7 ms·

I wish I had a little LED at my desk that would sync with my IM status to show people when I was busy or available to chat online or in person. One of the earli

I wish I had a little LED at my desk that would sync with my IM status to show people when I was busy or available to chat online or in person. One of the earliest usability features in the online world but still not replicated in the real world.

test1235 12y ago
In my case, that LED is my headphones :)
- chuckcode 12y ago
  LED on the headphones would be awesome... And possibly programmable through the cord, thanks!
- Dewie 12y ago
  What if I want to listen to music, but I don't mind someone talking to me if they need something? What if I want to concentrate with no interruptions, including no noise/music from headphones?
  - heynk 12y ago
    For me - I like having headphones on without music because it's kinda warm and lowers outside noise. If I want to listen to something and still indicate I'm available to chat, I only have one headphone over the ear and the other to the side.
Preseed 12y ago
This is a great idea - got me giddy for a second. Would be an awesome crowd funding project. Kudos!
xeromal 12y ago
My ex-company uses those. They would sync up with our Lync clients and you could even set the color for each status. If anyone is interested I'll ask my old contact there.
- DanBC 12y ago
  These? http://www.blynclight.com/ http://www.blynclight.com/
  - chuckcode 12y ago
    Thanks! Just what I was looking for!
  - changdizzle 12y ago
    this is really cool - anything like this for HipChat/Slack/Gchat/other clients?
  - xeromal 12y ago
    Ours were tubes with the top having a small light. My friend hasn't replied yet, but I like yours. A cube is a lot easier to stack.
  - adieth 12y ago
    They also have an (a bit difficult to find) SDK [1] available, for those not using Skype or Lync. But then there are cheaper [2] or different [3] alternatives if you don't need the existing integrations. [1] http://blynclight.proboards.com http://blynclight.proboards.com [2] http://blink1.thingm.com/buy/ http://blink1.thingm.com/buy/ [3] https://blinkinlabs.myshopify.com/products/blinkytape-basic https://blinkinlabs.myshopify.com/products/blinkytape-basic
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
nmolo 12y ago
For MS shops who rely on Lync (I mean Skype for business) can get these http://www.blynclight.com/ http://www.blynclight.com/
famousactress 12y ago
That's funny you mention this. I've been remote full time for over four years now and one of the upsides I didn't expect was that I find it much easier to manage my own distractions than I did in an office. Lots of credit goes to things like the IM status and the ability to hold a reasonable SLA on communications (can you imagine silently waiting 5-10 minutes to turn around and answer a question someone asked you in person?).
jfernandez 12y ago
This project just came out https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flic-the-wireless-smart-button https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flic-the-wireless-smart-b... Among other products like this there's definitely a way!
tlrobinson 12y ago
Wearing headphones is the unwritten rule at a lot of places. Not great if you don't like wearing headphones though.
- cerberusss 12y ago
  Exactly, that is what we do.
chipsy 12y ago
It never worked that well in the online world, IME. People used their away status message for the equivalent of Weird Twitter; there was little incentive to proclaim yourself "available." Likewise, there's always the person who goes "ping", "ping" at you, and then you say "what," and then they finally ask a question that you can answer in one sentence. Better, I find, is just talking at someone with a cultural expectation of high latency in their response, which is true of a lot of IRC channels. In many previous HN threads people have mentioned the chat room format being crucial for their work discussion; you can direct a question at someone, while allowing it to be publicly visible too so that someone else can step in.
qq66 12y ago
Microsoft employees have these.
thisisboz 12y ago
We tend to use headphones for this purpose at Facebook

test1235 12y ago

In my case, that LED is my headphones :)

chuckcode 12y ago
LED on the headphones would be awesome... And possibly programmable through the cord, thanks!
Dewie 12y ago
What if I want to listen to music, but I don't mind someone talking to me if they need something? What if I want to concentrate with no interruptions, including no noise/music from headphones?
- heynk 12y ago
  For me - I like having headphones on without music because it's kinda warm and lowers outside noise. If I want to listen to something and still indicate I'm available to chat, I only have one headphone over the ear and the other to the side.

Preseed 12y ago

This is a great idea - got me giddy for a second. Would be an awesome crowd funding project. Kudos!

xeromal 12y ago

My ex-company uses those. They would sync up with our Lync clients and you could even set the color for each status. If anyone is interested I'll ask my old contact there.

DanBC 12y ago
These? http://www.blynclight.com/ http://www.blynclight.com/
- chuckcode 12y ago
  Thanks! Just what I was looking for!
- changdizzle 12y ago
  this is really cool - anything like this for HipChat/Slack/Gchat/other clients?
- xeromal 12y ago
  Ours were tubes with the top having a small light. My friend hasn't replied yet, but I like yours. A cube is a lot easier to stack.
- adieth 12y ago
  They also have an (a bit difficult to find) SDK [1] available, for those not using Skype or Lync. But then there are cheaper [2] or different [3] alternatives if you don't need the existing integrations. [1] http://blynclight.proboards.com http://blynclight.proboards.com [2] http://blink1.thingm.com/buy/ http://blink1.thingm.com/buy/ [3] https://blinkinlabs.myshopify.com/products/blinkytape-basic https://blinkinlabs.myshopify.com/products/blinkytape-basic

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

nmolo 12y ago

For MS shops who rely on Lync (I mean Skype for business) can get these http://www.blynclight.com/ http://www.blynclight.com/

famousactress 12y ago

That's funny you mention this. I've been remote full time for over four years now and one of the upsides I didn't expect was that I find it much easier to manage my own distractions than I did in an office. Lots of credit goes to things like the IM status and the ability to hold a reasonable SLA on communications (can you imagine silently waiting 5-10 minutes to turn around and answer a question someone asked you in person?).

jfernandez 12y ago

This project just came out https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flic-the-wireless-smart-button https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flic-the-wireless-smart-b... Among other products like this there's definitely a way!

tlrobinson 12y ago

Wearing headphones is the unwritten rule at a lot of places. Not great if you don't like wearing headphones though.

cerberusss 12y ago
Exactly, that is what we do.

chipsy 12y ago

It never worked that well in the online world, IME. People used their away status message for the equivalent of Weird Twitter; there was little incentive to proclaim yourself "available." Likewise, there's always the person who goes "ping", "ping" at you, and then you say "what," and then they finally ask a question that you can answer in one sentence. Better, I find, is just talking at someone with a cultural expectation of high latency in their response, which is true of a lot of IRC channels. In many previous HN threads people have mentioned the chat room format being crucial for their work discussion; you can direct a question at someone, while allowing it to be publicly visible too so that someone else can step in.

qq66 12y ago

Microsoft employees have these.

thisisboz 12y ago

We tend to use headphones for this purpose at Facebook