Google is Digitizing Everything

Better Than Life?

I think Google is out to digitize everything. First, they indexed a good chunk of the Web, then they index your mail,  your street, your house, the earth, the moon, the stars, countless books and now this. The speck of paint in the magnified image above  is worth millions ... and you can have access to it in your living room. In fact, there are more specks of paint digitized just like the one above. Eventually all of the specks will be cataloged and stored for your perusal.

In some ways. the virtual is better than the real thing. In the brick and mortar world you just can't get that close to this particular piece of paint without some one hassling you.
This spec of paint along with specs of paint from around the world can now be seen at the Google Art Project. Not only are they digitizing paintings from all of the great museums around the world, they are digitizing the interiors of the museums so that you can virtually tour them.

MOMA - Gallery 1 - Impressionist

So what about the fleck of paint at the top of the article? I'm sure you recognize it. It is the small fleck of paint on the upper right hand corner of the painting on the right in the gallery above. You know the one—the painting that tried to represent the earth, moon, and stars in the most advanced medium of the time—paint.

Check it out in its full glory here or head directly to the gallery.