Eli Traitel and Alain Lapalme wanted an affordable and high quality system for businesses to communicate directly with their customers. While developing this system they found a way to build an internet-of-things device that was small, low-cost and versatile. After developing an app and several iterations of prototype they’re now running a crowdfunding campaign for SiB, The Simple internet Button, offered at a starter price of $5.
The SiB works with the SiMP messaging app to configure tasks through a graphic user interface. Several applications are already built into the app but the group is enthusiastic for users to develop their own new tasks for the SiB. Tutorial videos are available on TraiTel’s website for brand new users, and there’s also a section specifically for programming using its specific commands both short and long term.
As a standalone unit the SiB can send you instant messages, send urgent messages, measure temperature, sense magnets, shine colored lights, detect WiFi, and detect button presses and button sequences. Several accessory sensors are offered – an AC power adapter with extra LEDs and a power chip to run on AC when the battery is low, a Water Sensor that alerts the user when it gets wet, a Plant Health Accessory with daylight, pH, moisture, and secondary temperature sensor, a USB Power Accessory to give the SiB longterm power (not connectivity), a Solar Powered Irrigataion Controller, an HVAC Thermostat Control, Motion Detector, Smoke Detector, Voice Recorder, PCB Adapter, and GPIO Mini-HDMI adapter. Plans exist for more accessories, my favorite being a gps sensor. SiB is 30.5 x 30.5 x 19 millimeters, called out by the designers as the size of a ring box. Components are rated from -40 to 85 degrees Celsius and a real time clock crystal with deviation of 35 milliseconds per hour.
SiB looks like a developed system with several videos on the campaign page showing demonstrations, programming, and different applications using the accessory sensors. It’s good to see a platform that’s reasonably along the path of development and encouraging users to build their own applications at the same time. The $5 starter price will not last past the crowdfunding stage, the campaign says this pricepoint is a loss for the company, and ordering any more than one requires the user to pay the Kickstarter fees. The campaign is already wildly successful, and ends on January 1, 2019.