Hey, Karen/Ben/Felix. I'm a brazilian fan (yeeeey
), unemployed mechatronics technician and i have a real entertainment problem.
Every single time that i'll watch a movie in my room i realize that the curtains are opened. Then i have to put my popcorn over here (►) my pepsi over there(◄), get up, walk over the room, close the curtains and then i have to undo all steps to watch the movie or series. That sucks!
How fantastic would be if the curtains open and closes automatically when my PC monitor is on or off (Could be the living room TV, maybe. I just saying my "PC monitor" cause i don't have a TV, so...)
Ok, but how?
Well, Ben could use the LED status (blue and orange) in the monitor as trigger to open and close the curtain, a DC motor, H bridge (or more one motor), wires, switches (to turn off the motor when open and close the curtain and few conectors to plug behind the screen.
Or Ben could use just a swich uppon a table. He's a smart guy, i'm sure he can figure it out the best way to do this project 
.
Ps:
Why use the LED status as trigger? 'Cause it's easy to locate and use. You can use the backlight as trigger too, but, you know, This is harder than using the LEDs (monitors aren't the same, so this could not work).
I have my hole room controlled via local network (i used arduino [as web server], ethernet shield, relays and patience), but i didn't made the automatic curtain 'cause i never had all this patience. Maybe i'll try to use my arduino web server to control this too.
Sorry for my bad english and thank you for the show Brasil loves The Ben Heck Show
(Ben, i love your "the cake is a lie" shirt)