Outernet’s solar-powered content downloader, Lantern
In the age of the Internet of Things, it is interesting to see a non-Internet device that uses Web technologies in a new way. Outernet is a project started earlier this year by the nonprofit Media Development Investment Fund that buys bandwidth on communications satellites to do one-way broadcast of news, education and other critical content worldwide.
Already available to anyone willing to do a little work with off-the-shelf hardware like Raspbery Pi, Outernet now have an integrated, solar-powered receiver called Lantern that doubles as a charger, theoretically enabling offline, anonymous read-only access to Web content anywhere in the world. more …