Tech company Adafruit Industries has come up with a printer that prints directly from the Internet, without really needing a computer as an interface. The printer can be seen as a stepping stone towards making the theory of having virtually everything connected to the Internet, not just PCs and smartphones, but really everything, a reality. Named the Internet of Things printer, this tiny gizmo retrieves Internet data and prints it onto a 2 ¼” wide receipt paper. So if you are one of those, who are sick and tired of switching on your computer to retrieve info as tiny as a tweet, here is the gadget made just for you.
Can I make this at home?
Yes, if you are a tech freak who likes to experiment with gadgets more often than not, then Adafruit Industries can assist you in that as well. The company has provided this easy to follow, step-by-step procedure, with which you can make the Internet of Things printer at your home. So if you have the resources at your disposal, you can opt for this as a fun activity during this weekend. Since you are a tech freak, soldering won’t be a hassle to you as it will come in handy if you intend to take up this activity. Secondly, a little hands-on experience of Arduino, an open-source prototyping language is also preferred.
What all it can print?
The sketch demonstrated here enables the printer to connect to the Twitter’s search API to retrieve and print tweets according to your requests. You can print out tweets sent by a person, a hashtag mentioning a word, etc. However, with a little more groundwork, you can customize the sketch to make it talk to other online resources as well. So, if you want an hourly ticker on a stock you want to buy or sell during a given day, or a ticker on the ongoing football match between your favorite teams, have the sketch customized and get them printed on this printer.
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