twald

I’ve worked with many “Mittelstand” companies in Germany—often fourth-generation family businesses. Time and again, I’ve seen how the board and CEO go above and beyond to ensure their employees are taken care of, in both good times and bad. And when you talk to people working there, you can feel this mutual sense of loyalty reflected in their words.

I’m not saying this is common in the tech industry at all, but I can confirm that loyalty between a company (and yes, I’m deliberately using company over people here) and its employees does exist—on a broader scale and in the most positive sense. This doesn’t mean that hard, economical decisions don’t need to be made or that people live in a cloud of blind loyalty.

But there’s a lot of beauty and wellbeing in this dynamic, if you’re willing to explore it—and it’s definitely something I personally strive for.

Same!!

Very useful. Thank you! I’d suggest to place the time above the slider. I’m left handed and I’m covering the time when I adjust the slider.

Ah. Thanks Zach! Just changed this.

Thank you! We'll make changes asap.

:) Thank you!

Thanks for sharing! Do you plan to add this to the menu bar in the future?

Ehm… side note… The notes look gorgeous

Thanks :) Appreciate it

Yes, you can hook it up to IFTTT and trigger IFTTT commands

We'll ship Alexa out of the box but we're open to other speech services as well. Here is a quick overview of the dev platform (still work in progress): developers.senic.com

Hey. Tobias, one of the founders here. Happy to answer any questions!

I'm really happy this topic is getting some traction. Human well-being should be the non-negotiable constraint within the design process.

I understand the argument that people should be able to manage themselves but human nature is not that simple. People are never told that they are about to use a drug that has been proven to have addictive effects.

Receiving a like on facebook releases dopamine the same way smoking, drinking alcohol or gambling do. All fine in the right amount but dangerous when taken beyond a certain point. One of the problems for example is that people tend to use these substances more under stressful situation like studying for exams, dealing with a problem in your relationship, etc.

Seriously. I've been following this project for a while. Sooo good!

hey, author here. we're thinking about sharing stories about hardware startups that decided for the local manufacturing route including price differences, manufacturing tips, gm contacts, etc. If somebody is interested or wants to get involved, please send me an email: tobias@senic.com

fully agree on every point

hey, author here. - the assumption that china is cheaper - the assumption that cost savings trumphs all - not being exposed to what is possible locally - a hype around making something abroad

You can't be possibly talking about a light switch, right? :) That's exactly what I'm talking about. I want something as simple as a light switch to control the colors of my lifx, Hue or control my sonos speakers.

You're right. I'm going to talk about them in particular in a follow up post. I wear a pebble as well and I used to use it to control volume. I see smartwatches taking a big place in smart homes. Our issues were that they were not a shared control, you still had to use vision as your primary sensor input, battery life, screen size and problems with connectivity. But I'm confident some of these issues will be resolved soon.

I agree. And that's exactly one of the big changes that are happening. Prices for hardware components and manufacturing are dropping and we now have the ability to think about more suitable interfaces. I stopped using my lifx after a week because I did not have a fast and simple interface to control them.

Hey, one of the founders here. When we talk about integrated, we're talking about sensors integrated in the materials like tables and walls around us. It does not mean that all of these components should be integrated in one device. I did not phrase this well enough. Thanks!

I agree that we want a centralized intelligence. I personally don't want to carry my smartphone around all the time though. We can't we use what's around us like glass, tables walls or use small projectors that track your positioning?

We have a few products in mind that would instantly add value. Think about your feet or objects and surfaces around you like a table. Why not use them? Why not blend technology into natural things that use more senses than just your eyes and a reduced form of haptics.

That is one of the major changes that are happening. * Existing user interfaces (screens, mouse, keyboard) have made sense because they were the lowest common denominator and because prices could be kept low this way. * Now, prices for hardware are dropping (we will soon have the first wifi chip for less than 1 USD.). That means that we can explore completely new user interfaces, ones that are perfectly designed for the person and their needs. You don't need to have a user interface anymore that is designed for billions of people. You can manufacture several kinds of user interfaces quickly and that suit millions of people, just better. * Manufacturing is also becoming much easier and cheaper. There are more and more robots that can do complex work. They are also becoming cheaper and more capable which also influences this aspect. * I believe that the future of user interfaces does not lie in centralized, generic devices but distributed, specific interfaces.

Done. Thank you for your feedback!

Thanks you for the thorough response. Really valuable and thanks for backing us. I would love to stay in contact and talk more in detail about the suction cup, software etc. Please feel free to send me an email: hi@senic.com and we can take it from there.

sorry for the messed up formatting.

thanks. Would love you as a backer. Please let me know which tools you want this to work with and we'll implement it. powermate: Yes, we have used it. We like it. It was too limiting for what we needed and we wanted it to be more portable and other materials. Weight: roughly 300 grams. That's one of the reasons we used metal, to make it heavier. We're also using a slip-resistant material on the bottom so it won't slip around. * Battery: We have worked built prototypes with both batteries, AAA and coin cells. This is one thing we're focusing on right now. We will definitely post an update on the campaign asap. Your thoughts from the user side would also be appreciated. * Software: The first and easiest form is using keyboard shortcuts and mapping it to an application. The second form is through scripts like Apple scripts.

one of the founders here. Thanks for the comment. It's pretty durable. It's made from turned metal and acrylic glass. It will survive drops from tables and walls. It is mainly aimed at people who need sensitivity and pixel-perfect controls in graphic design, 3D modeling or video editing. But it is built on an open platform so it can also be used for things like music.

Please write me a direct email: support(a)senic.com. I will respond asap.

The device fits all standard tripods. This is a great idea thoug. We will contact the guy from Galileo!