NEW IoT Hardware: Adafruit Matrix Portal - CircuitPython Powered Internet Display

Folks love Adafruit’s wide selection of RGB matrices and accessories for making custom colorful LED displays… and Adafruit RGB Matrix Shields and FeatherWings can be quickly soldered together to make the wiring much easier.

But what if we made it even easier than that? Like, no solder, no wiring, just instant plug-and-play? Dream no more - with the Adafruit Matrix Portal add-on for RGB Matrices, there has never been an easier way to create powerful internet-connected LED displays.

To celebrate its release - we’ll be highlighting some of our favorite Matrix Portal guides in this newsletter.

Read more about the Adafruit Matrix Portal

IoT Projects

Moon Phase Clock for Adafruit Matrix Portal

The only way to get a correct Moon phase for your time and location is with math and science. Our Matrix Portal Moon phase clock lets you know where things stand right here and now, portraying the Moon’s phase more accurately than a printed calendar, and whether it’s currently in the sky or has set. - Adafruit Learning System

IoT Power Outlet with CircuitPython and Adafruit IO

Control fans, lights, or any appliance using a microcontroller and Adafruit IO - Adafruit Learning System

CircuitPython Support for ESP32-S2

ESP32-S2 boards from Espressif, GravitechG, UnexpectedMaker and Electronicats all running CircuitPython 6.0.0-alpha.3 as CircuitPython 6.0 moves closer to an official release (currently in beta!). - Twitter

Solar Powered IoT Lawn Sprinkler

A DIY WiFi lawn sprinkler powered by the sun. - movingelectrons

RGB Matrix Automatic Youtube ON AIR Sign

Everyone’s streaming, from Zoom to Twitch to YouTube and more. This sign will let people know not to knock on your door when you’re ON AIR! - Adafruit Learning System

Air Quality Sensor with Sensor.Community and Home Assistant

Build an air quality sensor to read your air quality and connect it to the open source air quality sensor map sensor.community. - savjee

IoT News and More!

TensorFlow Lite Micro Support on ESP32

Google’s Tensorflow blog announced TensorFlow Lite Micro support on Espressif’s flagship SoC, the ESP32. - EspressIf

Sensor Community is an Open Environmental Sensor Data Network

Sensor.Community is a new contributor driven global sensor network for Open Environmental Data. Their map currently supports sensors which monitor air quality (PM2.5, PM10) and noise. - Sensor.Community

This is what a Hacked IoT Coffee Machine Looks Like

A researcher at security company Avast reverse engineered a Smarter Coffee Maker v2. While watching it aimlessly execute code to grind beans and drip water is fun, we can’t help but wonder what if this was a different, necessary, internet-connected device. - ArsTechnica

Amazon Details Sidewalk, a new range- extension for Echo and Tile devices

There was not much information available last time this newsletter covered Amazon Sidewalk. Last week at Amazon’s hardware event, they provided some details about the new service. Sidewalk “uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), the 900 MHz spectrum and other frequencies to simplify new device setup, extend the low-bandwidth working range of devices and help devices stay online and up-to-date, even if they are outside the range of home WiFi.” New Echo devices are capable of acting as a Sidewalk Bridge to extend the working range of connected IoT devices - Amazon Developer Blog

Adafruit IO

NEW GUIDE: Adafruit IO Basics: Schedule Triggers

We’ve released a new guide in the Adafruit IO Basics Series for using Adafruit IO’s scheduled triggers. Build an internet-controlled lamp and connect it to Adafruit IO to schedule turning the lamp on or off during the week. The project in this guide may be adapted to control any AC (mains) appliance or device. - Adafruit Learning System

Adafruit IO Stats

Adafruit IO has 348,252 total users! Here are the interesting stats from the last 30 days:

• Total Feeds: 550,390 (and counting!).
• There are over 18,434 feeds online as of time of writing (July 30 2020).
• There are an average of 7,000+ MQTT connections active 24/7.

Sign up for Adafruit IO (for free!) by clicking this link. Ready to upgrade? Click here to read more about Adafruit IO+, our subscription-based service. We don’t have investors and we’re not going to sell your data. When you sign up for Adafruit IO+, you’re supporting the same Adafruit Industries whose hardware and software you already know and love! You help make sure we’re not going anywhere by letting us know we’re on the right track.

Support Adafruit

Here at Adafruit, we sell all of these amazing components, but we couldn’t find a good way to interact with them over the Internet. So, we decided to create our own IoT platform, and that’s Adafruit IO. It’s built from the ground up to be easy to use and platform agnostic (connect any development board or device!). For those who want to get a project off the ground without programming - Adafruit IO offers a No-Code interface for building IoT electronics projects using WipperSnapper, our open-source IoT firmware. Support Adafruit’s open-source development by subscribing to Adafruit IO Plus, the upgraded, all-systems-go version of the Adafruit IO service.