Today, Twilio released Super SIM into public beta. Super SIM works all over the world and gives developers the ability to choose the networks that their Super SIMs use and monitor the data coming in from each SIM. You can order your own Super SIM through the Twilio Console and try it out.

Super SIM is versatile and works with CAT-M1, LTE, and 2G/3G networks. I tested Super SIM with a few boards I had lying around the house, including the Arduino MKR GSM 1400.

The MKR GSM 1400 is an SAMD-based board from Arduino that uses the uBlox SARA-U201. It can be programmed using the Arduino IDE. Here’s how you use it with Super SIM and test that it is online with a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) command sent from the Super SIM API.

The other week, I talked to Stacey Higginbotham about how to get started in IoT. According to Stacey, a lot of people ask her about building mailbox sensors that tell you when the mail has come. This kind of hack is especially useful for those with mailboxes far from their front doors.

If your mailbox is far away, there’s a good chance your Wi-Fi won’t reach, and neither will your power. We can build a battery-powered cellular device that you can put in your mailbox that senses when your mail is here and texts you when someone has opened it.

Enter: the MailPig

MailPig waits for someone to open your mailbox and then sends you a text about it. You can configure the number (or numbers) to text and the message you want MailPig to send in the using Twilio Functions.

MailPig sleeps until it senses light, then it …

Twilio’s Machine-to-Machine (M2M) commands help you quickly send data directly from your IoT device to the internet and vice versa. These messages are good options for occasional commands; you could wake a device by sending a command from a server, or you could send a message to your server when your device wakes up.

If your device can send an SMS, it can also send a Twilio M2M command. Development boards like the Adafruit Feather FONA 32u4 are well set up to send an SMS using a Programmable Wireless SIM. You simply have your device send an SMS to the short code 2936, and the command will appear in your Twilio Console.

You can take these commands and use them with Twilio’s other fantastic APIs to send texts, WhatsApp messages, and emails, make phone calls, start video chats, or trigger additional M2M commands.

The possibilities are endless, but …

Internet connected sourdough fitness tracker

A sourdough starter is a little yeast-driven pet that eats flour and water and makes sourdough. More and more people are keeping these delightful critters in their houses, feeding them when they start to look sluggish and baking bread with them every few days.

With Twilio's Narrowband IoT Developer Kit, we can build a little monitor that helps us keep track of our starter's temperature, humidity, and rise.

Why Narrowband?

Twilio's Narrowband IoT dev kit happens to have some great sensors we can use to get started, and it's also designed for constant, low-power connectivity, which is what I want for this particular product. Cellular connectivity also means we don't have to do any setup or fight with our Wi-Fi routers.

The downside to Twilio Narrowband is that it only works in the US. If you're hoping to monitor your bread from outside the …

Your new hobby, now with more data

Making bread is suddenly popular, and so are my stupid-until-recently bread hacks.

For years, I have designed ridiculous ways to monitor my sourdough starters. Now, for the first time ever, people are interested in my solutions.

Enter the IoT Sourdough Starter Monitor, which monitors your bread’s temperature, humidity, and rise, so you know how it’s growing and when it needs to be fed. Let’s call it… sourd.io

A babysitter for my sourdough starter, Brad the Bread.

Sourd.io screws onto the top of a ball jar for versatility and millennial comfort vibes. You can also balance it on two skewers to judge the rise of bread in a bowl, outside your jar.

Sourd.i …