I have a complicated relationship with Google: I still get excited by the pitch, but live in fear of the funeral.
Reader, Stadia, Hangouts, Glass, Podcasts… it can feel as though the company’s attention span is measured in product-announcement cycles, not years.
That anxiety now hovers over the Nest Hub line: no new hardware since 2021, the Store page reduced to “out of stock” placeholders, and the only future milestone anyone can cite is “Gemini voice update, end of November.”
It’s starting to feel less like a roadmap and more like a parting gift before the inevitable “sunset” blog post.
My Nest Hub isn’t just aging—it’s stuck in limbo.
While Google has confirmed Gemini will roll out to smart displays by the end of November 2025, the hardware itself is frozen in time: the same under-powered chip, the same static UI, the same locked-down customization that’s barely evolved since 2021. A voice-LLM update is welcome, but it’s still a software Band-Aid on a decade-old gadget that Google no longer sells and has no plans to refresh.
Without new displays, faster silicon, or a UI meant for more than rotating ads, Gemini feels like a final gift to a product line that’s quietly being retired—not revived.
The promise of the smart-display is on life-support—so I re-imagined it myself.
My Manifesto for a Better Smart Display
| Principle | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Mine | Open-source firmware & hardware. If the vendor ghosts me, the device keeps working. |
| Calm | E-ink only. No back-light, no glowing rectangle, no ambient anxiety. |
| Secure | One-way data flow; no camera, no mic, no extra attack surface. |
| Future-proof | Standards-based APIs → swap boards, servers, or clouds at will. |
| Planet-friendly | 0.02 kWh per month. That’s less than a single LED night-light uses in a night. |
That checklist pointed me straight at TRMNL
– an open-source, 800 × 480 e-ink display purpose-built for calm, custom dashboards. It’s a pure information sink: no outbound chatter, no creepy listening, just a crisp piece of paper that updates quietly in the background.
The Build: Crafting a Personal Dashboard
I wanted three numbers that actually change the next thing I do:
Blood glucose – I’m type-1; this decides juice or insulin.
Next bus – >10 min away = I grab my bike; otherwise I sprint barefoot.
Temperature & UV – Sydney winter still burns; if index > 9 I slap on SPF 50.
Everything else is noise.
Pipeline (serverless, costs pennies)
| Step | Tool | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BuildShip workflow (runs every 5 min) | Pull Nightscout (glucose), TfNSW (bus), Open-Weather (temp/UV) |
| 2 | Merge into flat JSON: sgv, direction, transport[], weather{} | |
| 3 | JS renderer | Draw 1-bit BMP (800 × 480, black OR white—no greys) |
| 4 | Expose private endpoint returning { bitmap: "<base64>", updated: "..." } | |
| 5 | TRMNL | Polls endpoint, flashes 38 kB image, then sleeps at < 20 mA |
Entire loop = 1.8 s screen refresh, zero light pollution, zero notifications.
Watch the Full Walk-Through
I filmed the whole thing—BuildShip nodes, Liquid template, bitmap tricks, the lot.
▶️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPm60wxAQKY
The Future Is What We Build
This wasn’t just a weekend project; it’s a proof that we can opt out of stagnant ecosystems. Open-hardware boards, serverless glue, and e-ink calm let us build tools that serve us—not the other way around.
What would you put on a distraction-free dashboard?
Drop your wish-list in the comments and let’s hack it together.
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