This month marks the 10-year anniversary of James Cameron's historic dive to the Mariana Trench with the help of Opto 22 controls.

About this time 10 years ago, I got two emails about an hour apart. The first was from my wife saying my 16-year old son had fallen off his skateboard and taken a chunk out of his elbow. The second was from my son himself, asking if he could go back and find the missing bit rather than go to hospital to get stitches.

Today, we all have a bit of a laugh about it when we recall the story. But at the time, it was pretty stressful for each of us, mostly because I was away from home half way around the world.

In fact, I was a thousand miles out at sea working with the team that was preparing the Deepsea Challenge submersible that would end up taking movie director and deep ocean explorer James Cameron to the deepest point on the planet - the Mariana Trench.

New Opto 22 Developer Broadcast video makes the JSON data format easy to understand.

OptoBlog followers are most likely familiar with Terry Orchard's Node-RED video series, and he's recently added a new video to that playlist. This time, Terry's goal is to introduce you to the JSON data format, so it's easy to understand and simple to get started with.

New video just added to the Node-RED developer playlist covers a simple API flow using daily weather data as an example.

Node-RED is an extremely powerful tool that we’ve featured many times on this blog and our YouTube channel, and one very common use of Node-RED is to use application programming interfaces or “APIs” to move data between devices and/or services that would otherwise be totally disconnected.

To help you get started using APIs with Node-RED if you’re unfamiliar with these tools, we’ve just made a new video about how to build a simple API flow using an example web service for daily weather data.

Benson Hougland's TEDx Talk on the Internet of Things and why it matters surpasses 1 million views.

The term IoT (Internet of Things) is becoming more commonplace in the world of industrial automation. The idea of companies making digital transformations and embracing the IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) now sounds familiar and part of a typical business plan in our industry. Perhaps that's why this TEDx Talk on the topic of IoT has reached the next level of popularity?

Check out this recent episode of the Fourth Generation Podcast for an in-depth discussion on the realities of IIoT.

Are you overwhelmed with information on how to best approach your company's digital transformation? Are you turned off by all the hype? In this interview with Opto 22's Benson Hougland, Kudzai Manditereza, creator of the Industry40.tv YouTube series and host of the Fourth Generation Podcast, cuts through the hype to help listeners put these new concepts and terminology into perspective.

Industrial automation hub brings the real-world into the classroom for students

Though I have the highest regard for the university where I received my engineering degree, I felt the curriculum was more theoretical than practical. I was steeped in differential equations and engineering mathematics and didn’t actually have a design project or build anything until my senior year.

This new Node-RED developer video shows you how to do more with your data with CSV logging and file storage.

Welcome back to the world of Node-RED. Video host Terry Orchard just completed a new episode on more advanced ways of logging your data. Rather than just logging to a text file, perhaps you want to change your data to a CSV file and save it to a USB drive on the groov RIO. This video gives you simple step-by-step instructions on how to do just that.

Next up in the Node-RED developer video series, this tutorial makes it easy to create your own HMI or dashboard.

When we first introduced the Node-RED developer video series a few months ago, we started off with how to "Set up groov I/O nodes." Once you've installed and configured them, it's time to do something interesting with your data.

This new video does just that. Next up in the Node-RED video series is the Basic Node-RED Dashboard UI Tutorial.

Terry Orchard is back in his studio to give you a video overview of the Secure Shell Access (SSH) feature on groov  EPIC.

Whether you're already using Opto 22's groov EPIC or have been researching its features, it's important to note the extensive programming options it comes with. You can use the easy flow chart-based PAC Control, the familiar IEC 61131-3 compliant languages of CODESYS, or build Node-RED flows to move data.

But, did you know EPIC allows you to build your own custom applications using languages you know like Python, C/C++ and run them on an open, Linux^®-based operating system? That's the topic of Terry Orchard's latest video, part of the new Opto 22 Developer series.

Opto 22 talks connected manufacturing in the food industry.

Way back when face-to-face interviews were a thing, I had the opportunity to sit down with Pons Tugonon to talk about the development of connected food manufacturing. Pons leads OptoTech (now P&E Automation), a long-time international system integrator and distributor for Opto 22, and his work with the Mama Sita’s brand (Marigold Manufacturing Corporation) of authentic Filipino food products shows off the potential for industrial edge computing in manufacturing.