Twine review: the little blue box that hacks the world around you

Twine makes a great impression out of the box. Its brown cardboard packaging befits the product's humble Kickstarter origins, but it's emblazoned with an attractive design on the outside and thoughtful compartmentalization when opened. Each sensor has its own labeled section, making it easy to tell which spartan part is which, and Twine itself rests in a tray on top of the whole package with its battery section exposed. That's another nice consideration, since it's actually pretty hard to open the device up again — the main Twine unit is a white plastic box encased in a teal silicone sleeve that has an incredibly snug fit. Once your batteries are in and the sleeve is on, though, you're left with a simple palm-sized square about 2.8 inches on each side.

A Micro USB port and a 3.5mm headphone jack let you hook up external sensors with a male-to-male cable, and your sole hardware output comes via a blueish white LED that glows when Twine is responding to something. The most distinctive part of Twine's design is the corrugated pattern that breaks away at one end, recalling a ball of wool. It's not just for show, either; the wayward "string" leads to a hole in the top left corner, which goes through the whole box and makes it easier to attach or fit Twine to otherwise awkward places.

The standard Twine unit comes with three functioning sensors that detect orientation, temperature, and — enabled via a recent software update — vibration. The basic package knows which direction it's facing, can tell you the temperature in Celsius or Fahrenheit, and tracks whether and how intensely it's in motion. For anything more than that, though, you'll need to connect some external sensors, which you can order in various configurations from Supermechanical. The company also recently launched an accessory called the Cloud Shield, which attaches to an Arduino board and sends information straight to Twine.

My Twine shipped with three sensors: a moisture detector, a magnetic switch (plus an adhesive magnet), and a breakout board that dramatically expands your options for connectivity. With the board, you'll be able to connect photoresistors and other components that Supermechanical doesn't sell itself. All of these attach via an included 3.5mm male-to-male cable, and Twine detects them automatically. In appearance, though, the sensors are everything Twine isn't; the exposed circuitry jars a little with the sleek and friendly package offered by the main box. The moisture sensor in particular was a little alarming when I first started using it — is it really okay to put something like this outside in the rain, exposing its elements to the elements? The answer, so far at least, appears to be yes, but I have to admit to a degree of trepidation in my first days with Twine. Since then, however, Supermechanical has updated its website and blog with more useful information on how the sensors are supposed to work, which should give owners a bit more peace of mind.

So, Twine works well enough in theory, but how about in practice? I've tried as best I can to slot the little box into my life and find potential uses for it, and in my personal situation the results have been mixed. For example, I thought the moisture sensor might work well as a way to let me know when the weather took a turn for the worse so I could bring my laundry in. It does indeed do this, but I found I needed to place the sensor in a glass that would collect enough water in order to trip both prongs, by which point I'd probably have noticed the weather by looking outside the window — or my clothes would be too damp for it to matter. I could see the moisture sensor working effectively in more drastic scenarios, however, such as keeping track of a basement prone to flooding.

I also tried using the vibration sensor to let me know when my washing machine's cycle was done (Supermechanical has posted a handy guide for this), and while it did work well enough, in my miniature Tokyo apartment it's not like I'd ever miss the beep that the washer makes itself. I also found that keeping this parameter set would often result in Twine sending me messages that it was no longer moving, even if it had simply been lying on my table for hours; perhaps I'd need to tweak the sensitivity settings further, or perhaps it's the sort of thing best turned off when not in use.

My greatest success came with using the orientation sensor. Twine reacts really quickly and accurately to let you know which way it's facing, and I put this to use in my mailbox (physical, not electronic). By placing it within a couple of inches of the letter flap, I was able to make it send me a message whenever the mailman inadvertently knocked it over with his delivery. Granted, this often gave me false alarms whenever I got junk mail from Domino's, meaning I'd have to go downstairs to both put Twine back upright and dispose of a pizza menu, but it still gave good results for the most part.

The temperature sensing also worked well for me. In Tokyo's volatile weather, I often find myself leaving the heater or cooler on longer than I probably should; by setting high or low thresholds for your room's temperature, Twine can let you know that it's probably time to adjust your thermostat. As with the other sensors, I found temperature readouts to be responsive and accurate.

Obviously, Twine’s potential is pretty intimately tied to your living situation. I work at home most days in a fairly small apartment, so a single box that can tell me a single thing that’s going on within my general location isn’t hugely useful to me. If I had a larger living space, a commute, and more Twines, however, the story might be quite different. I can imagine elaborate schemes where multiple Twines work in tandem to notify workers of various things going on in their houses while they’re at the office, or vice versa.