Open source ‘blocks’ connect the offline world with the web

Ninja Blocks is an open source hardware project based in San Francisco that aims to provide “a two-way bridge between the things in your life and the web services you use every day.”

Hard on the heels of our recent story about EVRYTHNG comes word of yet another venture that brings us one step closer towards an Internet of Things. The spotting this time? Ninja Blocks, an open source hardware project based in San Francisco that aims to provide “a two-way bridge between the things in your life and the web services you use every day.” Ninja Blocks are small, open source hardware devices backed by a web service called Ninja Cloud that allows each Ninja Block to talk to the user’s favorite web apps. Without having to write any code, users can configure a Ninja Block to take a picture of their front yard and save it to Dropbox when movement is detected, for example, or to turn on a lamp in the hallway when the baby cries. Underlying the technology is a “trigger” and “action” model much like what we saw last year when we wrote about ifttt. Each Ninja Block comes with an RGB LED and built-in temperature sensor and accelerometer; four expansion ports and a regular USB port allow users to add further inputs and outputs. Ninja Blocks will launch with support for Dropbox, Twitter, Facebook, Google Docs, SMS and phone, and Xbox Live; following in the future will be integration with Siri, RSS, weather and more. The video below explains the premise in further detail. Having already surpassed the project’s funding goal, Ninja Blocks can be preordered on Kickstarter starting at USD 155 for estimated delivery in May. Time to start building some bridges of your own between the online and offline worlds? Spotted by: Eric Tan