EST. 2026 · OLIVE BRANCH, MISSISSIPPI
Little gadgets.
Live data.
Big obsessions.
Screen capture from the firmware. Sample data.
Screen capture from the firmware. Sample data.
Screen capture from the firmware. Sample data.
Screen capture from the firmware. Sample data.
Photo of a finished unit during a game.
Photo of a finished unit showing its overview screen.
Screen capture from the firmware. Sample data.
I build small WiFi desk displays that show live data from real sources: weather, planes near you, earthquakes, pro football, tides, satellites and your home internet. Each one is assembled by hand around a bright 3.5″ color touchscreen. You pay once on Etsy, and setup runs in your phone’s browser.
Buying one as a gift?
December 18 is the last day I will ship holiday orders. Order by Thursday, December 17 to get your holiday orders on time.
See the gift guidesScanned a QR code?
Setup steps, setting it up again after a WiFi change, what came in the box, and every manual, all on one page.
Go to owner helpTHE LINEUP
One little screen for every obsession
Pick your fixation: the sky, the airspace, the water, orbit, the ground under your feet, the gridiron, or the ping.
live data Storm Sentinel
WiFi desktop weather station
from $109.99
Forecasts, severe-weather alerts, and radar straight from the National Weather Service, plus an Outdoor Score and a storm-cloud mascot with opinions.
See the gadget
live data Satellite Sentinel
ISS & Starlink tracker
from $119.99
Counts down to the next visible ISS pass over your house and tells you exactly which way to look. Tracks up to 100 Starlink satellites for good measure.
See the gadget
live data Seismic Sentinel
WiFi earthquake tracker
from $109.99
Earthquakes from around the world as the USGS reports them, on a globe lit by the real sun, with an estimate of whether the nearer ones would have been felt where you live.
See the gadget
live data Squawk Box
live flight tracker display
from $129.99
A desk radar showing the real planes around you, colored by altitude. When one flies close enough to see, it tells you which way to look.
See the gadget
live data Pro Football Scoreboard
WiFi pro football scoreboard
from $109.99
Follows one pro football club all week (next kickoff, standings, injury report, roster moves), then takes over the screen the moment they play.
See the gadget
live data Phosphor
network monitor display
from $114.99
An always-on internet health monitor: live ping, packet loss, jitter, and a plain-English verdict (HEALTHY, DEGRADED, or WAN DOWN) in the glow of a retro terminal.
See the gadget
live data Tide Station
digital WiFi tide clock
from $109.99
Real-time NOAA water levels, the next high and low with countdowns, moon phase, and current conditions where the station reports them, for the beach house or the landlocked dreamer.
See the gadget🔧 BENCH 08
FLASHING FIRMWARE…
Always tinkering
There is always another gadget half-built on the bench, and the ones already out keep getting firmware. Follow the Etsy shop to catch the next drop.
THE PLANKLABS WAY
Why these little screens earn desk space
Where the data comes from
Weather comes from the National Weather Service, tides from NOAA, earthquakes from the USGS, satellite passes from orbital data downloaded daily, flights from live ADS-B data and pro football from independent sports feeds. Each gadget’s page names its source.
Pay once, set up in a browser
What you pay on Etsy is the whole cost. Setup runs in your phone’s browser and takes a few minutes, with no account to create.
Built and tested on my bench
I assemble every unit by hand in Olive Branch, Mississippi, flash the firmware I wrote, and run it on the bench with live data before it ships.
Updates arrive on their own
Gadgets download firmware updates over the air, so fixes and new features arrive without a cable or a click. The data comes from outside sources, and if one changes, I make every reasonable effort to keep the gadget working.
SETUP
From box to live data in a few minutes
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Plug it in
Every box has a USB-A to USB-C cable, about 3 feet (36 inches). Its USB-A plug goes into a USB-A phone charger or a computer’s USB-A port. No wall adapter is included.
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Join its WiFi
The gadget makes its own setup WiFi network. Join it from your phone and a setup page opens by itself. If it doesn’t, open a browser and go to 192.168.4.1.
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Watch it come alive
Enter your WiFi details and what it should watch: a ZIP code or your town, a NOAA station for Tide Station, or a club for the Pro Football Scoreboard. Phosphor needs only the WiFi. Live data starts within a minute or two.
FIELD REPORTS
High marks on Etsy
A few of them, copied over word for word. Read them all on Etsy →
5 out of 5 stars
“Nice job on a great package. If you are a weather geek or just like to be in the know without clicking something, this is great.”
5 out of 5 stars
“This Seller is awesome, great device does as stated n then some!! Love it thank you set up took 2 minutes!!”
5 out of 5 stars
“This is a very cool little device. On a long lay over I was killing time by surfing Etsy and found it. I had no idea such a thing existed! It’s fun to see who’s in “my airspace.””
5 out of 5 stars
“High quality, easy to set up and get operating.”
5 out of 5 stars
“This is truly USEFUL tide clock for serious mariners that allows you to access real-time NOAA data from over 200 US stations. The critical difference between this and the “classic” brass dial tide clock is that the NOAA information is complete (weather conditions, current water level, next high and low, visual tide curve, sun and moon cycles, etc.) and ACCURATE to the minute, while the old-style clocks are often off by more than an hour and are basically decorative in modern times. We love this tide clock and refer to it multiple times a day!”
5 out of 5 stars
“The best weather gift i ever got ! Nice and bright and works great! Thank you.”
FROM THE LAB NOTES
Field guides from the bench
Plain-English guides on the things the gadgets watch, useful whether you own one or not. Browse all the lab notes →
When Can You Actually See the ISS? Visibility Windows, Explained
The Space Station passes overhead several times a day, but you can only see it during narrow twilight windows. Here’s exactly when to look, what you’ll see, and why. No telescope needed.
Read the guide WeatherHow the Outdoor Score Works: One Honest Number for “Should I Be Outside?”
Storm Sentinel’s Outdoor Score turns NWS alerts, six hours of forecast and live conditions into one 0 to 99 number. Here is the math, and why it never says 100.
Read the guide NetworkIs It Your WiFi or Your ISP? How to Tell in 60 Seconds
Internet acting up? Walk the chain (device, WiFi, router, provider) with a 60-second diagnosis that pinpoints the failure, plus what latency, packet loss, and jitter actually mean.
Read the guideReady to adopt one?
The PlankLabs Etsy shop has the final prices, enclosure colors and shipping, and checkout happens there, with Etsy’s buyer protection and my 90-day maker warranty behind every unit.