
I'm Google – chains of visually similar images and videos in Google (2011) - dhotson
http://dinakelberman.tumblr.com/
======
captn3m0
Here's a statement from the creator:
[http://dinakelberman.com/imgoogle/imgoogle.html](http://dinakelberman.com/imgoogle/imgoogle.html)

The relevant bit:

>Firstly, lots of people ask if it's an algorithm or something. It's not! Just
me searchin google.

>Secondly, a lot of people assume this blog is therefore made predominantly by
using the "visually similar" function on Google Image Search, which is a
totally reasonable thing to assume. While I definitely employ that function in
my attempts to search thoroughly (and love it for it's own beautiful results),
surprisingly little of the piece is actually constructed using it! Visually
Similar appears to employ a logarithm based mainly on color percentages in an
image, and as I'm Google is based more often in conceptual similarities than
color-wash similarities, my searching is almost entirely relient on keywords
rather than searching by image. Of course, there are times when Visually
Similar has helped with a transition or section here or there, but overall,
it's not the way I work.

~~~
TorKlingberg
I though the image changes felt too intelligent. Thank you for the
clarification, Google Skynet is not upon us after all.

~~~
jxramos
Yes, the transition points were so incredible, and downright hilarious.
Especially one with an explosion within a TV screen transitioning into actual
sets of explosions. Makes a lot of sense now.

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anc84
Aww man, I thought this really was pure algorithms, not manual curation. It is
still a wonderful project but my awe is gone. Would be great to see it as a
real bot.

~~~
spacemanmatt
Write it!

------
yazaddaruvala
When I read the title "I'm Google - ..." a very small part of me was really,
really excited that maybe, _just maybe_ , some system within Google became
self aware, learnt english, and wrote a blog declaring its identity.

~~~
tajen
Man, you've made my day. I've always imagined the first PR about transient AI
as "Dr. has applied for a patent for Y" or "How can Siri answer this, although
she only knows that". But the idea of a system becoming transient and Google
employees not knowing _where_ it is stored inside their datacenters would be
plausible. Assuming AI is possible.

Hopefully the first thing this AI will declare is whether it stores data on
its EU server.

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shubhamjain
I am oddly reminded of Pollard's rho algorithim[1], you start with a base
image and only choose the first image that comes up in the result, in the end
we will eventually return to an image that we have already traversed. I wish
someone could find the base images that result in the shortest and longest
cycles.

[1]:
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Pollard_...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Pollard_rho_cycle.jpg)

~~~
accounthere
My guess is the shortest would usually be the very next one since Google Image
is good at finding the same image file in different websites. There would have
to be a constrain for how close to the last image the next one is or you'd end
up in a one image loop.

------
Dav3xor
Some of the break rooms where I work have a computer you can do searches on.
There are some Google image searches that just shine like diamonds. Most of
them are somehow PBS related for some reason. "Bob Ross" "Fred Rogers" "Ernie
and Bert", etc. I started an odd little game of people leaving google image
searches on the break room machines.

You'd walk in and.. "Hedgehogs!"

------
abrichr
I predict that someone will make an algorithmic version of this and post it to
HN within a month.

~~~
hantusk
There is already an algorithmic version like this. Video here:
[https://vimeo.com/34949864](https://vimeo.com/34949864)

~~~
abrichr
Interesting. It seems to alternate between being "stuck" in certain conceptual
valleys, and jumping between different concepts quickly. Perhaps an effect
more similar to the op could be achieved by enforcing some sort of smoothness
and similarity constraints.

------
codewithcheese
If Google deep dream was the visualizations you might see on LSD, Google
chains is like following a conversation of people on LSD =D

~~~
ucaetano
Fear and Loathing in Google Dreams:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyxSerkkP4o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyxSerkkP4o)

------
MrBra
I'm assuming porn is filtered out. Given that porn represents the vast
majority of Internet content, it would be curious to see how quickly a
sexually explicit image would pop up, and how funny the connection with the
previous non sexual image would be.

~~~
eonw
i don't think porn constitutes the vast majority of internet content by any
means, or even the majority at all.

~~~
MrBra
It seems that according to modern estimates this thing about porn being the
greatest part of the Internet is no way close to reality and was more of just
a legend that got told over and over and ended up being accepted for truth.

But honestly I myself don't know and can't be bothered to investigate more. I
just know there's enough of it :)

------
jpalomaki
"Back in the days" image morphing software was somewhat popular. It could be
fun project to run these images through some automated tool to create a
continuous video of one image morphing to another then to third and so on.

~~~
martin-adams
You might not need to morph it, just play it back at 24 fps and the results
might be quite interesting. Essentially the hard work of interpolating frames
has been taken care of by choosing a slow progression of one image to the
next.

------
hellbanner
Reminds me of [http://translationparty.com/](http://translationparty.com/)
which converts between Japanese & English using google translations

------
digitus
We're working on something really similar to help people explore visual
content.

[https://posters.dreamitget.it/](https://posters.dreamitget.it/)
[https://watches.dreamitget.it/](https://watches.dreamitget.it/)

------
gloves
This is cool!

I love how on Google when I do an image search on myself I can go from Brad
Pitt one minute, to an old man the next. That's not a complaint though. The
technology is always improving and I live in constant wonder of the things
people can create from nothing :)

------
luluganeta
This work is from the same year, also really interesting:
[http://sebastianschmieg.com/searchbyimage/](http://sebastianschmieg.com/searchbyimage/)

------
hellbanner
A few scrolls down there is "This video was removed by Youtube for privacy
reasons".. does the related image algorithm still use what image was there,
for calculating next image?

~~~
justinator
There is no algorithm, this was done by hand.

------
Cerium
Very cool project. As an interesting side effect I'm sure Dina learned a lot
of obscure trade specific words while working on this.

------
juliann
I can't find where the about link is, but here's the about text i found on the
source code:

 _I’m Google is an ongoing tumblr blog in which batches of images and videos
that I cull from the internet are compiled into a long stream-of-
consciousness. Both the searching and arranging processes are done manually.
The batches move seamlessly from one subject to the next based on similarities
in form, composition, color, and theme. This results visually in a colorful
grid that slowly changes as the viewer scrolls through it. Images of houses
being demolished transition into images of buildings on fire, to forest fires,
to billowing smoke, to geysers, to bursting fire hydrants, to fire hoses, to
spools of thread. The site is constantly updated week after week, batch by
batch, sometimes in bursts, sometimes very slowly. <br><br> The blog came out
of my natural tendency to spend long hours obsessing over Google Image
searches, collecting photos I found beautiful and storing them by theme. Often
the images that interest me are of industrial or municipal materials or
everyday photo snapshots. I do not select images or videos that appear to be
intentionally artistic. Happily, the process of researching various themes in
this way has lead to unintentionally learning about topics I might never have
otherwise, including structural drying, bale feeders, B2P, VAWTs, screw
turbines, the cleveland pack, and powder coating.

I feel that my experience wandering through Google Image Search and YouTube
hunting for obscure information and encountering unexpected results is a very
common one. My blog serves as a visual representation of this phenomenon. This
ability to endlessly drift from one topic to the next is the inherently
fascinating quality that makes the internet so amazing.

A NOTE ON THE PROCESS

Just wanted to add a note on how I make this blog, as I have seen people
wonder the same couple things frequently.

Firstly, lots of people ask if it's a algorithm or something. It's not! Just
me searchin google.

Secondly, a lot of people assume this blog is therefore made predominantly by
using the "visually similar" function on Google Image Search, which is a
totally reasonable thing to assume. While I definitely use that function in my
attempts to search thoroughly (and love it for it's own beautiful results),
surprisingly little of the piece is actually constructed using it. Visually
Similar appears to employ an algorithm based mainly on color percentages in an
image, and as I'm Google is based more often in conceptual similarities than
color-wash similarities, my searching is almost entirely relient on keywords
rather than searching by image. Of course, there are times when Visually
Similar has helped with a transition or section here or there, but overall,
it's not the way I work.

I hope you enjoyed my first FAQ

&ndash; Dina Kelberman_

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kraig911
I wonder would happen if they took every n(20) as a start for another
similarity pass.

------
accounthere
It would be nice if you could change the seed image. Someone needs to automate
this.

------
dfar1
The transitions are brilliant!

------
cognivore
I love the one that goes from cookie dough to car plowing through the sand
dune!

------
jstanley
How to automate this:

\- pick a seed image and then:

\- run one of those "caption generating" algorithms on it (are any open
source? what are the best ones?)

\- feed the caption into google images

\- pick the first result

\- repeat

Probably also wants something simple to prevent cycles and fixpoints.

------
davidhariri
This is so cool!

------
danschumann
Kevin Bacon

------
arxpoetica
Somebody needs to automate this.

~~~
martin-adams
Like with Mechanical Turk right?

~~~
rcpt
Could end up like [https://vimeo.com/19760997](https://vimeo.com/19760997)

