Alek's Christmas Lights: Humbug 327
g00set writes "Alek's Christmas lights story was previously covered on Slashdot here, however the Denver Channel is now reporting that it was all a hoax: 'The Lafayette man said he accomplished the trickery by taking 12 "base" photographs of the house with lights on and off and then constructed a Web page that appeared to show lights going on and off when the Web visitor clicked.'"
Season's greetings! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Season's greetings! (Score:3, Funny)
His explanation... (Score:5, Informative)
It seems like for all the trouble he went through to set up this hoax, it would actually have been easier to hook up the X10 to his computer and plop a real webcam outside.
What it took for the hoax:
I guess at least now we know who is really responsible for the moon landing video.
Re:His explanation... (Score:3, Funny)
[Huge, long and well thought out list deleted]
:-)
For all the trouble you went through to research and type out all this, you could have set up your house with teeceepipped blinkenlights
Regards,
--
*Art
Re:His explanation... (Score:5, Funny)
Haven't you ever seen any Hollywood movies? Doing something like that only requires a few typed commands on the keyboard! You don't even need a mouse!
And, if he wanted to, he could zoom in on and "enhance" a single pixel until it looked like his christmas lights.
Re:His explanation... (Score:4, Funny)
You, sir, need to turn in your geek card.
Oh, the humanity (Score:5, Funny)
Well... (Score:5, Interesting)
Still though, oh the humanity Alek, couldn't you just leave one string of lights internet controlled next year? Wouldn't be too bad...
It's not like it's that hard or anything... (Score:2)
Re:It's not like it's that hard or anything... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:It's not like it's that hard or anything... (Score:3, Insightful)
Wanna know what simultaneous control of a camera for 1500 people would look like? Just take a webcam and mount it on top of a spring then whack the spring. 'Democratic' camera control? perhaps, but it wouldn't be true control, but that's another concept entirely.
This item surrounded 'expectations' by the viewers. I'm sure there were many that 'expected' it
Re:Well... (Score:2)
Re:Well... (Score:5, Interesting)
Then the snow stopped getting plowed. Nothing like incentive.
The seven of us homeowners purchased the lot for back taxes, and then we paid for snow plowing, garbage collection, insurance, maintenance and property taxes out of the dues we collect. We were able to strike a multi-family deal with a garbage hauler so that we actually pay less in dues for all of the above services than we did for single family garbage collection! Also, we haven't raised dues once in the 11 years since we formed the association.
When I wrote the association by-laws, I purposely omitted everything related to exterior appearance or maintenance. Sure, I wish the guy across the street would mow his lawn more often, but BFD. It sure beats having a committee decide on your house color, or painting your house then billing you.
Re:Well... (Score:5, Insightful)
I hate my HOA, but do I understand why it's there. When I was 12, someone was given the land next to my parents' house and they immediately plopped a trailer home down on it. Never mind the fact there were no hookups or anything, they just cleared some of the brush, put up an outhouse, and plopped their shitty trailer home on their new land.
Needless to say, property values plummeted overnight. It took a determined group of neighbors to buy out the guy and return our neighborhood to normalicy.
HOA's just take that and zoning laws a little further. Basically, no one can do anything that might devalue your property. Many people see their home as an investment, not just a place to live, and they welcome this. Of course, it means that you have to give up a bit of your freedom as well. Good HOA's aren't that restrictive, and just make sure that you don't put a car up on blocks in your front lawn and never cut the yard. More restrictive ones might tell you how often you're going to paint your house.
The main problem with HOA's is that they tend to get populated with exactly the wrong kind of people. Who runs for the HOA offices? People with too much free time that like to stick their noses in other people's business. This thought pattern is really hard to overcome and root out once it gets in there, and most people don't realize who's running until it's too late. The busybodies will form a voting block, and the rest of the neighborhood will be just disorganized enough to not be able to get them out. That's when things go to shit. Not really, because the neighborhood looks nice, but neighbors start hating neighbors, and those (like me) who get disgusted with it simply move it. The busybodies like it too much to move, and the new blood takes too long to figure out the HOA isn't their friends.
Christ. I'm ranting. Look, I hate my HOA. However, I understand that it's a great idea corrupted by misguided people. As much as I hate it, I would have serious reservations about moving into a neighborhood without one.
In other words (Score:5, Insightful)
By restricting your neighbors freedom of expression so you can get a neighborhood of houses that all look exactly alike you think your life is better.
Personally I'd like to live next door to someone who is creative enough to paint his house strange colors. I want nothing to do with the neighborhoods I've seen where every house looks the same, down to the flowers in the garden out front. To each his own I guess.
Re:In other words (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh no... (Score:4, Funny)
No fooling (Score:3, Informative)
I discovered the same thing at 12 noon Denver time when a night time shot of the house was listed as "live".
Easy Fix (Score:3, Interesting)
You'd think that, as a camera would operate, the temperature would change and some of the random noise would be different.
Sad to say, it wasn't.
Conclusion: Either he had a very good noise removal algorithm... or he was faking the images.
Proof: None. Just smile, snicker, and keep loading his pages until his bandwidth exceeds his heating...
Allright, you know the drill (Score:5, Funny)
And by pitchorks and torches I meant: Let's find this guy's adress and BURY HIM IN SPAM!
'tis the season of giving, after all
Re:Allright, you know the drill (Score:2)
I say we get some bricks and see for ourselves if the webcams are fake or not.
Re:Allright, you know the drill (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Allright, you know the drill (Score:3, Funny)
That being said... Alek, you suck.
Re:Allright, you know the drill (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't see it being nearly as bad as the millions of parents who lie to their children about Santa Claus. We teach our children not to lie in other circumstances, so why is it perfectly okay for parents to lie about Santa and the Easter Bunny? Lying during very significant events in the Christian tradition, no less!
Re:Allright, you know the drill (Score:3, Insightful)
Why? Is it so hard to admit you've been tricked?
I for one find it admirable that he managed to trick many people (including myself) and the media. In fact, this is a better hack than it would have been if it had been real.
It's also a valuable lession: be sceptical about everything you see, especially on the internet.
Big Deal (Score:5, Insightful)
Marketing/Management Material (Score:5, Funny)
Hmmm.
- Faked a demo of a cool concept.
- Lacked the geek talent and dedication required to pull it off.
- Reaped the benefits (web hits and publicity) by duping the users.
Yep, clearly the guy is made for marketing/management.
Re:Marketing/Management Material (Score:5, Insightful)
Except that he didn't lack it - go read his web page. It explains how he pulled it off, generating the faked images on the fly from a few pre-shot photos and perl.
Personally, I think it's a cool hack. Glad someone out there is still doing this stuff...
Re:Marketing/Management Material (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Marketing/Management Material (Score:3, Interesting)
In my book, a hack is something you do to tech. Fooling people is a con.
Re:Marketing/Management Material (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Marketing/Management Material (Score:3, Funny)
So you're telling me that they only pretend to pull off these pranks?
Re:Marketing/Management Material (Score:3, Informative)
Most webcams don't do Christmas light very well. I know, I've tried. Most webcams don't do dark very well (high video noise). His shots were low noise and long exposure (evidance by streak of car headlight and tail lights). From the beginning the webcam photos were questionable to me. They were just too good for the conditions. They were not NTSC over a wireless link. An X10 cam does not do long exposures in
Too funny! (Score:5, Insightful)
NAH!
LOL (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:LOL (Score:2)
As far as I can tell that activity no longer takes place on planet Earth. Especially by anyone paid to do so. The rest of us don't have time.
Re:LOL (Score:2)
good prank tho'
Re:LOL (Score:4, Informative)
Heh... (Score:5, Insightful)
Hoax or not.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Bravo, bravo...
clap, clap, clap, clap
Not really (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Hoax or not.... (Score:5, Insightful)
TW
Re:Hoax or not.... (Score:5, Funny)
And yet, most of us are reading this via the "new" media. For all I know,
Re:Hoax or not.... (Score:5, Funny)
Google ads on his page weren't a hoax tho (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Google ads on his page weren't a hoax tho (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Google ads on his page weren't a hoax tho (Score:3, Insightful)
Google ads on his page weren't a hoax tho
So? Do advertisers care that the content of a page is factual? They want people to see their ads and buy things. Who cares what's on the page as long as millions of people view it. (Yes, I know that the ads are targtted based on the content of the page. Being fake or not doesn't change that target market though.)
Re:Google ads on his page weren't a hoax tho (Score:3, Informative)
But that payment rate also depends on the kind of ad clicked on. Sometimes I get 3 cents a click, sometimes I get 75 cents a click. Over the past month and a half I've averaged just under 17.5 cents per click.
Sweet, Nice Hack (Score:4, Insightful)
I am not amused (Score:5, Funny)
One would think that a tech/science-oriented site such as Slashdot would do a little bit of backround research before publishing articles that will eventually turn out to be hoaxes.
I am very, very disappointed at the current level of professionalism shown by the Slashdot crew. I mailed the article to several friends of mine and now, thanks to Slashdot, MY integrity is in question.
not quite (Score:3, Insightful)
now they know!
Would you like a tissue? (Score:5, Informative)
Re: I am not amused (Score:5, Funny)
> One would think that a tech/science-oriented site such as Slashdot would do a little bit of backround research before publishing articles that will eventually turn out to be hoaxes.
I think they're going to hire Dan Rather, now that he's free.
> I mailed the article to several friends of mine and now, thanks to Slashdot, MY integrity is in question.
You're not supposed to let your friends know you read Slashdot.
Newsflash: Santa ain't happy. (Score:4, Interesting)
Personally I wasn't too impressed with the site to begin with, hoax or not. It didn't hold a candle to the likes of the Chaos Computer Club's [www.ccc.de] Blinkenlights [blinkenlights.de] project.
I did this... (Score:5, Funny)
Now I am beginning to wonder... (Score:3, Funny)
Devistating, simply devistating.
Re:Now I am beginning to wonder... (Score:2)
Jerry
http://www.syslog.org/ [syslog.org]
Re:Now I am beginning to wonder... (Score:2)
I promise.
-nB
Someone didn't read the whole article! (Not Hoax!) (Score:5, Funny)
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/holidays/4027215/d etail.html [thedenverchannel.com]
"I got a chuckle out of putting a clock up in the window and having the hands of the clock display the right time (it actually started out 3 minutes slow, but then gained a minute a day, until it was 4 minutes fast, and then reset itself) -- again, all computer trickery!" Komarnitsky said on his Web site Monday.
The Lafayette man said he accomplished the trickery by taking 12 "base" photographs of the house with lights on and off and then constructed a Web page that appeared to show lights going on and off when the Web visitor clicked, but after performing web server stress testing, he replaced the test images with real-time camera generated images for the holiday season.
Not everything on the internet is a forgery.
Re:Someone didn't read the whole article! (Not Hoa (Score:2)
Furthermore, from the article:
Komarnitsky said when he went up in Airtracker 7 for a live report on his Christmas lights that his wife was actually on the ground turning them on and off -- not Internet visitors. so yes, the whole thing was a hoax.
A Hoax about a Hoax (Score:4, Insightful)
Good job, man.
Re:Someone didn't read the whole article! (Not Hoa (Score:2)
No harm, no foul? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:No harm, no foul? (Score:2)
1. Put ads on your site.
2. Trick millions of folks into visiting.
3. Profit.
Re:No harm, no foul? (Score:2)
Alek Comments (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Alek Comments (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Alek Comments (Score:4, Interesting)
It's a hoot.
One "problem" when I talked to the Wall Street Journal is that Charles Forelle was concerned I was pulling a "double-dupe" - i.e. I claim to the world that there was a webcam, but to them, I said it was fake
So then the issue was how can I PROVE to Charles that it really is fake since he is on the East Coast. I suggested he have a trusted person come by the house some night, and (while Charles was on the Internet watching the lights flash on and off), his friend could park in my driveway - not only would the car not be visible on the web, but the lights would not be changing. Charles said he would try "something" but would not tell me (again, good for him!)
I hope he puts some of the airplane overload photos on his site. I would also think it would be fun to leave the "webcam" up 24/7.
Re:Alek Comments (Score:3, Interesting)
And you better believe I turned on the "Airplane Invasion" option (along with a few other "tricks") and while I turned it off for the night, expect it back on in the morning.
BTW, I thought the /. crowd would have more of a sense of humor -
the FARK guys are hilareous! ;-) [fark.com]
Google Ads? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Alek Comments (Score:2)
Alek is the best karma whore on
Revenge (Score:3, Funny)
I bet the AdWords wasn't a hoax (Score:3, Insightful)
All the while he was raking in the dough from his Google AdWords banners.
I wonder how much money he has made.
Re:I bet the AdWords wasn't a hoax (Score:5, Informative)
Several media folks are slamming me for running Google Adsense and saying I cleaned up on it. That is simply not true ... but unfortunately, I can not comment on this due to Google's Program Policies ... but let me just say that the Google Adsense Revenue for the month will just about pay for my wife's 40th birthday party and I would have made a LOT more if I had taken that Radio Station's $10,000 offer. I invite the media to contact Google for the actual numbers and they have my permission to release 'em.
Re:I bet the AdWords wasn't a hoax (Score:3, Insightful)
I think what you did was great and I actually enjoyed it more now that I found out that it was a hoax.
Congrats and I hope you continue on to bigger and better tricks in the future.
Re:I bet the AdWords wasn't a hoax (Score:4, Interesting)
Oh, I know. If he tells us he'll have to pay taxes to the IRS. Didn't think about that, didya.
There is something there, kinda. (Score:3, Insightful)
(AdSense policies span more than one page.)
Actually, he may not be able to disclose the dollar amount he received, although I'm not sure how to interpret it and I don't feel like making the effort. Here, check out Item b from Google AdSenseTM Online Standard Terms and Conditions [google.com]:
Straight from the gift horse's mouth: (Score:2, Informative)
Three words. (Score:2)
I'm surprised nobody noticed (Score:5, Insightful)
Plus what about weather conditions? Plenty of local people must have seen the site. What about when it was raining or snowing and the webcam wasn't showing that?
Re:I'm surprised nobody noticed (Score:3, Interesting)
I once left a dark and gloomy Boulder (just NW of Denver) and met somebody in south Denver, about 40 miles away. The sky was mostly clear, just some clouds over the mountains. She was shocked when I commented on the weather.
Did the weather just clear? Nope, it was still dark and gloomy when I returned 3
kinda like kids & coin-op games (Score:3, Insightful)
Wait, this can't be possible. (Score:2)
How can you be mad? (Score:4, Interesting)
Let's show him up (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Let's show him up (Score:2)
Re:Let's show him up (Score:2)
this is why... (Score:4, Funny)
that way you can verify that she is actually there with the christmas lights...
in fact forget the lights... and the questions.
new perspective on my attempted visit (Score:5, Informative)
His response [slashdot.org] to my post was interesting.. it seemed legit and appropriately paranoid about strangers knocking on his door (which I would never do!!).
Re:new perspective on my attempted visit (Score:3, Interesting)
P.S. I really DO have two kids and yes, please do not come knocking on my door - you were quite cool about the whole thing ... and I really DO mean that ... if you believe me! ;-)
IMHO... (Score:5, Insightful)
Does that make him a "Smart Alek"? (Score:4, Funny)
cLive
The funny part is. . . (Score:3, Insightful)
"Huh? 10,000 Slashdotters all jostling to flip half a dozen toggles on some guy's house lights? As if that could possibly work. Talk about bottle necks! So either this is a Fool's plan, or it's a hoax and anybody who believes it has been Fooled, --as well as demonstrating themselves to be immature enough to still believe that they are the center of the universe where all rules including band-width averages only apply to other people. (Bad things can't happen to me because I'm special!). --Either way somebody somewhere is playing the Fool, and how the heck did this rate being posted on Slashdot?"
I almost posted something to that effect, but then I figured, "Aww. Don't be a humbug. It's Christmas. I'm sure the editors are just being cute."
-FL
From Alek - thanx for the comment guys (Score:4, Interesting)
Interestingly enough, the FARK guys linked my Hoax page [komar.org] which includes a pointer to the WSJ article [wsj.com] and those FARK guys wrote some HILARIOUS comments [fark.com] - so I wonder how many comments above were biased by the original press report?
good point (Score:4, Funny)
what of the protons!?
Re:One down, one to go (Score:2)
The puppet government in place in AD ~30 took steps to make sure the Apostles wouldn't perpetrate a hoax, including the (standard) death penalty for soldiers who abandon their guard posts. Whole lotta good it did, huh?
(Oh, and if you were hoping for a flame, sorry to disappoint.)
Re:Dumbing us down (Score:2)
Re:Dumbing us down (Score:2)
Re:Computer controlled Xmas lights (Score:3, Informative)
Re:like that BK chicken (Score:3, Informative)