Vestaboard’s Note is a smaller, cheaper version of its hypnotic split-flap display

is a senior reporter who’s been covering and reviewing the latest gadgets and tech since 2006, but has loved all things electronic since he was a kid. The company had spent over a year developing a new version of the Vestaboard called the Smart Bits that was “a completely new way to experience Vestaboard’s patented character units” that also “pushed the limits of design, engineering, and manufacturing,” according to the company’s founder and CEO, Dorrian Porter. But, when faced with economic uncertainty as a result of President Trump’s tariffs on Chinese-made goods, the company pivoted and instead created the Note. The Vestaboard Note includes over 2,800 mechanical flips that can each display 64 standard characters and symbols. Image: Vestaboard Functionally, the Note is nearly identical to the original Vestaboard. But instead of using 132 split-flap mechanisms, which the company calls Bits, the Note only features 45. Each can display 64 alphanumeric characters plus other symbols li ... Read full article.