The SPOT is a portable GPS that, for $100/year, lets you send your location along with either an OK or a help message to any cell phone or email. You can also send a 911 message that SPOT will relay to local authorities. For an additional $50/year you can have your location sent automatically every 10 minutes to a web page that you can password protect if you like. The SPOT has no display on it, it is only useful in conjunction with the service.

This info is not very well publicized. Milton Academy makes their ice rink available to Milton residents for free
MILTON ACADEMY PUBLIC SKATING SCHEDULE FOR MILTON RESIDENTS
Winter 2009
Town Skate SUN 11/9/2008 2:30 PM 3:50 PM
Town Skate SUN 11/16/2008 2:30 PM 3:50 PM
Town Skate WED 11/26/2008 12:00 PM 1:50 PM
Town Skate SUN 11/30/2008 3:00 PM 4:20 PM
Town Skate SUN 12/7/2008 2:30 PM 3:50 PM
Town Skate MON 12/22/2008 3:30 PM 4:50 PM
Town Skate TUE 12/23/2008 3:30 PM 4:50 PM
Town Skate SUN 12/28/2008 2:30 PM 3:50 PM
Town Skate TUE 12/30/2008 11:30 AM 12:50 PM

When I heard about a plane crash it gave me a chance to answer a question I have always had: what would they list as the flight status for a plane that has crashed?
Looking at the screen grab on the right, it looks like they change the destination airport to the origin airport.
When I saw they listed the latitude and longitude of the plane as it took of, I plotted the info with a Google map
This map was posted on

At CES in January 2008 I saw this line of what La Crosse calls "the first satellite-assisted internet-powered weather station." When I saw one on sale at BestBuy for $59.99 I thought it was cheap enough to give a try.

We are living in the golden age of free web API's. Ever since Google started the trend by giving web developers free access to maps, many formerly expensive services are now available free to try on a non-commercial basis.

These chips are amazingly cheap, $8.61 qty-100 from DigiKey.
The ST part I am testing:
http://www.st.com/stonline/products/literature/ds/12094/lis3lv02dl.pdf
draws .6mA at 2.5 V and can be set to generate a pulse when a certain acceleration is crossed

I have been having good luck using the Telit GM862 module for a vehicle tracker. Just attach antennas for cell phone and GPS , slide a SIM into the slot, apply power and you have a full functioning cell phone with built in GPS and Python interpreter.

Now shipping!

You can now order a Withing scale online

I created WiFi bathroom scale that posts weights to the web. You can see my live feed here:
http://h1.ripway.com/asmithmd1/2768.txt

and a Graph here

This is a demonstration project to show connecting a web site to a real-world device. Since my ISP Verizon seems to be blocking all in-bound connections it is no longer on line.