Show HN: Try Ion before you buy – uses BluetoothLE, Node.js, websockets, jsmpeg

[TazeTSchnitzel]

Looking at the kickstarter, there's something I think is missing. There's no point of reference for the thing's scale - I have absolutely no idea how big it is. Could you guys add a photo to make it clear?

EDIT: Thanks for the banana, that's a bit clearer. Though bananas have various sizes ;)

[ericbarch]

Good call, adding that to the FAQ now. It's 12" tall and 3.25" in diameter.

[VoiceOfWisdom]

Check the feed. Banana for scale :)

[CSDude]

I would be very glad if it did not give me the "unbecoming-woman" nickname. Other than that, demo seems very cool, appreciated.

[billylindeman]

Nicknames are random. I apologize on behalf of our server.

[ericbarch]

F5 :P

[tmslnz]

Impressive demo. How did you go about the MPEG-1 stream server with so many concurrent users?

[ericbarch]

Thanks! We're using binary websockets to route the actual video frames. There's also an instance of haproxy sitting in front of everything. But our server is still choking every one in a while, heh.

[gales]

Looks good! On the FAQ, it mentions that power is via a 2.1mm barrel jack, & US adapter is included. Do you have plans for a USB powered version?

[ericbarch]

We have thought about it, but we would need to either make a smaller version of the lamp or have less LEDs (a compromise we weren't willing to make). We pull close to 2A with the 40 LEDs right now. Most USB supplies and ports output around 0.5-1.0A.

[ericmsimons]

Fantastic idea. This is one of the best examples of market hacking I've ever seen.

[iamthepieman]

I can't think of any real use I would ever have for one of these and I see crap like this every day here, on kickstarter, techcrunch or any other aggregator. I don't even own a smartphone or get service where I live.

And I want one right now.

[ericbarch]

Haha, we actually did think about this when building it. The smartphone notification feature is a major selling point, but we also wanted it to be useful without a phone.

The touch sensitive cap lets you cycle through all the 'moods'. A lot of friends that have seen it love it for the music moods alone (microphone picks up the audio in the room).

We'll also be adding in a feature that allows you to turn the lamp on to full white and back off just by holding the top (really nice if you need to get up in the middle of the night).

[TylerE]

Actually, I can see managed services companies eating these up, High priority ticket comes in? Flashing red light in the support room.

[ldubinets]

Could you share some other similar devices you've seen?

[skeoh]

OK, I am sold. This is such a cool demo; I couldn't NOT buy this thing.

[jimmaswell]

The page doesn't seem to say what this actually is

[rhubarbquid]

It appears to be a lamp, but other than that, I'm clueless too.

[ericbarch]

For those of you interested, the speakers are currently playing DI.FM's Electro House channel. Let's get this drive-in-theater vibe going!

[ericbarch]

And now we're onto the Vocal Trance station.

[habosa]

Love to see that you guys are supporting Android from the start. Too many cool Kickstarter projects are iPhone first or iPhone only.

[achalkley]

FWIK BTLE is pretty poorly supported on devices and even at the OS level on Android.

[stygiansonic]

Great demo! Loved the use of WebSocket for control and streaming back the jsmpeg.

[ericbarch]

Thank you! The author really deserves the credit here, we love how well it works. https://github.com/phoboslab/jsmpeg

[mikek3]

How does this compare in brightness to a regular lamp/lightbulb?

[ericbarch]

It's on par with a 30-40W incandescent bulb. Plenty bright to light up a small room or read by.

[jonalmeida]

I thought the banana said "For Sale". Makes sense now..

[gsands]

I keep getting dropped from the queue (3 times now). On Chrome.

[ericbarch]

Sorry about that. Just pushed a fix up to production. Our server was crying for a bit there ;)

[rubiquity]

How much is the half rotten banana going for?

[billylindeman]

12 lava coins.

[rabino]

Well, thank you. http://files.mzaweb.com/image/1f3t0d2b0L3q

[billylindeman]

you're very welcome mr wide-brain

[tdowns]

This is really interesting.

Can I do this with my own Ion?

[billylindeman]

you will be able to controll it from our nodejs library + cheap usb dongle

https://github.com/lavallc/ionode

[ekmartin]

This is brilliant!

[billylindeman]

Thanks! Glad you liked it.

[jnettome]

IM CRYING! SO AMAZING! _______________