C_ChellJul 28
Sarah Dal

Saving an image to a bird

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/storage/yes-you-can-store-data-on-a-bird-enthusiast-converts-png-to-bird-shaped-waveform-teaches-young-starling-to-recall-file-at-up-to-2mb-s

They converted an image to a waveform, played it to a young starling who imitated it well enough that it could be recorded and the waveform converted back to an image.

The linked video is full of info about bioacoustic monitoring too

Yes, you can store data on a bird — enthusiast converts PNG to bird-shaped waveform, teaches young starling to recall file at up to 2MB/s

Who needs Starlink when you've got an actual starling

Tom's Hardware
Jul 28 at 7:18pmWeb
Show threadlj·rkJul 28
@sarahdalgulls How well does this play with RFC 1149, 2549 and 6214?
Show threadFlorian Schmidt6d ago
@ljrk
I guess the starling misses a critical skills of the pidgeons in said RFCs: Wayfinding.
Without this, it's more of a (stochastic) broadcast scenario: The data gets distributed to wherever the birds like to fly. I would also not count on privacy.
@sarahdalgulls
Show threadMehrad   5d ago

@schmidt_fu
@ljrk @sarahdalgulls

This feels more like a data storage rather than data transfer. But the data transfer to the "storage unit" operates mainly in UDP style. Also the read and write speed are drastically different.

Show threadNazoJul 28
@sarahdalgulls Bird-based password manager when?
Show threadGjeJul 28
@sarahdalgulls hmmmmm
Show threadG1itchbitJul 28
@sarahdalgulls I was thinking the clickflies from Door Into Ocean.
Show threadDanny Boling ☮️Jul 28

@sarahdalgulls

So we can use starlings to send texts, even with images? This is extraordinary!

Show threadDeborah Preuss, pcc 🇨🇦5d ago
@IAmDannyBoling @sarahdalgulls perfect for advertising! Same text, multiple times, to many listeners!
Show threadDeborah Preuss, pcc 🇨🇦5d ago
@IAmDannyBoling @sarahdalgulls 🤔 … or …
for anti-propaganda! Yes, we're surely in Hunger Games territory, LOL. (In more ways than one).
Show threadDanny Boling ☮️4d ago

@deborahh

Indeed!

Show threadIan K. Rogers ikr?╭ರ_ಠJul 29
@sarahdalgulls The data transmission part is a great hook but the whole video about the mechanics of birdsong is really fascinating.
Show threadfraggLe!Jul 29
"Sorry boss, gotta start that big report again, Peregrine Falcon got my storage..."
Show threaddark was the night 🌚Jul 29
@sarahdalgulls I love Benn so much
Show threadGreg KempJul 29
@sarahdalgulls cat file > /dev/bird
Show thread𝙳𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚢 𝙵𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚠𝚛𝚊𝚙Jul 29

@sarahdalgulls

Birds! We had a cockatiel that was left alone during the day. It learned to mimic the phone answering machine - ring tone, beeps, clicks, and so on, the recorded message, and then 'faked' a generic caller's response - though that part was still better than the supermarket announcements for intelligibility 🙂

Show threadWhichOne'sPink 🇫🇮Jul 29
@sarahdalgulls That's no "bird".
That's a Starling. And they're freakin' cool.
Show threadDr.ImplausibleJul 29
@sarahdalgulls A Torrent of Starlings
Show threadmikeash6d ago
@sarahdalgulls Attn @fay59
Show threadFélix6d ago
@mikeash @sarahdalgulls please keep me subscribed to bird facts
Show threadSkjeggtroll6d ago

@sarahdalgulls

This sounds like a plot-point in a cyberpunk / fairy-tale genre mashup.

Show threadTor Lillqvist6d ago
@sarahdalgulls Not bird-shaped waveform but bird-shaped spectrum.
Show threadSchwaig Bub6d ago
@sarahdalgulls super cute!
Show threadJulie In Cope6d ago
@sarahdalgulls this is wild
Show threadJoanna Holman6d ago
@sarahdalgulls There could be some really interesting but unhinged potential in combining encoding images in bird song with IP over Avian Carriers protocol (attaching memory cards to homing birds as a data transfer method)
Show threadMadcollector6d ago
@sarahdalgulls So bird murmuration are actually "the cloud"?
Show threadChris Simpson5d ago
@madcollector @sarahdalgulls birds have always been wave, never particle
Show threadChris King6d ago
@sarahdalgulls no one tell sillicon valley about this! those guys will have a giant battery farm full of starlings hooked up to IVs like neo in the matrix before lunch time
Show threadSteffen Voß6d ago
@sarahdalgulls This makes me sad.
Show threadOutOfSpace - 不割席6d ago
@sarahdalgulls I guess you can convert any waveform to an image. Did it look like the original image? 😂
Show threadLaurens 🐐6d ago
@sarahdalgulls So, essentially the Fremen distrans system in Frank Herbert's Dune novels?
Show threadDelulucy6d ago

@sarahdalgulls i think that was benn jordan, wasn't it?

he has many fun projects like this. For example, he poisoned his music for AI scrapers to protect it. He knows some stuff!

Show threadTill mag Züge   6d ago
@sarahdalgulls @moritzkraehe I'm almost certain that you can't feed a bird 2 MB/s of data, guess they got the headline wrong 🙈
Show threadTill Grallert6d ago
@sarahdalgulls the video and the guy‘s YouTube channel are fantastic!
Show threadmauvedeity6d ago
@sarahdalgulls as a cat owner, I’m gonna need a RAIB array.
Show threadDavid S6d ago

@sarahdalgulls

Mega Birds per second?

Show threadFlorian Schmidt6d ago
@sarahdalgulls
"Now, Jordan goes into some technical details about the audio and image data files, and follows up with some back-of-the-napkin math that would only interest the most data-absorbed audiophiles"
I feel seen...
Show threadWinchell Chung ⚛🚀6d ago

@sarahdalgulls

This reminds me of the distrans messages sent by bats in the scifi novel Dune.

https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Distrans

Distrans

Distrans refers to a technology by which information could be implanted in animals for storage and retrieval. The information was stored subliminally by voice. The message could be retrieved from the animal by uttering a word or phrase. The message would usually be repeated by the animal as a series of words uttered through vibrations. The sound was likened to words connected by a series of hums. The Fremen of Arrakis, and presumably assassins used distrans animals extensively as a form of...

Dune Wiki
Show threadEl Dado Inquieto6d ago
@nyrath @sarahdalgulls This is exactly what I thought reading the article.
Show threadJerry Orr6d ago
@sarahdalgulls The most important question: how do we record DRM to the bird at the same time? We can't have birds singing illegally recorded images!
Show threadJerry Orr6d ago

@sarahdalgulls

A great video and article, but this line at the end killed me:

> No doubt, an Ostrich that can run Doom is just around the corner.

Show threadAtanas6d ago
@sarahdalgulls Remember to back up the bird
Show threadDeka Black6d ago
@sarahdalgulls This reminds me a bit of a short story by Philip K. Dick
Show threadFrobbotzim5d ago
@DekaBlack @sarahdalgulls Would love to know which one, if you recall. I had to go find a copy of Neruda's Bird, "Caía de un pájaro a otro
todo lo que el día trae," "It was passed from one bird to another, the whole gift of the day," and so on. As it continues, at a stretch, it kind of imagines RFC 1149 in verse.
Show threadDeka Black5d ago

@Frobbotzim @sarahdalgulls Is one about a machine that turns sounds into living beings.

Turn them back has...eerie results

Show threadFrobbotzim5d ago
@DekaBlack @sarahdalgulls found it, thank you! "The Preserving Machine," https://archive.org/details/Fantasy_Science_Fiction_v004n06_1953-06/page/73
Fantasy & Science Fiction v004n06 (1953 06) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Fantasy & Science Fiction v004n06 (1953 06)

Internet Archive
Show threadDeka Black5d ago
@Frobbotzim @sarahdalgulls You're welcome! that one, yes. Amazing and a fine examle of why the short story is the best for some genres.
Show threadГригорий Клюшников6d ago
Someone needs to try storing actual digital data in a bird this way.
Show threadSternwarte Vach (Andy)6d ago
@sarahdalgulls yeah, but would you trust a bird to keep the data? Maybe he tells all other birds!!! That's not my understanding of privacy 🤣
I would prefer to teach all birds which can speak to tell all Siris and Alexas to delete all accounts and media 😄
Show threadMallory19996d ago
@sarahdalgulls text? Email? Dropbox? Nahhh. Carrier pigeon.
Show thread🅱🅻🆄🅴🅱️6d ago

@sarahdalgulls

https://youtu.be/hCQCP-5g5bo

Original video

I Saved a PNG Image To A Bird

YouTube
Show threadSimon Brooke6d ago

@sarahdalgulls this is a significant technological upgrade over RFC1149

https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc1149

RFC 1149: Standard for the transmission of IP datagrams on avian carriers

This memo describes an experimental method for the encapsulation of IP datagrams in avian carriers. This specification is primarily useful in Metropolitan Area Networks. This is an experimental, not recommended standard.

IETF Datatracker
Show threadStuart Longland (VK4MSL)6d ago
@sarahdalgulls Coming soon, #SSTV by birdsong
Show threadSerge K. Keller, FCD ❦ 🦣6d ago
@sarahdalgulls A bird as a tape recorder? I must try to load some ZX Spectrum games on it!
Show threadEGent076d ago
@sarahdalgulls Incredible! 😮
Show threadMikeWas6d ago
@sarahdalgulls I was not previously aware of this form of cloud storage.
Show threadneville park6d ago
@sarahdalgulls I noticed in the video that he seems to mistake a female cardinal for a male, but didn't think it was worth mentioning because he'll learn soon enough as he gets further into birding
Show threadneville park6d ago
@sarahdalgulls oh, BTW, there are more videos of The Mouth on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/@SarahTidwell/videos
Before you continue to YouTube

Show threadAndy Wootton6d ago

@sarahdalgulls This information puts the Internet RFCs related to Avian Carriers in a new light

IP over Avian Carriers - Wikipedia https://share.google/4NyTtjejxCtkJOxdN

IP over Avian Carriers - Wikipedia

Show threadReni the Raven6d ago
Watch your back @sneexy us birds can store data now too :>