Slashdot Mirror
A 'Smart' Bathroom Mirror Powered by Android (Video)
Gone are the days of boring bathroom mirrors that only reflect what's in front of them. What you really need is a bathroom mirror that gives stock quotes, displays the local weather, and tells you the temperature of the water you are about to use to wash your face. Seraku Corporation is now in the process of filling that burning need and has gotten a bunch of press attention by doing so. A cynic might wonder why people who absolutely, positively must have Internet access while they shave or perform other bathroom mirror duties don't just make a wall-mounted holder for their tablets next to their pre-Internet bathroom mirrors, but that would destroy the fun of having the display built directly into the mirror, along with sensors that detect hand gestures so you can control your mirror (no doubt by asking, "Who is the fairest of them all?") without touching it with your greasy fingers. Note that this is technically not a smart mirror but a smart washbasin with a mirror attached to it. Either way, it's not available for retail sale quite yet.
Were they not accepting submissions on http://thisiswhyimbroke.com/ ?
Internet Access you say ? Watch porn then lol
What you really need is a bathroom mirror that gives stock quotes, displays the local weather, and tells you the temperature of the water you are about to use to wash your face
No, all I really need in a mirror is a reflective surface. You know, a "mirror."
>> tells you the temperature of the water you are about to use to wash your face
Seriously? That is their big idea?
I hear people do watch porn in bathroom. I suspect that it a camera is added there will be a growth industry for naked women putting on makeup. Otherwise just another method for NSA to conduct traffic analysis
Not another device to get hacked or add another point to be constantly monitored. I'll pass. Couple reasons why:
1: That temperature of water can be turned scalding quite quickly if someone manages to hack the device, and with a camera, there will be YouTube vids galore of people getting scalded.
2: I really don't want ads in my bathroom, nor cameras. No viewer or lackey in any intel organization or LEO deserves that punishment.
3: I also don't want another camera for some potential burglar to have access to via wardriving.
4: Technology for technology's sake is pointless. I want stuff in a bathroom to be simple and elegant. It is one of the few places in a building where I can get away from it.
5: I don't need another electronic item to break or need power.
(Insert appearance jokes here.)
It's probably 15 or 20 years ago now that I toured a model home with a TV set in behind a partially silvered section of the bathroom mirror. (When it was off, you couldn't see it.) Do that with a smart TV or computer monitor and it's the same thing.
Big whoop.
... a man from New Jersey was convicted today for murder in the 3rd degree. He hacked his ex-girlfriends mirror to tell her she looked fat, after which she killed herself. More at 11.
*Leans over, vomits into trash can* What's the temperature of that?
For years I've been a fan of matte displays, preferring to have my displays still usable when there are other lights around, but I guess glossy displays have now reached their extreme.
I bet the glare's awful.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
This is utterly senseless! Apart from the security concerns voiced above, this is a very useless place to put android on.
Newsflash: Not ever part of your life needs to be electronic.
The concept makes a little more sense if you think of it as a display that could double as a mirror. Although that would probably cost more. (The video appears to show a real mirror with display features built in.)
Then I asked myself, why aren't all displays also mirrors. I have a mirror app on my phone that uses the front facing camera. Should be an easy thing to do. And then I went oh yeah ... Front facing cameras on internet enabled devices, hanging on the wall. No way that could be abused.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I guess you could just have an app that shows you the front cam image on your ipad, which you hang on the wall. Then just have some stock and weather stuff around the image on the screen. This is just a bigger copy of what is already doable. Just don't let your tablet get hacked or find video of you naked in the bathroom on the web somewhere.
Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
So we put an ad in yo ad so you can watch ads to watch ads.
Seriously fuck you to whoever thought it would be a good idea to force us to watch an ad before we watch what essentially is an ad. I immediately stopped watching.
How much time, on average, a typical male geek spends in bathroom staring in the mirror?
I'd understand if this mirror were to be aimed at female geeks. But they are few and far between. A non-geeky woman doesn't need stock quotes; she would focus on the only object that is important: her own appearance :-)
I don't give a fuck about any of that. A mirror is a mere mirror. I can't imagine anyone using this beyond a novelty and having too much disposable income. Or as a clever selling-point on a new house.
This isn't a lot different than using your smartphone on the shitter during your morning shit-session.
Mirror: Yes. Have you heard about our new offer of male enlargement pills?
I like how they stressed REALLY. So it is not enough that I sit on a jon with my phone browsing news, I also REALLY need a bathroom mirror that gives me price stock? Some business ideas are just too stupid
Is up to date files and fast download speeds
A smart bathroom mirror would clean and/or defog itself. A "smart" anything uses computation to enhance the original application. Adding internet in no way helps with shaving, washing, styling hair, or any other task that bathroom mirrors are commonly used for. Worse, it increases the maintenance load since it is less robust than a plain mirror and needs to be kept cleaner in order to utilize the new features.
'nuff said.
to automatically take selfies.
thegodmovie.com - watch it
If you had the chance to visit the late lamented Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton when it still existed, and if you had visited the gentlemen's toilet, you would have unzipped before a urinal topped by a mirror. Upon tinkling, the mirror would proceed to display an amusing ad for some silly personal product only available in the Star Trek universe. It was so amusing that there was a constant stream of guys sneaking their girls into the men's room to show it off. Apparently there was a similar gag in the Ladies' at the wash basin, but the ladies report that it wasn't nearly as funny.
Brackets contain world's first nanosig, highly magnified:[.]
I said "Damn, do I look good?" in front of it. The thing laughed for 20 minutes.
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
DAMMIT! I've been waiting all this time for the "Internet Connected Refrigerator" I was promised 10 years ago so it can order groceries for me - and all they've come up with is a fucking bathroom mirror with stock quotes!?!? Get the fuck out.
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
I'm surprised at the overwhelmingly negative commentary on this story. I think it has potential, here's why.
In my current morning routine, I wake up to a clock radio tuned to NPR while my server turns on the stereo so I can hear NPR in the bathroom. I check my phone to see if there are any fires at work that need to be addressed, then to the bathroom where as I shave and shower I listen for news, traffic and weather. The local NPR is quite mediocre, so even if I hear the traffic and weather I dont always get the info I need. After my shower I get dressed and go. I do NOT typically turn on any kind of display, viewing that as a slow process, but if it's flooding, the radio mentions a bad accident, or there were fires I may turn on my winbox or a tablet, or just address it on the phone.
With a device like this I would go into the bathroom to see weather with animated radar, the traffic map from the county, and could be streaming the local NPR. I might even check an email on occasion. If traffic looks bad I could email from something larger than my phone. I would be able to set both the shower and sink to the temp I like as a preset so I wouldnt have to take the time to check, adjust, wait, so after shaving the electric razor gets rinsed and straight into a right temp shower. Since my house is older and the hot water has to get there I could save water if it reduced the flow at the right temp. If I get a phone call while in the bathroom I can see the callerid and route the call as desired, or answer it. If someone comes to the door I can view the front door camera, maybe even talk to them. I could view my agenda for the day and reminders of things I need to take. This makes sense because most of the morning routine aside from getting dressed is spent in the bathroom.
I can see where this would be a productivity enhancer. It won't get me out of the house faster, but could reduce water consumption and significantly enhance the quality of my day. I dont know if I want the specific device in the OP, but as i already have a "smart" home the functionality makes sense. Most people may not, but then most people dont have a house that turns lights and media on and off based on rules. Some technologies that I have implemented in the past ended up not making sense, i.e. controlling the outside lights based on time or rules, when a simple photocell does what I need and is more reliable. I think technology can be helpful, and some kind of terminal in the bathroom could be quite helpful.
Knee jerk reactions and superior airs do little to advance technology. Maybe some of the whiners dont have computers at home because they dont need to spend quality home time on the internet. Maybe electric lights offend their sensibilities where a proper gas light would have that perfect glow. In any case I do look for meaningful ways to add useful technology and information to my life. Yes there are risks, ooh, someone might see my butt. But if I can make it secure I will, at least as secure as one of my 3 tablets, two laptops, two cpus and smartphone. They contain risks but I still use them.Ten years ago people scoffed at my Palm phone and ridiculed my Newton, three years ago they wondered why I bought a tablet. Now almost everyone I know have smartphones and tablets. I've already built panels using rainmeter and samurize to monitor local conditions as well as multiple cpus, so I know what kind of info would be useful. And frankly the idea of leaving a video "good morning", "I love you", or "dont forget to..." message for someone that wakes at a different time could be quite keen. Both the bathroom and the kitchen could benefit from task-specific technology. Hell I even have an old laptop in my shop to I can look up procedures in the service manuals or do calculations.
So maybe not this one, but probably eventually.
Asians have making useless shit down to a science. Somehow that makes them sound smarter than they actually are though....
http://www.hiddentelevision.com/
Been around for a few years now.
Katana is wearing a suit now..
Looks like it's all American technology - Corning.
Back in the 80s that had a 2-way mirror in the bathroom. Open the closet and you could see right into the bathroom and no computer was involved. My girlfriend was not amused.
"Whenever the cause of the people is entrusted to professors, it is lost." ~ V.I. Lenin
A smart mirror would display everything in the correct right/left perspective. And how fucking awesome would that be?
Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
http://www.patriotresource.com/lotr/places/mirror.html
Japan used to be on the forefront of innovation. WTF happened? Did it all move to China?
Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
"What you really need is a bathroom mirror that gives stock quotes, displays the local weather, and tells you the temperature of the water you are about to use to wash your face" Nonsense. But I would like a "mirror" that can play clips of nice hardcore prono, for stress relief, dontyaknow.
is there an app that wont make me hate myself when i look in the mirror?
This should be filed under "WTF were they thinking?"
I can just see it now:
"Mirror mirror on the wall.... Who makes the smelliest poops of them all?"
For the past 6 months, our local "Casino" has had a power mirror installed. Actually, they use reflective glass, and a projector behind.
So when you wash your hands, you are shown the money that people won at the tables. They really want high-rollers.
But, I can'tr wait for them to replace the stall doors with ones having flat screens. So, while you sit, you can watch the advert, in a captive way. I think that is a better idea for a Casino, don't you?
On second thought, there could be training videos to show you how to flush --- no, that won't work, the toilets are automatic, and do their thing when you get up.
Leslie Satenstein Montreal Quebec Canada
If it can't zoom in and magnify a zit, what good is an intelligent mirror?