That's exactly what I plan on using mine for. It makes logging actions so much faster. I would love to just have a smartwatch with a set of about 12 or so buttons that correspond to a specific action, but that will take time to happen, if at all.
If you don't mind pulling your phone out, IFTTT launched a new app called Do that just lets you push a button to "do" something on one of their channels. They have pre-made recipes for putting the current time into Google Spreadsheets etc. https://ifttt.com/recipes/227069-track-your-work-hours
I think IFTTT is working on a Pebble app as well, but it hasn't launched.
That would work best as a watch "complication". Pulling phone out, turning on, finding app, tapping activity button takes too long; much easier/suitable to turn wrist, tap icon (adjacent to clock), tap activity. Good idea, if implemented with zero friction.
Fortunately IFTTT Do has a widget you can stick to your homescreen and even your lock screen.
Now if only it was a bit faster :( I use it to turn on the lights of a belkin wemo and it takes ~9 seconds for the light to respond, and frankly often doesn't work (in which case you get a helpful email stating it didn't work). But it's certainly much, much faster than using the Wemo app.
That's a cool idea. Pebble doesn't have a touchscreen, though. You could program one of the shortcuts (long-press one of the 3 right-side buttons) to open the list or even activate a specific activity directly. Assuming such an app ever launches!
so far I've found the Do button app to be totally unreliable... especially when trying to log things google spreadsheet, I often get the "recipe failed" type emails maybe 1 in 4 times...
A Pebble with Tasker could get you there (HTTP POST) or one of the integrations. Even IFTTT or DO. You could probably also even go with the Magic Form app described in the OP's article.
Making it context aware is possible too (e.g. in the bathroom or at work) with some thinking of Wifi routers or if you wanted NFC tags, iBeacons.
Just a note, Misfit Flash now allows you to program button presses (single or double) to IFTTT, and from there you can go anywhere: https://ifttt.com/misfit
It's also fairly cheap at $19 (though not as cheap as these Amazon buttons, of course).
Check out Nuimo[1]. It's a small programmable device featuring a simple LED matrix style display while supporting multiple types of interactions. I could even see this in use at factories for ordering supplies for a specific machine or calling service technicians to it.
looks really cool, wondering if its worth an upgrade from using a 5$ webcam and a raspberry pi that i use for gesture control now, since the webcam lets me do audio commands as well.
Are there any other cheap wifi buttons without the bootup delay? Looking for something to talk to my raspberry py to turn off/on lights or switch spotify songs, would be annoying to have to wait for it.
Not with wifi, no. You'd probably be best off picking up an RF keyfob and matching receiver from somewhere; adafruit has a few, can probably find a bunch on ebay as well. The problem with Wifi is that because of everything involved down the chain, you can either have a really long battery life, or a really short bootup delay. For instant, with decent battery life, you're going to need a much simpler protocol.
