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I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

hawksley.org

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Re: I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

#321

Post by iso1631 »

embedding-shape wrote: post #308
iso1631 wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't imagine a world where the state of my washing machine is so important that I need to be interrupted to tell me it's done.

I can't image being so busy that hanging the clothes for 10 minutes could be seen as not important. We all live different lives :) Besides, the notification is for notifying us, doesn't mean we need to do it within N minutes, it can wait until your Very Important Business Call is over or whatever. As long as it's done before it starts to get overly humid and starts to smell.

A notification is an interrupt. I.e "stop reading your book and pay attention to me"

Re: I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

#322

Post by crazygringo »

schrijver wrote: post #255
crazygringo wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Especially the current weather conditions. That's mostly useless info Do you... not go outside? And not need to know if you need the heavy coat, light coat, light waterproof coat, and/or umbrella? Or pants vs shorts? And the answers are very different at 7am vs 11am vs 3pm? I'm not trying to be sarcastic, I'm just genuinely baffled.

I watch through the window to see the current weather, except for the temperature, which I assume is more or less the same as yesterday. I know it’s colder at night, but that’s true every night. It’s all very approximative, but I just can’t be bothered to look up the weather. I like not thinking about it at the cost of sometimes being surprised.

> except for the temperature, which I assume is more or less the same as yesterday

I guess you live somewhere very, very different from me.

And I guess I just don't enjoy the surprise of shivering cold, or soaking sweat, when I choose the wrong jacket.

Re: I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

#323

Post by shellfishgene »

whynotminot wrote: post #44
seanieb wrote: post #4

Why is e-ink still so expensive?

I would guess there's not enough volume due to limited use-cases of the tech compared to more traditional screens. The typical e-ink uses cases boil down to e-readers, dumb-phones, and hobbyists, which is not a huge market. Anything niche or specialized tends to carry a higher cost.

There are probably billions of e-ink price tags in supermarkets around the world, but I guess scaling it up is not easy?

Re: I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

#325

Post by BoxFour »

ekjhgkejhgk wrote: post #103
dddgghhbbfblk wrote: post #93

This is really cool. With a newborn in the home I've been really thinking about projects like this recently. When you have a newborn things are so busy and hectic that it's easy to get overloaded and for things to slip through the cracks so I've been really wishing I had a dashboard like this somewhere to remind me that we need to take the dogs out or show how long it's been since the baby last ate or whatnot.

You have a newborn, and you think spending time installing and maintaining something that displays the calendar around the house is a good use of time?

Doesn’t sound that crazy to me.

With many newborns there’s a lot of "hurry up and wait" if you’re able to be on parental leave (or just on the weekends). They sleep a ton. Honestly, I’ve never been more caught up on movies or TV than during those overnight newborn shifts with my first child.

The real hectic "I have no free time" era, at least for me, came after that: Toddlers require (and you should try to appreciate giving them) all your available time.

Re: I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

#326

Post by imetatroll »

CarlJW wrote: post #229
JoshTriplett wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For example the washing machine. You dont need real time information because you know how long it takes since you've done it 1000s of times and it beeps. It beeps, on the other end of the house (or on another floor), where it's inaudible. (And, thankfully, where the loud sounds of it operating are also inaudible.) > All these things are just managed in our heads subconsciously. And when you remove the need to track…

I'll just add this tip for those who struggle with this sort of thing. I leave the empty basket in front of the machine, which for me happens to be somewhere where I'll pass by frequently until I need to take it out. That keeps it 'in sight, in mind'. Heck you could even put it in the kitchen to remind you. I don't like the extra complexity that often comes with digital solutions, but I do like having a system. The s…

Agreed. This is a great way to handle common chores.

Re: I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

#327

Post by embedding-shape »

iso1631 wrote: post #321
embedding-shape wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't image being so busy that hanging the clothes for 10 minutes could be seen as not important. We all live different lives :) Besides, the notification is for notifying us, doesn't mean we need to do it within N minutes, it can wait until your Very Important Business Call is over or whatever. As long as it's done before it starts to get overly humid and starts to smell.

A notification is an interrupt. I.e "stop reading your book and pay attention to me"

Eh, ok, that's not how I treat them, and if you want to remain sane, you might want to give it a try to treat them differently too, because that sounds highly annoying and borderline frustrating.

Re: I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

#328

Post by the_arun »

firesteelrain wrote: post #302
encrypted_bird wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OpenMeteo is pretty amazing too, and doesn't require an account or API key, which is nice.

I incorporated OpenMeteo into a project recently and got frustrated with their aggressive rate limiting. If in the US, weather dot gov has an excellent, free API. Or, OpenWeatherAPI which works internationally and has support for more things that weather dot gov does not. OpenWeatherAPI will also synthetically provide weather data based on their models if there is missing station data

Using your own weather station is another option

Re: I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

#329

Post by jmuguy »

I think you can divide the comments in here between people that have a family and don't. "Why would you need to know when the washer is done! Just set an alarm". When you have (young) kids, you'll be wandering around the house looking for the pen that's in your left hand. Little reminders like that are really nice.

Re: I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

#330

Post by jmuguy »

prforated wrote: post #271
fredoliveira wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you see no value in the learning that comes with the tinkering?

I love how every chain in this thread starts off defending the practical utility of all this but ends with defending "learning" and "hobbies" when someone points out that you don't need to spend $2000 and 100 hours to know when a washing machine cycle ends.

Its disingenuous to claim that OP spent that much time and money to know when the washing cycle was complete. That's one of several different things the screen can do in addition to everything else it can display.
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