Flipper Devices unveils Busy Bar, a hacker-friendly productivity display

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What happened

Flipper Devices, the team behind the Flipper Zero, announced Busy Bar on June 29, with open sale the following month. It combines a 72-by-16 LED matrix front display with a monochrome status screen on the back, and can set timers, block apps and show custom messages, widgets and an 'on call' status.

Busy Bar ships with apps for iOS, Android and macOS. The macOS microphone integration shows an 'on call' status and mutes notifications. It is Matter-certified across the Amazon, Apple and Google ecosystems, and its open firmware exposes an HTTP API, MQTT and official Python and TypeScript libraries.

Why it matters

Most focus gadgets are closed appliances. Shipping open firmware with an HTTP API and MQTT means developers can wire Busy Bar into their own automations and status systems.

Matter certification and cross-platform apps make it a legitimate smart-home citizen rather than a one-off accessory. That broadens where it can fit in an existing setup.

MintedBrain take

The appeal here is the hackability, not the LED novelty. For developers who already script their environment, an open, API-driven status display is more useful than a polished but locked-down one.

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References

This article was originally published at Gizmodo. For the full piece, read the original article.

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