Netflix staffers hack Fitbit to detect sleep, pause videos

Technology can solve big problems -- the least of which is falling asleep during a movie and losing your place. Thankfully, Netflix staffers have created a solution for this by hacking a Fitbit device.

Netflix staffers created a way to pause a video based on a Fitbit device's sleep tracking feature. Any connected device can retrieve the data from a Fitbit -- in this case, Netflix's video controls. The Fitbit senses when a person is falling asleep and pauses the video.

The hack was demonstrated during an event called a hackathon, where employees spend long days building products for fun or competition. The Netflix-Fitbit hack is making a splash, but don't expect to see it anytime soon.

"We should also note that, while we think these hacks are very cool and fun, they may never become part of the Netflix product, internal infrastructure, or be used beyond Hack Day," staffers wrote on the Netflix blog.

Watch a demonstration of the hack below.