Notify

Invasive notifications from the web

Testing the application. The green bar on the phone signals my computer as being online. From their phones people can send messages, turn on screensaver or turn off the computer entirely.

Notify is an application built in Electron.js using JavaScript, Sockets.io, Node.js and Shell.js. When the application is running on your computer it changes your online status - allowing people visiting a URL to see whether your are on/offline. Green means your computer and application is turned on and red means it is not. From the URL any user can send notifications, activate the screensaver or turn off a computer entirely. This is managed by accessing native software through Electron and sending shell scripts with Shell.js.

phone The phone layout. The colored bar indicates whether the computer running the application is online or offline. Pressing the buttons triggers the indicated action.

This project was part of an exploration, investigating the question: "Would more creative applications in software be unleashed if we didn't start by saddling designers and developers with privacy and security concerns?" I wanted to explore what we could do with software if instead of always thinking safety first, we put interaction first and safety last. The intention was to break from the restrictions and limitations that comes with safe and private applications.

The sourcecode for the Electron application and webpage making up the project can be found on github.