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Laid Off From Job, Man Builds Tweeting Toilet

dcblogs writes With parts from an electric motor, a few household items, an open-source hardware board running Linux, and some coding, Thomas Ruecker, built a connected toilet that Tweets with each flush. The first reaction to the Twitter feed at @iotoilets may be a chuckle. But the idea behind this and what it illustrates is serious. It tracks water usage, offers a warning about the future of privacy in the Internet of Things, and may say something about the modern job hunt. Ruecker built his device on a recent long weekend after he was laid off as an open source evangelist at a technology firm undergoing "rightsizing," as he put it.

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  1. Re:Job security and your title by BitZtream · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Which is why he said right sizing instead of downsizing, just because you have that sort of position doesn't mean you aren't aware of it.

    --
    Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
  2. I built a Twitter-enabled litterbox months ago by Scott+Cutler · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Check out the Twitter feed here.

    Not only does it report the weight of my cat's droppings, but it reports the duration and total cat weight. It also generates amusing facts about Nibbler's pooping habits.

    I have some basic build instructions available. I use Bluetooth, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, load cells, and an external ADC.