[HN Gopher] Busy Status Bar
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Busy Status Bar
        
       Author : aleksi
       Score  : 735 points
       Date   : 2024-10-14 15:19 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (busy.bar)
 (TXT) w3m dump (busy.bar)
        
       | robertlagrant wrote:
       | I'm a bit dumbfounded by the price tag of $189. Am I wrong?
        
         | puzzlingcaptcha wrote:
         | Seems like quite a bit of hardware engineering went into the
         | design.
         | 
         | But if you are hacker and don't care too much about the
         | aesthetics you could probably get 90% of the functionality with
         | an ESP32, a GPIO extender, an LED array, an OLED display and a
         | 3D printed case for like $30.
        
           | tecleandor wrote:
           | The Ulanzi TC001 devices are kind of near (without the double
           | screen and all the buttons and stuff) for around $50. IIRC
           | they have an ESP32 and have at least 1 or 2 alternative
           | opensource firmwares.
        
           | zeroflow wrote:
           | A few years ago, I built a simpler version of that device
           | myself.
           | 
           | As you said: A 90% solution is easy to hack together. I had
           | mine displaying Skype for Business status so my colleagues
           | would know if I was in a call or just listening to music.
           | 
           | The harder part or much rather the time consuming part is
           | getting a good status message from the installed apps. It
           | looks like there is plenty of software and APIs available.
        
           | whitehexagon wrote:
           | or maybe a repurposed eWaste phone/tablet, or at this price
           | probably a new phone.
        
           | echoangle wrote:
           | Can confirm, here's a small BOM:
           | 
           | 8x 8x8 WS2812 Matrix $2 each = $16
           | 
           | ESP32 $3
           | 
           | 1x some acrylic to laser-cut a case in a makerspace $5
           | 
           | So $24 total. The screen would be much larger than the Busy
           | Bar version, which could be a pro or a con, depending on what
           | you want.
           | 
           | If you need the smaller back screen (I don't see the use
           | because I would control it from a computer anyways), that
           | would add another $3 or so. The buttons are basically free
           | but if we assume $3, that's $30 like you said in total.
        
             | shadowpho wrote:
             | no, that's not how much that costs at all lol
        
               | echoangle wrote:
               | Ever been on Aliexpress? I was roughly converting prices
               | from EUR to $ and adding some spare for tolerance, here's
               | what I actually paid:
               | 
               | LED Matrix: 5 for 6,33EUR (that is 1,27EUR each)
               | 
               | ESP32 C3 Supermini: 3 for 3,56EUR (1,19EUR each)
               | 
               | There's scrap acrylic at my makerspace so I was guessing,
               | make it 10EUR and I'm at 23EUR or so.
               | 
               | What numbers do you not believe?
        
         | t-3 wrote:
         | It is a bit pricey, but probably not overpriced. This kind of
         | niche product is not going to get good economies of scale,
         | those custom molded plastic parts are going to get pretty
         | expensive when not being produced by the million.
        
           | Filligree wrote:
           | They do if you insist on molding them, but for small runs 3D
           | printing ought to provide a baseline maximum cost.
        
         | enraged_camel wrote:
         | Maybe I'm not the target audience but I wouldn't pay more than
         | $20 for something like this, because I don't have a burning
         | need for it.
        
         | mplewis wrote:
         | How much do you think it should cost?
        
           | foz wrote:
           | This seems like an item that business would buy in bulk. $180
           | for single dev version, $90 each in packs of 10. Customized
           | with your company branding maybe.
        
         | madeofpalk wrote:
         | This seems like exactly the price I thought it would be. Maybe
         | a bit cheaper to be honest.
         | 
         | Those generic "led pixel clock" tend to be about $50-$80 ish,
         | and this looks like a 'nicer' (in some aspects) fancier, more
         | niche version of that.
        
         | Justin_K wrote:
         | Go build your own for cheaper and see if you can make a living.
        
         | mannyv wrote:
         | My guess was $150. Producing things costs a surprisingly large
         | amount of money because moqs.
        
         | gffrd wrote:
         | Price is high ... but the right price is the price people are
         | willing to pay.
         | 
         | ... and people will pay a lot for anything that tickles their
         | idea of self-identity, allows them to project an image they
         | find favorable, but taps in to some core utility that allows
         | you to provide cover for the prior. See: Apple devices,
         | fitness, business conferences, this device.
        
       | LeafItAlone wrote:
       | I love this idea.
       | 
       | If it was $100 instead of $189, I would order two (one for me,
       | one for partner) as soon as they were available.
        
       | darrelld wrote:
       | This is cool, I've thought of building something like this for
       | years now.
       | 
       | The price is a bit high, but glad to see it in the real world.
        
         | pavel_lishin wrote:
         | Yeah - I feel like everyone who would _want_ one of these would
         | rather build one than pay $189 for it : /
        
       | rpgraham84 wrote:
       | "hey what's that flashing box on your monitor?"
       | 
       | "that's my pomodoro timer, it's from a Russian company that
       | specializes in devices that enable various forms of cybercrime.
       | you may have heard of the widespread wave of fraud circa 2019"
       | 
       | "oh neat, no I haven't heard of that"
       | 
       | "hey what's the wifi password again?"
        
         | dingnuts wrote:
         | where do you see that they are Russian? they seem to have a
         | bunch of US Patents, a Delaware postal HQ, and an office in the
         | UK
        
           | NicuCalcea wrote:
           | Most of the staff looks to be Russian:
           | https://www.linkedin.com/company/flipper-devices/people/
        
             | hiatus wrote:
             | The top "Where they live" is UK.
        
               | rpgraham84 wrote:
               | whew. that's a relief
        
           | rpgraham84 wrote:
           | the original team is Russian, but they downplay that a lot
           | now (until you buy one and the promo stickers are in
           | Russian). yes, they're registered in Delaware, almost every
           | company that operates in the US is, including foreign
           | companies.
        
           | Nzen wrote:
           | The company makes Flipper Zero as well. When they launched
           | that product, the same topic came up [0]. The strongest
           | argument given seems to hinge on the former
           | nationality/residence of many of the original team.
           | Obviously, different people will weight that above or below
           | the UK address / USA incorporation.
           | 
           | [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32168388
        
         | wepple wrote:
         | "Enable various forms of cybercrime" seems like a stretch.
         | 
         | If flipper does, so does Nmap and metasploit and Linux and
         | soldering irons.
        
           | rpgraham84 wrote:
           | They all do too to varying degrees. You can say "X enables
           | cybercrime" and "Y enables more cybercrime than X" and both
           | could be true for any given X and Y.
           | 
           | For instance, someone buying a flipper is far more likely to
           | do something illegal with it than someone buying a soldering
           | iron. Both could be used only for legal purposes too, of
           | course.
           | 
           | For every news story you can find of someone doing a legal
           | thing with a flipper I can find you at least 10 stories of
           | someone doing something illegal with it. Same for metasploit,
           | nmap is borderline, and soldering irons not so much.
        
       | Keyframe wrote:
       | too expensive to justify the purchase, otherwise cool and seems
       | to be rather good build quality (at least from videos).
        
       | turtlebits wrote:
       | Looks slick - the backside of the device does look a little
       | "busy" and distracting if I had to stare at it on the top of my
       | monitor.
        
       | euniceee3 wrote:
       | Why is everyone complaining on the price tag? It is a product
       | that someone made for profit just like everyone else here is
       | trying to do.
       | 
       | Did Hacker News turn into Daily Deals?
        
         | bradhe wrote:
         | It's honestly not even that expensive considering all the
         | functionality you get and the tech included (which is something
         | HN should understand)
        
           | hyperhopper wrote:
           | The functionality is a small screen with a timer and a few
           | API calls to set the timer for you sometimes. $189 for a
           | timer is not a lot of functionality for more than 1% of the
           | annual salary of a minimum wage worker. You can get a full
           | android phone for that much which has 10000x the
           | functionality.
        
         | hyperhopper wrote:
         | So because everyone wants to make profit, nobody can complain
         | about any prices regardless of how insane they are? What kind
         | of logic is that?
        
       | Jayakumark wrote:
       | Good but expensive, also does not solve for people behind or side
       | of you.
        
         | emmanueloga_ wrote:
         | v2 should replace the matrix display with a Vegas Sphere [1]
         | :-p
         | 
         | --
         | 
         | 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjg6-xT6rJg
        
       | unixfg wrote:
       | Why are the buttons are printed to be readable from the large
       | sign side of the device and not the management side?
        
         | foz wrote:
         | yes this seems a strange choice. The operator is clearly
         | controlling it from the side with the small screen.
        
         | DHPersonal wrote:
         | If I'm in an open office and can set my status clock on top of
         | a monitor, then I don't need the manual controls because I will
         | be changing it via the computer. If I'm not using a computer
         | and setting the device down on my desk in a cubicle, then the
         | primary screen is going to be turned towards me and I will need
         | to use the manual controls. For that specific set of use cases,
         | I see the logic behind the manual control label positions.
        
         | chem83 wrote:
         | Noticed that too -- makes no sense to me. Cool otherwise.
        
       | sureIy wrote:
       | Does this really beat a printed BUSY clipart taped to my screen?
       | It's far from the first product I see like this and the question
       | is always the same.
        
         | loloquwowndueo wrote:
         | It does cover people interrupting you to ask "ok but how long
         | will you be busy?" :) unless you want to replace your taped
         | clip art every minute or so.
        
           | qmarchi wrote:
           | You can set your clipart to an end time rather than a count
           | down. "Busy until 16:00"
        
             | loloquwowndueo wrote:
             | Clever! Thanks you just saved me 200 bucks :)
        
           | echoangle wrote:
           | At this price, you can get a second Monitor facing outward
           | and display how long you'll be busy on that. In fact, you can
           | get 2 monitors and another computer and have some change
           | left. This is a cool product, especially design-wise, but
           | there are much cheaper solution for this very small problem.
        
             | felideon wrote:
             | Good point. I finally know what to do with the old iPads my
             | kids don't use anymore.
        
         | michaelmior wrote:
         | You can also have this update your status on Slack or whatever
         | other relevant platforms support such updates.
        
           | sureIy wrote:
           | If you're frequently on call I guess it's a cool product, but
           | then again nothing a red ON AIR light can't do for a fraction
           | of the price.
        
         | dailykoder wrote:
         | For some people, maybe. For most people not.
         | 
         | To me it looks like a very slick, hacker gadget built from a
         | very enthusiastic person. Good finish and highly over-
         | engineered. For me, as a user, it'd be too expensive, but my
         | hacker soul could imagine building something like that too.
         | 
         | Nice product, but at that price point probably not for a big
         | audience
        
           | 0cf8612b2e1e wrote:
           | I recall seeing little USB lights on Amazon that accomplished
           | the same thing for $30. Turn red when your calendar/webcam is
           | active, green when free. Of course, I would be suspicious of
           | the software integration privacy, but different problem.
        
         | owlglass wrote:
         | The 'Status' in the product name has two meanings, with the
         | second being the standing conveyed by being able to shell out
         | $189 for a pomodoro timer.
        
         | Eric_WVGG wrote:
         | can't things just be fun
        
           | hyperhopper wrote:
           | Not for $189
        
         | danpalmer wrote:
         | That's one of many features listed on this page, and they say
         | there's an API for it suggesting that many more features are
         | possible. I wouldn't expect every feature to be for everyone.
        
       | Buttons840 wrote:
       | I might buy this to use as follows.
       | 
       | I want a work-time tracker that lights a bright LED every 5
       | minutes or so, and as long as I'm there and working I smash a
       | button and the light goes off for another 5 minutes. Some
       | algorithm tracks the times I have hit the button and displays how
       | long I have been working on said task.
       | 
       | I'm picturing something fairly cheap, like a stop watch or 3
       | button kitchen timer. A LED, a few buttons, a LCD display, a AAA
       | battery slot, and an internal timing circuit is all that's needed
       | (and a case to hold it together).
       | 
       | This would basically be a stop watch that stops on its own if
       | neglected, and I can imagine a few uses for it.
        
         | 0cf8612b2e1e wrote:
         | I assume lawyers have some mechanism like this already. Law
         | firms can require staff to allocate every 6-8 minutes of their
         | day. Which sounds terrible and likely to be wildly inaccurate
         | as people cannot be bothered to invest that much overhead into
         | their job.
        
           | turblety wrote:
           | > likely to be wildly inaccurate
           | 
           | My gut reaction and prejudiced against all lawyers is it's
           | probably in the law firms interest that these are inaccurate.
        
             | 0cf8612b2e1e wrote:
             | For sure that seems the intention. Create an "audit trail"
             | for billing while simultaneously making it so onerous that
             | the employees have to fudge the numbers.
        
             | hobs wrote:
             | In my experience it just means a lawyer marks each hour via
             | charging you 10 increments, and that in some cases some
             | forms of comms are generally charged at a sub-hourly
             | charge.
             | 
             | In most cases working with a lawyer is a fixed fee or going
             | to be on a retainer basis where the hours pile up
             | regardless, not so much about tracking every moment for
             | every person.
        
           | joshvm wrote:
           | This is how Swiss medical appointments are billed. I forget
           | exactly how granular, but it's pretty small - 5-10 minutes.
           | As a result, you tend to be quite efficient when going to the
           | GP, because it's a few Francs a minute
           | 
           | If I retain a lawyer at $1k an hour, you bet I want 5 minute
           | billing.
        
             | mattkrause wrote:
             | Sadly for you, I think 6 minute increments (i.e., 0.1 of an
             | hour) might be more common.
        
           | SoftTalker wrote:
           | If your pay depends on it, you magically become very good at
           | it.
           | 
           | I hate time tracking and time sheets and all of that but at
           | any job I had where I would not get paid without it, it got
           | done.
        
         | ac_15 wrote:
         | Add an alarm to play VERY LOUD if the button is not pressed in
         | a 5-7 minute window to keep you working. If you fail to do so
         | the entire office/house has to hear your alarm going off
        
         | felideon wrote:
         | Make it a fidget toy and you're onto something.
        
           | Buttons840 wrote:
           | A big satisfying button to push is welcome.
        
         | wepple wrote:
         | I've got this, just some simple JS that flashes bgcolor when
         | the time is up, and I click to extend. I just keep a tiny thin
         | browser on my laptop display
         | 
         | I set it to 15 minutes or it's too frequent.
         | 
         | I've considered a hardware device (and have tried some) but I
         | like to also track time in meetings, so I'd be lugging it
         | around with me.
        
       | leetbulb wrote:
       | Oh my, this is something I've been wanting to create. Something
       | simple like an illuminated on-air sign outside my office door.
       | This is awesome, and awesomely over-engineered.
        
         | burnte wrote:
         | Check out BlyncLights from Embrava. Much simpler and cheaper.
         | I've installed them in a few companies and have one at home so
         | my wife knows when I'm in a meeting or free.
        
       | wannacboatmovie wrote:
       | Very Les Nessman-ish.
       | 
       | Whenever I see someone with a busy light in the office, I view it
       | as an over-the-top, attention-grabbing, awkward human interaction
       | and an explicit invitation to bother him or her.
       | 
       | It's "don't make me tap the sign" in electronic form.
        
       | jacknews wrote:
       | I hit the 'BUY' button while thinking 'how much is this worth, or
       | would people be willing to pay' and settled on about $60-80.
       | 
       | I'm obviously a cheapskate.
       | 
       | Sure, some people will buy it even it was $2000, but I think most
       | people will be put off by the ~$200 price.
        
       | encom wrote:
       | So this is a cloud connected LED sign that tells people to ~~fuck
       | off~~ leave me alone. For 189 USD. This is the most Hacker News
       | thing I've seen in 2024.
        
         | wannacboatmovie wrote:
         | In a way it's the perfect product if your target market is
         | those responsible for the atrocities of the modern web: like
         | why I need a cloud-connected smartphone app that requests full
         | permissions to set up a $10 camera.
         | 
         | Juicero, where are you?
        
       | lwhsiao wrote:
       | I can't seem to tell: is this run off a battery? If so, any specs
       | on the battery? Or is it powered via cable?
        
       | frereubu wrote:
       | This reminds me of my first job in London looking after the
       | network of a recruitment agency. The consultants got headsets for
       | the first time and one got so annoyed about being interrupted
       | when on a call - because you couldn't tell when people were
       | wearing headsets the whole time - that she taped a big bit of
       | card to the top of her headset saying "ON A CALL" that she could
       | flip up and down depending on whether she was speaking to
       | someone.
        
         | vel0city wrote:
         | Our old Plantronics phone headsets had a TRS jack which would
         | connect to an optional status light. It would light up when the
         | headset was on a call.
         | 
         | https://www.headsetsdirect.com/product/poly-busy-light-strai...
        
           | frereubu wrote:
           | Man, Plantronics. That brings back some memories!
        
           | RockRobotRock wrote:
           | My old company used these more recently:
           | https://busylight.com/
        
         | kstrauser wrote:
         | I had a coworker who felt free to interrupt me at any time.
         | Even if I were frowning and leaning in to read some code word
         | for word, he'd stop by to talk about nothing. I started wearing
         | headphones when I was in concentration mode and that didn't
         | help. Then I wrote "DO NOT DISTURB" on a post-it note, stuck it
         | to my headphones, and dug in for some thought-intensive
         | hacking. He came to my desk, pulled the note off the headphones
         | I wore, and tapped me on the shoulder, laughing. "Hah, look
         | what someone taped to your head!"
         | 
         | We both learned something about the limits of my patience that
         | day.
        
           | egeozcan wrote:
           | There's always that person. The only solution is renting your
           | own office (not even home office unless one lives alone).
        
         | semi-extrinsic wrote:
         | I can remember people using various USB "busy lights" since way
         | back in the Skype for Business days. And one of our super old
         | offices has an 80s style wired green/yellow/red light indicator
         | outside of the door, that presumably used to connect to a
         | switch on the desk.
        
           | tristor wrote:
           | > And one of our super old offices has an 80s style wired
           | green/yellow/red light indicator outside of the door, that
           | presumably used to connect to a switch on the desk.
           | 
           | These light trees used to be (and probably still are in some
           | places) used for the purpose of incident management when in
           | operations centers like NOCs or similar. It is tied to
           | internal status and incident management systems.
        
             | bongodongobob wrote:
             | That may be but they originated in manufacturing, long
             | before NOCs were a thing.
        
         | ndndjdjdn wrote:
         | Easy fix. Call the person when tbey are on a call. If engaged
         | tbey will be engaged. Then move that person to a house in the
         | suburbs where their kids bappen to also live.
        
       | weinzierl wrote:
       | Where does it draw power from? Does it have to be permanently
       | connected or does it have a battery?
       | 
       | I have a lilygo T-Display (which costs less than a 10th of the
       | Busy Status Bar), but I intended to use it untethered and freely
       | movable on the desk. Sadly the battery life is so bad that I
       | basically have to leave it plugged in all the time.
        
         | diggan wrote:
         | > Where does it draw power from? Does it have to be permanently
         | connected or does it have a battery?
         | 
         | Since it's not mentioned in text, extrapolating from the photos
         | (sometimes it's connected with a cable, sometimes not) I'd have
         | to assume it has a battery.
        
           | noitpmeder wrote:
           | Standard these days is chargeable, have to imagine that is
           | the case here.
        
           | weinzierl wrote:
           | The natural follow up would be: How often do I have to plug
           | it in? If I have to charge it daily it is probably too much
           | of a hassle and I'll have to have it plugged-in all the time.
        
           | echoangle wrote:
           | On the image which shows the back screen, you can also see a
           | battery icon in the lower right, so that's a very safe bet.
        
       | slightwinder wrote:
       | This looks retro-sleek. Really cool design.
       | 
       | Does this work without cloud-connection? Does it work with the
       | Flipper Zero? Considering it's from the same company, I would
       | think there is some synergy available. And it seems to lack a
       | speaker. For some reason, I would love to play radio on it, not
       | sure why..
       | 
       | EDIT Ok, found the speaker. Nice.
        
       | jareklupinski wrote:
       | i thought someone had finally productized a clock i built for
       | myself a long time ago, which, instead of showing you the time of
       | day, counts down to your next meeting
       | 
       | https://github.com/jareklupinski/count-down
       | 
       | google and apple dont make it easy...
        
       | jeanlucas wrote:
       | Since 2014 I dream about a product very very similar to this!
       | Happy to see it built!!
        
       | imglorp wrote:
       | All these sad people working in offices that need to defend their
       | focus. I will never do that again.
        
         | timcobb wrote:
         | The price of interacting with people in person
        
         | MOARDONGZPLZ wrote:
         | I downvoted this because it is really pejorative to call people
         | sad in this way for doing their jobs. Though I do agree that it
         | stinks sometimes to be focused and have people walk by and
         | cause context shifts.
         | 
         | Regarding the original topic, I mostly work from home and even
         | there like pomodoro timers because they help me focus. Set it
         | for 25 minutes and focus until the time is up, take 5, then get
         | back to it. Works great for me!
        
         | tevon wrote:
         | I'm planning to use this at home to defend my focus from
         | myself! That idea definitely goes both ways.
        
         | Sohcahtoa82 wrote:
         | Some people actually like being in an office.
         | 
         | I wouldn't mind working hybrid and going to an office 2-3
         | days/week as long as the commute was under 20 minutes.
        
         | jollyllama wrote:
         | I struggle to imagine the office where this is respected.
        
       | simple10 wrote:
       | This is incredibly similar to a personal project I've been
       | prototyping. I love that Flipper brought it to market and will
       | buy one. A fully open source & open hardware timer like this
       | would be awesome. Cheaper DIY kit with 3d printable case. Does
       | anyone know if one exists?
        
         | blutack wrote:
         | The Ulanzi TC001 might fit the ticket, it's not open source but
         | it's an ESP32 and a bunch of addressable LEDs you can flash
         | through the USB port.
         | 
         | There's an ecosystem of open source firmware for it already.
        
       | schnable wrote:
       | People be so busy they need to buy a hacker-friendly device and
       | build bespoke integrations with it.
        
         | nixosbestos wrote:
         | Truly, it's so hard for me to not see this as just dressed-up
         | techie-flavored consumerism. If you can't look at your phone to
         | run a timer without getting distracted, I think there's a
         | different problem to solve.
         | 
         | (reminder that Android makes it trivial to not show
         | notifications on the lock screen, or even in the top bar. I see
         | notifications _only_ when I want to.)
        
           | Antipode wrote:
           | This is primarily to inform other people in the same building
           | as you.
        
           | drdaeman wrote:
           | Feels like a problem in search for a solution to me. Although
           | I haven't worked in an office for a while now, so it could be
           | that I'm not understanding the importance in such setting (or
           | whatever is this device's target use environment) that can't
           | be replaced with a sticky note.
        
             | kajecounterhack wrote:
             | Geez the creator obviously doesn't think this is a
             | necessity. It's just introducing a little whimsy and fun.
             | Nobody cares if you don't want to buy or use it.
        
             | cle wrote:
             | I don't work in an office anymore either, but when I did
             | (years ago), I would get constantly interrupted by people
             | walking up to my desk and talking to me. I like talking to
             | people but I also need uninterrupted focus time.
             | 
             | I made something similar with a blink USB light:
             | https://blink1.thingm.com/ . I had a little sign that said
             | "when it's red, I'm busy". And a keyboard shortcut to
             | toggle it from red to green (it just ran a little bash
             | script that invoked the blink CLI). It was duct-taped to my
             | monitor so you could see it from far away.
             | 
             | It worked very well to prevent interruptions from other
             | people walking up to my desk and chatting with me.
        
               | allenu wrote:
               | I had the same issue when I was in an office and we were
               | getting close to a deadline, so everyone was constantly
               | chatting about this and that to unblock themselves. It's
               | understandable when the rhythm of the office gets to that
               | point that people want answers now, but it would get to
               | ridiculous levels where you couldn't focus for 10 minutes
               | before somebody else came by with a question.
               | 
               | I never got to the point of having a USB light as a
               | semaphore or anything like that, but I really wanted to
               | find and hack a toy traffic light that would indicate if
               | it was a good time to interrupt me or not. So yeah, it
               | was a very real problem.
        
           | nicbou wrote:
           | > techie-flavored consumerism
           | 
           | I didn't dare comment because it would be against the HN
           | guidelines, but I fully agree. Once the novelty wears off it
           | will turn into electronic waste.
        
       | QuinnyPig wrote:
       | Finally I can put my colleague on Verbal Probation.
        
       | thenoblesunfish wrote:
       | Messing with this thing sure seems like a great way to stay
       | focused.
        
       | secondcoming wrote:
       | Where has the practice of putting the $ behind the value come
       | from? I see it happening to PS too. I'm irrationally annoyed by
       | this.
        
         | drchaos wrote:
         | It's standard for Euro amounts and before that for many (most?)
         | European currencies.
        
           | swores wrote:
           | The majority of Eurozone countries do put the numbers before
           | the EUR, but it's not standard across the continent, each
           | country has their own standard and some of them do have the
           | euro sign first.
           | 
           | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_and_the_euro#Writte.
           | ..
           | 
           | (To save a click: Netherlands plus Dutch-speaking half of
           | Belgium, Austria, Cyprus, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, and
           | Turkey are the Eurozone countries which write EUR1 - which is
           | also the official way to write it in English. Edit: oops,
           | Turkey should be with England in that it's not a Eurozone
           | country, they have their own Turkish lira, but in their
           | language Euro amounts should be written EUR10, even though
           | lira amounts are written 10TL.)
        
       | blutack wrote:
       | If you're looking for something with an addressable LED matrix in
       | a clock style form factor, the Ulanzi TC001 [0] for ~$50 is worth
       | having a look at.
       | 
       | Doesn't quite have the same aesthetic but inside it's just an
       | ESP32 (flashed via the USB-C port) and there's various mature
       | open source firmware replacements. I use awtrix[1] on mine and
       | it's very easy to tie in HomeAssistant for doorbell notifications
       | and that sort of thing. I did also knock up a Pomodoro app for
       | it.
       | 
       | 0: https://www.ulanzi.com/products/ulanzi-pixel-smart-
       | clock-288...
       | 
       | 1: https://github.com/Blueforcer/awtrix3
        
         | CobrastanJorji wrote:
         | I was going to say that $200 seemed awfully expensive for a
         | programmable kitchen timer.
         | 
         | I've had a project idea for a while that would require a bit
         | more juice. In short, I want to make a music practice timer for
         | ADHD kids that avoid actually playing music during practice
         | time. I want it to be beefy enough to run some simple ML for
         | detecting instruments being played, and I only want the timer
         | to count down while the instruments are playing. I picture it
         | looking a lot like the clock above, but with something like a
         | Raspberry Pi jammed inside so it's got enough power to reliably
         | detect "violin."
         | 
         | Any ideas on hardware for that?
        
           | r2_pilot wrote:
           | "Identifying Different Musical Instrument Sounds Using
           | Fourier Analysis in LabVIEW" Rather than "ML" du jour, I
           | would say that a fast Fourier transform would get you
           | sufficient data to determine if practicing or talking or
           | silence.
        
             | CobrastanJorji wrote:
             | Definitely valid callout. I was also looking for an excuse
             | to play with audio ML, but you're totally right that just
             | examining a Fourier series could very likely do a great job
             | of determining whether a given type of instrument is being
             | played.
        
           | bobnamob wrote:
           | The adversarial child would be playing recordings into the
           | timer within minutes no?
        
             | CobrastanJorji wrote:
             | I'm assuming the child is question is not so much
             | adversarial so much as ADHD. They'll be actively looking to
             | divert their attention to more stimulating activities than
             | playing an instrument but not attempting to cheat the
             | system. And I'm assuming a parent is present but not
             | necessarily in full control of the child. Or it could work
             | equally well for an adult in a similar situation.
        
           | blutack wrote:
           | The ESP32S(1?) that's inside is fairly powerful as embedded
           | mcus go but that said...
           | 
           | If you need grunt and you don't specifically want the
           | aesthetic of an led matrix panel you'd probably be better off
           | with an old phone or tablet based thing.
           | 
           | The TC001 afaik doesn't have any mics inside anyway.
        
         | purpleidea wrote:
         | Neat! Can't tell if it has a speaker at the back or not. Would
         | like to play sounds or alarms...
         | 
         | I'd love to attach this to a PoE to USB-C ethernet adapter to
         | talk to it over API via hardwired. Still looking for something
         | like that. The flipper busy bar seems to at least have some
         | connectivity over USB.
        
           | wildekek wrote:
           | It has a small piezo buzzer, and you can use it to play RTTTL
           | sounds. https://blueforcer.github.io/awtrix3/#/sounds
           | 
           | I have to warn that it sounds like hot garbage though. The
           | neat thing with ESP32 devices is that you can make it sound
           | okay using its built in 8-bit DACs, or great using I2S.
           | 
           | Speaking of hardware hacking; you can also get POE/LAN
           | adaptors for the ESP32, if you have free hardware pins left
           | for it.
        
             | blutack wrote:
             | +1 for the hot garbage piezo, but as OP says the ESP32 has
             | a lot of fun hacking potential and there's plenty of space
             | in the case especially if you remove the battery.
        
         | dr_kiszonka wrote:
         | Neat! This is very close to what I want. I am looking for a
         | very affordable device like this to affix to my home office
         | doors. I would like it to be programmable allowing me to set
         | the status to Don't Enter when I am having a Zoom call, etc.
        
           | blutack wrote:
           | Very simple if you flash it with awtrix, it has a neat JSON
           | API.
        
         | password4321 wrote:
         | This 16x32 RGB LED panel (6.75"x2.75", USB powered, Bluetooth
         | programmable) was $15 for a while, now $26:
         | https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CP5P7RY7
         | 
         | Programming it with your own code is still a mess, see "Panel
         | Communication": https://github.com/auc0le/JT-Edit
        
           | nine_k wrote:
           | Could be even cheaper as a string of addressable LEDs + some
           | arduino board.
           | 
           | But quite some people are happy to pay the extra $174 for not
           | needing to hack together software, a housing, physical
           | controls, etc.
        
         | astrostl wrote:
         | Yes, exactly, thank you! I have a Tidbyt that I enjoy but it's
         | pricy and has a subscription local API. I thought the thing in
         | the OP might be a discount smart home alternative and was
         | hoping to find exactly this kind of alternative recommendation
         | in the comments.
        
         | rkachowski wrote:
         | ahh that's incredible. I've attempted similar projects with
         | various devices over time. this looks cool!
        
         | m4r71n wrote:
         | This looks great! I've considered building a simple device with
         | an LED matrix that looks similar to this, but could never
         | figure out what gives the LEDs the muted look. All of the
         | devices mentioned here (Tidbyt Gen2, Lamarca, Ulanzi, even the
         | busy.bar) have it. Is the back-pannel just an LED matrix with a
         | custom acrylic in front of it? How do they ensure the light
         | from individual LEDs doesn't bleed into its neighbor?
        
           | egeozcan wrote:
           | > custom acrylic
           | 
           | While I'm not an expert, my own experimentation suggests this
           | is correct
        
           | blutack wrote:
           | I wouldn't swear to it but from mine it looks like there's a
           | grid of light guides between the led PCB and the front screen
           | to prevent any cross bleed. The front screen is translucent
           | but not transparent (think heavy tinted window) acrylic which
           | gives it the muted look.
           | 
           | It's pretty good hardware wise, it would be hard to knock up
           | DIY for $50 even just in BOM.
           | 
           | Edit: teardown in German https://youtu.be/-Dn3A5V8ZPo @ 04:30
        
         | jdoss wrote:
         | This looks exactly what I have been looking for to put outside
         | of my home office to keep my family from interrupting me during
         | work meetings. Thanks for sharing it!
        
         | import wrote:
         | I have 2 of them and love them, blueforcer firmware supports
         | home assistant and I can mix it with automations
        
         | blutack wrote:
         | As I'm too late to edit - if you use it in a setting where it's
         | always powered, you might want to consider removing the battery
         | as a safety measure. It's a fairly simple hardware hack,
         | various YouTube videos and blogs on the subject.
        
       | VoxPelli wrote:
       | Is there any message from the Flipper Zero people that this is
       | actually their device?
       | 
       | It's not mentioned on https://www.flipperdevices.com/, neither on
       | https://flipperzero.one/ or their Instagram?
       | 
       | They have been plagued with peopling scamming people in their
       | name before
        
         | kretaceous wrote:
         | Check the footer.
        
           | jstanley wrote:
           | That doesn't prove anything.
        
             | blensor wrote:
             | And interestingly none of the socials I could find are
             | mentioning it.
             | 
             | I am not saying it is a scam it's just very strange that
             | all connections between busy.bar and flipper devices are
             | one way. One would expect some two way mentions
        
             | marliechiller wrote:
             | It literally says: "Flipper Devices Designed by Flipper
             | Devices Inc. (c) 2024. All rights reserved."
        
               | ThrowawayTestr wrote:
               | Anyone can put that there
        
               | swores wrote:
               | Every scam website ever made that pretends to be part of
               | a known business copies that business's footer text, it's
               | not remotely relevant in trying to judge whether a
               | website is telling the truth or not about who owns it.
               | 
               | (And in case anyone reads my comment without seeing that
               | the founder of Flipper already commented confirming this
               | is theirs, not a scam: that's the case.)
        
               | mikestew wrote:
               | Yeah, and those "PayPal" emails telling me to enter my
               | creds _must_ be legit because they say "PayPal (c) 2024"
               | at the bottom, with a link to paypal.com.
        
               | floam wrote:
               | Actually fake ones will inevitably show "(c)" because
               | they couldn't get authorization for the copyright key. If
               | you zoom in you can see the gaps in the circle betraying
               | the deception.
               | 
               | To be extra cautious, select it to make sure it's real
               | text and not a screenshot of a real copyright notice -
               | this is a common workaround. There is also one known
               | proof of concept exploit using false glyphs in web fonts
               | - this is why many security researchers disable the
               | loading of fonts.
               | 
               | Subscribe to my Practical Cybersecurity newsletter
        
         | assusdan wrote:
         | It is mentioned at their "We're hiring" page
         | https://flipperdevices.com/jobs#!/tab/282752814-2
         | 
         | "We are looking for a professional multidisciplinary designer
         | to join our Busy Status Bar team and help bring the product to
         | Kickstarter, generating excitement among future users."
        
         | emilkaiumov wrote:
         | It is (but in russian)
         | 
         | Pavel Zhovner (a lead of flipper devices) wrote about Busy
         | status bar 3 months ago in his Telegram channel
         | (https://t.me/zhovner_hub/2073).
         | 
         | At https://flipperzero.one/ you can find habr.com blog link.
         | The first post in Flipper blog was made by Zhovner
         | https://habr.com/ru/users/zhovner/ (who has a link to telegram
         | channel zhovner_hub).
        
           | dullcrisp wrote:
           | > Glavnaia ideia v tom, chtoby skazat' liudiam "ot'ebites' na
           | 15 minut" eshche do togo kak vas otvlekli.
           | 
           | This explanation is much more forthright.
        
             | gk1 wrote:
             | For the lazy:
             | 
             | "The main idea is to tell people to 'F---- off for 15
             | minutes' before they get to interrupt you."
        
         | zhovner wrote:
         | Hi, Pavel Zhovner here, Flipper Devices CEO. Yes it's our
         | product, but it's not ready for announcement yet, so we keep it
         | secret.
         | 
         | Right now, we are working on implementing Matter smart home
         | protocol and will slightly change the product concept.
        
           | Y_Y wrote:
           | Hi Pavel Zhovner. I'm afraid you're not doing a very good job
           | of keeping it secret.
           | 
           | What are the odds of a kit version woth a lower pricetag and
           | some assembly required?
        
             | diggan wrote:
             | > What are the odds of a kit version woth a lower pricetag
             | and some assembly required?
             | 
             | Or even better, a version that ships with everything
             | besides "the brain" and allows us to use our Flipper Zero
             | as the brain :) Looking at the old blog articles about the
             | project, it seems it got started with using Flipper Zero as
             | the brain, so maybe it's not that far-fetched.
        
           | dr_kiszonka wrote:
           | It looks gorgeous, especially the hardware. I think the
           | typeface on the hardware and the retro busy text could be
           | further refined, but it is very very cool overall.
        
             | dr_kiszonka wrote:
             | (Looking at the renders, there are at least four different
             | fonts on the device. It would probably look better if you
             | used fewer.)
        
           | poincaredisk wrote:
           | Side note to people reading this: in general, when suspecting
           | a scam, don't blindly trust anyone who says "I'm ... and I
           | confirm this is OK". This may be the same very person who
           | you're suspecting of original scam ;). Not a theory, I have
           | cases looks this every other week in my dayjob.
           | 
           | In this case I believe the post is legit.
        
             | creatonez wrote:
             | It might ring better for the cypherpunks here that zhovner
             | has verified their HN account ownership with their keybase
             | GPG key, which can only be done by editing an account's
             | profile description to include a specific signature (or by
             | defacing HN / breaching the account). And the same key is
             | also used to prove ownership of their Github account and
             | website.
        
             | IshKebab wrote:
             | More important note to people reading this: use your brain.
             | Is it likely that a scammer will create an _extremely_
             | professional website and product, and then their scam is
             | that ride the coat tails of another brand _and try to keep
             | that scam up with Hacker News comments_?
             | 
             | (I think lots of HN people have issues with reality so just
             | in case the answer is: absolutely not.)
        
               | fzeroracer wrote:
               | Yes, actually. Well, everything except the last point. If
               | you're unfamiliar with UFO 50, it's a recent collection
               | of games inspired by 80s-esque computer game design. The
               | reason why I bring this up is because there's a website
               | (ufo50.net) which is actually fake and completely
               | unrelated to the actual ufo50 site (50games.fun) which is
               | designed to be SEO-bait so that it can absorb traffic
               | from search engines.
        
             | dgacmu wrote:
             | Or he's been playing the long game and fake-submitted the
             | Show HN post for flipper zero four years ago just to be
             | ready for this day. ;-)
             | 
             | (or the account was compromised, of course)
        
           | parhamn wrote:
           | Put a CO2 + temp/humidity sensor in there and it's a no-
           | brainer. The sensors could be nice to hack on too.
        
             | wingworks wrote:
             | Also add PM (Particulate Matter) and VOC.
        
             | mightysashiman wrote:
             | hell yes!
        
             | mxfh wrote:
             | with matter support that could just well integrate with the
             | rest of home automation. There is a lack of devices with
             | big nice dials for that.
             | 
             | +1 CO2/PM2.5
        
             | dylan604 wrote:
             | so now we're talking a $500 device? they're already asking
             | ~$200 for a feature stop watch
        
             | jll29 wrote:
             | It's a beautiful site and product.
             | 
             | However, the original inventor of the Pomodoro technique
             | explicitly advocates a "low tech" approach - a mechanical
             | kitchen timer, because he argued that the tactile and
             | auditory elements (i.e., the turning moves and ticking
             | sounds) get associated with the elements of the techniques
             | in the human brain.
             | 
             | It would be interesting to evaluate both variants of the
             | approach in a scientific experiment.
             | 
             | https://www.amazon.com/-/en/38-1005/dp/B00335P518 - about
             | EUR7 or $13, depending on your geography
        
               | vineyardmike wrote:
               | This product (1) is not just for Pomodoro and (2) has
               | nice tactile hardware.
               | 
               | I think hardware that can "passively" be more useful with
               | sensors and similar are easy wins. No reason it has to
               | disrupt a timer, it just hides sensors you'd want within
               | a device that would already be sitting out in your
               | home/office.
        
             | wongarsu wrote:
             | And double the price?
             | 
             | Temp/humidity is simple enough, but reasonably priced CO2
             | sensors with any accuracy are an issue
        
           | adtac wrote:
           | Is there any message from the Flipper Zero people that this
           | is actually their CEO? :)
        
             | diggan wrote:
             | No need, the user profile (cryptographically) links to
             | their keybase profiles which corroborates the identity. The
             | future is here! :)
        
               | roland35 wrote:
               | And... How do we know the key base profile is correct?
        
               | diggan wrote:
               | Here is how Keybase works:
               | https://book.keybase.io/docs/server
               | 
               | Then take a look at the HN profile, which leads you to
               | the Keybase profile.
        
               | bloopernova wrote:
               | I really wish keybase had taken off. I should have
               | realized it was going to fail once they started adding
               | the cryptocurrency wallet.
        
               | diggan wrote:
               | Keyoxide seems OK as an alternative: https://keyoxide.org
               | /aspe:keyoxide.org:Q6B7ZBQITV7IE2RG4EMVK...
               | 
               | Doesn't have any of the social "features".
        
           | m463 wrote:
           | unrelated: how come you can't buy your device on amazon?
        
           | therein wrote:
           | Looks nice. We should have known from the way it looks that
           | it is either you guys or Teenage Engineering.
        
         | bloopernova wrote:
         | I wonder how many people bought this item without checking that
         | it's legitimate?
        
           | barrenko wrote:
           | Caveat empor my dude.
        
             | nmstoker wrote:
             | emptor :)
        
               | edm0nd wrote:
               | Caveat emperor
        
           | diggan wrote:
           | I'm 97% sure 0 people bought this thing, seeing as it isn't
           | available to buy yet.
        
           | tjohns wrote:
           | Zero, because there's no checkout page yet. Just a mailing
           | list for status updates.
        
             | bloopernova wrote:
             | That _would_ put a crimp in any purchase plans, to be sure.
        
         | gorgoiler wrote:
         | Flipper Zero's UK jobs page is currently advertising for a
         | designer to work on the Busy Bar:
         | 
         | https://flipperdevices.com/jobs#!/tab/282752814-2
         | 
         | ...linked at the bottom of https://flipperzero.one/
        
       | danjl wrote:
       | Back when I worked in an office and had to do deep thinking
       | without interruptions, I'd string up a bit of yellow police-like
       | tape that I stole from the SGI offices that were closed during
       | Shoreline concerts that said "SILICON GRAPHICS". Worked
       | perfectly.
        
       | asoneth wrote:
       | I wouldn't have thought this kind of thing would be useful, but
       | after trying a few pomodoro timers I ended up with one (TimeTimer
       | Plus) that is so large that it had the unanticipated benefit of
       | notifying others how long I'll be busy.
       | 
       | However, I will say it depends a great deal on your
       | coworkers/family as to whether they _care_ that you 're busy when
       | they want to ask you something.
        
       | jayd16 wrote:
       | Hmm shouldn't the button labels be reversed if you're supposed to
       | face it away from you?
        
       | INTPenis wrote:
       | They need to make a miniature version that I can attach to my
       | headphones because that is my busy indicator.
       | 
       | If I'm at work and need to focus, noise cancelling headphones are
       | a must. If they're off then I'm not busy.
        
       | tbeseda wrote:
       | Rad device! Not here to gripe about the actual price - and I
       | realize it's counter-intuitive since we say "one hundred dollars"
       | out loud - but in the US, the dollar sign goes before the amount:
       | $189 not 189$
        
       | jeffbee wrote:
       | Finally, the productivity technique named after a $1 clockwork
       | timer gets the fiddly software-and-cloud-based solution it
       | deserves.
        
       | anfractuosity wrote:
       | Out of interest is there anything similar to the Ulanzi TC001 but
       | with a slightly higher resolution.
        
       | karolist wrote:
       | Looks like lametric alternative?
        
       | sgwizdak wrote:
       | The mode where it sits on a monitor and displays a status ("on
       | call") is very interesting. I think that could be simplified into
       | a product unto itself -- but it would need to priced at "office
       | toy" level -- so around $20-$40 USD.
        
         | 404mm wrote:
         | I was gonna seriously consider it for $89. But then I noticed
         | it's $189. Hard pass. It's a shame because it's a neat idea.
         | I'd be ok even with just some core functionality
        
       | riiii wrote:
       | Interesting toy, but in my world none of my friends are going to
       | pay $189 for that. Even when the the dollar sign is on the wrong
       | side.
        
       | tivert wrote:
       | It looks _very_ neat, and I love all the physical controls, but
       | it seems like kind of a device from another time where everyone
       | worked in-person all the time. I work a hybrid schedule, with a
       | mostly distributed team, and hotdesk /hotel when I'm in the
       | office, so I don't have the luxury of a physical device to
       | indicate my status, nor much use for one.
       | 
       | That said, I _really_ want something designed like this that I
       | can use.
        
       | rufugee wrote:
       | Nice!
       | 
       | For a home-rolled solution, I use a GE CYNC ST19 Edison Style
       | bulb in a socket right outside my office door. I have it
       | configured through Home Assistant (https://www.home-
       | assistant.io/), and then use Hammerspoon
       | (https://www.hammerspoon.org/) on my macbook to make an API call
       | to Home Assistant when the camera state changes.
       | 
       | If my camera turns on/off, so does the light bulb. Works really
       | well for letting my family know I'm busy in meetings.
        
       | tamimio wrote:
       | A bit dystopian turning people into a taxi-like system where you
       | need an indicator to tell if they are vacant or not.
       | 
       | Regardless, I'm struggling to know the audience here. Is it an
       | employee in the office? If that's the case, it won't solve any
       | problem because most of the disturbances happen from your boss
       | either calling about something or asking you to join another
       | useless meeting. Your boss won't care about your status simply
       | because they won't be collocated in the same office as you most
       | of the time (not that they care about your online status anyway).
       | For colleagues, after the first month or so, everyone will pretty
       | much find the best way to approach others. If you still need a
       | device for that, then there's a problem in communication that you
       | need a persistent device all the time. At home, you won't need
       | such a thing. So I don't know who will find it useful; it looks
       | gimmicky. What's next, a hat that will turn a green light telling
       | people you are approachable or in the chatting mode, and red when
       | you are not?!
        
         | refulgentis wrote:
         | After reading the page, it seems clear it is akin to a
         | recording studio busy signal, well-trodden territory predating
         | computers, and marketed for video conferencing. Neither without
         | target audience, nor a sigil of the fall of interhuman
         | cooperation and communication :)
        
           | ndndjdjdn wrote:
           | You have not said what the market is. Recording studios have
           | a solution. And probably don't use pomedero. And the reason
           | for the indicator I assume is to stop people barging in and
           | stop people saying silly stuff thinking their off air so it
           | needs to be inside and outside the room.
           | 
           | So who is this device for again?
        
             | refulgentis wrote:
             | > You have not said what the market is.
             | 
             | Hmm, you sure? I checked OP, it says "marketed for video
             | conferencing"
             | 
             | > Recording studios have a solution.
             | 
             | Okay.
             | 
             | > And probably don't use pomedero.
             | 
             | *pomodoro
             | 
             | > And the reason for the indicator I assume is to stop
             | people barging in and stop people saying silly stuff
             | thinking their off air so it needs to be inside and outside
             | the room.
             | 
             | Okay.
             | 
             | > So who is this device for again?
             | 
             | Video conferencing, ex. the above scenario you laid out
             | 
             | > I'm curious, I'm not just rushing through an attempt to
             | correct something that doesn't need correction. How do they
             | envision it in use?
             | 
             | Here's a link to the site, it has marketing material re:
             | this. https://busy.bar/
        
               | ndndjdjdn wrote:
               | For context, we are replying to a comment putting that
               | marketing into question. Therefore the "RTFA" card is not
               | in your deck to play. (I say with a tongue in cheek tone:
               | no flamewar intended!)
               | 
               | In particular GP said:
               | 
               | > For colleagues, after the first month or so, everyone
               | will pretty much find the best way to approach others. If
               | you still need a device for that, then there's a problem
               | in communication that you need a persistent device all
               | the time.
               | 
               | I think I agree. Back in 2003 my boss said "when my
               | headset is on I am busy". He had to remind everyone a few
               | times. But that worked.
        
               | refulgentis wrote:
               | Reductio ad absurdum: If its for recording studios, fine.
               | If not, get off my lawn, its just reinventing having a
               | conversation.
               | 
               | It's telling that both obstinate refusals to not
               | understand what its for end up on unrelated stories about
               | bosses. Let's call it PHB derangement syndrome.
               | 
               | It never seemed likely it was _that_ confusing, it 's
               | pretty hard to have been alive from 2020-2024 and claim
               | that there's never any reason for anyone to know anyone
               | else is on a video call. I guess I'm lucky I can take out
               | my Monday scaries via pointing out the obvious, it'd suck
               | to be on the other side and have to pretend I'm stupid.
        
       | supermatt wrote:
       | I quite like the large format for a timer. I have some much lower
       | tech alternative that works wonders for helping keep me focused
       | on tasks: https://www.timetimer.com/
        
       | wildekek wrote:
       | Lots of features mentioned there, I wonder how many of those will
       | be ready on launch day and what will be delivered later.
        
       | graypegg wrote:
       | I'm a sucker for metal things with greebling. The price seems
       | pretty fair for how niche this is; I totally expected Teenage
       | Engineering prices. (Also in the field of greebled single use
       | devices with knobs and the mass of a blunt-force-weapon) Will
       | totally pick one up for the hardware's skookumosity and
       | hackability poetential alone!
        
         | echoangle wrote:
         | Do you mean metal as in the material? Where do you see that?
        
           | graypegg wrote:
           | It definitely looks to be made of a metal. To be fair, I'm
           | just basing that off the texture and specular highlights in
           | the photos. It's pretty similar looking to the iMac's case in
           | one of their photos.
        
             | echoangle wrote:
             | I would actually bet it's plastic, having a hollow tube-
             | like structure made from metal would be very wasteful
             | because you would have to mill out the entire core (unless
             | it's cast metal?). Also, the texture looks much coarser
             | than the iMac, there are large ,,bumps" on the surface. If
             | it's really a milled aluminum case, I would at least
             | understand the price, but I would be very surprised. My bet
             | would be a simple injection moulded ABS case.
        
       | yapyap wrote:
       | Cool but not $189 cool.
        
       | danielohrlund wrote:
       | take my money
        
       | thih9 wrote:
       | It's very pretty; but it's also a little sad - that there could
       | be demand for a big red flashing IRL "busy" indicator.
       | 
       | If I'm busy and if it happens so often that I can reliably buy a
       | device like this, I would instead prefer to adjust my work
       | environment to not be distracting, and to inform people that they
       | should contact me at some other time.
       | 
       | I guess this may not always be an option.
        
         | blitzar wrote:
         | > sad - that there could be demand for a big red flashing IRL
         | "busy"
         | 
         | Busy is the virture most people want to signal most of the
         | time. Next time someone ask how things are tell people you are
         | not busy, its elicits a similar response to telling people your
         | distant uncle died.
        
           | ndndjdjdn wrote:
           | Running under capacity is considered a sin for humans.
           | However it is fine for a server (good for burst
           | performance!).
        
             | blitzar wrote:
             | Lying is also a sin and 90+% of the time when people say
             | they are "busy" they are not.
        
       | tofof wrote:
       | The display is a resolution of 72x16, or 1152 px. I counted;
       | there's a couple of frames as the first "busy" mention displays
       | that the splashing animation lights the entire panel.
       | 
       | For comparison, the Ulanzi TC001 mentioned throughout this thread
       | is 32x8, for 256 pixels.
       | 
       | I think if one was wanting to build something like this for
       | themselves that just using a 7" ips display intended for rpi
       | would work as well. With 1024x600 resolution you could draw the
       | chunky pixels if you wanted that aesthetic, and those can be had
       | for like $28.
        
         | m4r71n wrote:
         | Is the busy bar's 72x16 LED matrix for sale anywhere with the
         | muted look that one could build something comparable?
        
       | blitzar wrote:
       | Don't make me tap the sign.
        
       | ndndjdjdn wrote:
       | In the monitor screenshot it occured to me that you need to
       | choose back or front. But in most open offices you will probably
       | need a 360 dispaly. A circle design that scrolls might work.
       | 
       | Also pomedero breaks are also busy. Having a break is something.
       | Being interupted during that break is no better than being
       | interuppted during the work part.
        
       | killjoywashere wrote:
       | OMG, I love this. The one missing feature: a high quality camera.
       | As soon as I saw the screen mount, I immediately thought of
       | Continuity Camera, which is a great solution for people who want
       | decent video without a full streamer rig.
        
       | neilv wrote:
       | With all the controls and lights to fiddle with, this _Busy Bar_
       | hanging off a techbro monitor... is kinda like the _Busy Box_
       | that was hanging off their crib.
       | 
       | https://www.etsy.com/listing/1760749770/fisher-price-busy-bo...
        
       | JaggerJo wrote:
       | Really nice design!
       | 
       | Would love to have one but.. can't find a use-case for it
        
       | mxuribe wrote:
       | Separate of the product itself...I have to compliment whoever
       | designed the landing page! I'm not a UX/UI/page design expert,
       | but here is what i experience:
       | 
       | * the page loads quick - without overlays, distractions, etc. the
       | page gets to the point, and fast
       | 
       | * immediately i see a description of what the product is...this
       | might sound funny, but tons of product sites lack this most basic
       | thing!
       | 
       | * In addition, the very brief video at the top shows a human hand
       | operating the product...so i know even more about its functions,
       | or at least how to interact with product
       | 
       | * a call-to-action of "BUY" is present and impossible to miss,
       | positioned right after/below the product intro/description
       | 
       | * as i scroll down, the experience is NOT janky...its a smooth
       | scroll down the page
       | 
       | * scrolling down informs me more about the product, including its
       | features, different angles of the physical product (to help
       | denote the features), they even squeeze in that there are
       | developer options - so i'm tipped off that its not only a
       | consumer device, but that it can be integrated with other
       | systems, expanded by devs, etc.!
       | 
       | * they include more product photos in order to show how the
       | product may appear and/or be used in real life
       | 
       | * they even include photo and description of certain features -
       | which serve almost as a very brief user guide, but again, i'm
       | sure the intent is to show off the product's feature set
       | 
       | There probably are other great things about this page that i have
       | not noted here...But, again, kudos to the person/team who
       | designed this! I see many teams that are really intelligent, and
       | might have great products/service, but they don;'t include half
       | the elements present here. Because while i don't have interest in
       | this product, damn, this an extremely compelling experience for
       | their product! Cheers and kudos to all involved!!!!!!!
        
         | RowanH wrote:
         | Echoing this, loved the product feature callout diagram.
         | Immediately 'view source' to figure out how it was done.
        
         | kristofferR wrote:
         | This site is extremely broken by default, completely
         | unreadable:
         | 
         | https://imgur.com/a/9g1dGxp (default 100% zoom level)
         | 
         | It is totally defective in 100% zoom, I need to manually zoom
         | to 90% to make it be usable/as designed.
         | 
         | It seems to activate cell phone mode for laptop screens.
         | 
         | Edit: I don't get why people are downvoting this (-4 and
         | counting). I enter the site and it is broken, until I change to
         | a non-default zoom level. Valuable feedback IMO
        
           | iamjackg wrote:
           | The downvotes are probably because your comment was
           | unnecessarily abrasive, saying things like "unreadable" and
           | "abhorrent."
           | 
           | The feedback is valuable, but the way it's expressed leaves
           | something to be desired.
        
             | kristofferR wrote:
             | Fixed it, replaced abhorrent with another descriptor.
        
           | inhumantsar wrote:
           | the site worked fine on my android phone in vertical mode
           | using Firefox
        
         | runetech wrote:
         | Agree completely - so much I just had to echo your observations
         | ;-)
         | 
         | I love the aesthetics and simplicity at display here. Very
         | functional and just the right amount of information. Kudos to
         | the Busy Status Bar team from here as well!!
        
         | stevage wrote:
         | One thing missing though is the why. It took me a while to
         | realise this is intended for people in open plan offices to
         | communicate when they are disturbable.
         | 
         | Still it's interesting to me as a WFH person to potentially
         | better delineate for myself focus mode.
        
         | capex wrote:
         | Agree, except the product price could be right on the buy
         | button. Now the analytics won't tell you whether I clicked on
         | the buy button with an intent to buy, or did I just want to
         | know how much it is.
        
       | Waterluvian wrote:
       | This would take my $200 and just be another distraction of me
       | trying to get $200 worth of value out of it.
       | 
       | I have a "Back in..." analog clock sign on my door. It was a
       | dollar.
        
       | deivid wrote:
       | Nice product, I built a similar (but less flexible) system for an
       | "ON AIR" sign that I have in my home office, as both my wife and
       | I WFH, it is nice to have a visual indicator when one of us joins
       | a call.
       | 
       | Software for Linux and Mac is here [0]. There's also an ESP32 for
       | the sign, but that part is trivial (MQTT -> LED)
       | 
       | [0]: https://github.com/davidventura/on-air
        
       | kachapopopow wrote:
       | Waiting room for someone playing doom on it.
        
       | entrep wrote:
       | > Use of the terms "Pomodoro(r)" must be explicitly authorized by
       | us. [1]
       | 
       | 1: https://www.pomodorotechnique.com/pomodoro-trademark-
       | guideli...
        
         | pedrogpimenta wrote:
         | That battle has been lost. I've header about pomodoros for
         | years and not once about a shitty copyright holder. It's
         | generic now, thank you.
        
           | entrep wrote:
           | Interesting. Time to create that Pomodoro app I've always
           | wanted to do.
        
         | henry2023 wrote:
         | https://media1.tenor.com/m/t2vQvNA_GlYAAAAC/fille-choque-sho...
        
         | jll29 wrote:
         | Interestingly, this "official" Pomodoro site doesn't offer a
         | physical timing device on their shop page.
         | 
         | It looks like the inventor of the technique is now based out of
         | Dubai (allergic to taxes? The governments that you lean on to
         | enforce your reigstered trademarks need to be funded somehow).
        
       | tristor wrote:
       | Clicking on this page tries to XSS to a domain hosted in Russia
       | (looks like an object storage backend) which is blocked by
       | NoScript.
        
       | cheema33 wrote:
       | I suffer from ADHD and the pomodoro timer part interests me.
       | However, I am not sure if a pomodoro timer would help me. And
       | $200 is an expensive gamble.
        
         | treve wrote:
         | Get a free timer and find out!
        
         | dmitrygr wrote:
         | An old android phone with no cell service can do the job and
         | costs roughly $0 (plenty of people will happily give one or
         | three away)
        
         | risenshinetech wrote:
         | Good call on being cautious here. Unfortunately, there isn't
         | anything between this product and the most basic, basic, basic
         | timer for you to test out if the pomodoro method would work for
         | you.
        
       | btbuildem wrote:
       | This design has very strong "2020's TV series based in the Star
       | Wars universe" aesthetic vibes... or is it just me?
       | 
       | Super well done website, and the product itself looks very
       | thoroughly polished.
        
       | egeozcan wrote:
       | I got a giant usb-controlled traffic light at my first job in
       | Germany for a customer project. They just let me keep it after
       | the project finished, which made me repurpose it as a busy light
       | and it worked wonders except that one person who didn't get the
       | hint.
       | 
       | Not exactly this but close: https://www.cleware-
       | shop.de/USB_Tischampel_360
        
       | holyknight wrote:
       | How can people just spam links of their projects and not get
       | flamed and/or get their posts deleted?
        
       | lofaszvanitt wrote:
       | Looks good, but... but... well, it feels a bit like a
       | prostitute's indicator made for the waiting males.
        
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