

Arduino pop3 email checker - chasingsparks
http://opensourceprojects-torchris.blogspot.com/2009/09/arduino-pop3-email-checker.html

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PStamatiou
I've had an arduino kit sitting around for pretty much exactly this reason.
Along with a ridiculously bright BlinkM MaxM RGB led, I want create some sort
of ambient notification system. Stash it in the corner and have the LED change
colors based on things like inbox count, or amount of website traffic or what
have you.

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the_real_r2d2
Arduinos are very good to hack projects. They programming language is very
similar to C.

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chasingsparks
I actually have no experience with this at all. The C like source listing was
what caught my eye and is the reason why I posted it. I am currently
Googling/Ebaying around right now to buy some kits. If you have any
recommendations, I'd appreciate it.

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ramidarigaz
Arduinos are awesome. I've never done anything terribly code intensive, but a
few months ago I built a water-sensor network for the wells around my parents'
house. The sensors keep track of the water level in each of the wells, and
sound an alarm when the water level rises above a certain point.

I did this with about a year of programming experience, and _zero_ experience
with hardware, and all for about $80. It helps that the Arduino language has a
great IDE that takes care of compiling and uploading the code to the board.

<http://www.arduino.cc> is the main Arduino site. It has the IDE,
documentation, examples, and links to websites that sell boards and
accessories. Boards run about $35. Cheap and effective.

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yellowbkpk
I'm looking to do something similar but for various locations in my parents'
basement. What did you use for sensors and power? How about communication to
the outside world?

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rbritton
The easiest way I've found for communication outside is with the ethernet
shield. I have some motion sensors that phone home to a central server via a
network connection and it works very well. I used a wall wart for those.

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the_real_r2d2
What about bluetooth?

