gistfile1.txt

Abstract
    A 54" TV sits blank in a room full of programmers who would happily script up visualizations and demos. A device is needed to provide video source for the display, that can be installed easily on the wall near the TV, either surreptisously, or perhaps artfully.

    Fullscreen webkit browser, displaying HTML5/JS visualizations.
    Allow for any office denizen to create and upload their own gadgets/visualizations.
    LDAP authentication




HARDWARE PLATFORM

    Beagleboard                 http://specialcomp.com/beagleboard/
        600Mhz ARM Cortex A8
        HD-video capable
        OpenGL ES 2.0 2d/3d GPU
        DVI-D (hdmi) out


    The Beagleboard runs Ubuntu.
    USB Wifi Adapter provides internet access.
    HDMI Out and Audio Out run to the television.
    Ubuntu image bootstraps up a webserver running the Dashboard App.
    Ubuntu image auto-starts a chromeless browser fullscreen, autoloading http://localhost/



    Sensors
        - light sensor
        - temperature sensor
        - proximity sensor
        - motion sensor
        - camera? (privacy issues should probably not use)
        - microphone? (privacy issues should probably not use)



SOFTWARE PLATFORM

    Gadgets are .zip files. contains an index.html that is used in an iframe as the gadget. any files contained in the zip are available via relative paths to use as css/js/images.

    Dashboards are a grid of Gadgets.
    The Home page cycles through available Dashboards.



Dashboard Gadget Ideas
    - twitter feed
    - github activity
    - rss feed
    - graphs of commits/checkouts
    - upcoming beer vote
    - bus schedules
    - sensor graphs