Couldn't you store more data in a color image? Just curious.
Colour ink has the tendency to fade with time.
PaperBack – How to store data on a single A4/Letter sheet
61–70 of 119 posts
Re: PaperBack – How to store data on a single A4/Letter sheet
#62With HCCB (High Capacity Color Barcode) of which an implementation is Microsoft Tag you can get 1.5 MB with 600dpi color on a A4. If you add the best compression techniques (cmix v7) depending on the source material you could get 8 times as much english text, easily fitting the pearls or religion: Tenach, New Testament, Quran, Mahabarata, The Dhamapada, the Atthakavagga and the Parayanavagga, Rhinoceros and Lotus Sut…
I might like to save my most important source code as microfilm. So it would be future-proof. No fancy encoding - just text.
Re: PaperBack – How to store data on a single A4/Letter sheet
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe I'm just slow tonight but I don't see the usefulness in the applications you're describing. >for politics or mass dissemination of paper based digital files for the public to quickly consume > Imagine, if students could start posting free textbook pdf files just by handing out a piece of paper which you could scan, or maybe with a phone one day, and instantly receive the file. With both of those, how is this mo…
Standing outside with a stack of paper, being able to give them to passers-by, staying anonymous and free of network surveillance.
Always doubt your anonymity. Many color laser printers output hidden, self identifying serial codes.
Re: PaperBack – How to store data on a single A4/Letter sheet
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess it's better to upload TrueCrypt container somewhere in the cloud and transfer just password/URL. Password/URL may be derived from the first letters of each sentence in the U.S. Constitution or other similar public source of static random data.
Why not public key cryptography?
Because you can't carry a key.
Re: PaperBack – How to store data on a single A4/Letter sheet
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
Etching the data into silicon wafers has been done before: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teeny_Ted_from_Turnip_Town It does require quite a bit more equipment to read back, however.
One nice thing about the gold-on-glass idea is that it can be read with a simple slide projector or similar. It's small but not ridiculously so.
Gold itself may not be a very good medium for storage, because in the meantime (e.g. some intermittent dark ages) someone may decide that the gold is worth more than the bits they encode, and scrape them off.
Re: PaperBack – How to store data on a single A4/Letter sheet
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Archiving data to 35mm motion picture film has been done, including putting the source code to the decoding software on the leader of the film.
Re: http://group47.com/what-is-dots/
This is both a great summary pitch and intriguing storage system!
I found it interesting. Thanks.
Re: PaperBack – How to store data on a single A4/Letter sheet
#67So I'd like this on medium that's a bit more permanent than paper, but with similar information density per kg, and similar re-creatability without having any of the original tools available. I'd like to store data for say 100 thousand years.
Concrete? Perhaps a 3D printer could make a mold from a data format similar to this one, even one in 3D.. http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-3D-Print-Molds-for-Sm...
Plastic may already be sufficiently inert. Maybe compose/print sheets of plastic using two kinds of plastics, which will always have different colors.
Re: PaperBack – How to store data on a single A4/Letter sheet
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not 100,000 years, but if you're looking for something that will last longer than paper, I recommend... paper. Rag paper. 100% rag, acid free copier/laser paper should be available at most office supply stores. I'd be more worried about toner de-lamination than paper deterioration in that case.
Paper's pretty good. Not sure it's 100K years good, but you're definitely better with paper than almost anything else in the modern world. People underestimate paper. It's vulnerable to moisture, mold and insects, though. If you can solve problems with breakage, very little is going to compete with glass or ceramic. So, something it's hard to apply breaking force to: Maybe etch glass balls, add some impurities for vi…
In a glass bead you could set up with the data and like a lens, i.e. the data is small and when you shine light through it it projects the information at a wall. On the other hand spheres may have the problem that they roll away; and you always need another medium (like a box) to keep them together.
Re: PaperBack – How to store data on a single A4/Letter sheet
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe I'm just slow tonight but I don't see the usefulness in the applications you're describing. >for politics or mass dissemination of paper based digital files for the public to quickly consume > Imagine, if students could start posting free textbook pdf files just by handing out a piece of paper which you could scan, or maybe with a phone one day, and instantly receive the file. With both of those, how is this mo…
Standing outside with a stack of paper, being able to give them to passers-by, staying anonymous and free of network surveillance.
Digitally anonymous and free of network surveillance, sure. Physically anonymous and free of a cop simply walking up and arresting you, not so much...
Re: PaperBack – How to store data on a single A4/Letter sheet
#70Example of PaperBack's output: https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/574/7105/8d/www.extremetech.com/...
Thanks. I was searching for it on the description page, but then rightly thought someone would surely post it on HN :).