Thought I’d do something a bit different… nothing thought provoking or insightful parenting experiences related to my daughters to share this time.
I’ve been interested in various aspects of technology ever since a group I worked for in the mid-90’s got their first computer. At the time, one of my tasks was to manage several multi item inventories and to track the inventories by lot numbers, serial numbers, quantities on hand, expiration dates, manufacturers, etc. I was managing all of this manually on paper and it was extremely time consuming and prone to human error to say the least. All of that changed when I was introduced to the database program that came with the work computer. After spending weeks reading manuals, a lot of trial-and-error, and mumbling colorful four letter words, I had created my first working relational database. From there, I kept building and expanding on my initial creation and as word got out, I began helping others by create solutions for different needs. That eventually led to a career change that resulted in me venturing deep into the technology field and numerous technologies.
Over the years, I’ve looked to technology to see what kinds of fun and unique things I can do… sometimes out of curiosity, sometimes to simplify or automate tasks, and sometimes out of boredom. Some of my tech endeavors consist of: an integrated home automation system (lighting, security, environmental controls, geofencing, event triggers, and more), custom email spam filter, range detection controlling an electrical relay, BBQ grill temperature monitor/controller, and more….
Now, lets explore my latest project… it came about because I was looking for a simpler way to listen to my Spotify playlists on my home theater audio system without having to go through so many manual steps. To stream Spotify to the home theater system I would have to turn on the receiver and switch it to the Bluetooth input, open the Spotify app on my phone, then pair my phone to the receiver, and finally select and play a selection from Spotify. I had been curious about NFC (near field communication) tags and wondering how I might be able to incorporate them into my home environment. Searching online for references to NFC and Spotify returned a few results, but they all seemed to be dated and required the use of elaborate workflow apps.
After checking out a few different NFC apps, I found what turned out to be a simple solution for my environment. My solution consists of:
- NFC Tools app (Pro version)
- NFC Tags
- Home Automation System – not necessary but will require one manual step if not included
- Spotify app on phone
- Spotify desktop on a computer/laptop – only needed to the get the playlist URI links
Almost all of the music I listen to on Spotify are in playlists I created because it allows me to completely customize the collection of songs; I can create playlist genres consisting of multiple artists and their songs I like, or playlists for specific artists that only contain their songs I like.
To make this work, I first needed to create an event in my home automation system that would power on the receiver if it wasn’t already on, and change the receiver input to Bluetooth when a specified NFC tag is scanned. Once the event was created in my home automation system, I used the NFC Tools app on my phone to create a task that only required three steps… 1) send a JSON message to my home automation system to trigger the event previously created, 2) establish a Bluetooth connection between the phone and receiver, 3) open the playlist URI and play the selection. The task containing these three steps is then written to an NFC tag. This process is repeated for each playlist to be automated… making sure to update the URI for each playlist. When I want to listen to one of my Spotify playlists on my home theater audio system, all I have to do is place my phone over one of the NFC tags of the desired playlist. Now I could have stopped there since I had a working solution, but it wasn’t very elegant simply having plain NFC tags sitting on a table some place where they could get misplaced.
Wanting something more elegant and unique, I decided to create an interactive picture made from multiple album covers representing some of the artists in the various playlists, and then embedded the NFC tags behind the pictures so they aren’t visible. The most difficult part of this was deciding which album covers to select. I downloaded the selected images from online and had them printed as 5″x5″ squares. Next, I got a 20″x30″ picture frame from a local hobby store, along with some heavy weight craft poster board to embed the NFC tags in and attach the pictures to.
After cutting the poster board to the correct size, I drew a 5″x5″ graph on it so I could accurately locate the positions for the NFC tags for each of the playlist picture groupings. Each playlist is represented by four pictures with the NFC tag in the center of the group.
I then traced each of the NFC tags, and using an X-Acto hobby knife, I cut out the traced circles so the NFC tags would sit flush with the poster board and not create a raised area behind the pictures. I used scotch tape to hold the NFC tags in place so they wouldn’t move while assembling everything. You could use stick-on NFC tags and eliminate the need to cut out circles, but I was using what I had on hand.
I chose a black poster board as the backing for the pictures because if there were any gaps between any of the pictures, it wouldn’t be as visually noticeable.
Next, I organized the pictures in groups of four according to the various playlists. I didn’t want to permanently mount the pictures to the poster board in case I wanted to swap out the pictures with different album cover art in the future. To secure the pictures, I used small pieces of double sided scotch tape… just enough to hold the pictures, but not make it difficult to remove in the future.
I configured an additional NFC tag that triggers an event that can determine if the receiver is currently set to the Bluetooth input, and if it is, will switch the receiver back to the TV input.
For anyone interested in doing something similar, if you don’t have a home automation system that allows you to control your home theater system, you would eliminate step 1 mentioned above and you would need to manually turn on your receiver and select the Bluetooth input. Then you would only need steps 2 and 3 for each playlist NFC tag you want to configure.
This is a short video that shows it working… the shaky video is courtesy of my youngest daughter.
When my oldest daughter saw the video demo, she simply said, “You were bored, weren’t you?” She knows me all too well.
If you have any questions about this project, home automation, or would like to see other technology related projects, leave a message letting me know.