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This daily issue keeps all Idea Scout findings in one place for review, regardless of source adapter. These are inspiration items, not bugfixes or support threads.
Summary: Kiosk Satellite 2026.8.31 adds screensaver widgets, including a live Home Assistant weather widget, plus crossfades for rotating dashboard views on kiosk tablets.
Suggested practical implementation: Change the Kiosk Satellite configuration used by the wall tablets to enable a screensaver weather widget tied to the existing Home Assistant weather entity and turn on crossfade for dashboard view rotation so the tablet dashboards show live weather during idle mode and transition more smoothly between views.
Potential added value: This should give the tablet dashboards a clearer idle-state experience and smoother room-facing UX, with useful at-a-glance weather context and less visually abrupt dashboard rotation.
2. [GitHub] frenck/awesome-home-assistant - Add esp32-nut to DIY Projects
Summary: DIY pattern for exposing a USB UPS to Home Assistant over Wi-Fi with an ESP32-S3 running NUT-compatible firmware, avoiding a colocated Pi or direct USB link to the HA host.
Suggested practical implementation: Add a Home Assistant package that consumes NUT UPS entities and triggers a backup-protection flow: create template sensors for UPS status/runtime, an automation that sends a Joanna Telegram alert when utility power drops, and a staged script that disables nonessential backup jobs or starts graceful shutdown actions when runtime falls below a defined threshold.
Potential added value: This could reduce noisy manual monitoring during outages and support cleaner, more predictable backup or shutdown decisions when power events affect the NAS and Docker stack.
3. [GitHub] jxlarrea/kiosk-satellite - Add Google Photos Album for Screensaver photos
Summary: Kiosk-satellite discussed adding Google Photos shared album support as a screensaver image source so kiosk widgets can remain visible while rotating cloud-hosted family photos.
Suggested practical implementation: Change the tablet dashboard/kiosk configuration to use a shared Google Photos album as the screensaver photo source for the Fully Kiosk tablets, keeping the existing widget overlay visible during idle mode.
Potential added value: This could make the idle-screen experience clearer and more personal without maintaining local photo files, while keeping kiosk status widgets available in the same view.
4. [GitHub] jxlarrea/kiosk-satellite - Add Weather into the screensaver
Summary: Weather-at-a-glance on kiosk idle screens is a useful kiosk UX pattern, especially when paired with time and a simple forecast icon.
Suggested practical implementation: Add a compact weather block to the existing wall-tablet dashboard view used during idle/screen-saver time, showing current conditions, temperature, and one next-period forecast icon sourced from the existing Home Assistant weather entity.
Potential added value: Could make the tablet idle screen more informative without extra interaction, giving a clearer at-a-glance experience and reducing the need to navigate to a separate weather view.
5. [GitHub] jxlarrea/kiosk-satellite - Clock widget hide am pm
Summary: A closed kiosk-satellite enhancement request asked for hiding the AM/PM suffix on the clock to free space and allow a larger clock display on kiosk screens.
Suggested practical implementation: Change the tablet dashboard clock element to a 12-hour formatted template/markdown clock that omits the AM/PM suffix, and place the reclaimed space into a larger time display on the main kiosk view.
Potential added value: This would likely make the kiosk clock easier to read at a distance while reducing header clutter on constrained tablet screens.
6. [GitHub] jxlarrea/kiosk-satellite - Currently foreground app sensor
Summary: Kiosk Satellite added a diagnostic sensor for the tablet's current foreground app, including the app name and package, which enables HA automations to detect when a kiosk device leaves its home screen and bring it back after a timeout.
Suggested practical implementation: Add a Home Assistant automation for the kiosk tablet that starts when the Kiosk Satellite foreground-app sensor is not the home dashboard app for 120 seconds, then calls the existing tablet return-to-home action so the wall display reliably returns to its main dashboard.
Potential added value: This would likely reduce kiosk drift and manual cleanup, giving a more consistent wall-tablet experience with less automation guesswork than relying only on screen or idle state.
7. [GitHub] jxlarrea/kiosk-satellite - Reduce Motion - Low Power mode?
Summary: Low-power kiosk mode idea: reduce motion and heavier dashboard elements when a wall tablet battery drops, so the display stays usable longer during outages or charging issues.
Suggested practical implementation: Add a Home Assistant automation in the tablet/dashboard package that watches each kiosk tablet battery sensor and turns on a helper.kiosk_low_power_mode below a defined threshold, then switches the tablet to a simplified dashboard view that removes camera cards and animated elements until the battery recovers.
Potential added value: This could reduce dashboard noise and device load during low-battery conditions, helping tablets remain responsive longer and making the outage-state experience clearer.
8. [GitHub] jxlarrea/kiosk-satellite - Screensaver - Open other app?
Summary: Idea: let an idle wall tablet switch from the main kiosk UI to a different app or view for screensaver mode, then return on motion or touch.
Suggested practical implementation: Add a Home Assistant automation for owned wall tablets that, after a period of inactivity, sends the tablet to a dedicated low-noise clock or photo-frame dashboard view, then returns it to the main room dashboard when motion, touch, or a screen-on event is detected.
Potential added value: This could make idle tablets more useful and polished while reducing visual clutter on always-on dashboards and keeping the primary control view easy to resume.
9. [HA Community] HA Community Projects - A room-first Home Assistant frontend for the rest of the household
Summary: A room-first household UI pattern is worth adapting locally because it reorganizes control around rooms instead of entity-heavy dashboards, which fits shared wall-tablet use better than operator-centric Home Assistant views.
Suggested practical implementation: Change the wall-tablet dashboard surface by adding a new room-first Lovelace dashboard for the Fully Kiosk tablets, with one top-level room view per major space that exposes only the primary actions for that room: lights, climate, occupancy state, and a single relevant camera or media control where applicable; keep debugging/admin entities off this surface and leave them in the existing operator dashboard.
Potential added value: This would likely reduce dashboard clutter, make shared household control faster for non-operator users, and create a clearer kiosk experience that better matches how rooms are actually used.
10. [HA Community] HA Community Projects - AI Sky Observer - Local AI Weather Observation for Home Assistant
Summary: Local camera-based sky observation could add a real-time sun/cloud signal that Home Assistant can use when regional weather data is too coarse for the house's actual lighting conditions.
Suggested practical implementation: Add a Home Assistant package that analyzes one existing outdoor Frigate camera on a daylight schedule to publish binary_sensor.local_sun_visible and sensor.local_cloud_cover, then update the daytime room-lighting automation to require sustained local_sun_visible: off or high local cloud cover before turning interior lights on for occupied rooms.
Potential added value: This could reduce lighting decisions based on stale regional weather, cut unnecessary light toggles during brief forecast mismatches, and make daytime lighting behavior better match the actual conditions at the house.
Joanna Idea Scout
This daily issue keeps all Idea Scout findings in one place for review, regardless of source adapter. These are inspiration items, not bugfixes or support threads.
Ideas
1. [GitHub] jxlarrea/kiosk-satellite - 2026.8.31
2. [GitHub] frenck/awesome-home-assistant - Add esp32-nut to DIY Projects
3. [GitHub] jxlarrea/kiosk-satellite - Add Google Photos Album for Screensaver photos
4. [GitHub] jxlarrea/kiosk-satellite - Add Weather into the screensaver
5. [GitHub] jxlarrea/kiosk-satellite - Clock widget hide am pm
6. [GitHub] jxlarrea/kiosk-satellite - Currently foreground app sensor
7. [GitHub] jxlarrea/kiosk-satellite - Reduce Motion - Low Power mode?
helper.kiosk_low_power_modebelow a defined threshold, then switches the tablet to a simplified dashboard view that removes camera cards and animated elements until the battery recovers.8. [GitHub] jxlarrea/kiosk-satellite - Screensaver - Open other app?
9. [HA Community] HA Community Projects - A room-first Home Assistant frontend for the rest of the household
10. [HA Community] HA Community Projects - AI Sky Observer - Local AI Weather Observation for Home Assistant
binary_sensor.local_sun_visibleandsensor.local_cloud_cover, then update the daytime room-lighting automation to require sustainedlocal_sun_visible: offor high local cloud cover before turning interior lights on for occupied rooms.