May/09/13



Hey everyone, it’s Electric Imp Community Manager Matt with a friendly reminder that Electric Imp is attending the Bay Area Maker Faire on May 18th and 19th. We can’t wait, so we built something to help count down the days for us.

Before turning our attentions to Maker Faire, we decided to warm up with an internal hackathon, the second we’ve held this year. #ImpHack was a bustle of activity fueled by pizza, coffee, and sheer determination. Most of us happily hacked away from about 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., although there were some dedicated stragglers far later into the night.

Everyone managed to get their prototypes up and running, and that was super cool. But what was equally exciting was getting a chance to see most everyone working slightly outside their comfort zone. With a bit of help, I was able to prototype an aesthetically questionable motor board; Tom, our communications guy, took up a soldering iron for the first time and successfully, if not exactly elegantly, soldered surface mount boards; and a handful of other impsters enthusiastically dove into building prototype devices, or assisted with the creation of other projects.

So what all did we build? All sorts of amazing and fun things (hint: there may have been a somewhat unhinged ch’imp named Charley involved), but we’re only going to be able to give you some teasers for now. Some projects were scientific (a rig for range testing various access points with the imp), some were practical (an automated system for watering tomatoes), and others just plain goofy (the, uh, aforementioned ch’imp).

If you want the full experience and a chance to see the devices in action, feel free to drop by our booth at Maker Faire. But fear not – if you can’t attend Maker Faire we’ll be blogging about some of the projects in the near future.

Back to Maker Faire… if you haven’t heard of Maker Faire, you’ll definitely want to go take a look. It’s referred to as the, “Greatest show (and tell) on Earth – a family-friendly festival on invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker movement.” Sounds about right to us. If you’re into all-things making and inventing, it’s definitely the place to be.

This year you can find us at booth 524 in the Expo Hall. We’ll be showing off some of the cool and clever gadgets we’ve built, plus our new IDE and agent beta (you can even sign up for the beta at our booth). We’ll even have some developer kits for you to play around with and pick our brains about.

If you’re planning to attend Maker Faire, drop by and say hello. We’re always excited for a chance to chat with fellow makers and connect with our community in person. Bring along something you’ve built with the imp and we’ll give you a free – and super stylish – Electric Imp t-shirt!

In the meantime, if you’re interested in learning more about how Electric Imp empowers inventors and makers, check out the case study.

One more thing: Stay tuned for a fun contest we’ll be announcing soon. We won’t leave you hanging for too long, so keep an eye on this space!

Hope to see you at Maker Faire!

Happy Coding,
Matt Haines
Developer Relations Evangelist