Now that there's IFTTT intigration you could use a
bt.tn I'm not sure what you want to have happen when someone pushes it but that should do it. I personally have dogs so the idea of more noise when someone comes to the door doesn't appeal to me.
Ah, the Indigogo project! I always forget to track these things when they get funded. I'm not quite sure what the shipping status is - it says they ship out the next day after you order on their homepage, then it says what appears to be "pre-order" on Paypal, and then says the next batch is shipping in March. I placed an order for one. $95.52 shipped to the US (ouch).
I would like to see a smaller unit in the future too, something a little more compact would be cool, especially if it came with a mount kit like a lot of the new webcams (magnetic, sticker, etc.). I like physical, tactile human interfaces like this a lot & think there's a big market for more of them. I bet all of those $20 door/window sensors that have a one-year battery life (supposedly) could be redesigned into pushbuttons for your doorbell & other point-of-use activity buttons - those would be a little bit smaller than the first-generation BT.TN design:
I can think of a zillion uses for this:
1. Reminder for your washer, dryer, and dishwasher: Put in a load, whack the button, and have it send an alert to your phone when it's done & ready to be folded or put away. I am guilty of leaving laundry & dishes in for days at a time :biggrin:
2. Data logging & positive feedback system for things like exercising...hop on your treadmill every day for 30 minutes, whack the button when you're done, have it play a victory riff & log your workout automatically for the day so you don't have to do it on your computer or phone. Not that doing that is hard, but it's an extra step vs. just pushing an at-hand button - convenience is king!
3. Put it next to your bed to trigger an automated morning routine...your alarm goes off, you slam the button down (this is where the large size comes in handy, haha), and it kicks off a bunch of stuff like slowly raising your light's room brightness, opening the shades a bit, playing some music, turning on the bathroom light, etc. My buddy has a
Moen ioDigital shower system, it'd be cool to integrate that as well & have the shower turn on & start warming up. I like this idea a lot better than a small remote control that is hard to find in the morning - as much as I like the Pico remote from Lutron & wish it had programmability within Wink, a ridiculously large button with glowing LED's would be much more functional in this situation.
4. Put it in the kitchen so you can press it when you finish cooking dinner...have it send an audible "dinner's ready!" alert through your home's speaker system so everyone will come to the table.
5. "Movie time!" button - press the button, lights go off, drapes close, projector screen comes down, A/V equipment turns on, and you're ready for a show!
6. Put one by the front door for when you leave...simply tap the button, walk out the door, and a minute later it auto-locks the door, shuts off all the lights, turns off the A/C, closes the blinds, etc.
I actually like this idea even better than say voice commands on the iWatch...for pre-configured routine items, it's hard to beat simply pushing a nearby button :thumbsup: