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Show HN: I built a "Do not disturb" Device for my home office

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Re: Show HN: I built a "Do not disturb" Device for my home office

#3

Post by pavel_lishin »

I have an old, broken crosswalk sign that I keep meaning to set up as a "meeting indicator" - red hand meaning that I'm in a meeting, and the seconds countdown as an indicator of how many minutes are left until I'm out of meetings.

But as it turns out, since my spouse & I both work from home, separated by an entire floor of a house, there ain't that much need for it, so it sits on my shelf.

Re: Show HN: I built a "Do not disturb" Device for my home office

#4

Post by dripton »

I needed something like this for my basement home office. But I was lazy, so rather than actually building anything, I just bought some color-changing light bulbs ($7 on Amazon including remote) and installed them on the basement stairs. If I have a do-not-disturb meeting, I make the light red.

Re: Show HN: I built a "Do not disturb" Device for my home office

#6

Post by nimbius »

"a lot of times my mother asks me if she can come in the room for reasons I won't get into"

You've appeared to engineer your way around an interpersonal relationship that you lack the emotional, social intelligence and maturity to deal with.

Welcome to the front page of HN i guess. you're well on the way to becoming a founder.

Re: Show HN: I built a "Do not disturb" Device for my home office

#7

Post by mhurron »

nimbius wrote: post #6

"a lot of times my mother asks me if she can come in the room for reasons I won't get into" You've appeared to engineer your way around an interpersonal relationship that you lack the emotional, social intelligence and maturity to deal with. Welcome to the front page of HN i guess. you're well on the way to becoming a founder.

The only one showing any lack of social intelligence is you. The author is choosing not to go into unnecessary personal details while giving a short back story as to why they did a thing.

I've thought of doing basically something similar so my wife knows I'm in a position not to be disturbed. I can, and do, tell her when I have a scheduled call, but unscheduled calls do just happen. Something like this would let her know I can't be disturbed without her coming in, asking and then going 'oh shit, sorry.'

In no way is it engineering a way out of dealing with my wife.

Re: Show HN: I built a "Do not disturb" Device for my home office

#8

Post by rlue »

Like all the other commenters here, I also devised my own solution—but AFAICT, it's the only other solution that's automated!

Requirements:

  * macOS
  * Zoom
  * Home Assistant
  * A signal light/sign on a smart switch (like [0])
The Procedure:

First, create a script that checks whether you're currently on a Zoom call, and then turns your signal light on or off accordingly. Remember to chmod +x!

  #!/bin/sh

  if [ $(lsof -i 4UDP | grep zoom 2>/dev/null | wc -l) -gt 1 ]; then
    curl \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer ${HOME_ASSISTANT_ACCESS_TOKEN}" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{"entity_id": "${ENTITY_ID}"}' \
      https://${HOME_ASSISTANT_DOMAIN}/api/services/switch/turn_on
  else
    curl \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer ${HOME_ASSISTANT_ACCESS_TOKEN}" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{"entity_id": "${ENTITY_ID}"}' \
      https://${HOME_ASSISTANT_DOMAIN}/api/services/switch/turn_off
  fi
Then, create a LaunchAgent that monitors your Zoom Application Support directory for filesystem changes at ~/Library/LaunchAgents/local.${USER}.on-air.plist:

  
  
  
  
      Label
      local.${USER}.on-air
      ProgramArguments
      
          ${PATH_TO_SCRIPT}
      
      WatchPaths
      
          /Users/${USER}/Library/Application Support/zoom.us/data
Finally, load 'er up:

  $ launchctl load ../Library/LaunchAgents/local.${USER}.on-air.plist
[0]: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NJ8ZCHF

Re: Show HN: I built a "Do not disturb" Device for my home office

#9

Post by deathanatos »

nimbius wrote: post #6

"a lot of times my mother asks me if she can come in the room for reasons I won't get into" You've appeared to engineer your way around an interpersonal relationship that you lack the emotional, social intelligence and maturity to deal with. Welcome to the front page of HN i guess. you're well on the way to becoming a founder.

… or there's just a lot of awkwardness for both parties in trying to communicate "are you on camera?" without the person who is potentially on camera revealing that communication to the stream.

The person entering has to make sure they're not on camera — if the room's architecture even allows for that — the person answering has to somehow communicate to that person without people looking at their video feed noticing. I've gestured things to my fiancée while on air, and while they were pretty clearly intended for "someone off camera", still managed to confuse the meeting participants.

Radio booths and other broadcasts have done this for ages with the "On Air" sign, which basically what TFA has made.

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