That Tech Start-Up That Says It’s Putting A DOOH Screen In Space: It’s A Cube Half The Size Of A Toaster, And The Ad Would Be Streamed. Groan.

August 13, 2021 by Dave Haynes

I am immediately declaring that I have no idea WTF these people are going on about, but my general sense is that an energy technology startup in Calgary is hoping to put a form of digital out of home ad screen in space, getting it up there via SpaceX.

The plans are riddled with references to dubious cryptocurrencies like DOGE, blockchain and all kinds of other things that would make even career financial industry people go cross-eyed.

It 100% smells like an attention-grabbing effort by a start-up that wants buzz, and here I am noting it … so it worked.

A look at the management team for Geometric Energy is like seeing the final candidates for whose photo goes beside Nerd in an illustrated dictionary, which may explain why most people won’t understand what they’re going on and on about.

A piece in Business Insider sort of explains:

Geometric Energy Corporation (GEC), a Canadian startup that provides technology services, exclusively told Insider that it’s making space advertising possible with the help of SpaceX.

Samuel Reid, CEO and co-founder of GEC, said the company is in the process of building a satellite, called a CubeSat. One side of the satellite will have a pixelated display screen where the advertisements, logos, and art will appear, Reid said.

The company plans to load the CubeSat on to a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which will take it into orbit and release it before the rocket reaches the moon.

The company is taking pains to explain that this will not be a big-ass display that people will look up into the nighttime sky and see, like it or not. It appears CubeSats are about half the size of the toaster in your kitchen, and the screen – presumably LED – will only be viewable using a live-stream generated from a camera at the end of a selfie stick.

No, really … that’s ALL it is. … I know …

I’m just going to float it out there that a screen in an enclosure filled with kittens or puppies will do way, way better in views, and doesn’t require Elon Musk’s help, or bitcoins.

Wondrously dumb, from people who in almost every other respect would be terrifyingly smart.

We don’t, if this is not obvious, need a billboard large enough to be visible from space.

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