In brief: If you enjoy tinkering with unique hardware, you'll definitely want to check out WebScreen. This innovative gadget, which launched earlier this week, functions as a compact secondary display designed to sit atop your monitor like a webcam.
WebScreen features a 240 x 536 AMOLED panel powered by an ESP32-S3 chip. Measuring just 2.9 x 3.15 x 2.08 inches, it supports 16.7 million colors. On its pre-launch crowdfunding page, creators at HW Media Lab describe the device as "a customizable secondary display… providing critical notifications, reminders, and visuals nearby without requiring you to shift focus to a phone or tablet."
For connectivity, WebScreen includes a USB Type-C port, configured via WebSocket, along with support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Perhaps WebScreen's most appealing feature is its hackability. Fully open-source on GitHub, both the hardware and software are customizable. Users can develop their own JavaScript apps to run directly on the device. Simply save your code to a microSD card, and WebScreen will load it, allowing you to "create a truly unique display experience," as HW Media Lab puts it.
The goal is to foster a community where tinkerers can contribute apps, improvements, and expand WebScreen's capabilities in any way they choose.
That said, the small screen size does limit how flexible these custom apps can be. As the specs suggest, the form factor is quite compact, so don't expect highly complex software. However, one of the promotional images offers a preview of the kinds of applications you can expect.
The image shows WebScreen displaying a Google Calendar notification, making it an ideal ambient desktop companion for quickly checking upcoming events without the need to open your calendar app or pick up your phone. Another image features what appears to be the popular mobile arcade racing game Horizon Chase.
Of course, you could argue that a basic dual-monitor setup already offers the same at-a-glance convenience for similar tasks, along with a variety of other applications. So unless you're particularly tight on desk space, a full second display would ultimately be more versatile than WebScreen's small panel.
That said, WebScreen still looks like a fun and creative project for hobbyists, DIY enthusiasts, and anyone looking for an unconventional way to add some extra screen real estate to their computer setup. While there's no pricing information available yet, we should hear more once the project officially launches.