A Tech-Savvy Gift Idea? Twine Gives Objects the Power to Email, Tweet and Text

Twine’s slogan is, “Listen to your world, talk to the Internet.” This post-it note-stack-sized object can tweet you when your laundry is done or text when your front door has been opened (hello, curfew monitoring). It comes with WiFi connectivity, an internal temperature sensor, internal accelerometer, magnetic switch, moisture sensor and breakout board for wiring up additional sensors.

The physical object is connected to the Spool web app, from which you can set rules to trigger messages. Creators David Carr and John Kestner, the brains and brawn behind Supermechanical, have a vision of “simple physical computing.”

I imagine never overflowing a bathtub or finding mouse guts on the carpet ever again. My Twine would text me when it senses water at a certain level and tweet me when my cat comes through the cat door, potentially preparing to gift me with a dead rodent.

The system is simple, versatile, and relatively cheap. Pledge $99.00 on Kickstarter to preorder a Twine. Plus, you’re supporting two MIT Media Lab grads who will go on to make this technology smaller and better. Even as it is, the possibilities of Twine are exciting; get ready for a future where everything ties together.

Ella Riley-Adams comes from a small town in Southern Oregon. Please pronounce her home state correctly. The “gon” is in fact, “gun.” Aside from exercising her love for grammar, Ella also enjoys champa ...read more