Silicon art

October 13, 2005 2:05 PM

Silicon Zoo: Where's Waldo? Hiding in the silicon patterns of a computer chip. Michael Davidson has found a collection of microscopic art hidden by chip designers. This practice has been going on for decades, and the hidden images range from the iconic to the commemorative to the bizarre. Be sure to read the fine print. [See also this CNET story] (via)
posted by stopgap (12 comments total)

Haven't I seen this before?
posted by caddis at 2:14 PM on October 13, 2005

Wow! Great link! Especially the fine print, heh.

Computer geeks are typically among the wittier people you'll meet... if you can only understand their jokes, that is.
posted by JHarris at 2:15 PM on October 13, 2005

Dammit, I searched for the "microscopy" part of the URL because I figured that would be disctinctive enough, but it looks like the server name has changed. *Sigh*
posted by stopgap at 2:26 PM on October 13, 2005

Computer geeks are typically among the wittier people you'll meet... if you can only understand their jokes, that is.

Unfortunately adjusting for the audience selection factor implicit in the above statement (i.e., if you can understand the jokes, you are most likely a computer geek, yourself), computer geeks are no funnier than anyone else, on average.
posted by gurple at 2:27 PM on October 13, 2005

Thanks for the link, stopgap. I missed this one the first time 'round.
posted by DakotaPaul at 2:29 PM on October 13, 2005

Wow. Lots of beautiful microscopy on that website, and not just of microchips. Thanks for the link.
posted by washburn at 2:30 PM on October 13, 2005

Bizarre huh? Guess I've been called worse.
posted by Mr T at 2:38 PM on October 13, 2005

washburn: The other microscopy on that site was also posted here a few years ago. Who knew hormones were so beautiful?
posted by stopgap at 2:40 PM on October 13, 2005

I like this. I like that there is art seeping into all areas of life, that people will always feel the need to decorate blank spaces. I look forward to the first nano-art exhibition.
posted by fenriq at 3:34 PM on October 13, 2005

You rang?
posted by waldo at 6:17 PM on October 13, 2005

Very nice. I missed it before.
posted by OmieWise at 6:16 AM on October 14, 2005

On somewhat of a tangent, is there a similar site listing messages / ascii art "hidden" in HTML comments or config files or source code? A nice example of this can be found in the song "Thank You" by Scottish band Urusei Yatsura, which actually includes a piece of audio coded Spectrum BASIC code containing, in comments, the following pieces of text:

"Hi Nick, is Robin there?"

"Judas Priest Satanic Message #3"

"What is sadder: a.) finding this b.) writing it"

Source: Kempa.com
posted by Herr Fahrstuhl at 10:34 AM on October 15, 2005