Dyson listened while the Curtain laid it all down: Skynet, Judgment Day, the history of things to come. It's not everyday you find out that you're responsible for 3 billion peeping toms.

October 15, 2010 11:27 AM

Robotic privacy curtain, "My workshop is located in an old storefront with a big window facing towards the street. In an attempt to create more privacy inside, I’ve decided to install a small but smart curtain in that window." (More here)
posted by geoff. (13 comments total)

Watching that thing jump around really stresses me out. It just seems so... paranoid.
posted by hermitosis at 11:35 AM on October 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

What happens if two people stand in the same position, and then only one of them walks to the edge of the window?
posted by oneironaut at 11:52 AM on October 15, 2010

Cool device--but I'm not convinced it's privacy he wanted.
posted by reformedjerk at 12:10 PM on October 15, 2010 [4 favorites]

The part of me that loves to add personality to inanimate objects went absolutely nuts over this.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 12:10 PM on October 15, 2010

I love this. This is so similar to my undergrad senior project -- if I'd been a lot more clever, it would have been my undergrad senior project.
posted by gurple at 12:14 PM on October 15, 2010

Next up: selling that to some advertising firm to put in a store window.
posted by msbutah at 12:45 PM on October 15, 2010

Anyone know if the software that runs on the laptop is written by him, or if it's (part of) some already existing program? Alternatively, if one wanted to do something similar, which software could be used?

It's a neat project, although -- as one commenter on YouTube pointed out -- the net result is likely more attention and thus less privacy.
posted by Simon Barclay at 12:50 PM on October 15, 2010

Simon, follow the "More here" link.
posted by mendel at 1:02 PM on October 15, 2010

Some of this guy's other projects are great, too: The ancient computer (a Commodore PET) that seems to be displaying a wireframe teapot, but really contains a physical wireframe model of a teapot that can be rotated using keys on the keyboard, or the project in which he pretended to be an African artist who connected a well in an African village to a toilet in Austria through the internet.
posted by jjwiseman at 1:04 PM on October 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

mendel, I checked it out, but I didn't see anything. Maybe it's in the ZIP file? There's a .pde file in there that looks like some sort of source code, but I don't know what language/environment it is.
posted by Simon Barclay at 5:46 PM on October 15, 2010

It's a neat project, although -- as one commenter on YouTube pointed out -- the net result is likely more attention and thus less privacy.

As with others, at first, I was like , "Lame! Too much latency, the curtain is too small, and it's transparent." Then, I realized that it's not about privacy, at all. It's about advertising and art. Thanks.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 6:09 PM on October 15, 2010

Simon Barclay: .pde is Processing, a C-like language popular among artists.
posted by hattifattener at 7:30 PM on October 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

That's awesome. I wonder if he painted the sidewalk in front of his place for better contrast or if it's just a lucky accident.

oneironaut writes "What happens if two people stand in the same position, and then only one of them walks to the edge of the window?"

Bet it follows the larger person (at least as the computer sees it). If that person is the one walking off frame it follows them then it zips back to block the view of the stationary person.
posted by Mitheral at 7:57 PM on October 15, 2010