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Twitter Gets Satellite Access
jimboh2k writes "Satellite operators Iridium and Thuraya have signed on to provide access for Twitter users outside of normal mobile coverage. The service acts like the SMS function already available on the social network, allowing users to tweet during emergencies."
http://xkcd.com/723/
@ISS, taking a dump.
@sahara, flat tire, canteen empty, delirious, to follow mirage, please feed Rex.
I'm the OP. Just kidding, of course Iridium isn't dead. What used to be the company was restructured into a new corporation just as the original company was at the brink of bankruptcy. Funny enough, the restructuring resulted in a brand new shiny company operated out of McLean, VA USA, which just happens to be a cozy territory of various TLAs. Now, anyone with half a brain will understand why this occurred, and will subsequently translate the OP via s/zombies/TLAs/g. The jury is out on which is worse, given the fact that the CDC hasn't yet come up with effective means of dealing with widespread infection from the latter.
Yeah, that's the first thing I think about in an emergency. Logging on to twitter and posting some bullshit. How useful.
Who are these people with half a brain and in what way is their condition related to the zombies?
No one can hear you Tweet!
@us_sub, just launched icbm + nuclear warhead. more info on wikileaks.
sigo ergo sum
I tried hard to be cynical about this, but really it's a pretty good match. Twitter's enforced lo-fi nature makes it a perfect format for a high cost per bit medium like satellite, but it's used in bulk enough to justify access plans with moderate usage instead of trying to milk corporate customers for $1/packet or something. Perhaps the constellation operators have finally found their market.
The TLAs will also recognise that allowing Twitter via satphone might, just might be useful when fomenting unrest in various countries.
Most of the second post was serious, but you did catch the embedded joke. Well played, sir.
Will this allow people in $DICTATORSHIP to stay connected even when their government has blocked normal internet access?
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
" allowing users to tweet during emergencies"
If your addiction is that bad, please get some help. during emergencies you need to be paying attention to your safety and the safety of others not tweeting "day 14 without any food, no idea where to go, Wish I had a GPS instead of this crap Iridium phone."
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
"@help, stuck under rubble, need rescue"
Twitter is very useful for letting rescuers know where people are and what problems/dangers they are facing; and for rescuers to let people on the ground know what to do to prepare for their arrival, eg get out of a particular area of flat land so the helicopter can land on it, get outside and wave so that they can find them etc.
When? Name one example where someones life has actually been saved because someone else tweeted because they couldn't make a phone call to the emergency services.
I think you'll find phone calls and 2 way radios are even better at doing that.
I just tried it. It took a couple of tries to register but it works great.
I have an iridium phone. and I would much rather have a GPS in an emergency.
Iridium phones are like the ultra basic Phones from 1999. it also has crap for battery life so it will be useless in less than 1 day. The Iridium Extreme is the ONLY phone that has a GPS in it as well to send your location to search and rescue, that phone is expensive as hell compared to the basic iridium.
Instead of doing something stupid like blowing $1000 on a Iridium phone and a basic plan.
If you really care about safety you will get a http://shop.delorme.com/OA_HTML/DELibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10820&minisite=10020/ Delorme In reach. as it's affordable and does not require you to spend a few hundred monthly to keep the thing active.
And you have always been able to "tweet" from an iridium phone. Iridium lets you SMS message. and you can SMS your twitter account. But only the filthy rich or those of us that actually hike in areas without cellphone coverage have Iridium, like my favorite... The wilds of alaska or canada.
I would rather someone spend the money on a good bug out bag and a small GPS than an Iridium phone.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
wants its PAGERS back.
SPOT has had the ability to post to Twitter or Facebook via satellite for a while now with their SPOT Connect product.
http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=116
Iridium is useful in conflict areas where governments/terrorists shut down local cellphone networks. Iridium has its uses. I have one here in Egypt for emergencies, as the cellphone networks were turned off here during the last revolution.
Extra satellite, so folks can be arrested anywhere, world-wide, for their silly Twitters? Hooray! :-(
But you are wealthy. The average american cant afford one let alone the average Egyptian, Iraqi,etc...
Iridium is awesome for the ultra rich, useless for the average and poor.
Another option here would be to use a "Spot" devise that emails your GPS cords to someone, the new ones can send a short message along too. They are in the hundred dollar range and subscription is about that much yearly.
horror vacui
I play a lot outside of cellular coverage, so its nice to be able to stay in touch. Before I have had to use some awful twittermail.com and selective facebook tweet hack. Now i am happy to see the 40404 shortcode hitting the Iridium network.
Seems to work fine, although, the text messages from twitter come in as 404047. Maybe someone mistyped when they provisioned the connection? You can't reply to the message and have to make a new message to 40404. This is an extra headache since the menu interface on the Iridium 9555 is horrid.