Netflix's DIY socks pause video when user fall asleep

Netflix is getting into the wearables business—sort of. The company has put up a DIY guide to making socks that will pause Netflix when the wearer falls asleep. The company recommends the user knits his or her own socks fashioned after one of the designs based on a Netflix original series uploaded to the site. However, Netflix does say people can use socks they already own. It is up to them to put together the electronics, though. This is done using the following items:

● Arduino microcontroller
● IR LEDs
● LED indicator light
● Battery
● Momentary button
● Accelerometer
● 12x12in felt

The felt will help protect the electronics and the wearer’s skin, as the finished product will need to be slipped inside the sock. The LED indicator light folds outside the sock and starts blinking when the sensor detects an extended period of time without movement, thus deciding the wearer has fallen asleep. Any movement when the light starts blinking will keep Netflix from pausing. People putting the socks and sensors together will be able to modify the programming to change how long the device should wait before pausing. Also, while the socks themselves in the standard design send an IR signal to the TV box playing Netflix, the bottom of the page also recommends building an IR repeater that can send the signal to the TV box while communicating with the socks via another signal such as a 2.4GHz transceiver. Bluetooth would presumably work but it has less range. This would allow wearers to tuck their feet under the blankets as they curl up for their latest round of binge watching.

Perhaps the most brilliant thing about Netflix putting up these instructions is the fact that it is not actually selling a product. Netflix is telling wearable makers something about the future the company envisions. It is not hard to imagine the principles implemented in the socks’ design being put to use in other wearables for other services and media. One popular function of Jawbone smart bands is sleep monitoring, which has also been implemented by many China manufacturers. Sleep monitoring allows the wearable to decide the best time to vibrate and wake up the wearer. The same principle could be used in reverse for, say, stopping music as someone drifts off to sleep. The industrious manufacturing industry in China has probably already taken note of the Netflix DIY socks, and some may already be implementing similar ideas.