đź”´ Send Slack Alerts With a Staples Easy Button

Hackster Staff
Jul 10, 2017 · 2 min read

We’ve all seen the Easy Button commercials from Staples, but though that store might make office tasks easier, you have to do more than literally press a button, right?

Normally, that might be true, but hacker Nick Sypteras decided to mod one of these buttons into a device that notifies him via Slack, allowing visitors to his cubicle to alert him of their presence in a less startling and annoying manner when he’s wearing headphones.

“I needed a way for desk visitors to get my attention when I had headphones in that was less annoying for them and less scary for me.” (📷: Nick Sypteras)

For this build, he disassembled the button and cut several traces on the PCB inside in order to isolate the actual switch. He then wired in the ESP8266-based Adafruit HUZZAH board, which listens for a button press and sends him a Slack alert over Wi-Fi.

A clever solution, eliminating more disruptive ways of getting Sypteras’ attention!

Hackster Blog

Hackster.io, an Avnet community, is the world’s largest network for hardware & software developers. With 1 million members and 17,000+ projects, beginners and professionals can learn and share how to build robotics, industrial automation systems, AI-powered machines, and more.

Hackster Staff

Written by

Hackster Blog

Hackster.io, an Avnet community, is the world’s largest network for hardware & software developers. With 1 million members and 17,000+ projects, beginners and professionals can learn and share how to build robotics, industrial automation systems, AI-powered machines, and more.

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