Today in cool things: How this magic box shows tomorrow’s weather, complete with real clouds
To those of us not technologically-talented, programming and robots and inventions of almost any sort seem pretty much like magic. This gadget, created by engineer Ken Kawamoto, sure seems flawlessly mystical to me.
The Tempescope, known by me as “Pokeball of weather,” connects to your computer or phone to pull weather forecasts for your city, or the current weather in other places. Its small, self-contained weather-world can show you what to wear for the next day. Raindrops, clouds, lightning, sunlight — this column does it all!
If you’re more coding-inclined, Kawamoto has made the Tempescope open source, releasing the code and schematics, meaning that anyone can build one if they understand science. Or, you can donate to his crowd-funding campaign later in 2015. Look at it flashing little lightnings!
We can also see this being used like the pillow that long-distance couples can use to soar off to dreamland lulled by each other’s heartbeats. If your boo is in another city, it would be so fun to have a microcosm of their sky by your bedside table, so you could wake up, see the world outside your window and even what’s outside theirs.
I could also see myself using it as a perpetual in-room sleep machine by setting it to rain continuously.
I would have killed for this in college, too! There were days when I was so homesick for the bright Phoenix sky, or for the torrential late summer downpours. Having a tiny box of home would have made that pull hurt a little less. Would the Tempescope fit on your bedside table? Let us know in the comments!
