Arduino board and web content management

9 13/16 x 3 7/8 x 3 7/8" (25 x 10 x 10 cm)

By simply pressing a button, the bakers at Albion Cafe in the Shoreditch neighborhood of London can signal that something delicious has just popped out of the oven. Designed by Poke, a company with an office across the road from Albion, BakerTweet makes modern technology mimic a traditional local encounter, like word passing from neighbor to neighbor, or the smell of fresh bread in the street attracting customers to the bakery. The small, plain metal box (“bakery-proof,” the designers say, to withstand the heat and mess of the kitchen) is equipped with a dial, a button, and a screen interface, and it sends subscribers real-time notices on Twitter; the system can be customized online every day to reflect what the bakers plan to make. A hungry follower in the neighborhood can stop by right when the goods come out of the oven, and the bakery can let customers know when the treats are at their absolute peak. This seamless line of communication between bakers and customers, in turn, renders the city more intimate. For the duration of the Talk To Me exhibition, MoMA’s Cafe 2 will broadcast the arrival of baked goods via BakerTweet.