Impossible Question Filter

March 11, 2017 4:30 AM

I have a Xiaomi Mi Box, it uses Android TV, and the default screensaver shows some kind of Google images. Help me identify one!

Ok, a few months ago (I bought the Mi Box in mid-Dec), there was a picture in the rotation that was gray and looked like rows of pellets where the pellets alternated between vertical and horizontal orientation (1 vertical, 1 horizontal, repeat forever). It looked like some kind of computer generated art, but the attribution said "Photograph by somebody or other". I don't remember the person's name, and apparently the picture is no longer in the rotation (I spent hours watching the screensaver today to find it).

I looked through a variety of webpages purporting to show all the images from Google's screensaver with no luck. Some of the other images looked familiar though, so it is possible it just got rotated out. I also tried a bunch of GIS terms but nothing came up.

Anyway it isn't the end of the world, but it has been bugging me because the attribution said it was a photograph and I couldn't figure out what is was a photograph of. Yes, if I had been less lazy back in January I could have figured it out, but so it goes. Hope me!

posted by Literaryhero to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

Response by poster: Ok I literally didn't ask a question:

Are there sites that show old Google screensaver pictures?

Has anyone seen the picture I am talking about?

Does anyone know what it was a picture of?
posted by Literaryhero at 4:31 AM on March 11, 2017

Can you describe the image a little more? These pellets were sort of oblong, longer in one direction than the other? Anything else about them? Did they look smooth or rough, were they rounded or did they have corners? Were they very "flat" grey or was it sort of naturally shaded with some variation? Were there any shadows anywhere? Can you see any sky, or any horizon line of any sort? "repeated forever" -- do they go off into the distance, like looking down a long road? Or do they just get smaller without appearing to change distance?

I understand you may not remember the answer to most of these, but I think any extra info will help.

At present, best guess I have is that it might be an artsy perspective shot of some pavers or pebbles or something. Was it anything at all like this 1 2 or 3 ? If so, which seems closest? I got these image searching various combinations of [paver/pebble pattern/perspective/alternating].
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:57 AM on March 11, 2017

Response by poster: Ok, it was not like those pictures. The pellets were all exactly the same shape. They were flat on two sides and then rounded (egg shaped) around the others. Because of this there was a lot more depth than the pictures you showed. Also it looked to be perfectly top down, so there was no perspective or horizon. When I get on my computer I will try to make a mock up and see if I can make anything that approximates it.
posted by Literaryhero at 10:05 PM on March 11, 2017

Response by poster: Ok, here is a picture that I made. It is not good, but maybe it can help. Also, do not do a reverse GIS with this picture if you have a problem with repetitive images. It is nauseating. Anyway, I went through the reverse GIS and none of the pictures had the depth of the screensaver shot, although the truck bed lining pictures would probably be closest.
posted by Literaryhero at 10:45 PM on March 11, 2017

Mod note: Final update from the OP:

Fifteen months after I asked this question, the photo popped up on my Android TV again! This time I made note of the photographer's name and after too much Googling (it turns out they are "Chromecast wallpapers" not "Android TV wallpapers") I found it!

The photo was taken by John Getchel and is called Marching Orders.

As for what it is, according to the Flickr caption, it is a picture of the wall on the 23rd floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Las Vegas.

posted by goodnewsfortheinsane (staff) at 5:12 AM on June 22, 2018 [3 favorites]