~3000€ to show information in some random places in the house even though the household members have a device with a screen called a smartphone next to them 24/7 ?
Well, it's cool, but the usability of it all is below average.
Declutter your life and don't install any more screens in your home ;)
Next time you decide to post something so snarky, maybe remember where you are. This is hackernews, people experiment and build things. Not always for the right reasons, and that's fine. If you don't like it, just move along. There's plenty of people, myself included, that are thankful for posts like this.
It's a hobby but not for everyone. I mean if I could just throw away 3,000€ on random projects that might work or not I'd do it in a heartbeat. No different than buying a run down Porsche for 5,000€ and spending 40,000€ on restoration to original. Every hobby is like that but with different entry price points. There is a reason knitting is more popular than something like this (and even that has price tiers from 3€ for an acrylic yarn to upwards 100€ for luxury merino wool yarn)
Pick up phone (may be in another room), unlock phone, open app, navigate to information in app (often fairly annoying due to modern low information density app design and multiple apps), return to original location.
I have my phone as well. However the screen is where I'm most likely to need that information anyway. And the screen information density is much better than the phone.
I have the apps on my phone. I use them, and at times they are great - but they are not a perfect solution. (though I agree that $3000 for a system is too much)
- pick up phone (unlock done automatically via face/finger/location)
- swipe finger to the right to show weather OR swipe finger to the left to show callendar
Android widgets show me much more information about weather and calendar view than these monitors (and are free: weawow https://weawow.com/i/app-download + google callendar).
Keep it in airplane mode until you need it, the friction is enough to keep it out of hand, and it never asks for your attention by itself. Or at least disable every notifications
If someone is contacting you in the middle of the night when it isn't a genuine emergency you need to apply social pressure. If something were to happen to my mom in the middle of the night I hope people don't wait until I'm awake to call. If a coworker sitting in an airport at 3am waiting on a transfer it is basic social norms that they will not call me.
You should leave your phone on when you are asleep with full trust and confidence that you won't be disturbed except in a real emergency. The do-not-disturb mode is for Friday nights where they is no way for someone to know if you are the theater or just chilling at home - the latter is an acceptable time to call.
For those who lack the technical aptitude to use a smartphone (e.g. children, the elderly), a device that shows information in random places in the home is much more useful.
It’s also offensive to only think older people have these problems. Have any of you considered race or sex or gender when talking about these issues? It’s really offensive not to include all these other categories. Maybe certain genders have this problem or maybe I enjoy getting offended by everything.
50,000 die per year from suicide due to depression. Self deprecation and other self esteem issues should not be joked about. It is highly offensive and inconsiderate.
As far as I can tell any gender issues is just culture lets some people become helpless when they could. Meanwhile many people lose cognitive functionias they get old. Thus elderly is a safe fact while any other gender reference is citation needed.
Citing citations is offensive and insensitive. When someone claims their emotions are extremely hurt do you go to them and say "I need citations for that"? Of course not!
I make these https://www.stationdisplay.com/ . They are also just as "useless" as a wall clock yet people find it a lot more pleasing to take a glance at something to give the information instantly, than having to make multiple decisions in order to take their phone out, open the app and find the place with the information they need.
I think you could make it work for a fraction of the price if you buy a bunch of low-cost e-ink screens and combine them to create a larger display. The main challenge would be on the software side, as you'd need to control the content so it appears as a single, cohesive screen. However, I think this approach would be more appealing in terms of cost for most people.
Not really. That’s akin to a nice camera, or any number of other hobbies that people spend money on. But it might be better compared to a home appliance or renovation project.
I’m not going to build one, but this is exactly the sort of creative and highly opinionated tinkering I stick around HN to see.
It is built around driving cars, but not necessarily car ownership. From what I gather through movies and television, cities like New York City don't really have car owners, but there are a lot of taxi cabs. Now Uber and Lyft have moved into small towns that never had taxis.
Most people^ don’t actually want to own a car and deal with breakdowns, maintenance, repairs, fender benders, etc etc.
They want the convenience and freedom a car provides. Right now in many places the best way to get that is ownership, so we suck it up and buy a horribly depreciating asset that causes headaches.
That could quickly change if someone can figure out how to make using a car just as convenient while also cheaper.
^ of course there are car enthusiasts who will always want to own, but that’s a tiny fraction of car owners.
In a couple of years, they can go into same junk drawer of sixth finger prosthetics (generative AI problem) and 5-eyes masks (face recognition problem).
In countries where people are free (almost everywhere except the USA) you can simply open a coffee shop in a "residential district". You have these ridiculous zoning laws so at most you can drive to a Starbucks.
Funny, in countries where people are free (everywhere except your city in Poland) you can use an electric leaf blower to clear your stoop of leaves so neighbors can sit with their coffee.
For 7EUR/month I have 30GB of data transfer + unlimited SMS and calls in my my country + ~8GB of data in whole EU, every month. There is no cheaper option. Who needs public Wi-Fi?
EU should increase the competitiveness of communication operators and not finance such stupid ideas. Also map in that app is online only. So you need internet access to get internet access...
Data prices vary wildly by country. And no, you cannot use a foreign carrier to get cheap data and roam all year, they'll find you and charge out-of-package pricing for every gigabyte you've used (which isn't the standard rate).
Well, it's cool, but the usability of it all is below average.
Declutter your life and don't install any more screens in your home ;)