Getting Started with Blink1Control and IFTTT
blink(1)
Installing Blink1Control
Download and Unzip
You can find the Blink1Control-win.zipbundle in the “Downloads” sidebar atblink1.thingm.com
Download and unzip it. Blink1Control doesn’t have an installer, it can run from within its folder where ever you put it.
(these screenshots are Windows, but this guide works for Mac too)
Plug in your blink(1)
Wait for it to be recognized by the OS.
Double-clickBlink1Control.exeto launch
Windows Firewall will pop up a warning. Allow Blink1Control access. You only have to do this once.
Installing Blink1Control
Installing Blink1Control
Blink1Control is now ready!
Blink1Control allows you to have various “triggers” that trigger color “patterns”.
Trigger sources are things like IFTTT, command-line scripts you’ve written, or files/URLs with HTML hex color codes in them.
A color pattern is a list of colors and durations to play when a trigger happens.
We’ll soon be clicking the “[+]” to add triggers, but now it’s time to set up IFTTT.
IFTTT & Blink1Control
Find your IFTTT Key in Blink1Control
The IFTTT key is located in the Settings/Status page you get from clicking on the little gear icon on the right side of the program.
Select and copy the IFTTT key, it’s a string of 16 characters.
(If you don’t see “Status: Connected!” like in the screenshot, Blink1Control doesn’t see your blink(1). Exit Blink1Control and restart it. If that doesn’t work, try a different USB port)
Activate IFTTT blink(1) channel
Login/Join IFTTT.com and go to the “channels” page.
Click on the blink(1) channel icon to go to the blink(1) channel.
Click on “Activate” and you’ll be given a chance to input your IFTTT key.
Paste in the 16-digit IFTTT key from Blink1Control and click “Activate”.
Now it’s time to create an IFTTT recipe that uses blink(1).
click!
click!
70DCFB521A0012FE type!
IFTTT & Blink1Control
Making an IFTTT Recipe
Create Email-to-blink(1)recipe
Go to the “channels” page on IFTTT and select the “Email” channel
Choose the trigger type of “Send IFTTT any email”, and click “Create Trigger”
The Email channel’s triggers are “instant” triggers that works immediately instead of the 15-minute cycle most IFTTT triggers work on
(A finished version of this recipe is available athttps://ifttt.com/recipes/76645)
click!
click!
Making an IFTTT RecipeCreate Email-to-blink(1)recipe
Choose the blink(1) IFTTT action
Click on “Send blink event”, the Action blink(1) supports
For the “rule name” think up a name that is meaningful to you and enter it. In this case, it’s “blink_my_blink1”.
Click “Create Action” and you’re done.
click!
type!
click!
Making an IFTTT Recipe
The finished “email-to-blink(1)” recipe
Be sure to give it a good description so you know what this recipe is for. It’s good practice to put the blink(1) Action rule name in the description.
Now you can hook this recipe up to Blink1Control
(A finished version of this recipe is athttps://ifttt.com/recipes/76645)
type!
Configuring Blink1Control
Create a Blink1Control IFTTT trigger
Back in Blink1Control, click on the “[+]” icon to bring up a new Blink1Control trigger page. The IFTTT source will be selected automatically.
Type in your rule name from IFTTT (“blink_my_blink1” in this case)
(You should also see “Channel Activation” under “previous rule names seen” from when you activated the blink(1) channel on IFTTT.)
type!
Configuring Blink1Control
In short:Make sure the “rule name” between IFTTT and Blink1Control matches to connect the IFTTT recipe to a Blink1Control pattern
Configuring Blink1Control
Make a Color Pattern!
Choose the number of colors you want and click on a color’s box to bring up the color chooser.
From the color chooser, you can pick full-white, light-off, or an exact color value. When finished with that color, click “done”, and do the next (if you have them)
(If you want the blink(1) to be off after the alert is triggered, make the last color be “light off”)
Configuring Blink1Control
Finishing up andTrying it out
When you’ve created all the parts of your color pattern, and the number of times for it to run, click “Save”.
You’ll be taken back to the Home screen and you’ll see your trigger in the list, like in this screenshot.
Try it out!Send an email to “[email protected]” with any subject and message and within 15 seconds your blink(1) will play the color pattern!
If you have Questions
Please check out our GetSatisfaction forums at:
https://getsatisfaction.com/thingm/products/thingm_blink1
If you’re a programmer and want source code, libraries, and command-line examples, see our github at:https://github.com/todbot/blink1
And of course you can always email us at:
Thank you!
blink(1)
