Upstagram captures Paris from a birds-eye view

By Kate Knibbs November 9, 2013

upstagram captures paris birds eye view — Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you’ve seen the movie Up and you’re like me, you probably have a few questions about it. How did they make the animation so amazing? What special power does the opening montage wield that it can reduce a stone-hearted social media writer to yawping, snotty sobs every time?

Those questions remained unanswered, but thanks to the enterprising minds at HackerLoop and their #Upstagram project, we now know what it would look like to fly in the Up house over Paris and Instagram the occasion.

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The HackerLoop team created a small replica of the house from Up, replete with balloons, and outfitted it with an open-source electronic device that published pictures on Instagram. #Upstagram, the result, is awesome:

Now, the Hackerloop team fiddled around with Instagram’s API to make this happen, creating software that allowed photographs to be published on Instagram without a smartphone. They put the software onto an open source micro computer called a Raspberry Pi, and affixed this system to the miniature house, and then attached 80 small balloons with helium. And then it flew away like a beautiful, poignant science experiment.

Very ingenious, but also very not within Instagram’s terms of use, so the official Instagram account capturing the best of the photos taken over Paris may get shut down in the future. Until then, enjoy this video, and consider watching Up with a loved one, a pizza, and a full box of tissues.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Kate Knibbs is a writer from Chicago. She is very happy that her borderline-unhealthy Internet habits are rewarded with a…

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