Busy Bar
busy.barThat's pretty neat, although $250 feels like a lot for that at first glance. I get it has a lot of features but it's hard to get past the "it's a $250 busy indicator".
Not that I'd spend $250, but even something like that sold more as an open device to be used for a lot of different things changes (for the better) the value proposition in my mind a little than just sold as a busy sign with lots of integrations. Granted ... this appears to be that too. That's more a of a commentary on perception.
It does have multiple uses - it communicates both your busy status, and your excess of disposable income.
I'd pay for a cheaper app version of this that I could run on an old no-SIM phone.
As the page points out (top-right corner), this thing is the physical accessory to an existing phone app: https://busy.app/
Though, mind you, said app doesn't perform exactly the same function as the bar itself; "Busy App" seems to be more of a distraction-blocking pomodoro timer for your own phone, rather than a digital "busy sign" for you to point at the rest of the room.
IMHO, presuming a desk implies a PC (or laptop dock) with at least one spare USB port — the simplest thing here wouldn't even be an old phone; it'd just be a red USB light (think a red siren, but without the moving/flashing) that you could set on top of your desk/monitor/cubicle wall, and control with a little menu bar widget (perhaps automatically, by heuristic.)
It doesn't seem expensive to me at all. It does a huge amount.
If offices still existed it could be a fun 'I'm a jackass' office flair.
This would really help my wife stop interrupting me during meetings (and vice versa). But it relies on the user to actively manage their status
I wouldn't buy this because of the price tag but I love the industrial design of this thing! I wish there were more things like this (albeit more practical) that I would like to upgrade my desk with.
Same. Reminds me of something Teenage Engineering would produce.
Theirs would be metal and cost $2300.
Great analogy. Expensive toys that look impressive but you'll spend 90% of your time fiddling instead of getting anything useful done with it.
Much better site than fandom: https://cari.institute/aesthetics/cassette-futurism
It misses key products that have same aesthetic as op
fandom is one shitty website. jesus christ, trying to look at this on mobile is absolute fucking torture
That hand... it's totally in the uncanny valley of hand motion.
If there was a product that let me convey "Come back later" to a barging inquirer with a sharp and uncanny hand motion, I might consider paying $249 for it:
It wouldn't look out of place in the Severance intro.
They don't have a functional physical product
I hate it. Total revulsion of that hand. Makes me want to vomit. Single handedly turns me off from the product.
The way it moves makes me think it’s ai-generated..
I'm pretty confident that it is not AI-generated but simply a traditionally animated 3D model.
https://cdn.flipperzero.one/BusyBar_First_Block_Video_Deskto...
Yeah, it has five fingers
The cinematics in Descent 3 (1999) had some very similar motion issues, enough so that I remember them today. It comes from incorrect smoothing in the IK animation, doesn't have to be AI generated.
I dunno, I found those cinematics to be pretty endearing. Sure, they've aged like mud, but I enjoyed the back in the early 2000's :) They stayed well clear of the uncanny valley.
Right about here[1] the hand motions of both characters have the same misapplied smoothing. Ignore the clipping through the table, watch the character tap the side of his head, it's got the same weird slow-down before touching the temple. Same for most of the other motions, they don't accelerate correctly.
Yikes. First thing I noticed. Distracted me from the price tag of the thing at least.
now that you pointed it out.. holy #!$#$
The back of the device is so "busy" with all the text, it's almost anti-productive. Especially if you have to stare at it hanging off your monitor.
Why put the ugly bits right in front of your face?
How many times are you going to read the fixed text before your mind just glazes over it? I don't image it'd be particularly distracting
I had assumed those would be stickers that you can take off… if it’s etched onto the device it would indeed be bad design IMO.
Back in my day the arrogant devs just used printer paper and a hand drawn sign saying "GO AWAY!" taped to the back of their chair.
In my tribes, the universal "please don't bother me right now" sign has more typically been the wearing of over-the-ear headphones.
I wish I had the same tribes as you. People always come up to me when I'm wearing my headphones, even trying to get my attention in public
Shortening a story I've told a thousand times:
I went so far as to put a post-it note saying "I'M BUSY" on my headphones. The usual suspect came up to me and tapped me on the shoulder until I reacted, all so he could tell me, "hah, someone put a post-it note on your headphones!"
If I didn't kill someone that day, it's unlikely that I ever would.
There will always be migration between tribes and we welcome you.
Mine was updated to "Go away, or I will replace you with a small shell script". I wish I could remember where I read that from for proper attribution.
Might have been the bible for how old that one is.
I remember that on a Thinkgeek (RIP) t-shirt.
Wow, the Urban Dictionary entry is from 2003. Damn, that is older than I remember!
That is probably the coolest sales pitch page I have seen. Love the design and animations.
It's the Juicero of whatever market this is.
I like it being touted as a "productivity" tool.
I work from home and this would be cool to communicate with my kids when I'm on a call before they barge in asking questions. HOWEVER, the price is WAY too high. This is at most a $50 dollar thing.
Don't you already have a door? With a lock? A mute button? OK, maybe those aren't cool, but don't you have a piece of paper, pens, markers and some time to design your own DND signs with your kids? $50 still seems like a lot. We don't have to buy something to deal with every little inconvenience in our lives when what we have on hand + maybe a tiny bit of creativity can probably suffice.
Do you have kids? Have you ever tried locking a door with a little one? Lol
Also, yes I've made signs. It's easy to forget to hang them.
[Insert knocking for 10 minutes straight, followed up by a request for (insert random object here)]
I got a 2-pack of do-not-disturb doorknob hangers (similar to the ones in hotels) from Amazon for $10.
Worked great with my kids for 2 months. Then they got used to it and barged in anyway. The same would happen with this gadget.
And that's what makes it Juicero level.
This is the boutique designed not-in-china version. If it proves successful, a $50 Chinese knockoff will be along soon enough. You can vote with your wallet and say fuck these guys for having a good idea and working on it and buy the cheap Chinese crap version when it's available if you'd rather.
uhh quite the opposite, this is made by Flipper https://flipperdevices.com/
I recently set up a "busy" indicator using Home Assistant (HA) and the Home Assistant Companion app for macOS. The desktop app exposes various MacBook sensors to HA, which can then trigger automations.
When my microphone activates, it triggers an automation that powers a socket. A red LED lamp lights up, signaling to everyone that I’m on a call or recording a video.
you dont need all of that to improve focus. start with 30 seconds, clear your mind, set a timer for 30 seconds, sit in a corner and start meditating. the challenge is that as soon as you think of something inside your mind, stop the timer. do this daily and your meditation times will slowly improve and your focus will come back
i have a morning routine and the first thing i do is to set a timer to meditate for 5 minutes. i rarely make it to 5 minutes before the thoughts flood in and i decide to go ahead and dive into the work. hadn't thought about making it a counting-up timer instead to track the improvement but i'll be trying that from now on
don't people typically say to let thoughts pass by when you're doing meditation? seems like bitter medicine to disallow yourself any fleeting thought
the way you are actually supposed to meditate is to keep your mind completely clear. I have been testing this for almost a year now and even I cannot manage more than 5 mins of it but the idea is that as soon as you get a thought inside your head, open your eyes and stop the timer. It doesnt matter if it was 5 seconds or 2 mins but slowly and steadily your times will increase and so will your focus
i would chant "Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" while meditating because that is one way to force your mind to keep it from having thoughts but then maybe it is just me
This feels like something one could easily procrastinate with (customizable, developer-friendly...).
This should be a $4.99 app on a smartphone and/or desktop and doesn't take up any space.
Related but different better time/social management physical device for cube land would be an Arduino, a button, and an 4-7 color andon tower representing states such as:
- Working
- Lunch or errand (will return)
- Out-of-office (not returning for the day)
- Working remotely
- DND
- Open to socializing
- On vacation
And then a glossary for definitions posted prominently on the cube/office and on the intranet portal personal page. No app, no internet connectivity, no security vulnerabilities, no complexity, and <$20.
I don't know why but that video on the homepage (third media item from top) split me up for how rude/brash it came across.
The mans thrusting his palm out in front of the colleague, slapping the top of his alarm clock, the woman's exaggerated third person glance and swift exit.
I can only imagine it's followed by a complaint to HR or gossip, with the man on the laptop quickly becoming a hate-figure in the office.
Surely a polite decline is the exact same thing.
Exactly the same reaction as you!
This is from Flipper Devices, who make the Flipper Zero.
I'll wait for the £30 knock offs, pretty cool though.
Since then we have changed the name and added many features.
I’ve been waiting for this release. You also seem to have changed the price, to be $60 more expensive.
That’s a shame. The current price is what I’d immediately pay, if I was getting two.
I’m sad this isn’t in the price range I’m willing to pay. I guess I’ll just build my own.
This looks like a very cool and very fun tool. Perfecting its use will be a much better way to avoid real work than scrolling instagram.
That's a lot of distracting elements in the design, in something intended to reduce distractions.
They're all saying "This has a lot of things, and we're going to noisily tell you about them."
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=h_&q=fisher+price+busy+box&ia=imag...
What about instead an unobtrusive software-based timer on your computer?
And the notification to coworkers not to interrupt you being a low-tech "BUSY" Post-It on the back of your laptop. Or your headphones on?
Though their advertising does have some interesting features and use cases. For example, you'd need to figure out a convention equivalent to smacking the Busy Bar button, to make your colleagues slink away.
Neat. I have something I use that was $25 on Amazon. It's not as fancy and has a crappy app, but it works for what I want with displaying something to others while I stay focused.
The other features are interesting, but software features that may not warrant a hardware.
This also doesn't seem bigger than a phone and makes me wonder why not use a phone mount.
What's the $25 thing?
I'm going to guess it was something along the lines of this [0]... wow now I kind of want to buy one of their larger versions for the back of my car to remind tailgaters "Yes I CAN go even slower" when I'm already going 5-10mph over the speed limit
Yes, exactly. They are basically all the same and use the same app.
I was thinking of doing a kickstarter a while back for something similar. One surprising thing that kept me from proceeding (or at least, a thing I used as an excuse to not do the project) was that the guy who "owns" the pomodoro timer trademark is a total jerk about it.
I have a home office and sometimes my wife will come busting in with the kids being silly. It's not a big deal but I would like some sort of indication for outside the room for when I am in a meeting.
This seems more designed for shared working spaces which seem limited these days
I've communicated the 'meeting' thing, but now the way it goes is:
barge in
> are you in a meeting?
No matter what I was previously doing, now I'm distracted... if anything, it's easier to re-focus during a meeting than during deep work
Just tape a piece of paper to the door that says "IN MEETING". On my kids this is about 75% effective.
That said, other people's kids busting is my favorite part of zoom meetings.
It's wild to me that this product went from 0 to where it's at, and no one stopped it along the way. This is going to hit like a handful of nerd enthusiasts, and that's it.
I used something simpler for 20€ for a while to indicate my busy status: https://www.getdigital.de/pages/offlineprodukt/usb-mail-meld... I guess it‘s no longer for sale. It even worked with Linux. I wrote some shell scripts back then to indicate my busy status from my jabber account using this gadget.
It feels as if the text on top of the device is upside down.. Should be directed at the user of the device, who sits behind the device (on the side of the small screen)
I bought a six-pack of sand timers. They are silent, require no apps, have no screens, and are beautiful. They will probably outlive solutions such as these.
> I bought a six-pack of sand timers.
How do they tell someone 15ft away that you're busy / on a call / etc?
Remove top, toss sand in face.
If anyone is looking for something similar, but better priced, the Ulanzi TC001[1] with a custom firmware[2] is pretty nice. With the custom firmware, you can integrate it with Home Assistant and do all sorts of things with it.
For example, one idea my wife had was to have one on top of the washing machine displaying the last cycle of the machine based on the energy readings from a Zigbee smart socket, so we don't have to ask each other if the last cycle was a wash or drying cycle.
Will it change your life? No. But for $59 buckets it may add convenience here or there ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
[1]: https://www.ulanzi.com/products/ulanzi-pixel-smart-clock-288...
I personally was intrigued by this by the first HN post months ago. Then I showed my wife the website, to which she said, "This looks like a parody product." If only it's more affordable.
It’s nice that the phone app is free and works without the device. I’m curious about how “Hardcore Mode (optional)” could work, which the page describes as “Locks apps for the entire focus session with no way to bypass it. The only way to unlock them is a full phone reset.”
I could not find this in the app, maybe it’s Android only, an upcoming feature, or requires the Busy Bar hardware device.
I've been in a place where making that say "busy" when Visual Studio had the focus would be really useful... Except (cough) certain people in the culture would find it insulting.
It makes me wonder... How do you push on the "I can interrupt anyone at any time for any reason" attitude? I had a lot of trouble pushing on it in a previous workplace.
You be direct. When people come to you and interpret you, say “I am currently working on something else, but I will come find you when I’m free”. Most people eventually pick up that IM’ing first wastes less of their time.
If you constantly give them your attention immediately, you are telling them that’s how it should work.
then come the hour long "it's easier if we just hop on a meeting" invites or dreaded "hi" messages because many of the same people who aren't considerate about interruptions are allergic to async communication
I just decline those meetings. I only got pushback once, and it was "next time that happens I'll take care of it for you."
>How do you push on the "I can interrupt anyone at any time for any reason" attitude?
i feel like a big light-up sign on your desk that says "busy" might be a good place to start with that.
I'm amazed that nobody is pointing out that the entire thing doesn't look "designed" it looks AI generated.
Give me a clock timer that has these features.... Make me a website to sell this fake timer...
Particularly the instructive text on the back. A real designer would never have all that descriptive text always visible for things you'll only use once.
Yes, the "USB-C port at the bottom ---->" and huge QR code really got me going. I have to hope that's all on a sticker that's meant to be torn off after you take it out of the package.
HN has a bit less stupid people than other sites.
I saw this on twitter a few hours ago on my phone, and misread the price as $25, so I was considering maybe putting in an order or even two, but when I revisited the site on my laptop and discovered it was $250, my curiosity hit a wall. Looks like a super neat product but unfortunately a bit overpriced for a gimmick.
A similar thing is the ULANZI TC001 (50€ on Amazon), with the firmware AWTRIX 3 (https://blueforcer.github.io/awtrix3/).
Is it me or is the top interface oriented the wrong way? You want to have the big screen pointed away from the user and all of the top controls are facing/written to the audience.
Aren't all the labels on the buttons facing the wrong way? They're facing outwards in the direction of the screen viewer, rather than inwards towards the person operating the thing.
It can also be done with a bit of cardboard that says “Busy”.
Cardboard sign has no countdown timer and API.
That's true. And it doesn't even have a display on the other side — how will you yourself know if you're busy?
That display looks like it could support some retro games that could keep you engaged for hours.
I will get one when such are available. :)
Would it even be possible to make a $250 fidgety trinket without it being wasteful just about on every level?
Designer clock
and when I say "designer" I use the word like it's used in the term "designer clothing"
Cool industrial design, but might one of the dumbest product ideas I've ever seen at that price point.
A pretty cardboard printout and a timer on your phone/computer would be nearly as effective, no?
The looks is like cassette futurism aesthetic - https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Cassette_Futurism
It was recently trending on X so I've asked ChatGPT to make few designs for things like portable power station and EV charger and it worked pretty well.
Where can I sign up to get notified when the desktop app is available?
Hi, you can join our early users community: https://discord.gg/jXnEQQ4ahf
What happened to the good old timer. 250$ is steep for a timer.
it is a conversation starter more than a distraction stopper! plus $250? no thanks! a small display on your desk won't magically fix your environment!
The video for the first use-case is kinda funny. Instead of telling them to come back in a few minutes, just raise your hand and point at the timer.
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Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Edit: In many other threads on HN, people lament and protest the difficulty of getting paid well as a freelancer or small business in the technology industry. Let’s not trash someone for charging a handsome price for a product that’s had a lot of time, thought and design talent invested into it. Everybody knows that other clocks ant timers exist. Nobody is forced to buy this one. But we can still appreciate the effort and talent that someone has put into trying to create something beautiful, and respect them for charging a premium for it. And let’s keep Hacker News from being a place for grumpiness, especially about people trying to make nice new things.
But it's much more than just a digital clock. It's a very bright LED remote display. It's easily programmable. Also, take note of both the desktop and the mobile apps, plus both Mater and Home Assistan integrations.
Of course a device like this can be built for 10% of the price tag, or maybe for $0 if you already have the spare parts lying around, and just enjoy writing Arduino firmware sometimes. But for a less techy customer this thing makes total sense, and for a corporate customer it seems to have the full package for a hassle-free deployment somewhere in a sales department.
BOM is always a very minor part of such projects, say, 5%; the major cost is electronic / mechanical / software engineering, then marketing (including the very good web site) and sales, production and shipping, etc.
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It's a "my first product pipeline" toy so maybe we'll see greater things from the inventor when they become COO years down the line.
Nothing wrong with that. It's okay to indulge the things that tickle your fancy now and then, even if you're a super serious adult who's vibe coding the next OpenAI 36 hours per day, 15 days per week.
you could easily do this with a spare display and terminal
https://github.com/race604/clock-tui
bonus - i ported this to raspberry pi https://youtube.com/shorts/rgm8lAlHus4
Seems like a simpler version could be sold for well under $50
there are many pomodoro timer on amazon around $10.
I don’t think the timer and status is for you, so much as for other people in your physical world. Examples would be someone who works at home who needs a way to signal to spouse/kids that they are busy and when they will be free, or an office worker who gets frequent walk up interruptions.
While there are certainly much cheaper ways to solve this problem, I think there is a market. Specifically podcasters and YouTubers who film at home, love gadgets that will look good in the background of a video, and love gear more than the work itself.
When I was in the office I solved this with a hoodie. If the hood was up, I was focusing and people generally didn’t bother me. I never even said anything or realized I was doing it, people just got it.
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There is a subset of knowledge worker who would buy this off of the landing page presentation alone.
It is me. I am that subset.
Yeah, I wouldn’t but I still find it delightful.
Yes, I need to re-design my webpage for my Station Display.
$249 is not that much for a toy for a tech worker. As in, if it gives you entertainment for a month, it is something you can afford.
I bet the core audience is not software engineers, but sales, higher-level customer support, and other professionals with relatively expensive time who also need to work with people around.
But I think the makers hope to have some extra sales from the people buying it as a toy, too.
maybe do some acid or something
I'm thinking about it...
The hand on the landing page could be better. Hits "Marvel movie jumping"-levels of uncanny valley for me.
$249! Too much for something that can be an app.
Why even an app? Most mobile devices already have Focus mode. IOS offers plenty of options for this..
It's not about the functionality though. And of course it's not, because like you say, it could be an app if it were.
It's about the interface. And of course it is, because look how gorgeous yet minimal it is.
I guarantee most tasks can be accomplished with this in less steps and less time than if you had to pull out your phone, open an app, and do it. Remember, this is sitting on your desk at arms length at any time you need to use it, and always in your face with information at a glance.
It seems like a big part of the advantage is that you won't get distracted by your phone like you would with an app
We used to have doors in the office for this.
I just use a chess clock. Its perfect.
What a beautifully designed toy.
$250 for something that is a week long arduino project... You can even 3D print the whole thing nowadays
No wireless, less space than nomad, you can replicate this in a few hours with FTP, curlftpfs, and SVN, etc.
Assuming the device is as polished as its slick marketing page, I'm a little skeptical it could be replicated in a week. That said, if you disagree this is a great opportunity to undercut the competition!
I dont sell to consumers
How much do you value your time? $250 / week is $13,000 a year, well into the poverty range.
With ai its even faster tbh last i made my own led driver i didnt even have proper documentation. Also waste of money, its not the only thing i will be buying will i?
I had a scrap industrial stack light set up in my office to indicate my busy/not-busy state. I never clicked it to red when someone was approaching, but in hindsight, it was still a bit obnoxious tbh.
Feel extremely passive aggressive. Or just plain aggressive. Especially the one of the woman coming over and the guy hitting the busy button. If someone did that to me that’d be the last time.
It’s $250! FFS!
Donate 245 to a charity. And make a dual sided sign out of reclaimed palet wood and that soldering iron you bought last year.
Oof that demo video that shows a coworker coming to ask a question and the guy just hits the busy button without turning his head is brutal.
The device itself looks pretty neat, and seems like it does have a lot more features than that douchebag-projecting use case.
For that price though, you might as well get an ipad...
Yeah it’s like a hardcore group of enthusiasts have zero awareness of how rude that actually is and have pushed on with their dream project regardless. They will be so crushed when their workplace bans their new $250 toy within days instead of hauling them as heroes which is what happens in the alternate timeline in their heads..
If you can afford a $250 light up piece of plastic nonsense to taunt and gatekeep your coworkers with, chances are you can probably spend $20 on a time management book.
this seems like an actively hostile narcissistic addition to a collaborative workplace that would get you fired in a week.
I've seen these kinds of things more for children/family in work-from-home than coworkers. My mom used to do it primarily with door status (is the door open or shut), but I've seen families where something brighter and more obvious is helpful.
Yeah, it didn't suprise me that the only woman in all the demos was coming to interupt the BUSY dev and his Important Work. I was surprised that this is made by Flipper, though!
I might use it to keep the kids out when I'm on a Zoom call in the home office. It looks fun.
i eork from home..alone no need to show
For those who work from home, we have made it possible to hang the device on the door so that no one knocks on your door when you are on call. Also, by integration with the BUSY App it can automatically block notifications on phone and desktop when you are in focus mode.
I’d buy it if it had a subscription. /s
Does it work without a subscription?