Now You Can Send Tweets from a Weather Balloon
Forget a message in a bottle. Instead, let us introduce you to a message in a balloon. Attachment is a whimsical, automated “Poetry Machine” balloon that encapsulates a tweet-length message along with a secret code that leads you to a supplemental image or video on their website.
There’s no telling where the balloon will land or who will find it to retrieve the message… or if there will be anyone around at all. If someone does find it, they can read your tangible tweet, connect to the website and enter the secret code to discover the accompanying image or video. Basic balloons and secret videos and images on the Internet — it’s the perfect marriage of low-tech and high-tech, if you ask us.
And while the fact that no one may ever find your message might disturb you, Fast Company aptly points out that you’re probably doing this sort of thing every day: “Releasing a balloon into the air and hoping a stranger finds it isn’t all that different from sending a tweet via a global network checking if a random follower gives it a star or RT.”
Creator and ECAL student David Columbini and the Attachment team are still making adjustments to the Poetic Machine and finalizing their research on the environmental impact of the carrier balloons and message tubes. According to their We Make It crowdfunding site, they will use biodegradable latex balloons, and the tube is made of a biodegradable material, PLA (a polymer-based or seaweed maize). You can send your first message for $10, which is nearly the same price of a greeting card really.
Until they’re fully funded, you can ponder what your first mystery message will say…
Would you send a Tweet via weather balloon? Let us know what it would be in the comments below.
(h/t FastCo Design)