A feed of latest hardware, firmware, cloud, SDK, and documentation updates from the Blues team.
We're happy to invite all Blues developers to test their knowledge of Notecard, Notehub, Swan, and more by completing the Blues Developer Certification assessment. For developers, getting certified demonstrates a command of device-to-cloud solutions, data connectivity, and the Blues ecosystem. Learn more here!
Today we’re pleased to announce the release of Mojo, a new way to measure energy usage in battery-powered systems. Built around the low-power LTC2959 coulomb counter from Analog Devices, Mojo provides charge and current measurement at 1% accuracy—giving developers a clear view of battery performance, state, and health in remote deployments.
You can learn more about how Mojo works with Notecard in this release blog post. Once you have the basics down, you can pick up a Mojo in our shop and then try our new quickstart tutorial.
Today we’re pleased to announce the launch (or flight?) of Cygnet, a new STM32-based Feather-compatible host MCU from Blues. Cygnet is built around ST's ultra low-power STM32L433, and offers 256KB of flash memory and 64KB of RAM to meet the needs of demanding applications (while still being reasonably priced at only $15).
Read more about the flight of Blues Cygnet on the Blues Developer Blog, peruse the datasheet, and get your own Cygnet on the Blues store today.
Two new versions of the Notecard firmware are now available: 7.5.2, which is our latest developer release, and 8.1.2, which is a release candidate build and our first 8.x LTS release.
Both versions contain support for midband Notecards, support for using multiple SSIDs (on WiFi-capable Notecards), as well as many other features and bug fixes.
The full release notes are available in the Notecard Firmware Updates documentation. That same documentation page also has instructions for updating your Notecard’s firmware to the latest version.
A number of improvements to Notehub are live and ready for you to use today:
Read detailed information about these updates in What’s New in Notehub.
Today we’re happy to announce the release of the Wireless for Arduino Opta, an expansion module that can quickly add cellular or LoRa connectivity to any Arduino Opta PLC (powered by the Notecard and Notehub!).
Once connected, you can leverage either the Arduino IoT Cloud SDK or our note-arduino library to configure the Notecard and its backhaul.
You can read more about the Wireless for Arduino Opta on our developer blog, or get started today with the Wireless for Arduino Opta Bundle, a kit that includes both an Arduino Opta Lite and a Blues Opta Expansion at a temporarily discounted price of $299.
A new developer release of the Notecard firmware, version 7.4.2, is now available.
The 7.4.2 release adds support for Notecard XP, adds the ability to disable the Notecard’s onboard LED (as part of the card.io API), and includes improvements to Notecard LoRa sync times.
The full release notes are available in the Notecard Firmware Updates documentation. That same documentation page also has instructions for updating your Notecard’s firmware to the latest version.
A new developer release of the Notecard firmware, version 7.3.1, is now available.
The 7.3.1 release includes a number of reliability improvements, including improved reliability of Starnote-to-Notecard communication, improved I2C reliability on Notecard WiFi V2, and general improvements to the responsiveness and reliability of Notecard Outbound Firmware Update.
The full release notes are available in the Notecard Firmware Updates documentation. That same documentation page also has instructions for updating your Notecard’s firmware to the latest version.
Starnote, our cost-effective satellite module with bundled data and transparent pricing (no monthly active device fees, and no monthly minimum), is now in stock 🎉
Additionally, we’re happy to announce a new Starnote Starter Kit is available in our shop for $99. The Starnote Starter Kit includes a Starnote, a Notecard, and a new Notecarrier XS that makes connecting everything a breeze.
Learn more about the new hardware on our blog.
This month we’ve pushed out some exciting new updates to Notehub.
Much like we’ve previously done with devices and events, Notehub now offers a series of robust filters for searching through session data. We’ve also improved the performance of session queries so you’ll be able to look through your data faster than ever!
Earlier this year we launched a Map View for Notehub Development tier users. This month we’ve added a new journey tracker that allows you to see the location of your device over time. See it in action on the Map tab of your device.
Earlier this year we also launched alerting functionality for Notehub Development tier users. This month we added a series of improvements, such as the ability to resolve alerts and delete monitors.
In addition to the features listed above we’ve also made multiple reliability improvements, and improved our location caching when using Wi-Fi triangulation.
We’re constantly looking to improve Notehub. If you have any features you’d like to see us implement, feel free to reach out in our community forum.