typewriter

Needless to say while writing Atonement, Ian McEwan was not contemplating ways to incorporate technology into the story. And who can blame him? Set in 1935, big inventions of that year were the "Supreme" Pedestal Hair Dryer and the Moving Coil Speaker. Talk about exciting. Although the typewriter is obviously a vintage gadget, it's an Oscar worthy gadget indeed. For much of the 20th century, typewriters were important tools in business, journalism, and paved the way for more modern and advanced word processing devices — like the one you are using today. They also came in handy when writing the occasional dirty love letter, as in the case of Atonement. Who wouldn't want a love letter from Robbie Turner delivered with the romanticism of the old fashioned type? Sigh.

Not only was the typewriter an important prop in the story of Atonement, it was also an important character. A character that became more engraved when the sounds of the machine were incorporated into the soundtrack, setting the stage for emotion when you heard the ticking of the keys. Taking such a low tech gadget and turning it into something so hi-fi is a super creative way to bring the classic gadget into the 21st century.

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Forget teaching your Luddite relative to use a computer - maybe you should just transform their low tech device into something more high tech. The 22 Pop is a modified typewriter that can send e-mails. It's called ‘22’ because of the Olivetti typewriter classic, Lettera 22 it is modeled on; ‘pop’ as a reference to the email protocol used. How does it work? An ordinary Lettera 22 is embedded in the device, which enables any letter that is typed, to be sent as an email.

The idea for the project was inspired by the creator's mother, who suffered great frustration with e-mail and using a computer. Here's more:

She simply cannot relate to scroll bars, the mouse, control keys and so on. To explain to her that emailing can be as easy as writing a letter, I decided to make for her a typewriter that sends email. It is a regular portable typewriter, which has concealed electronics that automatically sends the typed letter as an email to the intended person when the letter is finished and pulled out of the machine's carriage.

For a full run down on the process of turning the typewriter into an e-mail capable device, check out the creator's website. For additional images,  read more