Slashdot Mirror
Server In A Fly
Tablespork writes "These guys have implanted the world's smallest webserver-on-a-chip into a dead fly! From the site: "Fly, grants us the ability to virtually possess the body of a dead, preserved fly via web-based technology." There is a webcam monitoring the fly, so you can watch as you blink the LEDs." And don't worry if something goes wrong with it -- "Several pre-programmed and wired flies will be on hand in case of technical malfunction."
Cool, this might spice up someone geeks sex-life, if they manage to get it into spanish-fly as well!
(and yes I know it's a beverage...)
Waiter! There's a server in my fly!
(sorry, couldn't resist)
my other sig is a 500 page novel
Ahh... First we kill a fly to embedd a webserver in its corpse, then we put it on slashdot and watch the webserver die... My evil plan has been fulfilled!
That's nice. Besides the fact that the chip is small, I see no point in sticking it in a dead fly. In fact, that seems quite pointless and the main focus of the article should be on the tiny chip, not the fact that it happens to be inside a dead fly. That's not impressive whatsever.
"Hey Bob, I finally slammed that big fly that's been buzzing on-and-off my sandwich all day!"
"Why do I get a 404 on the project's page? Bob?"
-- It's always darker before it goes pitch black.
Imagine a beowulf swarm of those!
Bored with karma, be a fan/freak
It will be impossible to trace a bug in that webserver... because the bug is outside the webserver. Ha Ha Ha.
The site linked is up fine right now, but the IP they give at the top as being the actual server on the fly isn't responding. Is it slashdotted? I'm picturing a smoking fly in the middle of the plastic cube. I'm just glad I don't have to smell it.
Fly Server Admin: Damn you slashdot! Damn you! You killed my baby!
"I may not have morals, but I have standards."
The impressive part is that they killed the fly by catching it in the air with chopsticks.
Damn.. Peta is'nt gonna be happy about this..
1. Killing poor flies..
2. Implanting Chips in dead flies..
I suppose it gives a new meaning to building pages on the fly...
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
Imagine this: you are flying around, minding your own business, maybe having a nice sip of that fresh little rotting piece of meat on the counter, when suddenly you die. You are barely dead, when someone sticks a webserver up your ass, which kinda hurts, and then installs some LEDs on your back, drilling right through your well maintained exoskeleton.
Then, when you have been online for just a few days, some hord comes down to slashdot your fine new webserver, and the lights go out.
If I were that fly, I'd be pissed.
Which reminds me of superfly. Know him? Check him out somewhere on www.shockwave.com.
In short, what the page is trying to make clear is that these guys put a tiny IC, capable of functioning as a webserver, together with a LED in a dead fly (with some more, identical cyberflies as backup).
:)
The webserver (1K of space) shows a simple page, and the visitor of the page can turn the LED on/off.
Further, the 'surgery' on the fly had to be carried out within 24 hours after its death, or it would have become too brittle, though the author noted that it's possible to rejoin broken off legs &c. with some glue. Provided you can find the bodypart in question
The reason for this project? It's art, you insensitive clod!
Site & blog: http://www.mayaposch.com
... and I thought that "Adapting applications on the fly" was an article about hot-swappable modules!
Because I can't stand up ;)
Computational Madness in a round package.
Did anyone (including the person who posted this story) actually read the article?
If you read the article, the first thing that jumps out is the date: June 1 to September 3, 2001. In fact, if you'll notice, the IP address they refer to (http://139.142.46.159) is long gone.
Reading further, it is revealed that this was a museum exhibit at the Mendel Art Gallery in Canada in 2001. The link cited shows the proposal they sent to the museum, which is why it reads rather oddly ("This will ideally allow for gallery staff to replace the fly.") The museum accepted the proposal, as can be seen here, at the museum's website.
Please, editors, do your homework before posting these stories. It's an interesting story, but quite dated.
Simpli - Your source for San Jose dedicated servers and colocation!
run a time server?
;-)
I'll make my computer watch time fly
If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. - James Madison
some people will casemod anything.
The first slashdotting of a fly:
139.142.46.159
What has *science* done?!? -- Dr. Weird (ATHF)
It's not science, it's a fusion of science and art. You've got to actually read the site prior to the typical /. knee-jerk-reaction-for-funny-karma to actually get it.
That said, from an art standpoint it's interesting. From a science/tech standpoint it's a yawn.
Did the fly die before or after beind slashdotted?
help meeeee... heellp meeeee...
There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
Isn't that what it says during the Windows 98 install? Press any key to continue...
(n/t)
I'm a pretty funny guy, no I take that back, a REALLY funny guy, but other than the obvious "waiter there's a server in my fly," I just can't think of any good ones.
Wait'll you find out where Mozilla's Bugzilla is hosted...
Like what I said? You might like my music
This is what happens when you read too much Gibson. The idea that a fly corpse with a Webserver chip and two LED's stuck in it is a "cybernetic being in a state of attempted reanimation" is ludicrous, since the system would behave exactly the same without the fly corpse. It ain't exactly Deadly Friend
It's worth noting that among this artist's other works are screenshots of his cluttered Mac desktop, used as a "visual medium" for artistic expression.
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
Yeh, and add a little 802.11b to the mix and you have a Wi-Fi-Fly-Fest :)
Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life.
Just how am I supposed to debug this thing when it crashes (into a windshield)?
--GrouchoMarx
Card-carrying member of the EFF, FSF, and ACLU. Are you?
It's a bug and its a feature ;)
... a beowulf cluster of those!! -1, cliched
Man hurredly runs with two policemen in tow:
Man: "I can't believe it, they stole everything!"
Cop1: Everything?
Man: "Everything!"
(Man and cops head into empty server room)
Man: "They were right here. Ned! The servers! they stole all the servers!"
Ned: "No, they didn't. I embedded them on a dead fly on the window sill. It'll save us a bundle."
Announcer: "IBM dead fly servers! It'll save you a bundle"
Cop2 (hunched over the window sill): Um, I think that carpenter ant is dragging your server away
Oh, so now the trend in ./ is to move away from tech and towards the ART! Has this something to do with the rumour that the editors of /. finally got some Macs?
They'll be worrying about Swatter!
Could it be that they've got a midget in the pedestal playing the chess moves, err, another computer doing the web page and using the Fairchild chip as an LED controller?
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
... a web spider comes along?
http://www.chipdocs.com/pndecoder/datasheets/FAIR/ ACE1101VMT8.html
It describes the chip as an arithmetic controller engine, but the datasheet requires paid registration. Could this chip actually serve web pages?
I confess I don't know enough to judge.
Never trust a man in a blue trench coat, Never drive a car when you're dead
http://people.howstuffworks.com/art.htm
IN SOVIET RUSSIA....
bugs have your webserver!
those who control the past, control the future. those who control the present, control the past.
So, to me, this particular instance of the same thing from 1999 is basically a neat soldering job but nothing technically innovative in terms of embedded connectivity. But as art, it's pretty cool. ;)
In Soviet Rush, today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you.
I eat my words! As you can see here there is a package for the chip that supports a SLIP connection with a limited TCP/IP stack. Wow! Impressive! Granted it doesn't do a lot, but for the sort of applications it would be used for, it doesn't need to.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
well i actually did read the site before posting, and i still fail to see any scientific or artistic value. /. bashing-of-opinions-I-disagree-with. ;-)
So from my standpoint, the thing is just plain BORING either way. The fact that it's supposed to be artsy doesn't qualify imho.
So please, if you like it, just say so and stop the typical
-- null
Guy1: "Why is that fly on fire?"
Admin: "Damn you Slashdot!!!!!!!!!"
SIGFAULT
I don't actually want to imagine a beowulf of these things.
// file: mice.h
#include "frickin_lasers.h"
The point? What is the point?
"Look I embedded a server into a fly"
Boss: "DON'T YOU HAVE WORK TO DO?"
"Look I embedded a server into a fly"
Mother: "What's wrong with a date now and then? I'll trade the dead fly for a grandchild"
"Look I embedded a server into a fly"
Dad: "Is it a job? A dead fly server is nice but you can't eat with it."
If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem
Talk about serving web pages "on the fly" :-)
Sorry, couldn't resist
In Soviet Russia, our bugs have programs
Sorry again
Paging Alan Ralsky, Mr. Ralsky, your new colocation provider is waiting to meet you...
Well, i'll give it a try:
There was an old woman who swallowed a server
It didn't deserve her, but there went the server
and i don't know why /she swallowed the fly/
But we can light up her eyes...
i think this one has to end with...
i know an old woman who took windows source
she's dead, of course! oke, i think it's out of my system now. Apologies for the temporary insanity...
"I'd say 'Have a good time,' but arson is still illegal.
It died of course.
There was an old geek who swatted a fly.
:-}
He wriggled and jiggled and put a web server inside.
He posted the fly, a URL for our eye.
(wait for it...)
I don't know why, we slashdotted the fly.
--- I wish I could hear the soundtrack to my life. That way I'd know when to duck.
anyone want to bet that PeTA is not drafting a letter as we speak?
Zombie processes running on several University and DoD computers have initiated a Denial of Service attack against the Fly's webserver. Experts are confused whether using RAID would have prevented this.
I just got the message:
"Thank You Slashdot!
(you just made me $0.05 richer)
RCTOYS.COM
Close Window
4423 x $0.05 = my money"
Rather than bitch about being slashdotted, the guy has style and, put up a banner to a cool geek toy site and let us pay for slashdotting him. That's so much cooler than complaining about it. Kudos.
I like my women how I like my sugar.. granulated.
I think the ideas for new market segments for wearable gadgets are going way out of proportion. How would this generate money? The buyer is dead, for crying out loud!
The page you get now when you try to access the site says, "Slashdotters: Please bookmark this site and come back next week..." (What?! Is he a glutton for punishment or something?)
:)
Looks like we swatted that fly.
I'm not a geek, I'm just a clever script.
This is one of the first "slashdot response" 404 pages I've seen that actually attempts to turn a profit via click-throughs. I wonder if we can slashdot the click-through site too?
Also, this is some pretty sick stuff--killing small animals and inserting web servers into their corpses? uh...Not exactly the fruits of a healthy mind, imho...
Brian
These would make good surveillance devices!
All we need is to implant it in a LIVE fly, add some wi-fi, and let it send some neural feedback?
He must be under the assumption we won't (inadvertently, of course!) Slashdot his phone network, too...
Hehe. I'm imagining people calling him and going "First Post!" and then hanging up.
Palaces, barricades, threats, meet promises
Ok, this is actually a good proof of concept for the private sector. Of course, the US Army (and CIA as well) is rather ahead of this one, having built small mechanical bugs with cameras and wireless links in them. Or at least they were working on that project. Great for observing terrorists inside their caves, but the transmission tends to break up easily inside caves. Same problem with the ground robots they used. Easier to use earth-penetrating radar in overhead surveilance.
Dude, you just stepped on my webserver.
Oh shit, sorry...
Hey, the music stopped?
Oh shit, sorry...