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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.
In many cases it's been a very useful tool for warning others about impending emergencies, or about letting the outside world know what's going on. It may not get you the help you need but it could save others from having to do the same.
@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.
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.
Yeah, that's the first thing I think about in an emergency. Logging on to twitter and posting some bullshit. How useful.
Well, I suppose that counts as the obvious symmetry to the jackasses who, watching someone burn to death in a wrecked car, will whip out their cell phones - Not for anything so mundane as calling for (never mind actually trying to) help, mind you, but to record it for YouTube.
We've become a society of narcissists and voyeurs. Welcome to the dawning of a new age.
What's with that "only"?
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