twitter burglar alarm

Arduino is a pretty cool open-source electronic platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software: perfect for hoobyists and designers keen on building interactive environments. Even better when integrated with an alert system like Twitter.

We’ve seen quite a few implementations of Arduino and here’s one which integrated with with Twitter. A Twitter burgler alarm that notifies you when someone enters your house.

A burglar alarm that tweets when an intruder enters the house? What with the fashion for Twitter lately, I thought I’d give it a go, and this also gave me the excuse I’d been looking for to try out the Arduino hardware platform.

At the other end of the wireless connection, I have a Linux server with an Xbee USB module. A Python script running on the server reads the alarm status being received off the air by the Xbee module. If it sees that the Intruder alert signal is being asserted at the alarm panel, it generates notifications in the form of an SMS (via txtlocal.co.uk) and a Twitter status update.

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More articles about Twitter:

  1. How to Integrate Twitter Search With Google
  2. How Restaurants Use Twitter to Promote Themselves
  3. ABC News Using Twitter as a Discussion Platform

Filed under: How People Use Twitter