IDX: a desk gauge that reads the Hacker News front page

IDX is a small analogue gauge for your desk. A needle, a printed scale and some light, driven by live data over WiFi. One of its modes needs no API keys. It shows how 'hot' the Hacker News front page is right now.

I'm Simon. I design and build IDX myself in a one-person workshop in London. By day I’m a software engineering manager, which mostly means meetings. By night, I’m tinkering away, assembling and programming IDX.

Why I built it

Most of the data I care about lives behind a screen: An app to open, a dashboard to check, a notification demanding attention. I wanted the opposite, something at the edge of my vision that tells me one thing and asks for nothing in return.

A needle is good at that. You don't so much read it as notice it on the way past. Real data moves slowly. That is the point.

I trained in furniture and product design, then spent ten years designing and building exhibits for science museums in London, Indianapolis, Vancouver, Kuwait, Tromsø and Singapore. Fourteen years in software followed. I missed making things you can hold, and IDX lets me put physical design, electronics, code and a bit of fun into one object.

How Hacker News Hotness works

Every five minutes, IDX asks the Hacker News API for the current #1 story and shows its score as a percentage of a max score. The default maximum is 500, but that’s configurable. If the API can't be reached, the needle holds its last reading rather than dropping to zero and suggesting the internet has ended.

So a quiet morning sits low on the dial, and when something big breaks the needle climbs. It's a fun way to see how 'hot' the internet is right now, judged by the top story on Hacker News.

It needs nothing from you. No API key, no location, no account. Connect it to WiFi, choose the mode, and watch the pulse of the internet.

How the needle moves

The needle is driven by a stepper motor, not a moving-coil meter movement. A stepper lets the firmware put the needle exactly where the data says, and hold it there.

Acrylic, wood, light and steel

Each IDX is a stack of cut layers held together at the corners: clear acrylic, a face panel and the printed scale. Light from inside travels through the acrylic and escapes at the cut edges, so every unit glows along its sides. No two units glow in quite the same way, and that’s my favourite thing about it.

The scales are printed inserts that you can swap out. The same gauge can read 0 to 100%, -5 to +5%, -10 to 30°C, or a scale you design yourself.

There are three standard finishes, Alba, Nordic and Sanctuary, in plywood and acrylic. IDX Phase is the flagship, with layered brushed 304 stainless steel and cast clear acrylic throughout. The cutting marks on the steel edges are deliberate material honesty.

Units measure 80 x 100 x 43mm.

What else it shows

Hacker News is not the only mode. IDX can also show:

• Any numeric entity from Home Assistant. Mine shows my EV's battery level.
• Outdoor temperature, from OpenMeteo.
• Air quality for your city.
• Crypto prices and the Fear & Greed index.
• A single stock, via Finnhub.
• A Pomodoro timer that counts down without a sound.
• 12 and 24-hour sweeps, for an unusual clock.
• Display mode, the out-of-the-box default for shop shelves: the needle wanders by itself, with no WiFi needed.

Every reading arrives by WiFi. IDX is a display, not a sensor.

You're in control

IDX is built on an open architecture. Full documentation and pinouts are in the manual, for anyone who wants to customise the device.

If you'd rather run your own firmware, the ESPHome configuration is on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 licence. It runs on the ESP32-C3 inside IDX, drives the Switec X25 stepper, and builds with Docker. Flash the result from the IDX web UI or your usual ESPHome OTA workflow, then drive it from Home Assistant however you like. It's your object, on your desk, and you decide what it does.

Why it costs what it costs

IDX is £179. IDX Phase is £219.

The parts are not where the money goes. The design, the materials and the time are. Every unit is assembled, flashed, tested and packed by hand on my desk, which doubles as a small production line: soldering at one end, flashing and testing in the middle, packing at the other. I build in small batches.

If you'd rather build your own gauge, you can. Plenty of readers will. IDX is for people who'd rather have the finished object on their desk.

Where to get one

IDX and IDX Phase are at analoguedesk.co.

Shipping is free to UK mainland, and US prices include shipping.

I'm happy to answer questions about the hardware, the firmware or the scales: hello@analoguedesk.co