Academics and those who are always in and out of their office can often have trouble keeping unsolicited visitors or anxious students updated as to when they're available for consultation, especially when running late. Tom Pilutti had this problem and created a neat, Arduino-based solution which is in essence an device that receives and displays the contents of a text message send from a mobile phone.
The message is received via an Arduino GSM shield, and then sent to a typical LCD display which is mounted inside a 3D-printed custom enclosure. However you could use any display that is Arduino-compatible.
This system could find a use in any office, home or any place where messages need to be left and updated. To learn more and download the required sketch, visit the project page. And for more, we're on twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.
If you're looking for an easy to use and versatile display for your Arduino or Raspberry Pi projects, check out our 128x128 pixel OLED Module. With a diagonal size of 1.5" and 16,384 colours to select from, so almost anything is possible. Furthermore there's a microSD card socket, and removable tabs on each side which can hold LEDs and buttons:
And using the module is made simple - we have tutorials and drivers for both the Arduino and Raspberry Pi platforms - great for experimenters or those who use both systems. Furthermore, check out the forum where members are already creating modified drivers to rapidly increase the display speed. For more information including our Quickstart guides - and of course to order - visit the OLED Module product page.