The mirror display is an interactive mirror that enables the user to view and interact with widgets. These widgets include traffic, news, calendar, and weather. All pull data from the internet in real time to display content to the user. The input to the mirror are gesture swipes that are captured by IR reflectors. This project was done as a ECE 4180 project at Georgia Tech using the Ebox 3300 and phidgets sensors. The source and materials list are available for reproduction by others.
The premise behind the project was to build something that could be useful in everday life. We decided topresent the user with information that could prove useful for the day ahead while carrying on with Morning routine. The idea of the mirror came while watching corningware's video on the future of glass. The use of the E-box was required by the design requirments of the class so windows CE and C# were chosen as the developing platform. We also wanted it to work much like a drawer where you could pull out the things you wanted to know about. The swipe gesture was chosen so that fingerprints on the mirror would not be an issue. All of these factors led to the development of the cloud mirror project.
When the user expands the traffic widget for more information, he is presented with the local traffic representation of all the major roads in his local area. Using MapQuest traffic for updated information, the user can see exactly which routes are backed up, so that he may plan alternate means of getting somewhere.
The news widget presents the headlines of the day from around the world. The news shows a title followed by an article, which the user can scroll through using the swipe motion. The widget display multiple articles that can be customized to display whatever type of news is desired. News updates from Google News or other selected RSS feed whenever the news widget is opened.
The weather widget shows local weather conditions for the current day through a graphic, temperature, and weather conditions. This widget also shows a 2-day forecast so that users may plan accordingly. The weather comes from the Yahoo Weather API.
This widget shows the user their current calendar to-do list for the day. The calendar automatically synchronizes with any Google/Gmail calendars so that the user can see what plans he may have during the day.