Life

This Box Simulates Tomorrow's Weather

Even though it's 2015, some inventions still seem too futuristic. (Ahem, Apple watch.) Whenever I drive passed a car charging station, at a gas station that only George Jetson could've built, it weirds me out a little bit. There are sex tech inventions and travel tech inventions and, in case that doesn't cover all of your needs (though it totally should), there's also weather related inventions galore. But this is a weather innovation that can sit on your bedside table—it's a box that shows tomorrow's weather. Lava lamps are out, weather boxes are in. Get with it.

The weather box is actually called a Tempescope (though I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep calling it "weather box"). Google software engineer Ken Kawamoto, who doubles as an inventor at night, created a little box that can create real raindrops and clouds and simulate lightning and sunlight to display the coming weather forecast in real-time.

The box doesn't yet create snow, but it can interact with weather programs around the world, so you can figure out your forecast, as well as the weather for anywhere else. You can even check in on the weather back in your hometown. Kawamoto recently released the code and schematics so anyone (well, anyone with an ability to follow super specific technical directions with the right tools) can make their own weather device. He'll be launching a crowd funding campaign later this year, for those of us that need someone else to do the Einstening.

It could be coming to an exhibition near you. Keep an eye out for boxed precipitation.

That's the best, most concise sales pitch I've ever seen.

A foggy day, and a contraption that will remind you of the Great Hall ceiling in Hogwarts.

Serious Tempescope screen saver potential, am I right?

For more information, visit the Tempescope's website.

Images: Tempescope/Facebook(4)