Saturday, October 22, 2005
"Blogosphere" A Hoax, Nerds Admit
Denver (FN) - In an announcement that has stunned internet users worldwide, two Denver youths revealed that the "blogosphere" - the interconnected network of allegedly personal web logs - is actually an elaborate practical joke.
Matt Hausen, 25, assistant manger at Simarillion Comics and Collectibles and Derek Murphy, 22, a computer science student at the University of Denver demonstrated to reporters how their Apple Powerbook has been randomly generating almost all content on Blogger, Typepad and numerous other blog services for the past five years.
The program filters online news services and other web content through an artificial-intelligence conversation generator, similar to the well-known Eliza project.
The two self-described "professional pranksters" said their favourite pastime is creating UFO crop circles. They originally developed the blogosphere as a way to kill time during the winter "off-season".
"I'm amazed that so many people fell for it. I mean, all the spelling mistakes and grammatical errors should have been a clue. Half the time, the stuff on the blogosphere is pure gibberish. I don't know how people could have thought that there were real people on the other end of those posts," Hausen said.
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| Meet the Blogosphere : Derek Murphy's Powerbook |
In 2003, the two friends seized on the idea of using their program to generate revenue. They eventually amassed $69 million in profits from various forms of online advertising.
"We knew we had to cut it off some time and 69 seemed like a good number," Hausen said.
posted by Mentok @ 5:10 p.m.,
