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Alek's Christmas Lights Webcam is Back

Posted by timothy on Sun Dec 12, 2004 07:49 PM
from the limited-time-offer dept.
Christmas Cheer
millert writes "Alek's Christmas Lights Webcam is back again which allows you to: 'pan/zoom the webcam and control the 17,000 christmas lights - yep, turn 'em on and off and annoy my understanding) neighbors! ;-)' For those who like a lot of links, check out his christmas lights summary, christmas FAQ (answers quite a bit), what's new for Christmas 2004 (optimization of analog controls and mod_perl on the web server -- he says "I might stand a chance against Slashdot" ... we'll see about that!), real-time Christmas stats (including browser percentage -- go Firefox, currently at 13%), and his analysis of the Slashdot effect." Read on for more.

millert continues "You can Email Santa page and he does respond to Email inquiries. Alek is already thinking ahead for Christmas 2005 ...

The picture quality on his cool webcam pictures seems much better than a run-of-the-mill webcam; the image quality under low-light conditions is surprisingly good. In question D-5 of his FAQ, he says he has it under non-disclosure and all he can say is that it is a "640x480 pixel image using 1/2.7" sensor - size matters when it comes to pixels" and he is right about that -- this is one of the reasons the pictures of Mars from the Spirit Rover were so good. Even more interesting is the info in the jpegs' EXIF header (as displayed by ImageMagick's identify utility. There's quite a bit of information in there, including a reference to a company that provided IP-based video security for the 2004 Olympics and a comment saying 'do NOT release to marketing droids' Fortunately, this is Slashdot.

Slashdot crushed it in 2002 and 2003 -- will the 3rd time be the charm for Alek?"

+ -
story
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  • Subscribers killed it (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 12 2004, @07:51PM (#11069228)
    Dead before it even got out of the mysterious future.

    • Re:Subscribers killed it - Alek comments on that! (Score:5, Informative)

      by xmas2003 (739875) * on Sunday December 12 2004, @11:29PM (#11070127) Homepage
      Allright - you guys kicked my *ss when the story first posted, but things are hanging in there now. In response to some of the posts above:
      1. I was using the same web interface as everyone else (and reloading Slashdot.org to see when the story would hit) and it was fairly responsive after it showed up in the Mysterious Future ... until 1749 ... and then BAMMM ... welcome to /. ;-)
      2. Per the Christmas FAQ [komar.org], the Web Server run Linux/Apache/Perl - IIS on Windoze 2003 - yea, right!
      3. Main stats page is here [komar.org] - yea, big JUMP ... and as of 2100, Firefox is > 50% browser percentage.
      4. I'd like to see AC#11069825 put HIS web server on Slashdot, especially with dynamic content. I had turned the webcam on early this evening at 1712, but then disabled it shortly after the story hit at 1749, but turned it back on 1930 and (except for a few Apache restarts for tuning purposes), the web site is semi (!) responsive and the machine was never rebooted ... plus (knock on wood), I haven't blown any fuses ... yet! ;-)
      alek

  • Mr. Christmas Lights comments ... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by xmas2003 (739875) * on Sunday December 12 2004, @07:51PM (#11069229) Homepage
    As a Slashdot subscriber [slashdot.org] (highly recommended BTW) I saw the /.'ers coming in the "Mysterious Future" ... so much for sitting down to dinner with the family tonight! ;-)

    We'll see how well everything works tonight - expect things to be nuts and we'll see if mod_perl can save the day on the web server - fortunately, the analog stuff is throttled at one/second! ;-) I actually turned things on early tonight, but I may need to disable if the load gets too high. For those interested in data, I'll be updating my Christmas 2004 Slashdot Effect Analysis [komar.org] and I'll provide some followup here.

    P.S. WRT JPEG/EXIF stuff: ummmmmm ... let me get back to you on that one!

    • Too bad, you're already pretty much a goner...

    • Re:Mr. Christmas Lights comments ... (Score:4, Funny)

      by Atragon (711454) on Sunday December 12 2004, @07:53PM (#11069243)

      Well, seeing as it's loading pathetically slowly right now, just after the story appeared to non-subscribers, I'd say the answer is 'no' mod_perl did not save the day.

    • Re:Mr. Christmas Lights comments ... (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      your Slashdot Effect Analysis has been Slashdotted...
    • Wonder if using php-cgi would make any difference, good or bad? What kind of bandwidth do you have out of interest?
    • Error: 503 Service Unavailable
      www.komar.org: Connection refused

      Pop goes the weasel. :)

    • http down, ssh still running. :)
      bash-2.05b$ ssh www.komar.org
      The authenticity of host 'www.komar.org (199.117.52.25)' can't be established.
      RSA key fingerprint is a3:66:56:46:45:d3:9b:d2:5f:35:56:d8:cc:44:07:8c.
      Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
      Warning: Permanently added 'www.komar.org,199.117.52.25' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.

      root@www.komar.org's password:
      bash-2.05b#

      • MOD PARENT up FUNNY! (Score:5, Insightful)

        by xmas2003 (739875) * on Sunday December 12 2004, @08:22PM (#11069396) Homepage
        I just about fell outa my chair reading this post when I got to the last line - well done! ;-)

        Actually, ssh is quite responsive - it's just the darn MaxClients limit of 256 I'm bumping into - plus I restarted httpd twice. I think if folks would not open up every link in the article, it would help - every time I've check, Apache Status is showing all 256 requests - I just bumped the TIMEOUT numbers down a bit, so people may see timeouts sooner, but this should release some child process slots for folks.

        HECK - this is looking good - lets turn it on!

        • Using Apache 2.0 you can up this by upping the ServerLimit [apache.org] value. Then you can up the MaxClients [apache.org] value. Example:

          ServerLimit 768
          MaxClients 768

          • Re:MOD PARENT up FUNNY! (Score:4, Informative)

            by xmas2003 (739875) * on Sunday December 12 2004, @08:55PM (#11069528) Homepage
            Unfortunately, Apache1.x ... so the threading stuff doesn't apply, and 256 (my limit w/o a recompile) appears to be keeping a fairly constant load in the teens (so I wouldn't want to go much higher than this) ... but it's actually fairly snappy right now, especially for static content ... and even the CGI (mod_perl DOES help!) seems to be moving along.
            • Maybe for 2005 you can upgrade to Apache 2.0, where the hard limit is 20000. It is pretty snappy at the moment, interestingly enough, for a site that has thousands of /.ers looking at it. Most people's server-in-the-basement -on-DSL wouldn't stand a chance.
          • After fiddling with various other parameters, I finally engaged my brain and realized why you recommended setting "KeepAlive OFF" - you are basically trading some "horsepower" (since connections have to be re-estabilished each time instead of persistant with HTTP1.1) in order to free up more slots - maybe it's because the crowd has slowed down a bit, but pretty darn snappy now and I shoulda done this earlier in the evening - thanx!

            alek

            P.S. The Timeout was/is set to 20 seconds - yea, a little agressive,

    • If you'd like some help tuning your mod_perl server, we'd be happy to oblige over on the mod_perl mailing list [apache.org]. Off-hand, I would say MaxClients at 256 sounds pretty high and may send your server into swap unless it has tons of memory.

  • So how long (Score:5, Funny)

    by antifoidulus (807088) on Sunday December 12 2004, @07:52PM (#11069233) Homepage Journal
    till some creative troll figures out how to make goatse out of Christmas lights?

  • Alek's Christmas Lights Webcam is Back (Score:3, Funny)

    by rbochan (827946) on Sunday December 12 2004, @07:52PM (#11069235) Homepage
    not for long...

  • Drive me insane. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by caluml (551744) <slashdot@spamgoe ... org minus distro> on Sunday December 12 2004, @07:52PM (#11069242) Homepage
    Is drivemeinsane.com [drivemeinsane.com] still up and about? I always wanted to play on his remote controlled car, but it was never on. Boo, I say.
    • You needed to catch the guy when he was online so the car was turned on for you! You could also upload and change the music he was listening too!

      James

      • Re:Drive me insane. (Score:5, Informative)

        by Restil (31903) on Sunday December 12 2004, @08:09PM (#11069327) Homepage
        Actually, I'm gonna get all that stuff working again once I move into the new house. I'm just horribly limited right now at my temporary location with only 128kbps of upstream and limited places to put stuff.

        -Restil
  • Merry christmas

  • fire (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    hahah, he said he might stand a chance. no comments yet and its already dead. i hope his server isnt near the xmas tree cause its gonna catch on fire.

  • the server (Score:4, Funny)

    by kayen_telva (676872) on Sunday December 12 2004, @07:54PM (#11069249)
    is blinking on and off..

  • That's awsome (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mp3LM (785954) on Sunday December 12 2004, @07:54PM (#11069253) Homepage
    I know that this has been an ongoing thing since..at least last year, but I've never got to do it because either
    1. Too laggy
    2. Not the right time
    3. Server not responding
    So this was actually the first time I've done it, and I think it is very cool. Thank you for this experience /.! (and x-mas)

  • "...and his analysis of the Slashdot effect" (Score:3, Funny)

    by Trogre (513942) on Sunday December 12 2004, @07:54PM (#11069254) Homepage
    For what good it did him.

  • But not just that! (Score:5, Funny)

    by chris_eineke (634570) on Sunday December 12 2004, @07:56PM (#11069269) Homepage Journal
    Alek's Christmas Lights Webcam is back again which allows you to: 'pan/zoom the webcam and control the 17,000 christmas lights

    Not only can we pan/zoom the webcam and control the 17,000 christmas lights - NO! We can also burn his house down by letting his web server die a horrible heat death.

    Talk about an arsonist's dream. ;-)

  • /. Effect? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Pheonix5000 (661842) on Sunday December 12 2004, @07:58PM (#11069277) Homepage
    "Yikes. Incoming Slashdot'er. Full power to the web server!"
    She cannae take anymore Jim!

    Survive the slashdot effect? I think not...

  • I don't see... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Pig Hogger (10379) <pig.hoggerNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Sunday December 12 2004, @07:59PM (#11069278) Homepage Journal
    I don't see the "Chevy Chase" button... :(

  • thousands of people sending commands at once.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 12 2004, @07:59PM (#11069280)
    "and annoy my understanding) neighbors! "

    Dude, you just put this link on Slashdot? Understanding undershmanding, you had better hope they have strobe-induced seizure insurance.

  • Nice website, and I like the pop-up, but I can see the possibility for people to /. this guy's entire Christmas light set-up. Either the constant turning it on/off will burn out more than quite a few bulbs (hope they aren't the kind where if one goes, they all go).
    But yeah.. I'm sure what with all the slashdotters there that the neighbors are probably going to be seeing a nice strobelight-like effect. Scare the hell out of anyone who's driving by because of the chaotic patterns of the lights turning on and

  • In related news, (Score:5, Funny)

    by merdaccia (695940) on Sunday December 12 2004, @08:00PM (#11069288)

    an entire flock of Colorado geese are completely disoriented tonight. They have been waddling around bumping into garbage bins and parked cars without rhyme or reason.

    This odd sighting is being reported only blocks away from the residence of the woman who was inadvertently hypnotized by her electricity meter earlier today.

  • Firefox is only at 13%? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by RLiegh (247921) * on Sunday December 12 2004, @08:01PM (#11069294) Homepage Journal
    For a geek-oriented site (his, not /.) that's not a very good showing, unless the other 87% is lynx.

    • lynx for webcam sites? (Score:5, Funny)

      by SuperBanana (662181) on Sunday December 12 2004, @11:40PM (#11070154)
      For a geek-oriented site (his, not /.) that's not a very good showing, unless the other 87% is lynx.

      If 87% of slashdot readers are trying to use lynx to view a site with a webcam feed, we've got bigger problems.

  • Computer controlled lights in Australia (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ircShot_guN (737033) <aflet30.eq@edu@au> on Sunday December 12 2004, @08:02PM (#11069295)

    A good friend of mine recently completed work on a 6 thousand light computer controlled light display.

    His website has all the details on how it was built. Along with pictures. [on.net]

    Custom built all the electronics, and wrote a number of custom programs to control the lights.

    Best thing is? Being able to sit on the street with a laptop and terminal service into his light controlling computer and control the lights :D

    Great fun for the neighbourhood.
  • His real-time analysis was akin to monitoring a forest fire from the top of a tall tree.
    At least now he knows what he wants for christmas... a new server.

  • Phone messages for Alek (Score:5, Funny)

    by martinX (672498) on Sunday December 12 2004, @08:14PM (#11069355)

    Phone messages for Alek:

    "Please prepare your server for a slashdotting."

    "You have 10 minutes to prepare your server for slashdotting"

    "You have 5 minutes to prepare your server for slashdotting"

    "You have 1 minute to prepare your server for slashdotting"

    "Please extinguish your server".

  • No luck on mirrodot (Score:4, Funny)

    by Piquan (49943) on Sunday December 12 2004, @08:15PM (#11069361)
    I tried going to mirrordot [mirrordot.org], but they didn't have his house mirrored.

  • Energy bill (Score:4, Insightful)

    by owlstead (636356) on Sunday December 12 2004, @08:17PM (#11069372)
    Though I applaud the effort, I weep for the amount of energy that is used by people just to show off their house to their neighbours. This has nothing to do with a romantic christmas in my view. The amount of lights is going up here (the Netherlands) as well, probably due to the fact that we have too much money (or energy is too cheap). Some people still think its interesting to copy the USA for some reason...

    Now, let's see if I can turn these lights off.

    • Re:Energy bill (Score:4, Funny)

      by zx75 (304335) on Sunday December 12 2004, @09:51PM (#11069729)
      Turn em all off except for one blinking on the very end of the line. When you're neighbours ask, tell them its command line is simply waiting for input.

  • I wonder why.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by mcnut (712202) on Sunday December 12 2004, @08:25PM (#11069406) Homepage
    I wonder why he doesn't say what type of webcam it is. My only thought is that he's possibly afraid someone will find where it is hidden and steal it because its nice. Some form of security through obscurity I suppose.

  • Heh (Score:4, Funny)

    by dghcasp (459766) on Sunday December 12 2004, @08:25PM (#11069410)
    his analysis of the Slashdot effect.

    When I go to that page, I get "connection refused." Yep, his analysis is right on the money.

    You can even do this at home, if your site isn't cool enough, with the slashdot simulator.

    while (fh=accept()) {
    if (fork() == 0) {
    sleep(500);
    close(fh);
    } else {
    close(fh);
    }
    }

  • I have an idea! (Score:5, Funny)

    by toetagger1 (795806) on Sunday December 12 2004, @08:27PM (#11069421)
    What will he do if we turn all lights off? I call on slashdot to turn off all nights tonight! Can we do it?

  • Slashdotted a house (Score:5, Funny)

    by BlastM (663010) on Sunday December 12 2004, @08:52PM (#11069510) Homepage Journal
    It's been a while since we did a good slashdotting, and I was starting to lose faith in our ability to exert domination over any thing with an electrical circuit.

    We've slashdotted NASA, gameboys, and entire countries, but is this the first time we've slashdotted a house?!

    The geeks strike again from their hidden rebel basements!
  • Ways Geeks Celebrate Christmas

    11. Mountain Dew-nog
    10. Printing out "One Year of Free Computer Service" certificates to give to the family.
    9. Designing elf-killing levels for your favorite FPS.
    8. Explaining to children how it would be physically impossible for Santa to deliver all the presents.
    7. Wear mistletoe hat and keep fingers crossed.
    6. Devise a computer-controlled system to detect and prevent household members from trying to peek into their presents before Christmas.
    5. Put a santa hat on your avatar.
    4. Change the blue neon lights in the case to flashing red and green.
    3. Decorating the tree with SDRAM and CPUs burned out from your last overclocking experiment.
    2. Rewriting Christmas carols in Tolkien's Elvish.
    1. Programming the christmas lights to flash out "I hate this holiday of unbridled consumerism" in binary.

  • The irony... (Score:3, Funny)

    by _RidG_ (603552) on Sunday December 12 2004, @09:10PM (#11069581)
    His page explaining the Slashdot Effect [komar.org] appears to have been slashdotted. Oh, the irony.

  • With apologies to Theodor Geisel (Score:5, Funny)

    by Ph33r th3 g(O)at (592622) on Sunday December 12 2004, @09:33PM (#11069666)
    I know just what to do!" The Grinch Laughed in his throat.
    And he made a quick Slashdot link and a post.
    And he chuckled, and clucked, "What a great Grinchy trick!
    "With this link and this post, I'll Slashdot Saint Nick!"

  • An idea for Alek to make some money and have fun (Score:3, Interesting)

    by theolein (316044) on Sunday December 12 2004, @10:12PM (#11069807) Journal
    If you're reading this Alek, I just thought that you could make a little bit of money off your lights, enough to pay for better or more hosting bandwidth and have some fun at the same time: Each year, when you're about to set up your web-controllable lights, why don't you organise a light party at your house at the same time the story gets posted to slashdot and other sites, say over a weekend when people have time.

    If you organised the lights so that some kinds of funky patterns could be made via the web, you could make some good money with music, drinks and a grill outside for people who turn up to watch the show.

    • Re:yawn (Score:5, Funny)

      by SYFer (617415) <syfer.syfer@net> on Sunday December 12 2004, @08:03PM (#11069304) Homepage
      All the Slashdotters down in Slashdotterville liked Christmas a lot, but the AC, who lived just north of Slashdotterville, did not. The AC hated Christmas -- the whole Christmas season. Oh, please don't ask why, no one quite knows the reason. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. Or maybe his head wasn't screwed on just right. But I think that the best reason of all may have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

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