[HN Gopher] Show HN: I've built an IoT device to let my family k...
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Show HN: I've built an IoT device to let my family know when I'm in
a meeting
Author : delduca
Score : 84 points
Date : 2025-05-11 14:22 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (nullonerror.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (nullonerror.org)
| delduca wrote:
| Source code https://github.com/skhaz/onair
| gus_massa wrote:
| It was hard to notice. It's the small rectangle under the
| screen.
|
| > _This endpoint receives a JSON payload with a status of "on"
| or "off", and turns the LED panel red or blue accordingly_
| sanex wrote:
| If I ever find myself in your town I'm going to get free wifi.
|
| 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.
| delduca wrote:
| That leak was intentional. ;-)
|
| Come over to my place for some beers.
| LurkandComment wrote:
| I put a sign on my office door.
| nine_k wrote:
| A great alternative to https://busy.bar/ if all you want is the
| core functionality, not bells and whistles, for the 10% of the
| price.
| OhMeadhbh wrote:
| thx for the reference, though i think the bells and whistles
| may have been the point.
| nine_k wrote:
| Indeed! Market segmentation ftw ;)
| ctxc wrote:
| It says $250 (but of course, pretty cool). Esp module is
| probably <$10. What am I missing?
| ctxc wrote:
| Edit: misread parent, ignore.
| neom wrote:
| I use an Embrava Blynclight Mini, ~$60 on amazon, works fine.
|
| See also: https://github.com/JnyJny/busylight
| Liftyee wrote:
| Neat little project. For these things, I usually find that
| simpler is better - use the minimum feature set to finish it and
| start use.
|
| 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.
| lurk2 wrote:
| A "Do Not Disturb" door hanger costs $7 on Amazon.
| function_seven wrote:
| And requires me to remember to get up and hang it before a
| scheduled meeting. Or not hang it when someone calls me and a
| meeting erupts. And I need to remember to take it down after
| each call. (If I don't, then it's just up all the time and
| might be taken as seriously as a Prop 65 Warning.)
|
| Automations are really nice for certain things!
| tekla wrote:
| And I'm sure you've set up all the systems that make sure
| the complicated system is actually working and not dead
| weight or doing something unintended.
|
| Versus, I dunno a door lock
| varenc wrote:
| sir, this is _hacker_ news
| OhMeadhbh wrote:
| obviously you need a remote motor that spins the sign to
| "do not disturb" when the meeting starts and then back
| around when it's over. and a sensor to verify it's in the
| correct orientation.
|
| so you get the simplicity of the sign with the automation
| desired by the OP.
| lazyasciiart wrote:
| A webcam in the corridor that shows your office door from
| the outside, machine vision reads the image to know which
| orientation the sign is in. If a meeting begins and the
| sign is wrong, a little LED on the desk starts flashing
| red.
| rzzzt wrote:
| An alternative would be to spin the sign constantly
| around its center of mass while a meeting is in progress.
| hackable_sand wrote:
| The meeting state coheres when the sign is observed.
| Dylan16807 wrote:
| > Versus, I dunno a door lock
|
| 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_.
| matsimitsu wrote:
| Which is more expensive than an esp32 and a led panel, and
| less convenient.
| tekla wrote:
| A "Do not disturb" sign costs roughly zero with a pen and a
| piece of paper.
|
| 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.
| dathery wrote:
| Fortunately my home office has an abundance of both power
| and network access (especially compared to the scarce
| resource of human attention!)
|
| Why insist on being so negative? It's a cool little
| project. Just keep scrolling if it's not for you.
| ctxc wrote:
| Exactly! Do these things not bring people joy in the
| drudgery of routine solutions?!
| Dylan16807 wrote:
| > 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.
|
| 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?
| lurk2 wrote:
| > or plug it in and be done for a year
|
| Until the network goes down or an element of the hardware
| fails, or you move and need to set it up again, or...
|
| People liked the idea of smart homes, too, but they
| remain niche because you need the money or technical
| know-how to fix them when they fall over.
| Dylan16807 wrote:
| Well I didn't say be done forever, I said a year. I think
| that covers hardware failure and _moving_ just fine.
|
| If the network goes down, you're not in an online
| meeting.
|
| And this is someone that has the know-how.
| hackable_sand wrote:
| Or just embracing interruptions and responding to them
| like an adult.
|
| dnd signs read "passive aggressive"
| BrandoElFollito wrote:
| And for the cost of zero you get something which is never
| used because forgot, did not have time, forgot to take
| off, lost the paper and the meeting started, missed the
| meeting running to the door to put the sign, and many
| others.
| sailfast wrote:
| It's not about the price. It's because it's COOL - and
| because somebody did a fun thing with hardware and software,
| which is great!
| shadowgovt wrote:
| I have a similar system at home: there's a door on my office, and
| I close it.
| Aziell wrote:
| There was a time I worked from the corner of our living room.My
| partner would often walk in during meetings, sometimes asking
| loudly where the charger was. One day, I left a sticky note on
| the table:"In a meeting - please check back in 30
| minutes."Surprisingly, it worked. What really changed things
| wasn't the note itself, but the quiet agreement it created.
| tonyarkles wrote:
| Lots of haters today. Love it, great opportunity to build
| something that solves a problem for you for cheap and gives you
| an opportunity to play with some tech.
| franciscop wrote:
| Love it, I was expecting for some reason you routed a cable to
| the Webcam LED, or at least a light sensor (though that would
| make the lid unable to work if it's a laptop). But this is even
| more elegant, I guess I've been trying to do more hardware
| hacking recently and I read ESP32 so my expectations were off.
| raggi wrote:
| I've considered doing something like this a few times, this is
| seriously ripe for an ON AIR sign :D
| onair4you wrote:
| I like the ingenuity, but I didn't want have to build custom
| hardware. My solution:
|
| 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.
| ctxc wrote:
| You should write about it and add pictures! :)
| gia_ferrari wrote:
| I just rigged up something similar: a DBUS listener for
| PulseAudio mic activity that publishes MQTT events to Home
| Assistant via discovery. No device config needed. I use hallway
| RGB lights to signal status ("purple = I'm in a meeting"). Quick
| and easy setup, I already had the RGB lights for mood lighting.
| Runs as a user systemd unit.
| garyfirestorm wrote:
| This sounds like a proper way to do it. Maybe I am biased for
| MQTT but I like your approach.
| BrandoElFollito wrote:
| And HA which supports autodiscovery. Such a great piece of
| software
| pammf wrote:
| Would it switch the lights if you're only listening with
| headphones while your camera is open?
|
| 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.
| progman32 wrote:
| In all my meeting software (the usual suspects running in the
| browser) the mic is always opened at the driver level, even
| if I'm muted. Perhaps it's to avoid latency when you unmute,
| or perhaps it's for those "you're muted" pop-ups.
| freedomben wrote:
| Yes, this and also potential permission issues. If the
| first time you try to talk you get prompted for microphone
| permissions, it can be highly disruptive
| ThrowawayTestr wrote:
| mDNS is really convenient. Unfortunately the only way to install
| it on Windows is through old iTunes installers.
| shermantanktop wrote:
| I built a similar thing using Bluetooth to a ESP32.
|
| 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.
| OhMeadhbh wrote:
| as a generic aside, this seems like it's more of a "LAN of
| Things" project than an IoT device. It seems it would work fine
| if the upstream IP dialtone cut out for a while (though i'm
| guessing you wouldn't be doing too much video conferencing if
| that happened.)
|
| 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.
| AStonesThrow wrote:
| The definition of "IoT" requires neither Internet access nor
| cloud server functionality.
|
| 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.
| jader201 wrote:
| To be fair, while the definition does not require internet
| connectivity, the name certainly does imply that it does.
|
| 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._
| AStonesThrow wrote:
| I suppose that's fair for someone who is not in-the-know.
|
| 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"!
| Aurornis wrote:
| Triggering based on the webcam is very smart.
|
| 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.
| declan_roberts wrote:
| Well done! I've been thinking about something like this for a
| long time. I considered using the Google API to check for
| calendars but the camera is so much better an idea!!
| forgingahead wrote:
| In college, people would just put a sock on the door....
| jumploops wrote:
| This is so awesome.
|
| 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 :)
| lemming wrote:
| Mine is even simpler - I just control an off-the-shelf smart bulb
| via a couple of macOS Shortcuts, which is trivial using Homekit.
| Those are driven by Hammerspoon which triggers the shortcuts
| based on the camera events. No custom hardware and like 20 lines
| of code (not including the shortcuts, I guess). I have the bulb
| in a normal lamp base outside my door. It's properly event driven
| rather than polling, too.
| zimpenfish wrote:
| Similar - Hammerspoon detects whether I have a Teams meeting
| window open (I never have my camera on) and calls out to Home
| Assistant to control a WLED strip visible outside the room.
| Also have a Zigbee button for ad-hoc control if I'm called into
| a Slack huddle, etc.
|
| (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.)
| justinrubek wrote:
| The custom hardware is the apple device and the smart bulb.
| Homekit doesn't appear to be usable outside that ecosystem, so
| I wouldn't call it non-custom
| turtlebits wrote:
| What happens if you turn off your video? For large or long
| meetings, I generally turn my camera off.
| BrandoElFollito wrote:
| People are discussing the reliability of the solution as if it
| was a life sustaining device embedded in your body behind hard to
| reach organs.
|
| This is a fuck off sign people, a very cool fuck off sign and
| that's all!
|
| Nice work.
| deivid wrote:
| Nice! I built the same thing a few years ago:
| https://github.com/davidventura/on-air
|
| It supports mac & Linux, and gets sent to an ESP32
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(page generated 2025-05-14 23:01 UTC)