A picture of the internet.

July 16, 2001 8:29 AM

A picture of the internet.

"A bot is out on the internet every half hour and looks for images which it puts together to a giantic picture - the picture of internet. This is samples from all over the internet. The bot surfs pretty strange and takes strange ways to spread out its ways as much as possible. Sometimes it follow links that it doesn't should visit... but that doesn't happen too often."
posted by o2b (14 comments total)

I think it would be cool if the guy fed the images into auto image mosaic software, which can tie unrelated images together in an interesting way. On another note, even seen this?
posted by jeb at 8:47 AM on July 16, 2001

Wait, so it's supposed to use "samples from all over the internet," but somehow there are 15 or more images (at a quick count) from either ZDNet or CNet?

It's a cool idea, but perhaps buggy. . .
posted by padjet1 at 8:47 AM on July 16, 2001

That can't be right. I don't see any porn there. How can you have a random scan of the internet without having any porn?
posted by fluxcreative at 8:57 AM on July 16, 2001

Wait, so it's supposed to use "samples from all over the internet," but somehow there are 15 or more images (at a quick count) from either ZDNet or CNet?

It's a cool idea, but perhaps buggy. . .
posted by padjet1 at 9:07 AM on July 16, 2001

I like it when IE crashes.
posted by padjet1 at 9:08 AM on July 16, 2001

jamie zawinski did a version that's more fun...attaches links to original sites via imagemap.
posted by patricking at 9:10 AM on July 16, 2001

Don't forget you can do the same thing (sort of) in real time (and probably crash your browser) with netabstraction.
posted by alana at 9:24 AM on July 16, 2001

"(and probably crash your browser)"

option-apple-esc

yup!
posted by machaus at 9:32 AM on July 16, 2001

What I really like about this is finding images from fairly obscure sites that I frequent on a regular basis: GameFAQs, for instance -- undoubtably the best source for computer/console game walkthroughs and FAQs. (Why pay BradyGames $15 when you can get a more accurate, more complete guide for free?) On top of that, it's completely run by one guy whose entire income comes from the site. A great example of an internet small business.
posted by tweebiscuit at 10:11 AM on July 16, 2001

Marianne Moore, paging Ms. Marianne Moore, would you please come to the courtesy screen.
posted by clavdivs at 10:14 AM on July 16, 2001

so apparently the internet is made up of ads...

i should have known.
posted by lunarennui at 10:37 AM on July 16, 2001

How is this any different than Jamie Zawinski's old web collage applet?
posted by mathowie at 10:49 AM on July 16, 2001

I've run the xscreensaver version of webcollage quite a bit. Having it under X allows you two very distinct advantages. First it allows you just to run it in your root window (kind of like your desktop on other OSes). Which I'm sure could be done under winders with some sort of Active Desktop dealie-o. Secondly and more importantly, it allows you to create custom dictionaries! This allows you to create the ultimate porn screensaver with your very own tastes in mind.
posted by betaray at 10:56 AM on July 16, 2001

Vaguely related:

http://hesketh.com/schampeo/projects/namespace/

There are some other links, including the Cheswick map, at the bottom of the page.
posted by schampeo at 1:14 PM on July 16, 2001