Post-its + Texting = ?
I just want to stop and brag about how awesome my momma is, and not only because she just sent me the greatest finals care package. Yes, yes, she’s probably the only one in the world that knows I love dried banana chips and can find earphones to fit my abnormally small earholes, but the best part of the triumvirate is a hand written note.
We are so accustomed to texts and emails. Sure, the advancement of emoticons, picture messages, and people’s (almost) worrisome dexterity with ASCII symbols make these digital snippets a tad more personal, but nothing beats a note on paper. It has sweat equity! Call me antiquated, but paper brings a solidity, realness, and permanence that is incomparable to a emoticon-inundated text.
But because having the time and patience to sit down and handwrite a personal note is a rarity, I’ll cut you some slack with the sweat equity. Plus, some people just have abstruse, cryptic handwriting that could cause reading a simple “Have a great week” into a massive headache.
The concept is simple. Thermal printers - those used to print everyday receipts - are now being collaborated with technologies for mini-personal printing use. The idea sprouted from the fundamental premise that:
“If the last two decades were about the digitization of everything, the next decade is going to be about healing the digital-physical divide by pulling bits back into the world of atoms. (Bret Victor)
An aesthetically adorable example of this intertwine of a product and service is the front-end cloud service “Little Printer,” developed by BERG.
Daily, your Little Printer can print you personalized, mini-newspapers, todo lists, twitter feeds, messages from friends, driving directions, etc.
(bergcloud.com/littleprinter)
Thermal printers with faces printing receipt feeds may seem trivial, but there’s a functionally psychological aspect to this all.
“Paper is interesting,” says Limor Fried, founder of Adafruit, “Once you commit to using something physical to display data, you tend to think about it more.”
So if you are the forgetful type, a lover of antiquated technologies, have too fat of fingers to be an avid texter or just think the face on the Little Printer is irresistibly darling, this is perfect for you!
I love waking up to a “Good morning” text; imagine how ecstatic a printed message would be. I would never have another gloomy day…
Thermal Printer + cloud technology, trivial or potentially useful?
