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Real Snail Mail

Posted by kdawson on from the slower-than-pigeons dept.

A few news outlets, mostly in the UK, have picked up the story of gastropod-enabled email delivery. The RealSnailMail project out of Bournemouth University uses snails with RFID tags to deliver email. The service will officially launch at SIGGRAPH on August 11, 2008. While it's still under development, the perpetrators write, "For testing purposes some messages may be forwarded sooner than expected. Sorry we can not guarantee unreliability of service at this time. We hope to have RealSnailMail working less predictably as soon as possible."

34 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. That was definitely... by Manfre · · Score: 5, Funny

    research time well spent.

    1. Re:That was definitely... by sm62704 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Research? Well I don't know but some good art came from it. Siggraph is computer-generated art. From TFA:

      Our snails are equipped with a miniaturised electronic circuit and antenna that enables them to be assigned messages from hardware located within their enclosure. The moment you click 'send' your message will travel at the speed of light to our snail server where it will await collection by a snail agent.


      Once associated with the tiny electronic chip on the snails shell your message will be carried around until the snail chances by the drop off point. Hardware located at this point collects the message from the snail and forwards it to its final destination.

      My old art instructors would certainly approve. This approaches Dada.
      --
      mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
    2. Re:That was definitely... by Gewalt · · Score: 4, Funny

      Gives new meaning to digesting RSS feeds. Would you like garlic with that?

      --
      Modding Trolls +1 inciteful since 1999
    3. Re:That was definitely... by JustOK · · Score: 5, Funny

      and salt is all you'd need for a firewall

      --
      rewriting history since 2109
    4. Re:That was definitely... by Red+Flayer · · Score: 5, Funny

      Just be careful with your shell scripts.

      Particularly your bash shell scripts, or you might end up scraping goo for a few minutes.

      --
      "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
    5. Re:That was definitely... by Xyrus · · Score: 2, Funny

      Packets would need to be routed around France.

      ~X~

      --
      ~X~
    6. Re:That was definitely... by asliarun · · Score: 2, Funny

      Gives new meaning to digesting RSS feeds. Would you like garlic with that? A much better protocol implementation would have been to teach the snails to drive, and then equip them with a fleet of Mercedes.

      Besides the latency improvement, you would have the satisfaction of hearing people say, "Dude, look at that S-car go"

      (shamelessly ripped from Callahans)

  2. Obligatory by bgillespie · · Score: 3, Funny

    Bit of a slow day on Slashdot, isn't it?

    1. Re:Obligatory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'd say it's almost a sluggish news day.

  3. Soo.... by Drathos · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can lost packets be partially attributed to interference from RFC 1149?

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    End of line..
    1. Re:Soo.... by FinchWorld · · Score: 2, Funny
      I considered this system using good old pigeons, packets could potentially be sent very quickly, and as there is a great number of pigeons available, the bandwidth could be quite massive, however the system was just too unreliable. Many packets were lost, but not due to pigeons getting lost, but mainly by hawks eating the pigeons, causing packets to be dropped.

      Then my friend had a great idea, use hawks as the transmission medium. Nothing hunts these hawks, and once trained hardly ever get lost, making a very reliable medium. However in practice the system under performed compared to our expectations. There were few hawks to be trained which limited our bandwidth somewhat, and the hawk flew slower on average increasing our ping times. Not only this but we soon discovered that after releasing all our pigeons (As we no longer needed them) they took to flying between our clients. Not a problem I hear you say, well the hawks would stop to catch the buggers and eat them, making the latency unbearable.

      Now we have this idea of encoding our messages using different colours of fish, the sewer system (downstream) and the water pipes (upstream), but its still a work in progress.

      --
      "I may be full of crap about this game, and I may be wrong, and that's fine." -Jack Thompson
  4. Enterprise technologies by suck_burners_rice · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is great news! As the CIO of a well known Fortune 500 company, I can envision some innovative global solutions built on this compelling technology.

    --
    McCain/Palin '08. Now THAT's hope and change!
    1. Re:Enterprise technologies by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      This is great news! As the CIO of a well known Fortune 500 company, I can envision some innovative global solutions built on this compelling technology. I can envision your Fortune 500 company soon transitioning to the Fortune 500,000.
      --
      Infuriate left and right
  5. This needs an RFC by Cassini2 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I can see it coming already: TCP/IP over snails. A follow up to RFC-1149 A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers.

    1. Re:This needs an RFC by mysqlrocks · · Score: 5, Funny

      I can see it coming already: TCP/IP over snails.

      Even better: Snails on Rails.

      --
      Bradley Holt
  6. phew by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 5, Funny

    Good thing this is only in the UK, otherwise the USPS might start getting worried about the competition.

    --
    This guy's the limit!
    1. Re:phew by drpimp · · Score: 2, Funny

      And good thing it's not in France, those lil boogers might get eaten and emails would be lost in a series of tubes. Intestinal tubes that is!

      --
      -- Brought to you by Carl's JR
  7. Looks not quite what they say by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Most everything seems to imply that the snails actually carry the message, but the fact that the snails carry RFID chips, and that one of the developers actually says the messages are tagged when a snail wanders nearby, makes me think that the actual message does indeed travel electronically only, and all the snail does is induce an artificial (albeit organic and biodegradeable) delay.

    --
    Infuriate left and right
    1. Re:Looks not quite what they say by eln · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, they tried to get the snails to carry the actual message, but it turns out the snails couldn't reliably copy it because not only do they lack hands, but their penmanship is atrocious.

      Attempts to get the snails to carry the emails in their internal memory were likewise unsuccessful because the snails lacked the ability to reliably retrieve the message from memory or communicate it effectively at the other end. Indeed, it was never really possible to determine if the messages were actually maintained in the snail's memory at all, even after repeated attempts to store them there. The snails did, however, form an inexplicable appetite for discount v1AgR@, so further study may be warranted.

  8. See RFC1217... by Cyberax · · Score: 4, Funny

    Snails should be just another layer of slowness for
    http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1217.html system!

  9. Cool by hurfy · · Score: 2, Funny

    I was just looking for a new way to implement a tech support queue around here......

  10. I'm worried... by LoyalOpposition · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What happens if the pigeons eat the snails?

    -Loyal

    --
    I aim to misbehave.
    1. Re:I'm worried... by scubamage · · Score: 4, Funny

      Layer 4 snail protocols are in charge of resending lost snails. Obviously.

    2. Re:I'm worried... by sentientbeing · · Score: 2, Funny

      Then you wait under a tree for an air mail drop.

      --

      ------
      beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his mind he dreams himself your master
    3. Re:I'm worried... by Nef · · Score: 3, Funny

      African or European?

  11. I though it was Royal Snail Mail by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 2, Funny

    I mean its the UK. Shouldn't the snails all have mini crowns?

    --
    Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
  12. Kinda slow... by VickiM · · Score: 2, Funny

    I read about this a little while back on BBC, I'm pretty sure. Maybe the submitter used the service for his submission? :)

  13. Routers by scubamage · · Score: 4, Funny

    Anyone interested in investing in my new patented(pending) salt-based router technology?

    1. Re:Routers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Well, it isn't much of a router as much as it is a heck of a good firewall. I can definitely see those packets dropping right at the edge there. If you do manage to perfect it, you are encouraged to present your findings at the Southern Linux User Group.

    2. Re:Routers by infinite9 · · Score: 3, Funny

      I certainly am. A DDOS attack would look like a bad horror movie.

      --
      Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
  14. mail by SirusTV · · Score: 4, Funny

    Neither rain nor snow nor sleet, but salt? Oh man.

  15. Traceroute by PPH · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just follow the slime.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  16. Should have called it S-Mail by Ackmo · · Score: 5, Funny

    That way, when they start shipping packages, they could call it S-Cargo.

  17. Overhead by JustOK · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Snails? Stupid idea. Too much overhead. They carry their homes with them. Use slugs instead.

    --
    rewriting history since 2109