'vestaboard' revives split-flap nostalgia with tech-packed mechanical displays at CES 2018

in the excitement to implement new technology, mechanical split-flap displays have mostly been replaced by fully digital ones. but now, at CES 2018, the wi-fi-integrated ‘vestaboard’ hopes to remind people of their forgotten romance for split-flaps. in a room, in vegas, surrounded by conversations of augmented reality, hyperloops, cryptocurrencies, and autonomy, the vestaboard is a click, click, clicking, ASMR-tingling, sip of distilled water. it’s tangible and simply satisfying.

all images courtesy of vestaboard

not to say that it isn’t intelligent and relevant to 2018 — the 23 x 7 grid of 161 bits can source content from alexa, google, twitter, slack, and more via a connected smart-phone app. on the app, users can operate the message board in a seamless way, but everything techy is hidden. vestabord appears as an ordinary split-flap, and, audio-visually, is just satisfying to interact with.