This all happened over a week ago, but it's definitely worth sharing in case anyone missed it:

A South African company, The Unlimited, tested out a theory that they could send data faster with carrier pigeons than over South Africa's largest internet service provider's ADSL line.  Sure enough, the pigeon made it to its location in a little over two hours, by which time the file it carried in a card on its leg had only finished downloading 4%.

There have been other attempts at transferring data with carrier pigeons, too, although none were so successful as this little bird - whose name is Winston, by the way.

photo by foxypar4 under flickr creative commons license

IP over Avian Carriers, although very funny and a pointed critique on the limitations of the internet, is not without its flaws.  Pigeons are messy, I'm just saying.  Also they have trouble with, for example, oceans.  Still, congratulations Winston for being 96% faster than the internet in South Africa!

-Elizabeth English

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