Googler shows off Android-powered smart mirror prototype

How about brushing your teeth and seeing Google Now cards on your restroom mirror? No, this is not a tease, well, at least for one Googler.

Google software engineer Max Braun has designed such a 'smart mirror' powered by Android which shows him time, date, current weather, a 24-hour forecast and news headlines.

Braun, who showcased his smart mirror in a blog post, had always wanted a smart mirror but he didn't find one in the market thus leading him to make one for himself. The engineer used a two-way mirror, display panel, controller board and other components to design the mirror of his dreams just like the one from Arnold Schwarzenegger's movie The 6th Day.

The code behind the user interface leverages some simple Android APIs like TextClock for the date and time, as well as Forecast for the weather and the Associated Press for news. Braun is also trying to add traffic and reminders to the interface.

"The idea is that you don't need to interact with this UI," he wrote. "Instead, it updates automatically and there's an open-ended voice search interface for anything else," he said adding that his prototype mirror was still a work in progress.

Currently, the mirror is powered by an Amazon Fire TV Stick, which runs an Android API that drives the UI. The Googler had also experimented with Chromecast and Nexus Player before putting together his prototype.