After a year of working from home, many of us are sick and tired of endless video meetings. Now we have an excuse to come out of these conference calls with a new tool called Zoom Escaper.
Digital artist Sam Lavigne created the incredibly simple web app, first reported by The edge. All you have to do is install an audio plug-in called VB-Audio of the product web page, dan make sure you have selected the correct audio devices, then open Zoom as normal. From there, you can play a collection of sound effects in Zoom to irritate or annoy your co-workers, seemingly to the point where your colleagues will ask you to leave the video call.
Some of the sound effects are a bit more straightforward than others. Clips of a crying baby and active construction seem the surest –a great way to get out of a video meeting, while the Bad Connection sound very realistically mimics the sounding sound people hear when you have a poor internet connection.
But other effects, like a man weeping or the sound of puddles, may raise more questions from your colleagues than sympathetic encouragement to unsubscribe, and if you use it at an inappropriate time, you may be sent to HR instead. Fortunately, if no predefined tracks from Zoom Escaper have the intended effect, you can also upload your own audio clips manually.. The more your sound effects fit your specific situation, the more credible your apology is.
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And although Zoom Escaper certainly can not be used to get out of every thing video conference for the foreseeable future, it may be a handy tool for the calls where you just can no longer handle the illness.
But for me, the most impressive thing about Lavigne’s work is his commitment to reducing Zoom in the pursuit of a better work-life balance. IIn addition to Zoom Escaper, Lavigne also manufactured Slow hot computer and Remove zoom, the latter of which regularly checks your computer to see if Zoom is installed, and it stops automatically when Zoom is detected.
Lavigne told The Verge some of the core principles of his art are ‘deliberate slowing down, productivity and production, and self-sabotage’. Ia time when the boundaries between home and work were basically blurred are philosophies that almost everyone can appreciate.