.

Credit: Albert Chao

In the world of December 2011 that we live in, data drives activism. The dialog online has reached a deafening roar and everyone has a cause, so it takes hard evidence to turn heads. Without real air quality data, people can be easily brushed aside, or worse, ignored. But nothing screams, "Take action!" like a link to a datastream updating in real-time showing how people are being affected at this very moment. This is the next form of self-expression, a la YouTube, and it's already happening.

So, why no air quality data? It's not a technology problem. Open source hardware, data infrastructure, networks -- we have this stuff and can use it to build a cheap networked sensor. How to fund, deploy, and distribute the sensors, and then how to utilize the data we receive -- we can figure this stuff out with a bit of hard work.

The barrier is the naysayers -- people who don't understand that the engine and scale of the internet community has put what we need to solve this problem within our grasp. They are the people who ask why we'd bother, since we don't understand the science. It's true, we do not have access to the technology that builds $50,000 air quality sensor systems, but we do have the ability to put 50,000 $100 sensors systems into a city, a collective voice which won't be able to be ignored. We'll also have a much better view of trends and of what's happening in real-time -- which will most likely tell us things that the official datasets aren't looking for. Further, if we're a bit savvy about it, we'll be able to create a platform that other people can refine and improve over time. We might not hit the bullseye on the first run through (which may not be necessary anyway if we build an extensible platform), but we'll start an unstoppable movement that will re-shuffle the way issues get discussed.

With this agenda -- to create a way for citizens to participate in the conversation about air quality -- we have partnered with our Pachube communities in NYC and Amsterdam. On November 18, we held a workshop at De Waag, a center for digital media in Amsterdam in the center of the old city, which brought together people from all walks -- hardware, software, scientists, concerned citizens, etc. Led by Casper Koomen, a UX and concept developer, we were joined by Sara Cordoba of design agency Booreiland. Bas Mijling from the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute provided perspective on local issues and resources. Other speakers discussed projects that helped define our collective understanding of the challenges involved.

Following the event in Amsterdam, another group gathered at eyebeam in NYC on December 2nd, led by Mark Shepard, a well-known artist, architect, and researcher in the Internet of Things space. Dirk Swart from Wicked Device provided invaluable technical input. Incorporating the foundation built in Amsterdam, this group tackled the issues around the initial target users, user experience, and methods of deployment/funding. A consensus on a solution framework and design language which will define the project moving forward was met. Coming out of that session, a group of committed individuals in both cities are owning slices of this product concept, with the following decisions dictating how development moves forward:

- Ease of use, approachability. The basic unit comes in two parts: a “base station” RF platform that would plug directly into the ethernet port of a wi-fi router, and an enclosed sensor node that communicates wirelessly within 40-50 yards. The wireless node would be protected in a distinct “egg” casing: simple to produce with the potential to create a sense of empathy or stewardship. The project's name "Air Quality Egg", is taken from this concept.

- Requirement to be able to compare inside/outside measurements. (Should I open the window? Should I get off the bus here? How does the air in my home compare with others?) Additionally, personal space + public space measuring produces a valuable network effect while delivering immediate personal value. This is key for both distribution and engagement/participation.

- Platform focus: Applications will be limited and basic at the outset as the design of the network has the enablement of third-party applications at its core. Furthermore, the hardware will be designed with openness, extensibility in mind. This group's sensor systems will be the start, but the network will be open to adding hardware (eggs) designed by others onto the core base station. Have a better way to get at air quality data than the sensor/hardware choices made here? Make your own egg and send it out to the community!

- Crowdfunded: Kickstarter is a natural path for Air Quality Egg. The project can be funded and simultaneously reach the people who want to be part of this movement. This is a project built, funded, and run by a distributed group of citizens. eyebeam will likely be a key partner at this step.

This is happening. The Air Quality Egg group intends to prototype, test, and start marketing the product within 60 days. At Pachube, we're committed to extending resources to keep this alive and on a forward path.

You can help and be a part of this!

Come to a workshop in Amsterdam or NYC. We are hacking the hardware in Amsterdam next Saturday, Dec 17. The followup in NYC will be announced shortly thereafter.
Contribute to various parts of the project, collaboration will be collected on the wiki. If you have some expertise, particularly in low-cost air quality sensors, we want your brain!
Spread the word! Share/tweet this blog post.
Join the discussion on the open Google Group.
Buy an Air Quality Egg! When we start taking orders, I will let you know where to go to buy one if you go and add your email to this list.

Thank you to all of the participants of the workshops so far, including:

Internet of Things Amsterdam Meetup

Oswaldo Heinen
Amran Anjum
Axel Roest
Martin Jacobsson
Rene Pare
Wout Tankink
Kristof De Buysere
Xi SiZhe
Vincent Schipper
Joao Rocha
Roland van Straten
Frans Snik
Stephane Logger
Ben Lawson
Martin Havranek
Casper Koomen
Sara Cordoba
Bas Mijling

Internet of Things NYC Meetup + eyebeam
Art Mikhlin
Tom Lowenhaupt
Adam Griff
Christo de Klerk
Joe Plotkin
Eulani Labay
Volkan!
Janice Kim
Josh Levine
Cindy Konits
Daniel Toke Hansen
Mia Stigsnaes
Eken Ijeoma
Francisco Hui
Albert Chao
Mark Shepard
Dirk Swart
Victoria Marshall

OnBoard: enabling a world of open data devices

noreply@blogger.com (Usman Haque) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:43:00 +0000

Last month, we made Pachube free for all our users, removing a significant barrier to entry for people and devices to get onto our platform. As another step in that direction, we are today releasing OnBoard, our first turn-key solution aimed directly at device makers of all sizes. With OnBoard, we're making it quick, cheap and easy to offer connected services with internet-enabled hardware.

OnBoard includes:

1. Device bulk-registration: Manufacturers can provision devices onto Pachube and specify

data profiles.

2. End-user account integration: Device owners can now claim their devices and their data directly on Pachube.

3. Dashboards: Once devices are claimed, device owners view dashboards hosted within their accounts.

Pachube's OnBoard service is a pathway onto the open, people-centric Internet of Things for devices and data – that have in the past have been tied to specific services and software. By breaking open the traditional data-silo/walled-garden approach to building connected services, data can be re-used across many different applications. This increases the value of the data to both its owner and the device manufacturer, while also creating a way for third-parties to develop compatible products on a common framework.

Current Cost Opens Its Data!

We're proud to also announce that Current Cost, a leader in home energy monitoring products, is the first commercial partner to use OnBoard to deliver an online home energy dashboard to their customers. Anyone who has ever purchased a Current Cost monitor with a Current Cost Netsmart (Bridge) device can now access their energy data within their Pachube account by entering the serial number printed on their device here: https://pachube.com/devices/currentcost.

You can then:

- utilize the new Current Cost dashboard from within your Pachube account

- export the data for external analysis

- trigger external web services or use Pachube's SMS alert or twitter trigger functions

- use applications at http://apps.pachube.com/

- use 3rd party applications via the Pachube API

- create new applications on top of Current Cost data

... you now have keys to the kingdom – full access to and control of your data to do what you need with it!

The dashboards are still relatively simple in functionality but expect additions in the near future.

If you are interested in building applications that work with Current Cost data, please contact us at biz@pachube.com.

What's Next for OnBoard?

Our goal is to make OnBoard entirely automated. Today, if you are a device maker or manufacturer you will need to contact us to get things set up. Once we automate and complete the documentation, we'll release OnBoard officially.

With OnBoard we aim to make it as easy as possible to create massively scalable and secure web services that use Pachube, whether you're on-boarding two devices or two million. With more devices on Pachube integrating real-time data with third-party applications, our community will be empowered to build the next generation of device-driven Internet applications.

If you're a device maker or manufacturer, and you want to use the OnBoard service while it's in beta, we'd love to hear from you at biz@pachube.com.

Find the Pachube OnBoard press release here.

The Pachube Debug Page

noreply@blogger.com (Pachube) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:24:00 +0000

Here's a quick demo of a new feature we're pretty pleased with. The new debug page shows you how many requests you've made to the API in the last 10 minutes as well as a stream of live API requests as you make them.

There's a lot of interesting stuff going on behind the scenes involving message queues, Node.js and websockets but hopefully the end result is easy to use and useful for debugging.

Let us know how it works for you and if there's anything else you'd like to see. Video below the break.

Bringing down the barriers: Pachube service goes free!

noreply@blogger.com (Conan Reidy) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:33:00 +0000

We’re making the Pachube service free for all users.

As of today there will only be one type of account. Every user will have unlimited datastreams, datapoint uploads and history as well as the option to create private feeds. We are setting a limit on the API request rate at 100 requests/minute. Current PRO users will see their rate limit go up from 40/minute to 100/minute. Current PREMIUM users will keep their current rate limit of 250 requests/minute. Any user can request an increased rate limit by contacting support@pachube.com.

We will be upgrading everyone’s account in the next few hours. Anyone who has paid for a yearly subscription in the last 60 days will get an automatic refund via PayPal. We made this decision simply because that’s how far back PayPal allows us to go. If you disagree with this decision, please contact us. We’re making this change to make Pachube more accessible to new and existing users, and we want to make sure no one feels treated unfairly.

So, why go free? No, we haven’t decided to become a non-profit. No, we’re not just super-nice. What we are is ambitious. And having worked with and talked with many people in the Pachube community, we know that they’re ambitious too.

The “Internet of Things” is a big idea (though secretly many of us don’t actually like that term), and we want our community to lead the effort to define it. As devices continue to find their way onto the Internet, we want them to be able to take advantage of everything the Web has to offer. We want Pachube users to control their own data, build applications that we would never envision, and share with others as they see fit. This idea, as obviously correct as it sounds to us, is not inevitable. There are significant business and technical barriers to this vision.

By making the Pachube service free, we’re removing a small barrier today, and we’re committed to removing more barriers in the coming months. The Pachube service is not as easy to use as we want it to be. It still doesn’t do everything we want it to do. This is, of course, okay. That’s why our engineers come to work every day, sit at too-small IKEA desks and code their asses off. Pachube will continue to get simpler, better and more capable. Our intention is that many of these new capabilities will be free. Some of them won’t. We hope that you’ll want to pay for the stuff we decide to charge for.

In the meantime, continue to let us know what you need from us, how we can help you build a device-friendly Internet that lives up to your aspirations, adheres to our own lofty ideals, and helps you build the next generation of Internet applications.

The value of open hardware is in the empowerment of communities

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 02:55:00 +0000

There's something big happening right now at the intersection of open hardware and the Maker movement -- critical mass is being reached. Chris Anderson famously termed it the next Industrial Revolution, but back in early 2010 detractors could still downplay its significance. In the mean time, the barriers to entry for building new products have been dropping at a frantic pace, opening up the market and recasting less technical newcomers as Makers. Designers, architects, artists, and activists can now build nearly anything they can dream up on top of the open platforms that are cropping up like weeds. Not only that, they can also build them at low volumes, cheaply and quickly, tapping into the "billion little entrepreneurial opportunities that can be discovered and exploited by smart, creative people." (Cory Doctorow)

This accelerated pace of innovation is also completely redefining cost structures and time-to-market in the realm of connected devices and the Internet of Things. Take, for example, a project driven by Pachube community member Ken Boak called the Nanode. This Arduino-compatible board includes an ethernet controller, a full TCP/IP DHCP stack, and over-the-air firmware updates for a total of $35 in kit form. At volume in the ten thousands, Ken can get an assembled board down to $12.

A Nanode may very well encompass 95% of the hardware/software stack of the next killer connected product. For $12. That's truly REDEFINITION, not just optimization!

However, translating the impact of this movement simply into being able to build stuff faster and cheaper is actually missing the boat completely. There's an opportunity here to blow away the old model with something completely new -- a different way to think about where the value is in a piece of hardware. Think about open source platforms instead as something that can be inexpensively/quickly leveraged to gain an audience, build a community, and drive engagement online (I'm mashing up Chris Anderson, Seth Godin, and Fred Wilson here). This is really what it looks like when the Internet gets infused into "Things".

Take, for example, the global community that coalesced around radiation data in reaction to Fukushima, driven by Arduino-powered Geiger counters. Or a community of NYC citizens concerned about sewage overflow into the Harbor. We've even seen a Canadian chili-enthusiast who wants to build connections with farmers in India, the tip of the iceberg for an Internet of Things gardening movement. That's right: social connected gardening, it's the future.

So, consider a connected device as catalyst for building an engaged community but also as a generator of open data. Open data makes a lone Arduino or Nanode infinitely useful to all kinds of people for all kinds of reasons. The data coming out of a custom device sensing its environment can be used, analyzed, and mashed-up by communities for which it may never have been intended. It can drive all kinds of disparate conversation, learning, and activism.

Open hardware + open data = communities of infinite diversity. This is the opportunity for developers and Makers that are building the next generation of devices and services. So, when we talk about value chains, business models, and monetization in the Internet of Things, this is really where we have to start. Our focus needs to be on how we can leverage open hardware to build these communities -- the rest inevitably follows.

There's more to discuss here, so come talk to us during the Open Hardware Summit cocktail hour, the Maker Faire this weekend at the WickedDevice booth, or show up at the Internet of Things NYC Meetup on October 6th!

Internet of Things NYC Meetup and how to pitch your Sensor Project

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 21:46:00 +0000

NEW YORK! The frenzy that is the startup tech community in New York City is about to get some fresh juice! Now that the city is giving Silicon Valley a run for its money (if not in $ raised, then definitely in level of awesomeness of companies funded), it's time to harness some of that POWER for the tidal wave that we call the Internet of Things. New York has got the design chops, hardware savvy, and raw thirst to make this happen, and we want to help move it along and be a part of it however we can.

To that end, Pachube will be launching the new Internet of Things NYC Meetup on October 6th. Our goal here is to foster a community that is excited about this emerging market and interested in working toward building companies and products that can capitalize on its growth. All ye with an eye toward monetization, we want to talk to you. At this first event, we'll be sponsoring talks from industry luminaries (see the Meetup page for details), enjoying some great food and drink, and sponsoring a pitch contest:

PITCH YOUR SENSOR PROJECT: A portion of the October 6th Meetup will be dedicated to hearing 5 minute pitches for innovative ideas for 50 unit sensor deployments. For example, connect up a street as a demonstration of a next-gen smart-city type application, or deploy a network of ambient noise sensors to track crime, planes, or noise pollution. We are specifically looking for ideas that have a network effect -- ie. it's about a community around data, not just a connected device. Pitches do not have to be done on-site (we will skype you in if necessary)! The best ideas will get 50 free Nanodes and free unlimited access to Pachube to produce the deployment. Sign up here. Rules: You have to be able to actually build and deploy your sensor deployment within the next 60 days. That means your team should contain the appropriate hardware/software development abilities to produce the project. Contest will be judged by Pachube representatives and prizes awarded on the day of the Meetup.

We've got a lot of cool stuff planned for this event and the Meetup in general, so we hope to see you there! In addition, any entrepreneurs, students, designers, or angels/VC's in NYC who are interested in the Internet of Things and want to partner with us, you should reach out to edborden@pachube.com right away!

No more secrets: Open data pioneer unlocks government radiation datasets

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 10:57:00 +0000

Pachube Pioneer: Marian Steinbach
Resides: Cologne, Germany
Occupation: User Experience Designer
Web: http://www.sendung.de/
Pachube Feeds: http://pachube.com/users/marian
Data: Gamma radiation

The death knell has rung for the Dark Ages of Data where we all had to beg to get a glimpse into BigGov's secret vaults of knowledge. People have the right to access data gathered from public space, and they are now exercising that right.

In the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, people from all over the world came together to aid support efforts in the form of a crowdsourcing movement around real-time radiation data. While citizens in Japan continue even now to contribute public data streams to Pachube to fill in significant gaps in the official reports, others, like Marian Steinbach, have worked hard to put pressure on governments to make available the data they do have. Moreover, Marian has also done the important work of making these official feeds actually useful:

For Japanese data, I can tell you that I found no source for raw data download, so I created a way to scrape the data from the website bousai.ne.jp. The fact that so many others use the data I am harvesting tells me that there is no other way to access it in a machine readable format.

It turns out that reams of static documents containing disparate data points isn't really that useful! Now that Marian has made this data available via Pachube feeds tied to their relative geolocations, it can be pulled into an unlimited amount of applications and visualizations in real-time in a scalable way. This has proven to be very useful and has been a boon for people trying to understand real conditions in the affected areas.

However, the movement hasn't stopped there as the Fukushima disaster has touched off concern worldwide by showing the need for governments to provide data in open, accessible formats. Marian decided to next focus on his home country of Germany, which also has an official radiation sensor network:

In Germany there is a public display of radiation readings, but the raw data was not generally available to the public. The institution in charge ("BfS" fpr "Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz") may have let certain people access that data, but there was no (and still is no) publicly available download. The press officer from the BfS told me that with Fukushima the number of requests for access to the raw data has risen drastically. Finally, after several weeks of requests, they gave me a personal account for data access with a terms-of-use contract.

As a result of this, Marian has made available via Pachube approximate 1750 real-time radiation feeds. This is a real example of not only a shift in how governments are choosing to communicate and partner with their citizens, but of a new class of individual that has the ability and insight to leverage the Internet of Things to affect society in a significant and powerful way.

Not content simply with policy change, Marian has also applied his skills as a designer to create an stunning visualizations of this radiation data in Germany over time. Watch the video below as the ambient readings pulse across the country:

So now we can see how radiation behaves dynamically. Not everybody knows that radiation is a fact of daily life. Even fewer might know that it differs quite a bit between locations and also changes over time. To me it’s particularly interesting to see how values rise and fall similar to waves moving over the country. The probable explanation for this is the influence of rain, which causes readings to rise. The BfS has more information about this in german language.

Marian recently put out a call to crowdsource real-time rainfall data. As his recent visualizations have raised questions in his own mind, his goal is to substantiate the information being provided to him by BfS and hopefully promote further education around the topic.

The correlation bewteen high gamma values and rains appears to be a fact, but not known in public. If I can create a visualization that shows nicely how rain and radiation correlate, it might raise people's awareness of that fact.

Marian's exercises in leveraging the power of crowdsourcing, openness, and real-time data is paving the way for a new process for how citizens and activists can respond, contribute, and understand world events. At Pachube, this is a process that we have been both excited and humbled to be a part of, and we aim to continue to help shape how it evolves.

Pachube just got some rocket fuel!

noreply@blogger.com (Usman Haque) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:17:00 +0000

We've spent the last three years building out what we believe is the most fully featured Internet of Things web service that you'll find. We've brought together an incredible team, architected an open, scalable and secure infrastructure, and been lucky enough to be joined by all of you: the most innovative and creative Internet of Things enthusiasts in the world.

But we're not stopping there.

We want to scale up further, connect more sensors and devices, track more environments and help more people build tools for understanding real-time data from their cities. We envisage an ecosystem of trust – between users, application developers and device companies – in which collaboration supports creative initiatives for sensing and responding to conditions in the physical world.

With that in mind I am absolutely delighted to announce that Pachube just got some “rocket fuel”... We've just been acquired by LogMeIn, a leading provider of cloud-based connectivity solutions! With the technical boost, financial freedom and community expertise that being part of LogMeIn affords us, we're going to be able to spend a whole lot more time and effort on the thing we think is most important: helping support the demands of a fast-growing community of connected pioneers, their devices and their environments.

As anyone who has gone through the process of an acquisition will tell you, it's almost like a wedding – complete with pre-wedding jitters! We initially connected with the LogMeIn team at our offices in London and after spending several hours with CEO Mike Simon and CTO Marton Anka, I was convinced they were people I'd want to work with. Anyone who knows me well knows how careful I am about who I do business with and, as protective as I am of Pachube, I knew straight away that we had a shared ethos and a deep mutual respect. These guys are top notch and I believe we'll be able to go far together.

Ben, Ed and I have been travelling to Boston and Budapest for a few months now, getting to know others on the team and mapping out our future growth plans. We’ll be working closely with seasoned professionals like Conan Reidy VP of Business Development and Sandeep Bajaj, VP of Network Operations. They bring a proven expertise in building both large-scale user-communities and the secure platforms to support them - and they share our aspirations for accelerating growth of Pachube's global community.

The vision I first had more than 10 years ago, of connected cities, connected devices and connected environments defined and created by their inhabitants is becoming a reality. And with LogMeIn behind us, that vision just got a whole lot more real.

...........................

Press Release: From Millions of Computers to Billions of Devices; LogMeIn Acquires Pachube, Takes Aim at Internet of Things

For any press people out there, you’ll need to contact the LogMeIn PR team to organize interviews for the next few weeks. Here’s their contact info:

CONTACT:
Investors
Erica Abrams or Matthew Hunt
Blueshirt Group
415-217-5864, 415-489-2194
erica@blueshirtgroup.com
matt@blueshirtgroup.com

Press
Craig VerColen
LogMeIn, Inc.
781-897-0696
Press@LogMeIn.com

YOU are the "Smart City"

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Do you buy this "Smart City ®" that is being peddled to you? Do you feel the magnificent effects of BigGov and BigCo overhauling urban infrastructure with "Smart City ®" connected traffic lights, energy meters, and surveillance systems? Does knowing where the "Smart City ®" subway is in real-time BLOW YOUR FREAKING MIND??

Here's a newsflash: (Dramatic pause.......) Using computers and the internet increases efficiency! Of basically everything! Even cities!

Blistering cynicism aside, let's face it, BigGov missed the boat big-time on this one. Shouldn't they have delivered on the "Smart City ®" a long time ago? I mean, it's 2011. People are building their own flying drones out of cell phones and Arduinos. People are consolidating all the world's information onto Wikipedia. People are using Twitter to stage national revolts.

And BigGov is busy connecting garbage cans.

Just like the M2M dinosaurs are on the brink of extinction in the commercial world, BigGov has become irrelevant in the public sector, eclipsed by someone with a supercomputer in their pocket, open source hardware and software at their fingertips, and a global community of like-minded geniuses at their beck and call: YOU.

YOU are the Smart City.

While BigGov is bickering over what datasets it might want to release for the use of developers and entrepreneurs, people like Leif Percifield are climbing down into the sewers and getting data that BigGov doesn't have. A massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami causes one of the worst nuclear disasters in history to occur on his home soil, so Shigeru Kobayashi leads an effort to crowdsource radiation data that BigGov wasn't providing publicly. Jeff Starin has jumbo jets flying over his house at low altitude all day long, so he starts publishing ambient noise data that BigGov doesn't even want to see, let alone make available themselves.

These are people who are building their own collective understanding of what's going on around them. They're establishing their own standards and questioning the standards of others. These people are special, certainly, but only because they've grasped at what is actually available to all of us (your kids in high school are learning these skills, building software, and conducting similar types of experiments). Some might write them off as hackers, DIY'ers, or some such, but they are in fact the same as you and me. So if there is any smartness to be found in the city, it's found in people like this, filled with inspiration, hustle, and a little bit of means.

As far as BigGov goes, the future that is defined by Pervasive Computing / Internet of Things / Smart City is not simply silicon all over the place connected to a pretty application you access. It's not a box you pay money to climb into to live within programmed bounds. What happens outside that box is what really matters, and what's going on out there thrives on sharing, openness, and collaboration.

So, if what you are being given doesn't have sharing, openness, and collaboration at its foundation, you'd better damn well raise hell. Those things are what will make cities smart and those are your rights.

One of our good friends here at Pachube is Adam Greenfield founder of Urbanscale, a design firm focused on "networked cities and citizens." He is a thought leader in this space and this conversation would be incomplete without his input.

Adam, we need better verbiage here. What do we call this "citizen of the Smart City" and how we make sure there are a whole lot more of them?

- @edborden

We call them "citizens," Ed. : . ) I'll get to the reason why in a moment, but first I want to emphasize that all your points are well-taken. We believe every technology inevitably has a politics inscribed in it, and the politics we bring to the design of the things we build has a great deal to do with the things you're talking about. The whole interest of these systems as far as we're concerned is to enhance both the ordinary citizen's agency — and equally importantly, their sense of their own agency — over the places they live.

But I don't want to suggest that government doesn't have a role to play here. It's taken a bit of getting used to for an old anarchist like me, but I'd suggest that there's an important role for government to play in terms of mandating compliance with common frameworks, open standards, structured-data formats and so on. How much easier would it be for the Pachube community, for example, if a municipality made it a requirement of commercial licensure that businesses publish all their data through an appropriately-defined API?

Furthermore, there are some things that can only be accomplished at scale — I think, particularly, of the kind of heavy infrastructural investments that underwrite robust, equal, society-wide access to connectivity. And for better or worse, governments are among the few actors capable of operating at the necessary scale to accomplish things like that; they're certainly the only ones that are, even in principle, fully democratically accountable. So I'd never want to write them off, especially since that access to connectivity is a precondition for the kind of inspired, inspiring bottom-up activism you're talking about.

Having said that, we exist in a historical moment in which, for a variety of economic and ideological reasons, the state is retreating from the provision of services that have traditionally been its responsibility — we see this worldwide. Whether you think of it as an opportunistic offloading of that responsibility, as reorienting the state to focus on its core competencies, or as simply facing up to an unpalatable but nonnegotiable financial reality, it's just a fact we now need to account for. So we need that particular genius you're talking about more than ever: that just-do-it spirit that binds together curiosity, the belief that we have the right to know and understand the circumstances that condition our life chances, the instinct to share one's findings and the determination to act on them.

If you'll forgive a momentary lapse into jargon, ultimately our project at Urbanscale is to alter the subjectivity of contemporary citizenship. We want to use networks and sensing and computation and visualization to help people understand the power they already have over the circumstances of their lives, and to enhance that power. That's at pretty significant variance from the model of "the smart city" inscribed in, say, Cisco's promotional material — which treats these technologies as tools for city managers, and ordinary people as, at best, individual data points — and has a lot more to do with what you're up to at Pachube.

We hear a lot of rhetoric, a lot of lip-service paid to the ostensible wisdom of crowds, and how that wisdom might generate the ideas that magically resolve the contemporary urban crisis. But truth be told, that notion strikes me as really offensive. Somehow it manages to be simultaneously an abdication of professional responsibility, an admission that one has run out of insight, and an insult to what people are actually capable of. Jake Barton of Local Projects makes the point that crowdsourcing — the solicitation of clever ideas from people, ideas that would then be acted upon by overarching civic institutions acting in their interest — is precisely the wrong idea. But giving people the tools to act on and actualize those clever ideas themselves? That's much closer to the mark. That strikes me as what you're interested in, what your community is actually doing, and what we aim to support in any way and on any level we can.

-@agpublic

Crowdsourcing data accuracy

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:49:00 +0000

There are now about 2500 radiation feeds on the Pachube platform! This is an unprecedented, massive amount of data, packed with potential, but also pretty frequently criticized. The sources are unknown and the calibration and quality of the sensors are unknown, so this movement at times has been labeled as simply an untrustworthy source with the potential to cause mass-panic. A comment on one of our previous blog posts asked, "Most of these sources have a disclaimer that 'we are not responsible for data quality.' So be it. But if you can't count on anything, what use is it?"

The beauty about crowdsourcing is that the dataset draws strength from its heterogeneity. The outliers are easily spotted and discarded while the data that is consistent across completely unrelated sources is reinforced. There is a network effect here as each additional source to some degree "validates" the rest. Additionally, with the inclusion of over 1700 feeds from the German government thanks to Marian Steinbach, we actually have far more government data than citizen-supplied data on our platform. So if you lean toward trusting "official" datasets, they are here as well for you to use as a baseline.

On the flip side, regardless of whether a specific sensor can be confirmed to be calibrated to exact specifications, crowdsourced data holds a wealth of value through its ability to generate clear pictures of trends. Is it more useful to know if the value at a particular location is exactly ".075 microsieverts" or if it has been steadily rising over the past 3 days? One is just a datapoint, the other is real information.

When it comes down to it, whether you're a government, non-profit, or individual, a healthy dose of suspicion should flow in all directions. The fact that you can now make comparisons, have a wealth of different sources, and draw informed conclusions for yourself with real-time data, well, that's the really novel part.

Tracking planes: Noisy nuisance over Brooklyn can't quiet Jeff Starin

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:39:00 +0000

Pachube Pioneer: Jeff Starin
Resides: Brooklyn, NYC
Occupation: Real Estate
Web: http://www.prospectparkquietskies.org
Pachube Feed #25863: http://pachu.be/25863
Data: Ambient noise

Jeff Starin doesn't like jumbo jets flying over his house at low altitude all day long. Not only is the noise an obvious irritation and stress inducer, but prolonged exposure can actually affect one's health. You might be tempted to call it a simple byproduct of urban living, but in fact an "airspace redesign" initiated by the FAA in 2007 has turned flights on their approach to LaGuardia Airport in NYC from what Starin calls a "fan pattern" into a one long corridor right over his neighborhood, Prospect Park.

But you don't have to take his word for it. Jeff Starin has set up an Extech HD 600 Sound meter monitoring the ambient noise outside a window of his home. Based on this data, one can extrapolate not only how many planes are flying over the area and when, but a "day-night equivalent level", or DNL, which is an algorithmic calculation of noise exposure over a period of time. Both of these data streams are being logged to Pachube daily and are then openly accessible by all, so citizens can view what Jeff says is consistent unlawful activity as it occurs. The data can also then be embedded into into any number of third-party applications (many of which already have had Pachube adapters written by the Pachube community) in real-time using the Pachube API.

Monitoring real-time ambient noise in an urban environment has implications far beyond plane tracking. Potential applications could involve anything from crime to traffic, and the same type of model could be applied to similar datasets, like ambient light or seismic readings. For now, though, Jeff is focused on adjusting the quality life in Prospect Park for the better:

"It is high time the politicians we VOTE into office take the responsibility of their office -- do something for the people they represent: I support an independent noise study because the FAA controls the flight paths over Brooklyn and can easily redirect traffic away from noise monitors the Port Authority puts in place. An independent study would eliminate this malfeasance and produce honest results."

If you want to support Jeff's efforts, sign this petition and contact the appropriate elected representatives. If you are one of our more technically inclined community members, you could also help Jeff develop a true internet-enabled sound monitor for real-time data, or set up an sound monitor of your own and contribute to the data collection.

Pachube is IPv6-ready! Smart-city demo with Cisco, AT&T, and Worldsensing

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0000

Today is "World IPv6 Day", an industry-wide test-drive of the IPv6 infrastructure. As part of this event, Pachube has worked closely with AT&T to implement a redundant pair of IPv6 tunnels into our network. The pachube.com website and the Pachube API at api.pachube.com will be from this point forward fully IPv6 compliant. Users and applications can now pull data directly from devices with IPv6 addresses and fire HTTP triggers at IPv6 URLs with no changes to their applications.

IPv6 is pretty much right up our alley in the spirit of open data. Since IPv6 introduces the concept that every object and sensor can have its own identity (IP address) without being abstracted in any way, it means that real, direct access to data sources can be had, and shared, by their owners. In the context of our Bill of Rights and specifically real-time data, our focus here at Pachube, some degree of direct access to devices/sensors is a must. Without it, users don't have the amount of control they are due.

To test the functionality and stability of our IPv6 network, we collaborated with a consortium of companies to produce a real-world demo using production-level equipment and solutions:

AT&T is providing IPv6 transport services using the AT&T global IP network as well as expertise in configuring the end sites
Cisco is providing the routers to connect the various locations and the Cisco IOS is delivering the intelligence to keep the data flowing without interruptions
Worldsensing is providing the low-power embedded sensor nodes that are gathering data in real-time
Pachube is providing the data infrastructure

The data from this deployment can be viewed at http://pachu.be/25937. Sensors underneath parking spaces in Barcelona transmit an on or off (0 or 1) signal to Pachube. From here, the real-time parking data can be embedded into millions of instances of applications, visualizations, or analytics suites. Parking is only the enabler -- the sky is the limit as to what the data can actually be applied to.

See the joint release from all four companies on Smart+Connected Communities Institute.

The Internet of Sewage and Leif Percifield's "dontflush.me" revolution

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 22:02:00 +0000

Pachube Pioneer: Leif Percifield
Resides: Brooklyn, NYC
Occupation: Parsons Grad Student
Web: http://dontflush.me
Pachube Feed #24004: http://pachu.be/24004
Data: Water level of overflow sewer

Some 27 billion gallons of raw sewage is dumped in NY Harbor every year. This harmful waste comes from Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) that open when the sewer system fills up with runoff during wet weather. However, by measuring the water level at a CSO, it's possible to know when an overflow event is likely to occur. If residents of the city were notified that such event was imminent, they could make conscious decisions to use less water and take a little pressure off of the system. At the least, they can make sure what's in their own toilet bowl doesn't end up in the Harbor! Multiplied a million times over, a serious issue plaguing urban environments could be avoided.

Armed with an Arduino rigged up to a cell phone, Leif Percifield is making it happen. Waste water levels are sent to Pachube via SMS, then made available to users in real-time via Pachube's Twitter and SMS gateways. Moreover, Leif has another hardware up his sleave, the "Bulbuino". The Bulbuino is a connected light bulb that gives users a more constant, ambient connection to the data as it is streamed to Pachube via changes in color in real-time.

Next steps for Leif are:

Get some funding to deploy more sensors (it costs over $40/month for data plans, batteries, etc for just one sensor). You can donate HERE!
Get everyone in one building using the service and a Bulbuino, and mashup the data with a new tool from the NYC DEP that allows building water use to be tracked on a daily basis. Leif could then find out if dontflush.me is actually working!

The best part is that this system could be a driver for any number of smart city applications that can leverage water usage data, both at the individual building level and across a city! Awesome!

How Google PowerMeter got it wrong and how to fill the gap

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 23:26:00 +0000

[Update: PowerMeter is dead as a doornail! You gotta be out by September 16 of this year. 90 day eviction!] A few days ago Google deprecated a bunch of their API's, including Google PowerMeter. The reaction from the community has been a bit raw, with notables like Limor Fried of Adafruit saying she had predicted almost a year ago that PowerMeter wasn't "a serious effort at Google" and that "Google didn't really do much in this space". This isn't so surprising to us though, as they've never been able to deliver on a few key drivers:

Direct consumer access to real-time data
Secure access to data by third-party service providers / application developers

The lack of a true real-time open data platform is the core of why the service had to fail. "Open data" is about ownership, portability, and empowering users. PowerMeter dealt with none of those things and instead was an end-point in the system, a silo, with far too little value for all parties involved (utilities, consumers, service/app developers). "Open data" in this form is useless, while still providing a means of invading the data for any number of Google's own purposes. Not what we're looking for.

Jesse Berst from SmartGridNews adds:

Naïve in the ways of the utility industry, Google thought it merely needed to show up at the doorstep and grateful utilities would crowd around to happily hand Google their customer consumption data. When most utilities (wisely) said no thank you to Google's heads-I-win-tails-you-lose proposition, the firm then sailed off to Washington D.C. It spent more than a year lobbying the hill to force utilities to hand over their data. With the failure of that effort, the Googliputians largely lost interest in PowerMeter. It now is in the software equivalent of a vegetative coma.

We think the right approach for not only the energy space, but any market related to the Internet of Things, is to put the user in control, at the center. With direct control over their data and how they use it, and the ability to share that data securely with both peers and service providers, you create an environment where both activity and engagement flourishes. When a business model is applied to this system in which the utilities and service providers/developers also benefit, innovation driven by market forces will explode.

This is how we are already working with governments and cities in several pilot deployments we are doing with Cisco, and it's how we will potentially work with energy utilities as well. As data is being gathered and applied to business needs such as billing and analytics, Pachube is the link to the citizen/consumer, giving them a way to manage their data and, soon, connect it with third-party apps and services.

As far as Google PowerMeter, we'll carry the torch from here! We already have almost 10,000 users who are managing their personal energy data on our platform. Users will find graphing tools, dashboards, mobile apps, and embeddable widgets in our app repository that can be used with any real-time data, including energy data. Moving forward, we are working with application developers and hardware companies who are building energy-management products to connect into Pachube and are always on the lookout for more. Additionally, disaffected PowerMeter users can bring their historical data into Pachube by using our import app. To get data pushing directly to Pachube in real-time moving forward, we will need to work with the data provider or hardware manufacturer. Users should let them know they want to get their data into Pachube and then have them contact us at biz@pachube.com. We'll take it from there. Also, we're happy to extend free Premium accounts to users who bring their data over from PowerMeter.

Crowdsourced Gardening? John Gordon's Bhut Jolokia Peppers

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Thu, 19 May 2011 16:24:00 +0000

Pachube Pioneer: John Gorden
Resides: Calgary, Canada
Occupation: I.T. Manager for hospital patient care systems
Web: http://about.me/john.gordon
Pachube Feed #3194 : http://pachu.be/3194
Data: Temperature, light, soil moisture of growing environment

Bhut Jolokia, the hottest pepper plant known to man at over 1 million Scoville units, is also one of the hardest to grow. However, in John Gordon's basement, the Bhuts have a carefully tuned environment controlled by automated heaters, watering pumps, fans, and lights. The system is all controlled by an Arduino and the data is sent to Pachube for monitoring (John likes to make sure the Bhuts are safe and sound when he's at work).

John says, "The Bhuts are doing great and we're now on our second batch! The kids intend to sell the seeds for 'the world's hottest pepper' at a farmer's market this summer. At some point, maybe someone from the Assam region of India will offer up a Pachube feed of local wind, humidity, sunlight, and temperature levels, thereby allowing me to replicate the exact real-time weather conditions from their homeland. The Bhuts might like that."

Here it is, folks, the Internet of Pepper Plants and another example of the power of open data. One person's output is another person's input in a cycle of learning that will eventually produce better Bhuts than the grower in Assam.

What other activities might benefit from the same sort of social model?

Crowdsourcing + Open Data evolving into commercial opportunity

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Thu, 05 May 2011 01:52:00 +0000

The past 6 weeks or so have been really exciting as we've seen a movement develop around crowd-sourced radiation data from Japan (see all of our blog posts about the radiation movement here). A portal available at Geigermaps.jp has now been created to act as the central repository for participants to get information regarding setting up data collection systems and interpreting readings (already available in 8 languages). This community has generated almost 500 radiation datafeeds streaming to Pachube, with more popping up every day. These feeds are publicly accessible; you can see them here on a map and they are also available in an aggregated format in real time by a simple API call.

What's fascinating is that we've been able to witness the evolution of this movement as it has become more and more complex in its utility. We are seeing the DIKW Heirarchy (Data -> Information -> Knowledge -> Wisdom) being played out in the as-yet-untapped world of real-time environmental data:

1) We first saw nothing but raw aggregated data (the first stage of the heirarchy). Lots of datapoints, sorted by metadata and geolocation, with varying units, etc. This is the foundation which continues to be laid, led by community members and concerned citizens like Shigeru Kobayashi.

2) We then starting seeing incredible visualizations ("Information"/"Knowledge" in the heirarchy), organized coherently, so we could easily make some sense of the data. Haiyan Zhang's "At a Glance" map is the best, most striking example of this.

3) We are now seeing higher-order, more complex applications ("Wisdom" in the heirachy), mashing up multiple data types and delivering personally relevant information in real-time to users. For example, "Wind from Fukushima", authored by Seigo Ishino is available right now in the Android marketplace. This app mashes up a user's current location with the nearest radiation readings and wind conditions.

This is the emergence of open crowdsourced data being the basis for complex and commercially viable applications. We are now just a breath away from a completely new business model where developers are building rich experiences on top of a mass of third-party and/or user-supplied data. The result is a new economic engine where all parties win: Everyone gets insight into the environment around them, data contributors get applications that are directly relevant to their immediate environment, and application developers get access to a marketplace for their software.

If you consider the alternative ways of generating the entire stack needed to deliver a similar type of application, you'll quickly arrive at the reason as to why it hasn't been done yet; the resources required to develop any one piece is enormous, let alone the entire thing. Here, open has clearly trumped closed -- you can't put this behind a firewall, OldschoolM2MVendorGuy!

This is a glimpse of the open "Internet of Things" in action, happening right now, and the landslide of innovation has only started to build. We owe this to the people who are on the frontlines of this thing, who have literally changed the world and put real radiation information at the fingertips of the planet. We look forward to helping facilitate this movement further so more and more people will participate.

The Open Data Streamroller

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 01:28:00 +0000

As markets in tech are born and then mature, they inevitably go through a process of moving from vertically integrated silos to horizontally integrated platforms as economies of scale come into play. This has happened across the landscape of hardware and software time and time again, and it's well under way in the cloud as well.

In the area of connected machines/devices/sensors/"things" and the services that are created around them, we've gone through more than a decade of vertical integration in a market that's been called "Machine to Machine" or "M2M". Generally, this is the world of closed systems that monitor business processes for the purposes of efficiency and support. This is the old, stodgy, smells-a-little-funky past where data was locked up in a vault and you paid to access it in a very defined manner.

We are calling the future of this market the "Internet of Things", which is fundamentally different from M2M. It is open, spans across industries, technologies, and user groups, and extends the value of data without boundaries. It is social, self-organizing, and collaborative. It is not about business as usual and it's not about B2B versus B2C. It's about a freaking steamroller that's makes fleet management and energy monitoring look like punch cards!

Those that doubt the speed or certainty of an open Internet of Things need only look at the Internet of Content/People. Issues of data ownership are being hotly debated. Sharing, interoperability, and collaboration have transformed every application. We've already been through this.

The driver here for innovation and adoption is a vast blue ocean for commerce. For developers and service providers, a "layered", open Internet of Things brings with it the opportunity to innovate on top of existing data. Just as developers currently don't need to build their own systems for storage and processing (Amazon), mapping (Google), location based services (SimpleGeo), or social graph (Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn), they also won't need to worry about the collection of real-time information about a person's body, environment, or home. Users will bring that data with them and developers will instead be able to focus on the rich possibilities of how to leverage that data for an incredible experience.

For consumers with a marketplace full of mind-blowing services at their fingertips, the driver will be the freedom to utilize their data with whatever and however many applications they want to. Data won't be tied to a single piece of hardware, a single application, or a single company. They'll have a choice, and that choice can be exercised based on the merits of the products they want instead of vendor lock-in.

This is what we're building here at Pachube -- the engine of interoperability for the Internet of Things and the marketplace that will drive innovation and adoption. Pachube is already the largest global community of users that have discovered the value and utility of having access to the real-time pulse of their environment. Our mission is to further connect this community with innovative service providers (hardware and software) and then to give them the ability to share what they've discovered and accomplished.

We're excited to share more of this vision and how we will see it realized as we make some big announcements over the next few months. In the mean time, if you are a software developer, a sensor/hardware company, or have data that you want to plug into this unstoppable machine, you should contact me right away.

Get ready! This ain't your daddy's Internet!

Developer Spotlight: Brett England, Derek Kennedy, and Home Automation Hub

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:37:00 +0000

Meet our friends Brett and Derek, the men behind Home Automation Hub, which can be purchased here with Pachube connectivity built-in.

Tell us about yourselves. On a scale of 1-10 how much of a geek are you?

We are a two man project team. Some time back, we worked together at the same dayjob IT company and quickly found that we had a shared interest in hacking commonly available consumer electronic goods. Brett is the (US based) software guru. Derek (UK based) does the hardware/mechanical and donkey work. We both keep users fed with answers on the project forum and work on the project documentation and roadmap.

Suppose that we’re both kinda geeky but we don’t use iPhones so an average of the geekiness score of 7.

Tell us about your device. What is it, what does it do, and why did you make it?

The Home Automation Hub (HAH) is a WiFi router that has been re-purposed as a flexible Home Automation (HA) controller. In particular, we’ve worked to make the HAH an easy way to get data streams pushed up to and down from Pachube.
The HAH interfaces to electricity usage monitors, controls RF devices, accepts commands via its web UI and Twitter/SMS/Google Calendar. It pushes data to Twitter/email/Google Calendar and, of course, Pachube. The custom hardware includes switchable relays/temperature monitors/switch inputs.Internally it uses xAP as its communications protocol. This a broadcast based protocol so any other xAP device that you have on your network can also use the HAH to feed data to Pachube. The HAH now becomes the xAP/Pachube gateway for all your xAP devices.

We started off the project because we had always wanted a decent HA controller, but didn’t want to pay the high prices that are charged for commercial units (and we didn’t want a PC running 24*7 either). That and it’s always a lot of fun to build something yourself, I think we mainly did it for the fun value.

Why Pachube?

The project needed a datastore and we initially toyed with having a RRDTool server and building our own data storage facility. Then Brett found Pachube, and rather then re-invent the wheel we simply integrated and reaped the benefits. The rest is history.

Pachube makes it easy for HAH users to get feeds up and running. The HAH web interface allows users to associate HAH connected devices, and indeed any xAP device, with a Pachube feed. Being able to visualize your data is very important to understanding what it means and Pachube, along with its community, are doing great work in making this easier all the time.

How was the development process working with Pachube and do you have any advice for other Pachube developers?

The development process was done by simply reading the Pachube API documentation and then writing code that adhered to the calling conventions. The advise given to up and coming developers would be to read the documentation first BEFORE asking lots of questions. Development was a little more difficult in C as there were not any ready made libraries to use. Brett used the samples on the Pachube development pages to understand how things worked and this gave a good foot hold.

What does the future hold for Home Automation Hub? Any other projects in the works?

We are never short on ideas but time is currently in short supply. Having said that there are some neat things on the horizon; Programmable RF to control a myriad of RF devices around the house, increasing the number I/O ports, and adding RF receiver capabilities allowing the HAH to work with wireless PIRs and door sensors.

What inspires you about the Internet of Things?

The really inspiring piece is the ability to aggregate several different datastreams in order to decide when something else needs to happen. We have a Rules and Actions engine inside the HAH this uses Lua scripting, so you need to be able to roll some code in order to make use of it.

Any idea how to pronounce "Pachube"? What's the word on the street in London on what it means?

We say ‘patch-bay’.

If it was a matter of life and death, who would you trust with your API key?

Derek would trust Brett. Brett would trust Derek.

Open or closed?

OPEN! All of the HAH software and firmware is up there for the taking on google code. Full documentation is on the project Wiki editable to those who ask. We encourage HAH users to make their Pachube feeds available for the benefit of the community.

There are many happy HAH users out there who have written up their own blogs and experiences too.

Big changes to user accounts and pricing

noreply@blogger.com (Ed Borden) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 03:27:00 +0000

We recently did pretty wide survey of our userbase and received a mountain of feedback. (If you were one of the respondents, THANKS, and if not, I want to hear from you!) A consistent theme we heard was that users want lower pricing for access to additional bandwidth and history. Meanwhile, since our official launch in January 2010, our team has been working hard on building a robust and scalable platform. Their success in that regard has made it possible to bring down the costs of handling these masses of real-time data and so today we're today delivering on a pretty massive price break as well as a simplification of our subscription plans.

You can find our new sign-up page here, with all the details on pricing and features. The major changes are as follows:

All API features are now available to all account types. That means that advanced functions like Secure Sharing Keys, the Socket API, geolocation search, and global triggers are available to even free accounts.
We now only have 3 types of accounts, and their main difference is simply bandwidth and history.
We have lowered the cost on all subscriptions by about 90%. (That's a lot.) Our "sweet spot" Pro plan covers what most people need for $2 / month.

To sweeten this up even more, we are also doing a promotion running for a limited time (ends May 6th) where you can get an additional 25% off. Just use promo code "IHEARTURAPI" (case sensitive) at checkout. Enjoy!

If you are a current paying customer, you'll be hearing from me shortly. Don't worry, we'll get you taken care of!