‘Upstagram’ Hack Flies House Over Paris With Instagram View

Using the Raspberry Pi, a mini house and a connection with Instagram, one team have delivered an incredible view of Parisian sights via the medium of hacking.

Upstagram image

When we think of hacking, there are three things in particular that come to mind, the first of these is hacking bank accounts, pilfering away people’s hard earned cash for criminal activities, the other is the hacking of computers, delivering malicious viruses directly to unsuspecting computer systems or, in a more positive light, we see hacking as a way to make the most of our customisable technological devices. In turn, when we think of Disney films we think of princes and princesses and fairy tales, never really thinking that the concepts could become a reality. But, with an idea taken directly from a Disney movie and a computer ripe for programming, a team of hackers have done something amazing.

The trio, who call themselves Hackerloop is an “innovation lab” based in both San Francisco and Paris, is comprised of J.H Chabran, Valentin Squirelo and Arnaud Coomans and there latest project may well be their most innovative yet. Called ‘Upstagram’, the three built a house out of paper and foam (for a lower weight) which allowed it, along with a Raspberry Pi computer (also small enough to easily float through the air) to fly above Paris using 90 balloons, much in the style of the Disney film Up.

They then used reverse engineering (something that Instagram say is against their policy) to make the photo sharing site work without a phone, allowing the ‘flying house’ to take pictures of its views as it soared across Paris. In all, they were able to capture 400 photos. However, they think the account, which the photos have been reposted to will be taken down soon due to the aforementioned violation of Instagram’s policies, but there is a video of the project, which you can watch below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB_JnVoFraM

Source: Hackerloop Website, Hackerloop Instagram

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