PARIS - The latest target for hackers is none other than "Big Mouth Billy Bass," the animatronic singing-and-wriggling fish that enjoyed a nanosecond of popularity in the 1990s.
Now that Billy Bass has joined the gift stalls' remaindered shelves, where he can be purchased for a few dollars (euros), the nerds have moved in to use the gimmick for other things than singing the blues.
A website (http://bigmouth.here-n-there.com/) gives instructions on how to gut Billy's tiny preprogrammed chip, which previously enabled him to sing just one or two songs, and replace it with a mighty open-source Linux microprocessor.
Once this is installed, along with Wavesurfer, a phonetic transcription programme, the fish can be made to say almost anything, still with coordinated lip-synch and wriggly tail.
The website has several entertaining video snippets of Billy uttering well-known phrases in history.
They include the fish speaking in Homer Simpson's voice "Mmmm, forbidden doughnuts!", Richard Nixon insisting "I am not a crook" and Bill Clinton saying "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky."
The next step, says technophile weblogger Clive Thompson (http://www.collisiondetection.net/) is for Billy-lovers to hook up a microphone and webcam -- and conduct teleconferencing by bass.
Some people just have WAY too much time on their hands.
Now that Billy Bass has joined the gift stalls' remaindered shelves, where he can be purchased for a few dollars (euros), the nerds have moved in to use the gimmick for other things than singing the blues.
A website (http://bigmouth.here-n-there.com/) gives instructions on how to gut Billy's tiny preprogrammed chip, which previously enabled him to sing just one or two songs, and replace it with a mighty open-source Linux microprocessor.
Once this is installed, along with Wavesurfer, a phonetic transcription programme, the fish can be made to say almost anything, still with coordinated lip-synch and wriggly tail.
The website has several entertaining video snippets of Billy uttering well-known phrases in history.
They include the fish speaking in Homer Simpson's voice "Mmmm, forbidden doughnuts!", Richard Nixon insisting "I am not a crook" and Bill Clinton saying "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky."
The next step, says technophile weblogger Clive Thompson (http://www.collisiondetection.net/) is for Billy-lovers to hook up a microphone and webcam -- and conduct teleconferencing by bass.
Some people just have WAY too much time on their hands.
