This article was published on March 3, 2017

This Netflix personal trainer is all work, no chill


This Netflix personal trainer is all work, no chill

Before you settle into that binge session of Narcos, Netflix wants you to put in work.

As part of it’s “Make It” project, Netflix recently released a tutorial on how to create a Netflix-themed personal trainer. The device hooks up to your smartphone or table via Bluetooth and uses an accelerometer to measure the pace of your workout.

It’s quite an ingenious hack that works by monitoring your activity level and cutting off your Netflix activity until you get your ass moving. If the stream stops, it’ll be replaced with words of encouragement — or, uh, not — from one of your favorite TV characters. There’s the infectious enthusiasm of Kimmy Schmidt, the whining of Bojack Horseman (who is all of us, really), or maybe you need some words of wisdom from a cutthroat politician in Frank Underwood — we’re not here to judge.

Assembling the device isn’t for the faint of heart, and you’ll need some technical knowledge. You’ll have to be handy with a soldering iron, understand your way around a circuit board, and even dive into some rudimentary coding. Or, maybe you just get that tinkerer friend of yours to do it for you.

The plans are available on the Netflix’s MakeIt subdomain here, and we’d love to see images of the finished product if you decide to take this on.

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Also tagged with