This article was published on June 2, 2016

The Wi-Fi Poet is an amazing and horrible idea


The Wi-Fi Poet is an amazing and horrible idea

If you’re like us, you probably set your Wi-Fi name to something witty. Personally, we didn’t get much further than renaming our network to a ? emoji.

However, super creative people like Russian artist Dmitry Morozov have taken Wi-Fi access to a whole new level.

Morozov is the creator the Hotspot Poet – a set of four devices containing poems by famous poets. While changing its SSID every 10 seconds to lines of poetry, these expressive hotspots constantly broadcast a Wi-Fi signal that laptops and smartphones can easily pick up.

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It’s definitely a cool way of rethinking how we use SSIDs, but it might also mean we’re on the verge of a Wi-Fi apocalypse.

A cheap and portable Wi-Fi transmitter opens up doors for some serious digital graffiti:

Hide one on the roof of your ex for great fun!
On the flip side, it’s a new era of hitting on your neighbours.
An internet classic brought into the real world.

Feeling inspired?

It’s not hard to replicate the device – you only need an ESP8266 and a mobile phone battery… But you didn’t hear it from us.

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