Weather Orbs FAQs

What is assembly like?

The device arrives in its component parts. All of the parts in each kit are assembled into a device before they are shipped to ensure their fit. The only tools required for assembly are a 2mm and 3mm hex key. There is an assembly video located here.

What can I put on this thing?

Any still image or GIF from the internet can be displayed on the Weather Orbs, even if it isn't weather. Video formats are not currently supported.

It's important to know the right kind of things to put on the device. Square images work best, as pictures will be stretched if they are not square. Usually this is not very noticeable, but stuff like panoramas will look funny. 

It's important that the image ends in something like .jpg, .png, .gif, etc. If it doesn't have a file extension, the device doesn't know if you want to display a still image or a GIF, and it will have a little panic attack. Sometimes if an image you want to display doesn't have this, like in the case of New York City's traffic cameras, you can just add the extension at the end.

It's also vital that the link to what you want to see does not change. Sometimes, like in the case of NOAA's imagery, the link does change but there is a version that does not. Sometimes you can find the version of this image by deleting some data from the URL or emailing someone associated with the data you want to display to see if such a version exists. Shoutout to Lori at the NOAA.

Do you have any suggestions of what to put on the device? 

Weather, mostly.

I maintain a list of popular places to find good stuff to put on this device on the "Popular Data" page. Send me an email if you have other cool stuff you've put on this device and I might add it to the list. The stuff that looks best is usually square GIFs with vibrant colors which update often.