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Laid Off From Job, Man Builds Tweeting Toilet

Posted by samzenpus on from the because-I-can dept.

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.

9 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. Job security and your title by FireballX301 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think if the words 'Evangelist', 'Maven', or 'Prophet' are anywhere in your job title, you probably don't actually have a job, you just have people giving you money at regular intervals.

    1. Re:Job security and your title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      To give you some context though. Aside from the "fluffy" title, I had an official title of "senior project manager" and very tangible and down to earth tasks and responsibilities. Including project management of sizeable projects and customer relationship management. The title was awesome as an external ice breaker and also helpful internally to set the scene for that , sadly quite small part of furthering open source adoption and making the workplace more open source friendly.

      I should have known that this article would attract some crap though. *badumtsh*

  2. Welcome to 2009 by darkain · · Score: 4, Informative

    Welcome to 2009 - http://gizmodo.com/5259381/twi...

    1. Re:Welcome to 2009 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      The difference is, that I can measure the exact flush volume (accuracy is about 40ml) and report that.
      In the US most toilets only go full flush. Over here in ye olde Europe you can actually flush only a little bit or a bit more or just keep the button pressed until the cistern is empty.
      Yes, I was aware of that one, but there is more in this.

  3. Re:And...he still overcomplicated it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    No I did not. I wanted an exact measurement of the flush volume. This toilet has a variable flush volume, depending on how long you press the button.
    If I only wanted an event trigger it would have been indeed a simple contact.

    Also, yes, taking apart a servo felt so wrong, but there were several good reasons: It's waterproof housing, it was available *right* now, while all shops were closed for the long weekend, it's mechanically very stable and durable. I made sure to keep all parts that I removed in a little baggy, in case I need the servo again.

  4. Re:obligatory by mjwx · · Score: 4, Funny

    We can create a new social network called Shitter, instead of tweets we can have flushes.

    Oh look, I'm getting a new flush about Chocolate Starfish.

    --
    Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  5. 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.

  6. Re:obligatory by denzacar · · Score: 5, Funny

    And the difference would be...?

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  7. Re:obligatory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is recent activity contained in a log?