8-bit house numbers

What a lovely homey touch these 8-bit house-numbers add to a "Gamer geek house." Made by Austin Laser Art.

Gamer geek house numbers (via Wonderland)

[#1 posted by Anonymous, September 18, 2009 11:25 PM]

Cory, where's the post?

[#2 posted by arkizzle / Moderator, September 18, 2009 11:30 PM]

*head pokes from between the curtains*
*cough*

Ah.. hello, ladies and gentlemen.

We'll be starting the presentation shortly. If you'd like to find a seat, and make yourselves comfortable, we are just waiting for our main speaker to arrive.

Thank you for your patience, and please enjoy the show.

yes yes yes, I will!

I'm sorry to interrupt you again, ladies and gents.. but the producer has asked me to make it clear, that contrary to the murmurings at the back of the hall, we will not be showing the latest installment of Untitled 1, today.

I thank you for your attention, and once again bid you, adieu!

Enjoy the show.

[#3 posted by Cory Doctorow, September 19, 2009 12:01 AM]

Everybody's a smartarse! I posted from the back of a moving taxi after an overnight flight home to London.

[#4 posted by arkizzle / Moderator, September 19, 2009 12:04 AM]

:D

[#5 posted by Timothy Hutton, September 19, 2009 12:20 AM]

I'm confused, "8-bit" means low-res pixelation? As I look at it, the numbers are made up of a lot of "pieces" (or pixels), implying higher-resolution than I would have assumed from an "8-bit" console (I would have expected a 5x7 pixel matrix, the photo shows a larger number of pixels)

Or, "8-bit" could relate to the the color pallete, not the resolution. The image on this story shows a monochrome image (one color with a background), making this actually "1-bit"?

Or, "8-bit" could relate to the possible range of numbers (0-255), but that is clearly not the case here, since the number shown is well over 255...

Finally, I suppose what is really meant is that this image reminds one of the typical screen displays from the old "8-bit" game consoles (in this case "8-bit" refers to the data bus width of the CPU, not the colors or the number displayed).

I guess I'd prefer the tounge-twister "Atari 2600-esque", but I'll concede it would likely never catch on...

[#6 posted by Aaron T., September 19, 2009 12:35 AM]

I'm with Mr. Hutton: the house number is clearly greater than 255, the largest number representable by 8 bits. What's "8-bit" about this?

[#7 posted by fasonista, September 19, 2009 1:07 AM]

HI Cory, Speaking of house numbers, I found these solar ones for my house in LA a few years ago... Super cool cause they light up at night and charge during the day!

http://matterinc.com/html/LEDSolarNumber2.htm

[#8 posted by druranium, September 19, 2009 3:33 AM]

I'm with the bit enforcers...why is this 8-bit?!?!
Why did you say 8-bit, Cory?!
Just kidding, I get it. Additionally I want one of these signs. My house number is gonna be 325, oh dammit. That exceeds the specifications of 8-bit
ERROR ERROR

[#9 posted by Ghede, September 19, 2009 5:15 AM]

Sheesh, you could display numbers higher than 255 on 8-bit consoles. It's not like it is that hard... However, I'm with the pedantic mob on this one, it's not an 8-bit sign. It's a pixelated sign.

[#10 posted by arkizzle / Moderator, September 19, 2009 8:54 AM]

What on Earth is wrong with you miserable pedants?

The style of the numbers above, with their aliased edges, is clearly reminiscent of the look of 8bit computer games. Just that.. "Yay!"

The most hilarious thing though, Timothy, is that you expended that whole rant, only to show at the end, you knew exactly what Cory meant all along, but that you wanted to be a dick about it.

Well acknowledged.

[#11 posted by Xopher, September 19, 2009 9:42 AM]

I for one am tired of this shit. Those are numbers from 8-bit graphics games. Everyone knows what that means.

EVERY time Cory posts something the bozos come out of the woodwork and make dickish remarks. That sucks. Go away, bozos.

[#12 posted by buddy66, September 19, 2009 9:49 AM]

HUTTON's posting from the back of a taxi too ... it just hit a bump!

[#13 posted by ahaley, September 19, 2009 9:49 AM]

This was just a fun project we did for a friend, we generally do other custom work, but if anyone would like one we'd be glad to do it. Or any other font for that matter.
http://austinlaserart.com or etsy @ http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31193102

[#14 posted by Torley, September 19, 2009 11:21 AM]

I came here expecting cronchy house *music* ("numbers" also referring to tunes) and leave pleasantly delighted. Let's just home the wallpaper matches and there's a pixelchair — photographed isometrically — on the front porch. I heart the 8-bit culture + handmade-isms I've been seeing on Etsy, lately, too.

[#15 posted by dculberson, September 19, 2009 11:37 AM]

Ahh, Mr. Hutton, but each digit was represented by an 8-bit number, called a "byte," using the encoding scheme known as ANSI. These house numbers are, quite literally, 8-bit. Each.

[#16 posted by StudioRobot, September 19, 2009 1:59 PM]

Jeez-oh-man i miss playing Commando on Intellivision. And Sea Battle. And Night Stalker.

Sigh.

[#17 posted by djschim, September 19, 2009 2:11 PM]

an 8-bit ART SHOW in Philly: http://www.kleinartgallery.org/current_exhibition.htm

[#18 posted by arkizzle / Moderator, September 19, 2009 5:22 PM]

Ahaley, thanks for dropping by :)

[#19 posted by querent, September 19, 2009 6:22 PM]

I second the thanks. Always good to see the guilty parties poke their heads in.

[#20 posted by ahaley, September 19, 2009 9:27 PM]

Well, we had no link so I had to blatantly plug somehow. :-) It's always the items you make as an offhand project that people end up getting a kick out of.

[#21 posted by bwcbwc, September 20, 2009 2:34 AM]

Those aren't bits, they're pixels. Although this does give me the idea of putting my house number up in hexadecimal...binary is just too big.

[#22 posted by misterdna, September 20, 2009 3:19 PM]

My first thought was, this is what happens when you forget to give the sign maker the outline part of your Postscript font set.

[#23 posted by Anonymous, September 20, 2009 4:02 PM]

This is an existential perspective into a social stigma. That transcends into a timeless morphing of genetic structure. Just goofing, it’s a freaking sign.

[#24 posted by pentomino, September 21, 2009 10:12 AM]

I stayed at a friend's house in Hamburg, Germany, and the house numbers for her duplex were in a font styled after a 7-segment LED/LCD. I wonder if I should post that particular picture, but by the time I tracked both her and the photo down, nobody would care anymore.

[#25 posted by Anonymous, September 21, 2009 1:18 PM]

ugh. not ANSI. ASCII. jeez.