News 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

[Admin]

A music and science lover has demonstrated the capacity of birds to store and retrieve digital image data.

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 : Read more

 

[Alex/AT]

AI was closer to us than everyone thought...

 

[chaos215bar2]

So, technically this wasn't a "PNG" if you carefully watch through the video. It would be more accurately described as a crude spectrogram image of a bird. Still extremely cool on many levels, but "PNG" implies lossless retrieval, which was absolutely not the case here.

 

[Alex/AT]

Actually a pity it's ROM and can't be erased easily. Otherwise pigeon mail could become a little new

 

[Alex/AT]

So, technically this wasn't a "PNG" if you carefully watch through the video. It would be more accurately described as a crude spectrogram image of a bird. Still extremely cool on many levels, but "PNG" implies lossless retrieval, which was absolutely not the case here.

If I read it correctly, it was PNG roughly converted (used as basis for) to spectrogram. Reverse FFT would get you the sample from this.

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

It is indeed crazy that you can effectively ‘scan an image’ then reproduce it using birdsong, but it seems to have just happened.

Not really, it's been a thing for a while, since slow scan TV was developed in the 50s and then seemingly re-invented and improved ever since. See also the article on another Future PLC site last year. Doing it via bird is slightly more impressive but not really so considering how adept some birds are at repeating the same exact sound pitch perfectly.

https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/...u-can-transfer-images-via-radio-like-its-1989

 

[Phyzzi]

I just hope nobody tries to teach a starling "Rush E"

 

[Grayhawk77]

Yes, but can it play Doom?

 

[coder0xff]

So, technically this wasn't a "PNG" if you carefully watch through the video. It would be more accurately described as a crude spectrogram image of a bird. Still extremely cool on many levels, but "PNG" implies lossless retrieval, which was absolutely not the case here.

I thought the same thing. Benn makes sort of a counterpoint in the video that an audible file transfer protocol can be used. I'm skeptical of the data rate he quoted, but lossless reproduction of a bitstream is certainly achievable. Lower bit rates are more robust in fact.

 

[drivinfast247]

Birds aren't real!

 

[kwato]

Is it just me or have there been some seriously radical advances in tech lately? Absolutely mind blowing!

 

[jpers36]

Running Doom is the name of my pet ostrich.

 

[jazzbirb]

Calling Benn Jordan a music lover is like calling an Olympiad a sports enthusiast. The man is a virtuoso

 

[raymorris]

So, technically this wasn't a "PNG" if you carefully watch through the video. It would be more accurately described as a crude spectrogram image of a bird. Still extremely cool on many levels, but "PNG" implies lossless retrieval, which was absolutely not the case here.

PNG is called lossless because converting another format *to* png CAN be done without losing any information. It's entirely about encoding it into PNG format.

That doesn't guarantee that any particular storage or transit protocol *won't* lose information. If I have a PNG image displayed on my phone and show it to my wife, who is across the room, some information will be lost in her viewing of the PNG.

If I display a 10MP PNG on a 4MP display, some information will be lost.

Starting with a PNG doesn't tell you anything about what happens after you have a PNG, only about the process of encoding the information as a PNG in the first place.

 

[apodicity]

Actually a pity it's ROM and can't be erased easily. Otherwise pigeon mail could become a little new

It is WORM (write once read many). Bird? Worm? I'm losing my mind.

And you don't need to erase it. The bird has its own storage allocator which takes care of that.

 

[apodicity]

PNG is called lossless because converting another format *to* png CAN be done without losing any information. It's entirely about encoding it into PNG format.

That doesn't guarantee that any particular storage or transit protocol *won't* lose information. If I have a PNG image displayed on my phone and show it to my wife, who is across the room, some information will be lost in her viewing of the PNG.

If I display a 10MP PNG on a 4MP display, some information will be lost.

Starting with a PNG doesn't tell you anything about what happens after you have a PNG, only about the process of encoding the information as a PNG in the first place.

I would have been more impressed if they taught the bird to chirp in Baudot.

 

[vancouverizer]

Although they were genetically engineered, this made me think of the Jabberjay spy birds from the Hunger Games books.

 

[AK05]

Now the question stands, can it run doom??? Is this the first thing that CAN'T run doom???