Comments
961402 t1_j3vv298 wrote
Haha.. I remember this and thought that it was pretty crappy and janky just from how much the sign didn't look anything at all like the actual signs in the stations. The fonts and colors were wrong and it overall just looked halfassed.
There's another company out there that's selling offering for pre-order more realistic looking signs that are probably not much internally different than the one in this article. Only they have nicer looking cases and cost upward of $1K.
They have a fancy looking website with lots of insta-worthy photos of their prototype and have that "We're just a couple of guys from NYC who love the subway and want to bring this to others who love the subway" tone to the writing on the site.
They're probably going to disappear with everyone's money too.
parkerpyne t1_j3w8f4p wrote
>There's another company out there that's selling offering for pre-order more realistic looking signs that are probably not much internally different than the one in this article. Only they have nicer looking cases and cost upward of $1K.
Interestingly, they seem to be targeting more of a corporate environment which I reckon is more lucrative. Their Integration section at least seems to imply this.
But at the same time, they do present themselves as a quirky etsy project which won't help with what they seem to intend to be the target group.
On a side note: Why does the MTA not provide such devices and services? I reckon every corporate office in Manhattan would put in one of those. They could charge $20k for an installation and that wouldn't even be a drop in the bucket for corporate enterprises.
961402 t1_j3wc6ph wrote
I think they don't mostly because I believe the target group for these things are likely transit nerds.
The MTA website or CityMapper works well for most of us and we don't need a sign on the wall that tells us that the next Queens-bound R train will be there in ten minutes.
I guess the other target audience are companies etc. that want to remind you that they are NYC-based. I can very easily imagine seeing one of these on the wall in the common area of a Bay Area office of an NYC-based company.
parkerpyne t1_j3xsltk wrote
>I guess the other target audience are companies etc. that want to remind you that they are NYC-based. I can very easily imagine seeing one of these on the wall in the common area of a Bay Area office of an NYC-based company.
Oh, yeah, a total gimmick. But it's the kind of thing that corporations love to put into their common office areas to appear cool and edgy to guests.
thoughtsarefalse t1_j3vr4tj wrote
Interesting article. Do these have anything to do with the ones i see ads for lately?
philmatu t1_j3w2qz8 wrote
Nice article. I built my own a few years ago but the cost of materials alone made it completely unsustainable to sell. Today it sits half broken because unfortunately software rots and I have to focus on the rotting software at my full time job.