Comments on: Sky Ear

Sky Ear

schoolgirl report — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 07:20:11 -0800

Sky Ear will be a one-night event in which a glowing "cloud" of mobile phones and helium balloons is released into the air so that people can dial into the cloud and listen to the sounds of the sky. The cloud will be made of one thousand large helium balloons each responding to the electromagnetic environment (created by distant storms, mobile phones, police and ambulance radios, television broadcasts, etc.) with coloured blue, red and yellow lights.

By: angry modem

angry modem — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 07:23:49 -0800

Wow. That's totally cool, if not a little spooky. great post, btw

By: elpapacito

elpapacito — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 07:30:25 -0800

Nice post and nice idea. It will be trippy and dreamy as figuring out which calling plan costs less !

By: event

event — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 07:34:47 -0800

The sky will sound like 1000 cell phones ringing.

By: sciurus

sciurus — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 07:47:37 -0800

Or if they put them on vibrate it will sound like a mob of angry hornets. In any case, its a cool idea.

By: chicobangs

chicobangs — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 08:03:34 -0800

This is wild. The world needs more hippydippytrippy tech experiments like this one. I'd like to play too.

By: obfusciatrist

obfusciatrist — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 08:20:32 -0800

I hear what the sky sounds like at 200 feet every day at work when I open the patio door. But I suppose the fact that I'm hearing it from a cell phone attached to a balloon will be special.

By: alms

alms — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 08:23:41 -0800

The sky will sound like 1000 cell phones ringing. LET us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherised upon a table; Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, The muttering retreats Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells: Streets that follow like a tedious argument Of insidious intent To lead you to an overwhelming question ... Oh, do not ask, "What is it?" Let us go and make our visit.

By: mr.marx

mr.marx — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 08:26:54 -0800

don't you need someone to, you know, answer the phone?

By: anathema

anathema — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 08:48:02 -0800

don't you need someone to, you know, answer the phone? *looks quizically across the Atlantic*

By: quonsar

quonsar — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 09:09:53 -0800

this? THIS? this is what the 60's hath wrought? well, maybe jim morrison will answer one of them.

By: anathema

anathema — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 09:21:49 -0800

Well, my phone does have an "answer automatically after x rings" feature.

By: andycoan

andycoan — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 09:23:05 -0800

Couldn't you record the "conversation" and stream it for everybody to listen to?

By: Leonard

Leonard — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 09:30:53 -0800

I suspect they're going to be depressed when the wimpy little transmitters in the cell phones don't get a signal through after a couple of thousand feet.

By: archimago

archimago — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 09:56:55 -0800

The sound of 1000 balloons rubbing together. Could be like fingernails down a blackboard.

By: Orb

Orb — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 10:00:04 -0800

The sky will sound like 1000 cell phones ringing. How horrifying. I hear enough of them as it is. Interesting idea though. I can't wait to hear about all the reports of alien spaceships start rolling in.

By: nelleish

nelleish — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 11:19:07 -0800

Sorry to be a spoil sport, but how the hell are they intending on getting the thing down? Won't someone think of the sea turtles?! (still, it is a pretty nifty idea, reminds me a bit of listening to the northern lights)

By: quadog

quadog — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 12:04:11 -0800

Based on what they say in the link the balloons are going to be tethered to cables - not just floating aimlessly around the world.

By: chicobangs

chicobangs — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 12:07:20 -0800

Aw, bummer. I wanna hear the sound of getting sucked into a jet intake, without the whole being-sucked-into-a-jet-intake thing.

By: dmt

dmt — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 12:08:41 -0800

This is being done right by the East End of London. Does anyone else forsee loveable Cockney rogues rubbing their hands with glee about the prospect of 1000 cell phones landing in their back garden... on preview: qadog, oh well, if Mohammed won't come to the mountain...

By: asok

asok — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 12:23:59 -0800

HHHRRRRWWWRRHHRHORROHSSSWW Haven't mobile phone mics got some clever firmware which determines the frequencies and sound pressure levels which they respond to? 'The cloud will be made of one thousand large helium balloons each responding to the electromagnetic environment (created by distant storms, mobile phones, police and ambulance radios, television broadcasts, etc.) with coloured blue, red and yellow lights.' It's going to look cool (possibly, notwithstanding London smog and UK precipitation) but will it sound like anything at all? 'Of course, the action of calling the cloud changes the electromagnetic environment inside and causes the balloons to vary in brightness, colour and intensity.'

By: Gamecat

Gamecat — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 18:45:12 -0800

dmt: I just pasted the link to a friend of mine who lives in Greenwich. His first comment was, and this is a direct quote, "hmmm i wonder if i could down a few ballons and retrieve some free stuff" :-)

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 19:05:01 -0800

I whole-heartedly agree with: "This is wild. The world needs more hippydippytrippy tech experiments like this one." Amen!