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Funny; Home Assistant [2], one of the top projects on github, just added a feature that allows people to build out really nice UI's for their home automation systems. Some of them [1] look a heck of a lot like MS Bob, but this time you can actually flip your actual lights on and off! It was just ahead of its time.

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/comments/8wdscs/lovel...

[2] https://www.home-assistant.io/




Reminds me of Don Norman's kinda crazy light switches in his house, described in "The Design of Everyday Things":

> FIGURE 4.5. A Natural Mapping of Light Switches to Lights. This is how I mapped five switches to the lights in my living room. I placed small toggle switches that fit onto a plan of the home’s living room, balcony, and hall, with each switch placed where the light was located. The X by the center switch indicates where this panel was located. The surface was tilted to make it easier to relate it to the horizontal arrangement of the lights, and the slope provided a natural anti-affordance, preventing people from putting coffee cups and drink containers on the controls.




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