Here's an alternative way to generate random numbers... With a lava lamp! El_wombato writes - "A few years back the lava lamp random number guys (yes, they really did photograph lava lamps with a webcam) came up with a simpler technique. They sample the noise off a CCD chip in a webcam. The process is explained here" - Link.
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Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 6, 2006 05:38 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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The version that they refer to from "a few years back" was an SGI project that used six lava lamps with webcams, from 1996. The web pages are still available (somewhat) through the wayback machine.
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I probably should have explained that better. The new version is simpler and cheaper, but does not use lava lamps anymore.
The difference between the old and new versions is explained here.
Surprisingly, SGI has a patent on the original lava lamp implementation.
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