The dim-witted gnome that tries.
Turn a knob. A row of lights follows.
62% turn it — drag, scroll, or use arrow keys
Turn it and the row follows your hand, down to almost nothing.
Press it and the row goes out, then comes back where you left it.
The knob does not have to be near the lights.
One by the near door. One on the far wall. One with no cable at all. Turn any of them and the same row answers.
None of them is in charge, which is why adding another just works.
Halls, dining rooms, workshops, studios. Rooms where the light should change, and the person who wants it changed is never beside the switch.
Everyone already knows how to use it.
| Feature | A dimmer switch |
Smart bulbs |
gliim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turn it down from | One spot | Your phone | Any door |
| Needs an app | No | Yes | No |
| Wi-Fi is down | Fine | Stops | Fine |
| Turned right down | Often flickers | Usually fine | Smooth |
| Adding another control | Rewiring | Another phone | Plug one in |
gliim is the small one in between. A knob at every door, nothing to configure, and nothing to install on anybody's phone.
It will not sense the room, learn your habits, or notice the sunset. It has no clock. It cannot be reached from a phone.
If the power fails it returns at the level you left it. A light that boots into darkness looks broken.
The renders above are how it is meant to end up. The boards are still on the bench. For anyone who wants the numbers:
A small ecosystem of personal engineering instruments, each built to solve one specific problem and then, ideally, stop demanding attention.
Where science met poetry, had a brief fling with engineering, and now raises mildly disillusioned but talented offspring.