Hi, I went the Electric Imp route… but the biggest issue i have with it is there is no local http requests possible (only from the cloud)
Does the spark core have the ability to send / recieve local requests (esp send http)? (I use this to communicate between a number of different HA products)
kind regards
Hey theboyknowsclass,
The Spark Core will allow you to open up to 4 simultaneous sockets to anything you like. There are some great demos out there for really bare-bones HTTP Servers as well, so I think you should definitely be able to send/receive local requests (http or otherwise). Friendly socket wrappers for this might not be available right away at delivery, but it’s something we want to support down the road.
In the past few days I have seen more posts on local access. Will there be any consideration for forked Firmware that only utilizes local access where encryption could be used at the browser / TCP server level. I am no expert but, would that not free up space on the Core for Development code and placement of files related to controlling the core at the local level ?
Hi @spydrop,
With the local cloud, you can continue to use the encrypted, efficient protocol while staying on your local network. That way you still get connection level / core level encryption without relying solely on the integrity of your local network. That being said, the firmware is open, so you could certainly fork it and remove that encryption if you wanted. 
Thanks,
David
Hi,
It would take me a year to fork that firmware. I have so much to learn and my mind is not of the logical process - it wanders a lot so I may be creative but, I am no programmer and never will be.
As a hobbyist all I will is to just change the names in Tinker; Pin1 to Phone; Pin2 to Router; Pin3 to Bobby’s Room without having to become a Java / Android Programmer; no disrespect meant to all you fine programmers.
There are hundreds of 1,000s of people out there in Hobby Land who will not use Spark Core because of this lack of simplicity. Am I wrong ? Please do not shoot the messenger as I am in this to the end and will use Spark Core for my projects.
Easy for me and a hundred thousand hobbyist is menu option --> Change name to “Bobby’s Room” now lock Bobby’s door so he can’t get out 
Next best thing would to be a simple webpage form that controls the Spark Core in a similar fashion but, it is what it is.
Dive in head first and hope it doesn’t hurt that much as coding to me is torture to some people.
Again, thanks and I am open to being pointed in the right direction to make it - “Simple”.
Bobby
Hi @spydrop,
Apologies if I’m not understanding – It sounds like you’re thinking you need to become a Java/Android programmer, when you can access the API with any programming language that does any kind of networking. There are lots of great examples of projects in PHP, Ruby, Python, Javascript, C#, and on and on. Including a number of pre-built web apps that interact with your core. Have you seen JFlasher and BDub’s apps? – They let you interact with your core without having to build anything, just a few lines of code running on your core that sets up a function
Thanks!
David
spydrop, I believe creating more great examples of how to use the Spark along with tutorials is absolutely on the Team’s radar, specifically for new users like you. Hang in there and don’t hesitate to ask for help from the community. They really are a great bunch! The Spark Team isn’t too bad either 
Thanks David & peeky123 for the information and throwing me a rope
I will check out both Jflash & BDub’s apps. It goes without saying that all the Spark Team have created an exceptional game changer that no major corporation would do. It lowers the price from $100 to $39; how awesome is that.
Its, I need a road to drive my car on 
Again, Thanks
Bobby