A little less than a year ago, Japanese designer Ken Kawamoto took the internet by storm when he unveiled his unique Tempescope weather forecasting device at a trade show. It was just a prototype at the time, but the concept was so intriguing that it didn’t matter: the creation of it became a hit even before it was finished and spread like wildfire across the web. Now, about a year later, he has finally fixed all the problems and brought Tempescope to Indiegogo to raise money for the production.
If you missed the news when it was announced, this is the deal. The Tempescope is a desktop gadget that displays weather forecasts and current conditions by recreating them within a sealed enclosure. If the forecast says it will rain, it will rain inside the box. If it is going to be cloudy or foggy, the room will be filled with fog. The idea is that with this realistic, always-on display of the weather forecast, you won’t need to launch the app to see what the weather will be like tomorrow; you can just take one look at your Tempescope and immediately know what to expect.
Is that how it works. The Tempescope consists of a water pump, a mist diffuser, a set of colored LEDs, and an Arduino microcontroller inside a clear acrylic case. By wirelessly synchronizing with a computer or mobile phone, the device can connect to the Internet and capture hourly weather forecast data. The app then takes that data and plugs it into the various output devices on the system. The LEDs will change from red to blue to reflect the temperature, while the diffuser will fill the frame with mist to match the level of cloud cover outside. If it rains, a pump will draw water from the lower reservoir and drip it from the Tempescope’s roof. You can even recreate lightning during a storm.
To bring this creation from the lab to your living room, Kawamoto hopes to raise $398,000 through his crowdfunding campaign. That’s a pretty lofty goal, but so far it looks like he’ll have no problem achieving it. The campaign has already raised $125,000 and hasn’t even been active for a whole day.
By backing the project now during the early stages, you can secure Tempescope with a contribution of just $200. If all goes to plan, Kawamoto expects to begin deliveries in April 2016.
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Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn