cheerlights.pl

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use Device::SerialPort;
use LWP::Simple;

my $portvalue = '/dev/tty.usbmodem12341';
my $port = Device::SerialPort->new("$portvalue");
my $url = 'http://api.thingspeak.com/channels/1417/field/1/last.txt';
my $content;
my $oldcontent = '';

$port->databits(8);
$port->baudrate(9600);
$port->parity("none");
$port->stopbits(1);
$|++;

sleep(3);
print "Serial port ready...\n";

while (1) {
    $content = '';
    $content = get($url);
    if (!defined($content) || $content eq '') {
        sleep(60);
        next;
    }

    $content =~ s/\s//gsi;
    if( $content ne $oldcontent )
    {
        print "Cheerlights are now: $content\n";
        $port->write($content);
        $oldcontent = $content;
    }
    sleep(30);
}