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Show HN: Make a programmable mirror

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Re: Show HN: Make a programmable mirror

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think if this is considered a major quality of life improvement, you might be measuring the wrong metrics

This is a mirror that, from only the pictures shown: - Tells you the date and time - Tells you the weather (and suggestions!) - Tells you the temperature - Can list your to-do list and major reminders - Shows (personalized!) stock market updates - Shows xkcd - Is a mirror It could clearly do so much more, but on a typical weekday morning before work that's an easy, efficient way to get a number of morning "tasks" don…

So everything your phone does already with a swipe of a finger?

I might be underestimating how this might be important in your daily morning routine, but I can fairly well tell the weather by looking thru the window. My alarm is set on phone and I'll have pretty good estimate how much time I've spend in shower.

To-do looks somewhat useful if you actually update it. It's something your phone already does. Personally it is almost always empty as I do not put work items on it.

Stock price and xkcd looks just as gimmicky as first two functions. It always make me cringe a little when smartphone manufacturers advertise their lock screens with such widgets.

Re: Show HN: Make a programmable mirror

#122
A few years ago it was really popular for home entertainment electronics like stereo systems and DVD players to use this trick to make the display appear to be "floating" on a mirrored surface. (Example: http://regmedia.co.uk/2011/07/21/philips_bdp7600_blu-ray.jpg ) More recently, I've seen people with phones whose screen protector is made out of this material.

(Personally, the idea of putting a device with a camera and microphone behind a two-way mirror just feels a bit too much like a telescreen for me.)

Re: Show HN: Make a programmable mirror

#123

It would be really cool to add facial recognition at like 0.5hz to the phone so that it only turns the screen on when you're looking at it. Or alternatively customize the content based on who's present in front of the mirror.

Alternatively, one can use a thermal sensor, like I did in this project [1], where the light is turned on when somebody is standing still in front of the mirror

[1] https://github.com/iver56/auto-light

Re: Show HN: Make a programmable mirror

#127

A few years ago it was really popular for home entertainment electronics like stereo systems and DVD players to use this trick to make the display appear to be "floating" on a mirrored surface. (Example: http://regmedia.co.uk/2011/07/21/philips_bdp7600_blu-ray.jpg ) More recently, I've seen people with phones whose screen protector is made out of this material. (Personally, the idea of putting a device with a camera…

> Personally, the idea of putting a device with a camera and microphone behind a two-way mirror just feels a bit too much like a telescreen for me.

Tape over the camera, break microphone? But yeah.

Re: Show HN: Make a programmable mirror

#128
If you want to build an interactive programmable mirror, looks like Nanogest might be useful: http://www.nanocritical.com/nanogest/ It's available for both iOS and Android.

It recognizes 4 swipe gestures (top, down, left, right) and a wave gesture.

It's a library so you'd still have to build the information display part.

Re: Show HN: Make a programmable mirror

#129

Does the device's camera work from behind the one-way-mirror? Specifically, does the device camera work well enough from behind the one-way-mirror to do accurate face recognition? (the idea being that it can display different information for different users and have at least a soft "biometric" privacy lock). Also, would color images be displayable through the one-way mirror or only white will make it intact?

If the camera works well, real-time biometrics are definitely a possibility:

https://github.com/thearn/webcam-pulse-detector

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