Why Google, Netflix, and cannabis dispensaries are using this century-old sign technology
The split-flap display has left the train station.
Standing in the Gare du Nord train station in Paris in 2012, Dorrian Porter was transfixed by a sign. The station’s arrivals and departures board—a classic split-flap analog sign that constantly turns its wheels of characters, click-clacking updated information on trains, tracks, and times—had a presence that Porter calls “magical.” While he stood there staring at it, all he could think about were the walls in his children’s bedroom.
Read Full Story