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Notificator Robot Messenger Predates Twitter
Twitter is a social networking site that allows users to send text-post updates via SMS, instant messaging or email and post them on the website.
(Twitter website)
It provides a microblogging display for users and for the people who have requested messages. You can go to one place and see what all your friends are saying, or what they are planning to do.
It turns out that something similar was introduced in 1935. Called the Notificator, it accepted messages from individuals and then automatically posted them for a period of two hours.
(Notificator message display robot)
The device was designed for train stations or other public places where friends might desire to leave each other short messages.
The user walks up on a small platform in front of the machine, writes a brief message on a continuous strip of paper and drops a coin in the slot. The inscription moves up behind a glass panel where it remains in public view for at least two hours so that the person for whom it is intended may have suffucient time to observe the note at the appointed place. The machine is similar in appearance to a candy-vending machine.
This piece of retro-modernity was brought to you by Modernn Mechanix via pasta and vinegar.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 7/3/2007)
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