Slashdot Mirror


Clouds, The Collaborative Photo Mosiac

jaric writes "Over at peffis.com users post their cell phone photos to a shared photo blog. The creator of the open source site now has invented what he calls Clouds. It is a combination of all the posted photos into one cloud, or mosaic. The result is quite fascinating. You can see the current cloud."

51 of 163 comments (clear)

  1. Huh? by Lord_Dweomer · · Score: 2, Funny
    I think I speak for everybody on Slashdot when I say...WHAT?!

    --
    Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
    1. Re:Huh? by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Funny

      Nothing like taking a small image-based site and exposing it to a slashdotting, huh?

    2. Re:Huh? by cheesekeeper · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I also am missing the point here. Is this generated with some really cool function-based language? Is it being done on a beowulf cluster of Sony-Ericssons? I see about 30 photos slapped together with some alpha channels... ummm... GREAT! Now, I'm going to go read the white pages cover to cover, because it's more interesting.

      --

      Best read in good ol' Monaco 9 point.

  2. Mirror image by Meostro · · Score: 5, Informative

    This site looks like a meltdown waiting to happen...

    Current cloud temporary mirror. Be aware that this won't update hourly as the site one does...

  3. Kinda cool but... by rwven · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...It almost looks like someone spent an hour making a website and 20 minutes in photoshop and went live with it. Sorta neat lookin' but hardly decent /. material...(IMHO of course)

    1. Re:Kinda cool but... by LostCluster · · Score: 5, Informative

      The point is that the cloud image isn't assembled by a person acting senselessly in Photoshop, but by an automated program that is most definitely acting senselessly each hour.

      Cool, and it takes a bit of graphics processing to make it happen... but still kinda pointless.

    2. Re:Kinda cool but... by darkain · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Debris Visual Art does the same things pretty much as the program mentioned... but personally, i think Debris puts out a much better visual image.

  4. Congrats by ttsalo · · Score: 4, Insightful
    This perhaps the ugliest digital image ever created.

    --

    --
    If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, where does the road paved with evil intentions lead to?
  5. /.ed by odaen · · Score: 2, Funny

    High resolution Photomontage posted on Slashdot. Now after 5 comments the site won't even load up at all. This has to be the evilist news post ever!

  6. The current cloud by MacGod · · Score: 4, Funny

    You can see the current cloud.

    Not any more you can't. The Slashdot effect: It's like night-time, but for web servers!

    --
    "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one " -Albert Einstein
    1. Re:The current cloud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Now I understand why many slashdotters post comments without reading the article. It's not because they are too lazy to read it, but because they are too late to read it.

  7. Site is down already, mirror by Huogo · · Score: 5, Informative
  8. Currently... by H0NGK0NGPH00EY · · Score: 3, Funny

    You can see the current cloud.

    No, no I don't think we can. Unless the current cloud looks a little something like a "Request to server timed out" window.

    --
    Do not read this sig.
    1. Re:Currently... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      What you're missing:

      Geek with glasses. Geek with a rifle. Shot-up beer can. Retarded baby. Geek on lay-down bicycle. Motorcycle x2. Average Starbucks customers at a motorcycle rally pretending to be Hells Angels. Sewer grate. Flaming server.

  9. doesn't look like.... by Moonlapse · · Score: 2, Insightful

    there are many photos in that mosaic

    --
    - I got my free iPod and a free Nintendo DS....why not
  10. webcollage by NoseyNick · · Score: 5, Informative

    /usr/X11R6/lib/xscreensaver/webcollage - comes with xscreensaver. Written in perl, easy enough to give it new methids to find photos.

    --
    Nick Waterman, Sr Tech Director, #include <stddisclaimer>
    1. Re:webcollage by makapuf · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well the original online verison hass been written by JWZ and agregates pics from the net. you could see it here. BEWARE : uncensored images are collated from the internet. Not always work safe, thus.

  11. 2 things... by interactive_civilian · · Score: 4, Funny
    OT, but...

    1.) Thanks for the mirror. The cloud image wasn't so special, but it was nice to see it...

    2.) Why on EARTH (or off it) would you use the domain "www.wetsexygirl.com" only for mirroring an image for a /. story?!?! Yeah, so I'm a horn-dog and checked out the top of the domain, and what did I find?:

    Temporary mirror for http://peffis.com/cloud.jpg
    Cloud
    No offense, but man, that is just a tease...Don't tease us with "wetsexygirl.com" unless you are going to give us a Wet, Sexy Girl or two or ten or hundred...

    yes I have karma to burn and this OT, so mod me down if you please...

    --
    "Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
    1. Re:2 things... by Meostro · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually, it's mostly to keep hits down so I don't get slashdotted myself.

      The average business user can't justify clicking on a link for wetsexygirl.com, even if it really IS a mirror for slashdot (which they're not supposed to visit during work, anyway).

      If I posted with a "legitimate" site name then anyone in the universe could click and I'd be looking at a many-gig bill.

      Eventually there will be some wet, sexy girls there, but since my current hosting provide (Pair networks) doesn't allow pr0n, it'll have to be whenever I change hosts (at least another year).

      Also, it's just nice to be able to mess with y'all. Same thing here for Total Cost of 0wnership, but it's a temporary mirror, so that stuff is already gone.

    2. Re:2 things... by palad1 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Mod you down when requesting wet sexy girls?

      Up, up, up you go!!!
      +5, insightful

    3. Re:2 things... by vena · · Score: 2, Funny

      The average business user can't justify clicking on a link for wetsexygirl.com

      good thing i run the gateway here. *delete*

  12. Yeeeeee! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    My God, it's full of crap!

    That is, when it's not timing out from too many requests..

  13. Slashdotter spotting by AvantLegion · · Score: 4, Funny
    OK guys, which of you is the dork in the top left corner?

    Come on, confess.

  14. Hmmmm by bgackle · · Score: 2, Funny

    Does it look to anyone else like the kid with the shotgun is trying to kill off the baby?

    --
    What we really need is a ten day waiting period and a background check before you can buy a congressman.
  15. Move along by iamdrscience · · Score: 4, Funny

    There are no boobies in the mosaic, people. Nothing to see here.

    1. Re:Move along by PatrickThomson · · Score: 3, Funny

      Informative? Good God, what kinda moderators do we have, slashdot read - oh, never mind.

      --
      I am one of many. My idea is not unique, nor do I expect my voice alone to sway you. I speak in a chorus of opinion.
  16. Bullshit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I might be an AC, but is this article totally boring, and unoriginal, and just basically worthless? Why do dull low quality moblog photos suddenly become front page news when combined together into a mosaic with fadey edges? Is image blending really all that revolutionary?

    The probabilty of a decent story being posted to the front page of Slashdot obviously must decrease as the age of Slashdot increases.

  17. Quick! Alert the cops... by telstar · · Score: 4, Funny

    That little boy is shooting that woman!

  18. As we speak, "Cloud" is becoming "Smoke"... by The_REAL_DZA · · Score: 2, Funny

    eom

    --


    This space intentionally left (almost) blank.
  19. My Brain by malia8888 · · Score: 2, Interesting
    The pics in the "Cloud" reminded me of all the daily stuff that runs through my mind before I go to sleep. The only thing that was missing was a nice pic of my significant other and a shot of my incoming mail with the stack of windowed envelopes in it. :P

    --
    Harpo Tunnel Syndrome--my wrist feels funny.
  20. Quality? by bobthemuse · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Looking at these pictures, they all look like they were taken with a 2+ megapixel camera. I've seen pics from a dozen camera phones, none of them were this good. What's the real source of these pictures?

  21. It's a mosaic? by tuxguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It might be nice if the cloud had more pcitures in it. As it is, it's not much of a mosaic. According to Dictionary.com, a Mosaic is:
    # A picture or decorative design made by setting small colored pieces, as of stone or tile, into a surface.

    I don't think it's much of a mosaic, as it doesn't form a large picture. I just don't get it.

    --
    "I don't really care if they label me a Jesus Freak / There aint no disguising the truth!" - DC Talk
  22. Clouds? Vomit! by BarryNorton · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's like staring into the puke of a goat that broke into a photo lab...

  23. That's NOT a photo mosaic! by schani · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The image is not a photo mosaic, just a random collage of pictures. These are photo mosaics. (I'm the author of that program.)

    bye
    Mark

    1. Re:That's NOT a photo mosaic! by Dracolytch · · Score: 4, Funny

      Interestingly, I've also written a photo mosaic program (currently in beta). So, curious about yours, I went and checked it out. I also checked out some of the more detailed output from your program.

      So, tell me, is that your penis in some of the tile images, or someone else's?

      Just checking...
      ~D

      --
      This sig has been enciphered with a one-time pad. It could say almost anything.
    2. Re:That's NOT a photo mosaic! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      > The image is not a photo mosaic, just a random collage of pictures

      Of course not. Because, according to the /. article title, it is a MOSIAC !

      Would you think that CmdrTaco would post an article without researching if the term are correct ?

  24. Photo mosaic?? by MammaMia · · Score: 2, Funny
    Now see, when I think of a photo mosaic, I think of cool stuff like THIS...

    This "cloud" thing is kinda nifty, kinda goofy. Some of the images are crappy but the technique is interesting. Maybe it's a good idea that just needs expanding. You need better images to start with, if you want a better end result.

    --
    "We are the first generation to influence the climate and the last generation to escape the consequences." - John McCain
  25. 15 minutes of fame by PMuse · · Score: 4, Funny

    Somebody go find an egg timer. As a requiem, we really should record the time it takes for the Cloud to be astroturfed, spammed, p0rned, and otherwise made to resemble the online equivalent of a univeristy-district telephone pole.

    Requiescat In Pace, Nebula.

    --
    "We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
  26. Futurama by caitsith01 · · Score: 2, Funny

    "It's like that drug trip in that movie I saw when I was on that drug trip."

    Seriously though, what is this p.o.s? My first photoshop day? Or have the olympics inspired a world record attempt for the destruction of a perfectly good web server in the shortest time possible by linking to a high resolution image directly in a ./ headline?

    --
    Read Pynchon.
  27. Mirror by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    For those of you that haven't seen it:

    http://www.edit.ne.jp/~katsu/image/cloud.jpg

  28. Sito by captnitro · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My girlfriend participates in something a little more structured than this, but similar. Sito has a number of projects such as (descriptions taken from Sito) -

    Hygrid: "This collaborative art project has been evolving since December 1995. The idea behind this project is to create a "hyperlinked grid of visually interlocked images". Each square on the grid is a small image created by a participating artist. Each square is adjacent to another artist's square in the structure, appearing on the top, right, bottom or left side."

    Gridcosm: "Gridcosm is a collaborative art project in which artists from around the world contribute images to a compounding series of graphical squares."

    Those are the two most active and interesting ones. For those that enjoy recursive acronyms, you'll definitely like Gridcosm (like a recursive acronym.. FOR YOUR MIND). Some of the levels can be outright beautiful, some are crappy.

    The way it works is this: after having an account, you "reserve" a piece to work on. You have a set time limit to turn your piece in before somebody else gets it. As an example -- and since she reads Slashdot, she's gonna kill my ass -- you can also view individual pieces and jump from there.

    The most interesting behavior I've seen, though, is that work breeds work -- when one or a few people decide to bounce in, the entire community picks up, contributing to an almost organic growth and decline of the various levels and sub-projects.

    1. Re:Sito by Slothy · · Score: 2, Informative

      You should check out another site that is very similar. tiles.ice.org (there was a /. story about it a couple years back but unsurprisingly it ground the server into little bits - time to give it another shot!).

      The Tribute to Salvador Dali, Tribute to Van Gogh, and Tribute to M.C. Escher came out particularly well.

      (disclaimer: I created the website, but that shouldn't take away from the art that others have done on it)

  29. subliminal messages by icegoddes5 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is obviously a subliminal ad campaign promoting:
    A. Tommy Hilfiger (how else do you explain the random inclusion of the logo?)
    or
    B. guns and violence (who else saw images of guns, mobs, and some rather strange looking individuals?)

  30. Cool! by johnny_sas · · Score: 2, Funny

    This cloud looks just like an HTTP error message! Amazing!

  31. OH THE HUMANITY by PornMaster · · Score: 5, Funny

    This cloud thing is just asking to end up where you get just enough opacity on a layer to recognize a boob, but it fades into a Peugot before the nipple!

  32. Nothing new here by Mateito · · Score: 4, Funny
    This site has been putting submitters photos into clouds for years.

    We remember you, Whiskers

    1. Re:Nothing new here by bhima · · Score: 3, Funny

      Wow, That's amazing after browsing the internet for so many years, I can still be stuned... at how lame some people can be.

      --
      Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
  33. /.'ing dose it again... by sjwt · · Score: 4, Funny

    Who would of though chaos theory at its best..
    a collection of random images, arranged and displayed and it looks exactly like a 404.

    --
    You have 5 Moderator Points!
    Which Helpless Linux zealot/MS basher do you want to mod down today?
  34. Looks like Debris by Bagels · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This looks an awful lot like Debris, a program from the guys at Nullsoft that creates a very similar collage from random pictures pulled off of the net. I'll get a link here in a sec...

    --
    --- Bwah?
  35. In the words of Bart Simpson... by LodCrappo · · Score: 3, Funny

    "It's craptacular"

    --
    -Lod
  36. poor guy by hamishmorgan · · Score: 2, Funny

    "The result is quite fascinating."... *click* "Please contact the billing/support department as soon as possible." Hmm, it always facinates me when other peoples bank accounts are soon going to be in as much difficulty as mine is.