When Nature and Digital Collide
September 10, 2009 Leave a comment
In an interesting story of a a digital ‘nature’, a pigeon with a memory card delivered 4GB of content computer-to-computer faster than the local ADSL company could move the file.
Granted, this doesn’t scale .. the total distance was about 50 miles. How do you calculate the cost-per-megabyte in pigeon feed? Still, an interesting demonstration of selecting the right way to send a bit of content by considering all the conditions.
For years (Wikipedia quotes a 1996 source in Sneakernet): “Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway” as a means to define ultimate data transfer rates. Rumored to have started with a floppy disk in a St. Bernard’s pouch, it has evolved over the years to include DVDs loaded in 747s.