12.10 Smart Mailbox

This is another popular DIY home automation project that has numerous write-ups and video posts around the Web. Simply reuse the hardware we constructed in Chapter 5, ​Tweeting Bird Feeder​, and tweet or email when the light coming from the open mailbox lid hits the photocell. You could also have the speech playback-enabled Android device from Chapter 10, ​Giving Your Home a Voice​, audibly announce the delivery, as in “You’ve Got Mail!”