We've fixed up Blink1Control a bit, especially with regards to IFTTT. There was an event timestamp issue that was affecting Windows users mostly.

The updated download links are:

• Blink1Control for Windows 
• Blink1Control for Mac OS X 

For Windows users, there are some new features like:

• .NET 4.0 minimum requirement instead of .NET 4.5
• New "Start Minimized" menu option
• Diagnostic logging to a log.txt file (will help us debug future issues)

Also, we created a small guide for setting up IFTTT and Blink1Control. It's a very quick walkthrough but should be enough to get you triggering blink(1) with IFTTT events.

Getting Started with Blink1Control and IFTTT (1.7M PDF)

Libraries & Tools Updates

There have also been a flurry of new ways of using blink(1)s.

Hi!

Thanks everyone for being patient about non-programmer documentation and applications.  We are working constantly towards making blink(1) as easy-to-use as possible. 

For Windows users we now have the Blink1Control application available to match the OS X version.    You can download it from the "Downloads" sidebar at http://blink1.thingm.com/ or directly from here: http://thingm.com/blink1/downloads/Blink1Control-win.zip

All future versions will live at that URL too, so as we make update we'll put them there. 

Like the OS X version, Blink1Control normally lives in your system tray quietly doing its thing. Right-click to see some status, or double-click to bring up its main window.  It also supports the Blink1Control URL API. Note that Blink1Control for Windows does require the .NET Framework 4.5, a free download from Microsoft. (We're looking into how to relax that constraint)

As we've been using blink(1) with IFTTT for a few weeks now, we've noticed our initial configuration UI in Blink1Control for connecting the two could use some work.  If you know a good HTML designer/programmer who understands MVC and is a fan of frameworks like Ember and Backbone, please have them contact us at blink1 at thingm.com; we would love to hire them.

In other ways of connecting blink(1)s in Windows and other OSes, our GetSatisfaction forum has seen some neat community additions, like:

- a Python library : https://getsatisfaction.com/thingm/topics/more_comprehensive_python_support

- IFTTT & Raspberry Pi : https://getsatisfaction.com/thingm/topics/ifttt_watcher_for_raspberry_pi_linux 

- Continuous Integration Build Light : https://getsatisfaction.com/thingm/topics/continuous_integration_build_light_github_project_started

And on the Net there's been a ton of fun things made.  Here's a sampling:

- Blinkenlights .NET extensions for blink(1) : https://github.com/misterspeedy/BlinkenLights

- Node.js library for blink(1) : https://github.com/sandeepmistry/node-blink1

- blink(1) "ambient orb" : http://blog.thingm.com/2012/12/a-blink1-ambient-orb/

- blink(1) morse code : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdNwBsjO4G0

And as always, thank you all for supporting us!  

In this update:

• Shipping updates
• Time to start hacking
• Raspberry Pi with blink(1)
• WiFi Routers and blink(1)
• Linux & HIDRAW
• Mac & Windows apps and IFTTT

Shipping updates

Thanks to Ben, Keri, Preston, Ann, Abe, and Carlyn, we had a few more epic blink(1) assembly parties and have shipped a total of 4800 blink(1)s to our fulfillment house. 

Due to a miscommunication on our end about the shipping packaging requirements needed, our fulfillment house only started mailing out blink(1)s this Monday (Dec 3rd). They now report that they've mailed out over 2000 separate mailings, which is almost all of our backers. 

The blink(1)s are being mailed out USPS First Class mail in double-padded mailers with insurance and delivery confirmation. Unfortunately, the fulfillment house's systems don't send an email for mass-delivery. I'm trying to get a CSV data dump of your order numbers and label/tracking numbers so I can write a script to send you that info. 

For domestic orders, we expect everyone should have their blink(1)s by next week. For international orders, the week after that.

The blink(1) army is coming!

Time to start hacking

The official GitHub repository of all things blink(1) is located here:

https://github.com/todbot/blink1

There you will find example code and libraries for C/C++/Objective-C, Java, Processing, .NET, and command-line tools for use in scripting languages like Perl, PHP, Python, and shell.  And check out the Github Wiki for info too:

https://github.com/todbot/blink1/wiki

If you want to try your hand at alternate enclosures, the Thingiverse entry with the 3d files for the enclosure are at:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:36849

If you make a cool hack with blink(1), let us know!  While we work on the main blink(1) site, we would love to feature cool things you've done with blink(1).

Raspberry Pi with blink(1)

Some have asked if blink(1)s are ready-to-go with the Raspberry Pi. The command-line application "blink1-tool" compiles easily on Raspberry Pi (and we provide a pre-compiled version too). You can use it in your scripts like any other program.

Here's an example of a blink(1) on a Raspberry Pi with a WiFi USB dongle. Instant wireless notification device!

This particular Pi + blink(1) setup is running a script to turn blink(1) purple whenever someone remotely logs into it.  See a variant of that script here: whocount-to-blink1.pl

WiFi Routers and blink(1)

Many WiFi routers today (like the Asus RT-N16) have USB ports and many can run alternative and better firmware, like the wonderful TomatoUSB. The mini-Linuxes that make up these router firmwares are notoriously hard to compile for and have limited library support.  

To make it easy for those devices to use blink(1), we've developed a minimal version of our command-line tool, called "blink1-mini-tool". In the coming days we'll be making pre-compiled binaries and IPKGs available so you can make your router more colorful.

Linux & HIDRAW

And if you're a Linux hacker who prefers the HIDRAW interface, we have a very tiny command-line tool that's useful in restricted environments like server installs. It's called "blink1raw", check it out here: blink1raw README. (thanks Frederick!)

Mac & Windows apps and IFTTT

We're still putting the final touches on the primary Blink1Control app for Mac & Windows.  And we've been testing the new blink(1) channel at IFTTT.com that lets you easily trigger blink(1) based on network events.  We expect to have them available in about a week.

In the meantime, we've compiled a set of fun Mac & Windows application toys for blink(1):

• Blink1ColorPicker - simple test to try out blink(1) and make it any color
• Blink1ColorOrgan - sound-reactive blink(1). Instant Disco!
• BlinkATweet -- spy on Twitter in realtime, flash blink(1) when a keyword match occurs

You can download these from the "builds" directory on github.  And of course the source code is provided so you can see how it all works.

Thanks everyone and stay tuned for more cool apps!

-=tod