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You can now build your own "Netflix and chill" button

By Liu Hongzuo - on 2 Oct 2015, 2:28pm

You can now build your own "Netflix and chill" button

Building The Switch can be daunting if you have little to no experience in coding and design, but Netflix has all the tools you need to get started.

Netflix is all for taking a euphemism too far. The online content provider made a step-by-step online guide for building a functional “Netflix and Chill” button, called The Switch, with a primary function of firing up your Netflix app on your smart television, while concurrently dimming your smart light bulbs in a single press. Adventurous builders who want The Switch to do more can code it to deliver food and silence your smart devices for a convenient, uninterrupted evening indoors.

Dim the lights, get your Netflix started, all in one press, with your self-made button - The Switch.

Netflix provides the 14 general steps to getting the basic version of The Switch ready. To make the D.I.Y. process easier, they have also provided their preferred materials and programs used for building and coding the one-press miracle. Most of the design files provided are in SLDPRT file format for SolidWorks (3D computer-aided design software). The source code for turning the television on, and lights off, is written in a format compatible with a specific micro-controller - the Particle Core.

A simplified and visually-attractive diagram on how to make The Switch connect to all the necessary parts. Spoiler alert: the actual schematic is no-nonsense, so don't expect it to be as pretty.

If you’re particularly proficient with coding, you can extend the functionalities by referring to their optional “Do More” steps, which includes bestowing Internet access to your button, opening up options such as ordering delivery food and silencing your mobile phones. The Internet capability requires you to get a Raspberry Pi (single-board computer), and the phone-silencing functionality requires you to install and configure an Android app on your mobile device, with the APK files provided on Netflix’s guide.

It is important to note that all the other components that makes your Netflix-and-chill evening possible – from the comical arcade button, Wi-Fi controlled lights, soldering iron for building, implementation of the code, Netflix subscription on a smart television, and date for the evening – will have to be supplied by yourself.

If you’re interested in building your own button, you can start by finding all the necessary schematics and materials list here. If you’re still not entirely sure what “Netflix and Chill” really means, you can read this detailed post about the phrase and what it has become.

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