Disrupt the Disruptions
WebScreen is a customizable ESP32-powered display that perches on top of your monitor to show notifications without context switching.
In a cruel twist of irony, the multitude of digital devices designed to enhance our productivity all too often serve to do just the opposite by constantly demanding our attention. Notifications, emails, calendar reminders — right when you get in the zone, something else always seems to come up that breaks your concentration. This has led to the development of many strategies to deal with these disruptions, like silencing devices or only periodically checking in on notifications.
But these strategies tend to fail after a short run. The fact of the matter is that we need to see our notifications, so breaking free from this trap is more than just a matter of willpower. Engineers at HW Media Lab decided to approach this problem from another angle. They thought that if you cannot avoid disruptions, you should at least make them as unobtrusive as possible. Toward that goal, they have developed a device called WebScreen. It is a small, programmable display that sits atop a monitor much like a webcam, where it can display relevant information without requiring context switching.
Powered by an ESP32-S3 microcontroller, WebScreen is ideal for hardware hackers. The open source platform is capable of running custom JavaScript apps developed by the user. These apps can display any arbitrary source of information on the device’s tiny 240 x 536 pixel AMOLED display. Since the ESP32 has native support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth communication, linking apps to other devices is simple and can be done without a mess of wires on your desk.
This is not the first hobbyist-friendly ESP32 development board with a screen attached, but the included monitor mount does make it much more convenient for use in displaying notifications. The polished look of the device is also nice for use on one’s desk, because a bare PCB, hot glue, and a poor quality 3D-print is not everyone’s idea of style.
WebScreen has been posted to Crowd Supply, but the project has not launched just yet. You can sign up for notifications, but alas, you will have no WebScreen to display those notifications for you. If you simply cannot wait for the project to go live, or you want to customize a device specifically for your needs, check out the GitHub repository. There you can find schematics, the bill of materials, firmware, the desktop app, and STEP files to get you started on your own creation.