August 2026 Summaries

Mike Cann describes building “Cannvas,” a 40-inch portrait touchscreen family hub that updates his earlier smart-mirror project, retaining displays for time, weather, and family videos while adding interactive household tools. The device combines an inexpensive television, an infrared touch-frame kit, an acrylic protective panel, a Raspberry Pi, and a wall mount, though the build involved troubleshooting a defective initial touch frame, replacing an unsuitable mount, and improvising hardware attachments with glue, wood, and zip ties. Custom software, developed rapidly with Codex AI and Convex, provides a screensaver-style dashboard and apps for a daily whiteboard, chore and pocket-money tracking, Google-synced calendars and tasks, smart-home controls, network monitoring, and location tracking. The project cost about A$1,050 in total, or about A$617 excluding pre-owned equipment and a mistaken wall-mount purchase, and Cann concludes that it successfully serves as a central family interface despite limitations involving the TV’s uneven weight distribution, the acrylic panel’s flexibility, and the display size.