But seriously I've wanted to build something like this for so long just never had the time. Going to definitely do it now. Love the idea of using the camera status to change the light.
See also: https://github.com/JnyJny/busylight
I recently found a server status bezel and was thinking of making a remote status indicator out of it... maybe I should reduce the features of that project too.
Automations are really nice for certain things!
Versus, I dunno a door lock
so you get the simplicity of the sign with the automation desired by the OP.
They just explained why a door lock has absolutely abysmal reliability.
"Making sure" the complicated system works significantly better than a door lock is actually really easy to do, because the door lock is so bad.
Also, I have no idea how out of touch you have to be to claim that a simple sign that costs a few bucks is less convenient than something that requires power, another peripheral that requires power, and network access.
Why insist on being so negative? It's a cool little project. Just keep scrolling if it's not for you.
If you go ask random people whether they'd rather update a sign several times a day, or plug it in and be done for a year, what do you think they'd answer?
dnd signs read "passive aggressive"
Lutron smart plug
“On Air” sign off of Etsy
Script to watch log file indicating the state of my webcam. On changes, triggers an Apple Home command to turn the Lutron switch off and on.
Most of my awkward moments happened with family members casually cruising on my background while someone else had the word. Usually they can hear when I’m speaking and don’t enter the room.
The hard part is reliably detecting camera status. I’m currently using a utility called Oversight, but it is event-based and the dodginess of the Bluetooth connection means the device gets out of sync.
The python script takes a different approach, so I’m going to check that out.
but the core functionality doesn't require a server in the cloud, so by definition it's not IoT. just a nit though. it's still a cool little hack, no matter what you call it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_things
The core idea of IoT is that everything is capable of communicating on some network, whether that device is a fridge, a coffee maker, a dishwasher, a speck of dust, or a light bulb. The idea is that networks can connect more types of "things" than just general computing devices. The type of network and the reach of said network is sort of immaterial.
The author has created a specialized widget which communicates over a network. By definition, that is IoT.
Even the linked Wikipedia article points this out:
> "Internet of things" has been considered a misnomer because devices do not need to be connected to the public internet; they only need to be connected to a network and be individually addressable.
But the definition of "internet" from an early point has been "a network of networks".
It is by historical accident that many people understand the proper name "Internet" to refer to a singular and monolithic thing. For many purposes, The Internet is monolithic, as it is a global interconnect and everything speaks IPv4 and is therefore globally addressable, if not routable or reachable.
But I would say that a "network of networks" is whatever you make of it. If it is a network of Bluetooth devices bridged by WiFi, that's an internet. If it's a dozen networks of washing machines in disparate rooms, bridged by a service provider, but not reachable by anyone without an app, that's an internet.
So in reality, it's perfectly logical to have multiple internets, interconnected internets, and isolated internets. The fact that China runs a "Great Firewall" means that their "Internet" experience is markedly different from an internet from a non-China perspective.
Last, but certainly not least: don't forget that the "S" in "IoT" stands for "security"!
I can think of at least 5 different companies that have tried to launch similar products, including a couple local startups. Most of them had some sort of manual control which everyone gets tired of after a couple days. The few people I saw try to use the manual lights would forget to turn it off, which turned it into a false alarm system, which quickly taught everyone to ignore it and peek their head in anyway because it was on so frequently that everyone knew it had no actual correlation with the person being in a meeting.
I thought about doing something similar during Covid, but mounted above the door frame.
Ended up getting a real office instead. WFH was great... until the toddler became tall enough to open doors :)
(I've also got it parsing my Outlook iCal to do "meeting pending", "meeting maybe pending" but it turns out that Outlook's iCal is nonsense and parsing it is a fool's errand.)
delduca•2d ago
gus_massa•1d ago
> This endpoint receives a JSON payload with a status of “on” or “off”, and turns the LED panel red or blue accordingly