Rapid innovation and adoption in the Internet of Things over the last 10 years has fixed problems we didn't know we had. From home thermostats and wearable fitness trackers to improvements in advanced manufacturing and logistics, IoT is helping reshape the way we interact with the world.But what about how we interact with every day things? At Smashing Boxes we use our Labs time on Friday's to innovate on projects that are either passions or pain points for our engineers. Over the last year we've used that time to create cool new products to solve to a few problems that popped up in our office. A recent GrepBeat article highlighted some of these IoT innovations as well as some cool projects at Republic Wireless & SAS.

IoT at Smashing Boxes

Here's a quick summary of our in-office favorites. Each of these has its unique Slack channel that team members can subscribe to for updates.

   
• Coffeebot - Our coffee carafes keep our Larry's Beans coffee warm fora long time! We wanted a way to track whether that warm coffee was 9 minutes or 9 hours old. It also alerts the #coffeebot channel when a new pot is brewed!
   
• Maestro - We installed a pretty cool sound system that keeps the office upbeat and humming away during the day, and entertains our events and groups at night. But we needed a way to control the song selection, volume and other features. So we created an integration between our Spotify station and #maestro Slack channel that controls that. Grab the code for yourself at Maestro Makes you Dance!
   
• Doorbot - The front and back doors in our new offices are quite a distance from the working space. Instead of leaving the doors always open and inviting to random passersby, or having FedEx bang on the glass and leavepackages on the sidewalk, we repurposed an Amazon Dash button and encased it in a 3D-printed enclosure. When visitors arrive at our office the #doorbot channel lets subscribers know if they need to attend the front or back door.

What are your favorite ways to use IoT in every day life? Let us know on Twitter, and check back often as we continue to innovate during Smashing Labs.Tom Ewing is an Account Manager at Smashing Boxes. He parlayed his previous background and passion in Project Management to help lead the development of these products. David Shepley is the Director of Sales & Marketing at Smashing Boxes, overseeing client success and helping craft our marketing strategy.