You can now build your own ‘Netflix and chill’ button

30 Sep 2015

In a genius combination of internet of things (IoT) technology and binge-watching Netflix, the online streaming company has offered its own schematics to create a ‘Netflix and chill’ button.

While not calling it the ‘Netflix and chill’ button, the company has decided to run a rather clever PR campaign to get its customers to tinker with hardware building, which in this case, is The Switch.

Once built, the idea is that you would be able to enter a room and simply hit the big button, which will automatically connect to the TV and begin streaming Netflix.

Aside from that, Netflix are also encouraging people to tinker around with the hardware and software to make it do other things like dimming the LED lights in your home or even asking it to order pizza for you.

Encouraging people to create their own switch, Netflix has given step-by-step instructions to building the switch, which starts with getting the right parts, including a microcontroller, an infrared sensor to activate the switch and a lithium-ion battery to power it.

As for the box itself, well that might require some 3D printing, which has also been placed online as a schematic, but Netflix does say that you can also use an off-the-shelf E-stop button with its own enclosure.

While daunting to some, Netflix says the next step would then be to put in the source code with the help of an Arduino board to actually get the ‘Netflix and chill’ button to work.

There’s not much else to it, really. It’s a nice way of tinkering around with IoT hardware and software to create your own sensor and transmitter.

Netflix and chill button

IoT Makers Week will explore the internet of things revolution and the makers driving it with reports on Siliconrepublic.com from 5 to 9 October 2015. Get updates by subscribing to our news alerts or following @siliconrepublic and the hashtag #IoTMakersWeek on Twitter.

Couple watching TV image via Shutterstock

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com