Netflix Posts Playful Instructions for Smart Socks That Wake Dozing Viewers
Netflix took a playful jab at the wearables market, by giving subscribers step-by-step instructions on how to make their own smart socks that wake up dozing viewers watching a Netflix show. The company doesn’t plan to sell the socks, but…
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it gives a blow-by-blow account of the materials and Arduino programming steps needed to make socks that will alert the TV to pause if viewers fall asleep while watching. “Making Netflix socks from scratch means doing a little knitting and building some electronics,” says the website. The “sleep detection system” uses an accelerometer that detects when a viewer has stopped moving for a prolonged period of time and triggers a signal that tells the TV to pause Netflix. When it detects dozing, an LED in the sock cuff flashes red to warn that the pause command is about to fire off to the TV. Netflix told us it shared the schematics -- a Fitbit hack created at a Netflix Hack Day for company engineers -- as a fun way to “enhance your viewing experience if any would-be makers are inclined to tackle the project.”