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The Neuron Drive

Posted by timothy on from the functional-art dept.

billy writes "After two weeks of planning, painting, cutting, and slicing, I have completed my idea for the Neuron Drive, the world's first 80GB canvas. It is a fully functional USB hard-drive. The Neuron Drive contains 2 fans and 1 Maxtor 80GB hard-drive. It is fully functional as a hard-drive and both fans spin."

11 of 259 comments (clear)

  1. It's an ad. He's trying to sell a harddrive. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    nothing to see here

  2. eh.. by Prophetic_Truth · · Score: 2, Insightful

    so he mounted a hard disk drive to a picture? i mean, case mods are cool. This is unique i guess, but I'm feeling a bit underwhelmed..

    --
    time is a perception of a being's consciousness
    time is your 6th sense, the wierd ones are 7+
  3. Inconsistent Metaphor? by TPIRman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's an interesting idea, and kudos for pulling it off, but I do have a little constructive criticism. The hard drive seems minimally integrated into the piece -- there is a large neuron area where you cut the hole for the drive, but the actual aesthetics of the hard drive don't have much to do with the surroundings. It feels like a first draft in this respect.

    Secondly, the fans baffle me. Given their distance from the drive, while they may be function in that they work, they're not functional in that they have no practical purpose. And how do they integrate with the "neuron" metaphor? Fans don't transmit information -- it seems that they were put there for the sake of having more things poke out for the back, but I think it would have more of an impact if the drive itself were more of a focus.

    Again, this is intended as constructive criticism, stuff to think about for the next iteration. Congrats on completing the project. I hope there's more to come.

    1. Re:Inconsistent Metaphor? by tverbeek · · Score: 2, Insightful
      This is useful criticism. I'd also recommend genericising the drive so it doesn't look like a product placement and the text doesn't capture the viewers eye so strongly so they can't get away from it. The square fans on the smaller neurons don't work for me, either; at least the drive looks like it could be embedded in the larger neuron rather than being tacked onto it.

      As an artist, /. isn't exactly the first place I'd go for feedback. (In fact, I'm trying hard to think of an online forum that I would go to.) So don't take the snarky "this is stoopid" remarks too hard, Billy. Just make sure you keep stuff like concept in mind and try our alternative compositions before you commit to one.

      --
      http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  4. well... by jt418-93 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    that's just stupid.

    not even clever. ooo, i glued a hard drive to a poster.

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    -.no
  5. It's the Idea by czarangelus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The art itself is decent enough, but I don't think that's necessarily the thrust of this.

    I think what he (the artist) might be asking us to do is to challange our technological paradigms. I mean, why shouldn't our hard drives have ornamental value as well as technological? A lot of computers are still ugly white rectangles that invade a room's space rather than compliment it. How about a hard drive vase? Maybe a webcam inside of a bust? I don't really know where to take it myself; 'course I'm not an artist. But I think it's a good idea for our gadgets to be works of art as well as utilitarian tools.

    --
    When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.
  6. Re:This is news for nerds? by basic0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You know it's a slow news day when...

  7. Such effort by yack0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Two whole weeks ?! Wow, what an immense amount of sweat equity. And the planning was included in the two weeks? Wow, um, I'm underwhelmed.

    I guess it shows how much planning went into it.

    --
    -- There is no sig line, only Zuul.
  8. I can't believe it! by alewar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...and some of the articles I submitted to /. were rejected!

  9. And now we've got a new classic Re:And finally... by n54 · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Here's the new generic slashdot joke soon to be a reviled classic:
    1. ???
    2. Post on slashdot
    3. Profit!!!
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  10. Re:Just had to be.... by cloudmaster · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yes. An IBM Deathstar is worth $100 if it has failed and not been exchanged by IBM, or a spool of CDs / discount certificate if it has. Hooray for class-action lawsuits! The Maxtor, unfortunately, is both unreliable and truly worthless (even if it's been unimaginatively screwed to a marginal piece of art).