NOW for something completely different. Maker projects aren’t just about microcontrollers and small electrical components. They are also about recycling old tech, and harnessing apps and online tools to supercharge your abilities.
This week we will pair an old smartphone with internet wizardry to make a motion-activated camera that posts pictures to social media. That will let the birds in your garden tweet as many selfies as they want.
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To start, get hold of an old smartphone. All it needs is an internet connection and a camera. Clear any old photos off it – you don’t want to accidentally tweet embarrassing old holiday snaps.
There are three parts to the project: take the photo, get it online and post it on social media. For step one, we can use a free motion-detection app. I am using Motion Detector Pro for Android phones, but if you have an iPhone, you can use Motion Detector Cam Free. When the app is open, it will take and save a photo every time something moves in front of the phone’s camera.
Now download the Dropbox app and make an account if you haven’t got one already. Dropbox is a cloud service offering 2GB of free online storage, or more for a fee. The free account is plenty for us. In the app’s settings menu, find “Camera uploads”. Turning this on will synchronise your phone’s photos with a folder in your Dropbox account. So every time a pic is taken by the motion detector, it will get uploaded to the cloud.
Now for the clever bit. There is a free app or web service called If This Then That (IFTTT) that enables you to connect different apps and accounts. It lets you make routines that have two parts, a trigger and an action. If this trigger happens, then that action gets done.
Make an account, log in to IFTTT and hit “new applet” to create your first routine. Click “+this”, then search for “Dropbox” to connect that account. Follow the directions, then select the “New photo in your folder” option. Enter “Camera uploads” in the box (since this is the name of the Dropbox folder your phone photos are syncing to) and hit “create trigger”.
Next, click on “+that” and search for Twitter. You will be prompted to connect your Twitter. Make a dedicated account for your garden to stop the wildlife monopolising your personal feed. Select the action called “Post a tweet with image”. Enter any text you want to accompany your tweets then click “create action” and “finish”. Your wildlife camera is ready.
Leave it in a window, plugged into a battery pack or charger, or stash it in a clear, weatherproof container outside.
Now your gardens are online, they can make friends. Tweet me and I promise to follow every one of them.
To download a printable version of this page click here
New stuff you need
Old smartphone
Phone stand
For next week
Kitchen foil
Soft sponges
Thin plastic document folder
Piezo buzzer
Electrical wire
Waterproof container
Next in the series
2 Moisture and temperature-sensing plant
4 Tweeting wildlife cam
5 Pest scarer
Help keep rats at bay
6 BBQ thermometer
7 Rain alarm
8 Mini weather station
9 Remote controlled pest-proof bird feeder part 1
10 Remote controlled pest-proof bird feeder part 2
Email: maker@newscientist.com
