Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Sunday, June 28, 2020
Near Granville Street Bridge in Vancouver. Autumn of 2019.
The Granville Street Bridge is an eight lane bridge in Vancouver,
British Columbia. It spans False Creek and is 27.4 metres above
Granville Island. It is part of Highway 99.
The original bridge was completed in 1889. It was a 732-metre long low timber trestle. The navigation span, near the north end, was a trussed timber swing span, tied with wire ropes to a central wooden tower. It was largely designed by the CPR, and cost $16,000. In 1891 the bridge was widened on both sides for streetcar tracks, except where the tracks converged for the swing span.
The second bridge was completed in 1909. It was a longer, medium-level steel bridge with a through truss swing span.
On February 4, 1954, the current Granville Street Bridge, costing $16.5 million, opened. A million cars would cross over the bridge in its first month. The city of Vancouver funded the bridge itself as Mayor Frederick Hume said "no formal assistance given by any other government body."
The eight-lane structure was constructed on the same alignment as the first bridge while steel plate girders salvaged from the second bridge made barges for constructing the foundations of the Oak Street Bridge.
The first "civilian" to drive over the 1954 bridge was the same woman who was first to drive over the second bridge in 1909. She had been widowed between the two openings, and so had a different name. Both times she was at the wheel of a brand-new Cadillac.
Recent improvements to the bridge include increasing its earthquake resistance, and installing higher curbs and median barriers.
The original bridge was completed in 1889. It was a 732-metre long low timber trestle. The navigation span, near the north end, was a trussed timber swing span, tied with wire ropes to a central wooden tower. It was largely designed by the CPR, and cost $16,000. In 1891 the bridge was widened on both sides for streetcar tracks, except where the tracks converged for the swing span.
The second bridge was completed in 1909. It was a longer, medium-level steel bridge with a through truss swing span.
On February 4, 1954, the current Granville Street Bridge, costing $16.5 million, opened. A million cars would cross over the bridge in its first month. The city of Vancouver funded the bridge itself as Mayor Frederick Hume said "no formal assistance given by any other government body."
The eight-lane structure was constructed on the same alignment as the first bridge while steel plate girders salvaged from the second bridge made barges for constructing the foundations of the Oak Street Bridge.
The first "civilian" to drive over the 1954 bridge was the same woman who was first to drive over the second bridge in 1909. She had been widowed between the two openings, and so had a different name. Both times she was at the wheel of a brand-new Cadillac.
Recent improvements to the bridge include increasing its earthquake resistance, and installing higher curbs and median barriers.
ASMR FR - Soin Reiki pour rééquilibrer ton énergie
Je vous recommande de regarder cette vidéo avec des écouteurs ou un casque audio pour en profiter au maximum.
Friday, June 26, 2020
A Lost Cyber Utopia: What Happened to the Soviet Internet?
https://strelkamag.com/en/article/what-happened-to-the-soviet-internet |
While it is common today to view computer technologies as a product of capitalism created with the backing of the Pentagon, back in the USSR of the 1960s some scientists and engineers saw computers as “machines of communism” and put forth their own vision of a global information network.
In her sci-fi video project After Scarcity, Iranian artist Bahar Noorizadeh tracks Soviet cyberneticians of the 1950s–1980s in their attempt to build a fully automated planned economy. Presenting this as an alternative history, she looks at the economic potential of socialist cybernetic experiments and their power to challenge contemporary financial worldview.
In search of alternative narratives of the future, more and more artists, speculative designers, and researchers from around the world are turning their eyes to the history of Soviet cybernetics. “How might we use computation to get us out of our current state of digital feudalism and towards new possible utopias?” she asks in her film.
On one hand, this allows us to think about how this alternative internet could have changed the course of history. What would the Communist Party and the Soviet military have used the new technology for? Would the Soviet internet have created digital tyranny? Having its own internet, how would the USSR have responded to the drop in oil prices, Perestroika, and Glasnost? And how would the USSR have looked at the turn of 1991? How would the Cold War have unfolded if the internet as we know it had been rivaled by a Soviet alternative since the 1960s?
On the other hand, exploring this legacy allows us to envision what impact the ideas of this unrealized digital socialism could have on our contemporary lives. Noorizadeh’s work makes us think what would Vladimir Lenin’s famous formula “Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country” sound in a world of blockchain and the Internet of Things?
The USSR wasn’t the only country experimenting with cyber-socialism. In 1970, under Salvador Allende, the Chilean government commissioned British cybernetician Stafford Beer to develop a computer system known as Project Cybersyn. However, the vision was abandoned due to the violent military coup led by Agusto Pinochet, and the project was deliberately dismantled.
It was the economic boom in the early 1960s USSR that led to the rise of the idea of Soviet communism with a cybernetic face. The ever-growing economy was now more difficult to manage, the massive amounts of data it generated were hard to process, and industry branches were almost impossible to synchronize. It became clear that public administration tasks needed to be facilitated with the computers and industrial control systems (ICS) that had already been widely used by the defense industry.
After Scarcity is focused on the figure of Victor Glushkov, a visionary mathematician and director of the Cybernetics Institute of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, led Soviet efforts to deal with the looming economic stagnation. Thanks to him, the country saw the emergence of new specialized institutes and departments within major universities, all of which shared one goal—training new computer and ICS specialists.
“While the Stalinists opposed cybernetics, thinking it bourgeois pseudoscience, cyberneticists like Victor Glushkov rose to prominence in the 1960s as increasing bureaucratic demands of the centrally planned economy threatened to turn the Union into an absurdist administrative state,” Noorizadeh says in her film.
One of Glushkov’s greatest practical goals was the creation of the National Automated System for Computation and Information Processing (OGAS). He believed that in the face of impending economic stagnation it was the only lifeline for the country’s further development. Glushkov envisioned thousands of local computers connected to one another through a regional server. The mainframe network was supposed to be synchronized nationwide and connected to the main computing center in Moscow. The main idea behind the project was to make managerial decision-making less biased and dramatically improve industry and transport efficiency.
Glushkov’s project wasn’t the only failed attempt to create the Soviet internet. In 1959, Engineer Colonel Anatoly Kitov proposed the creation of a “unified automated management system” for the national economy that would link together large networks of computers installed at large factories and government agencies. The project, however, never received the support of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
The political reasons behind OGAS’ failure and the complex relationship between information and power are explored by science historian Slava Gerovich in his article InterNyet: Why the Soviet Union did not build a nationwide computer network. “Cyberneticians aspired to reform the Soviet government with a technological tool whose uses the government itself defined. This resulted, quite naturally, in the transformation of the tool itself—from a vehicle of reform into a pillar of the status quo,” he writes.
An obituary published in the United States described Glushkov as the “King of Soviet cybernetics.” In his book Fundamentals of Paperless Informatics, published a few months after his death, he wrote a visionary prediction: “Soon enough paper books, newspapers, and magazines will be no more. Every person will have an electronic notebook—a combination of a flat screen and a mini radio transmitter. No matter where you are in the world, if you key a specific code in the notebook, you will be able to summon texts and images from giant remote databases. This will forever replace not only books, newspapers, and magazines, but also television.”
Despite being written for a mathematically oriented audience, it became popular with people who had nothing to do with computer science. Glushkov also speculated about computational technologies in everyday life: future TV sets and television, multifunctional telephones, programmed washing machines, paperless documents and correspondence, computer games, language-based programming (a prototype of personal assistants like Siri or Alexa), electronic newspapers and magazines, and even electronic money (a Soviet e-currency project was proposed by Glushkov's team in 1962).
For a New Year’s Eve party, the employees of Glushkov’s institute came up with “Cybertonia”—a virtual country ruled by a council of robots. Cybertonia enthusiasts organized regular activities in Kyiv and Lviv including conferences and children’s parties, published brochures, issued its own currency. It even drafted the Cybertonia Constitution, with Cybertonia becoming a speculative design project that imagined a Soviet cybernetic future that never saw the light of day.
In his 2016 book How Not to Network a Nation: The Uneasy History of the Soviet Internet, media scholar Benjamin Peters clearly shows that bureaucracy was to blame for the failure of the Soviet internet project. Instead of creating a collaborative research environment, different self-interested agencies and bureaucrats diligently stood up only for their own agenda. The Soviet Union was unable to build its own internet—not because it lacked technologies or the institution of private property, but because it was impossible to get a project of this scale approved by all of the necessary agencies, whose interests it sometimes contradicted.
“The first global civilian computer networks were developed among cooperative capitalists, not among competitive socialists. The capitalists behaved like socialists, while the socialists behaved like capitalists,” writes Peters.
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Monday, June 22, 2020
$15 GameBoy Advance Repair & Restoration!
Today, we try to repair and restore an old 2001 limited edition, Japanese GameBoy Advance which I bought from ebay Japan for $15.
Saturday, June 20, 2020
Ready Player One is one of the best and most thrilling films of the last decade
A still from Ready Player One (2018), directed by Steven Spielberg |
You think The Silence of the Lambs doesn't contain propaganda? Think again.
A still from Raintree County (1957), directed by Edward Dmytryk |
Thursday, June 18, 2020
Dust to Dust:Testing for Residue of Conventional High Explosives in Ground Zero Dust is a Possibility
https://nomadiceveryman.blogspot.com/2019/09/dust-to-dusttesting-for-residue-of.html |
“However, our detractors could be counted on to do their best to use a negative result against us for P.R. purposes. They would say that we have a non-scientific belief, since a negative outcome from an experiment fails to shake it. Thus, the potential costs of doing what you’re proposing and coming up empty-handed, or worse, must be considered.” Gregg Roberts of AE9/11 truth
I even went so far over a year ago to carefully construct and publish what I thought was the best process by which to run the tests themselves.
Proposed Testing Procedure for High Explosive Residues in Ground Zero Dust
After years of research, it is my hypothesis, which I still stand behind to this day, that the Twin Towers were taken out via an explosive controlled demolition and that during the design stages of the process, they relied too heavily on the use of det cord in the floor systems (see image below) which led to the vaporization of most of the truss systems which was accidentally revealed (the metal micro-spheres) when the RJ Lee Group did their Composition and Morphology study of the Ground Zero dust samples for Deutsche Bank .
The RJ Lee study also found that temperatures had been reached “at which lead would have undergone vaporization”– meaning 1,749°C (3,180°F).
Another study was carried out by the US Geological Survey, the purpose of which was to aid the “identification of WTC dust components.” Besides also finding iron particles, the scientists involved in this study found that molybdenum had been melted. This finding was especially significant, because this metal does not melt until it reaches 2,623°C (4,753°F). Griffin
Why do I bring all of this up now?
Good question.
Simply put: I now have several small (very small) and as of yet unconfirmed Ground Zero dust samples and I am looking for your input as to what to do with them.
Let me explain…
After prolonged communications with another Truth advocate, samples were collected by him and forwarded to me for testing purposes. At this point and until I am given permission to disclose this individual’s identity, I will refrain from doing so. Suffice to say this person has an extensive history with the Truth movement and has worked with various high profile groups over the years.
Let me also say that this person has put no preconditions on the types of testing or the institutions that will be eventually chosen for the processing, in the event that course of action is pursued.
Yes. It is not yet a given that even I will have these tests run. There are several factors to consider, hence this article.
The samples are small. Some, I feel, are too small for the full process which I describe in the above linked article which would require dividing the samples into at least 4 portions each: one to test to see if it is from Ground Zero Sept. 11th; one to send to an independent lab for evaluation of the presence of high explosive residues (preferably we would send to two separate facilities as a control); one to test video live feed video with a forensic approved field test kit; and one to keep as a control of the sample in it’s pristine condition.
That’s a lot of testing and these samples are rather small to say the least. The verification step and the field testing steps along with the control sample are mandatory parts of this process. I will test nothing if I can’t verify that it is actually from Ground Zero.
Another aspect of this decision making process is the fact that I don’t have a clear chain of custody for each of these samples. This is something that would seriously inhibit our effectiveness given a positive result of the testing. Questions could always arise as to the samples having been either accidentally or purposefully tainted. Also, it would hinder potential legal processes in the future.
Cost of course is a big issue. If the choice is made to run these tests, to implement the process which I have laid out, then the cost would be rather high and as many of you may know, I certainly can’t afford to shoulder that burden fully myself. There would have to be some kind of fund set up from donations from the Truth community to help with the costs. Yet, I think given the determination of the remaining Truth advocacy movement, and my commitment to complete transparency of the process, I think this stumbling block would be the easiest to overcome.
There are serious questions as to whether or not I could get a certain lab to test the samples and see if they match their existing fingerprint of 9/11 Ground Zero dust. They may not be interested for political reasons or it could be cost prohibitive. As that I have yet to approach them, I do not know at this time.
These are serious concerns that need to be addressed. But I am not the only one involved here.
The Truth Movement, or what’s left of it after the various sell-outs and Sunstein agents have done their work over the years, is kind of at an impasse. Is more evidence really needed to prove that the Twin Towers didn’t collapse due to gravity? Don’t the majority of Americans and free thinking people across the world already accept the fact that the official story of 9/11 is bullshit? Will new hard scientific evidence push others to conclude what we have had to understand or open up the doors to a new investigation into the fact that 9/11 was a staged false flag event meant to kick off this “New American Century” of endless, limitless wars of aggression and the demolition of our civil rights and the creation of the for-profit police state in America?
Or will the American people say they simply don’t care like those clowns on CNBC did when talking about unelected bankers ruling the world?
Ultimately, I don’t know. I’ve known this material was coming for a week and now that it’s here, I have yet to formulate an unshakeable conclusion regarding these matters.
The Truth movement has always been an unofficial investigation into the truth of what happened on Sept. 11th 2001. This is the first type tests we should have run at the very beginning. They are tests that should have been run by FEMA and NIST and certainly the 9/11 Commission and the New York Attorney General’s office. But they weren’t and to my knowledge, no one in the Truth movement has run them either.
So here we are. Here I am. It’s not my movement, what’s left of it, it’s ours.
My question to you is this; please read the proposed testing procedure I link to above and tell me… should we do it? Is there a better way? Is it worth it? Is there any rational explanation why we shouldn’t do it?
Insight? Ideas? Tell me I’m an idiot? The floor is yours.
How to remove CltMngSvc.exe Virus from Windows (Help Guide)
https://malwaretips.com/blogs/cltmngsvc-exe-virus-removal/ |
The CltMngSvc.exe program is a part of the “Search Protect by conduit” program, and is developed by Conduit Ltd, a company known for their malicious programs.
The CltMngSvc.exe browser hijacker is commonly bundled with other free programs that you download off of the Internet. Unfortunately, some free downloads do not adequately disclose that other software will also be installed and you may find that you have installed CltMngSvc.exe without your knowledge.
If you have the CltMngSvc.exe browser hijacker installed on your PC, you will typically see two “CltMngSvc.exe” processes running in the Windows Task Manager.
When the CltMngSvc.exe browser hijacker is installed on a PC, common symptoms include:
Changing the web browser’s default homepage to Trovi.com
Changing the browser’s search provider, built-in search box to www.trovi.com
Ability to modify the ‘new tab’ functionality to launch the modified search portal page
Loads into the web browser via an extension or add-on
Various antivirus engine detected the program and its executable as malware:
avast! Win32:SearchProtect-B [PUP]
Dr.Web Adware.BGuard.15
ESET NOD32 Win32/Conduit.SearchProtect.A
ESET NOD32 a variant of Win32/Conduit.SearchProtect.B
ESET NOD32 a variant of Win32/Conduit.SearchProtect.B
VIPRE Antivirus Conduit (fs) (not malicious)
You should always pay attention when installing software because often, a software installer includes optional installs, such as this CltMngSvc.exe browser hijacker. Be very careful what you agree to install.
Always opt for the custom installation and deselect anything that is not familiar, especially optional software that you never wanted to download and install in the first place. It goes without saying that you should not install software that you don’t trust.
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Retro Hackers Are Building a Better Nintendo Game Boy
Fueled by nostalgia and longing for a simpler time, hardware tinkerers are injecting new life into the iconic handheld game console.
The Game Boy lived a long life. From its launch in 1989 until its discontinuation in 2008, Nintendo's handheld gaming device sold hundreds of millions of units. It went through seven different design iterations, six of which were sold in the US. And because the system was propped up by Nintendo's thousands-deep library of titles, the Game Boy remains one of the top-selling videogame consoles of all time.
But for a gang of modders and hackers on the internet, these machines aren’t something to be left in the past. Rather, these underpowered, inexpensive toys are canvases for creativity and experimentation. Groups of hackers who congregate on the r/Gameboy subreddit, on Discord, on Instagram, and across YouTube have been dragging Nintendo’s tiny, world-beating machine into the 2020s by creating a cottage industry of parts, custom components, and prebuilt modified Game Boys along the way.
Today's Game Boy modding scene largely sprang up in response to Nintendo’s own conservative tendencies. Always intent on making its game systems affordable and efficient, the Kyoto, Japan-based company has a long history of keeping its consumer products technologically behind the curve in an effort to hold costs down. Nintendo engineer and Game Boy creator Gunpei Yokoi famously relied on a philosophy of “lateral thinking with withered technology.” In short, Yokoi preferred to find how far older, cheaper tech could be stretched to still provide hours of Pokémon-catching, Goomba-stomping fun.
One example of this mindset is the fact that for years, Nintendo outfitted Game Boys with non-illuminated screens. This meant that a copious amount of ambient light was required to see whatever you were playing. In response, accessory makers offered up all kinds of crazy add-ons, from booklight-like gadgets that shone light onto the screen to bulky screen magnifiers with bulbs and batteries in them. In many ways, the poor display quality of the Game Boy stunted the platform's success by making it impossible to get your game on under dim or inconsistently lit conditions. This became a meme in the early 2000s, when the online comic Penny Arcade posted its take on the handheld's biggest shortcoming.
After 14 years of craning our necks and clipping on light attachments, we got our first light-up Game Boy in 2003 when Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance SP. This clamshell gadget packed a front-lit screen at first, and in later revisions labeled AGS-101, the Game Boy's first backlit LCD. It was a revelation.
So, of course, Nintendo modders got busy figuring out a way to get that backlit display into older models. This was the first transformational mod in the console's history, since it modernized the older Game Boys in a way that made them more playable and, in essence, brought the aged tech back to life.
While the display inside the AGS-101 had shallow viewing angles and less-than-vivid colors, it was the best option for the modders to use; given the odd shape of the hole for the screen in the Game Boy's plastic body, there were only a limited number of aftermarket screens that could be slotted into the device. And using adhesive films or optical glue to add a light to non-illuminated screens had proven to be hit-or-miss; one early company that sold such a kit called Afterburner netted either spectacular results or ugly outcomes, depending on the skill of the installer.
"I mean, it was nice for a while when the AGS-101 screens were nice and cheap, like 30 bucks or so," says modder Makho, who goes by Admiral_Butter_Crust on Reddit. As an enthusiast, he's tested and catalogued most commercially available Game Boy screen kits on his YouTube channel, keeping a notated and frequently updated document on Reddit. "I guess there was like a warehouse full of AGS-101 screens. Game Boy nerds bought them all, and stock ran out."
So, it was the end of the road for the AGS-101 LCD. But where there's a supply chain, there's a way, and the Game Boy modding community got cracking on potential solutions. Realizing the screens they had been using were substandard and expensive, the modders were eager to experiment. "Let's try putting some newer, better screens in there and see what happens," said Makho.
Enter Ben Grimmett, who runs a boutique hardware shop called BennVenn that serves the Game Boy hacking community. Grimmett's shop relied on the AGS-101 display for one of its products, a ribbon cable that adapted the display for use in the older Game Boy Color. The Game Boy Color installation "was complicated and required a fair degree of dexterity to modify the shells to accept an LCD almost as wide as the console itself," Grimmett says. Modders needed to hack away at the plastic inside the Game Boy to fit the newer screen inside, and even then, it was a tight fit that required shaving every possible millimeter from the handheld's circuit board.
"A few months into releasing the Game Boy Color mod, we noticed the prices of reproduction AGS-101 LCDs starting to climb and original AGS-101 consoles being destroyed for the LCD." Through his suppliers in China, Grimmett found a color LCD screen that was the perfect shape for the older Game Boys with square screens. In order to make it work, he had to whip up an adapter cable to let the new display talk to the old 'Boys, and he had to add a custom-programmed chip that got the new screen perfectly in sync with the console's circuit board.
After fine-tuning the design, Ben sent an early kit of the mod, dubbed Freckle Shack, to YouTuber KyleAwsm to debut on his channel.
"This LCD is out of a Palm Centro 690 or something like that. So, like, a 2009 smartphone," said Makho. These small TFT screens sell in bulk for a fraction of the cost of the ones sourced from the AGS-101 consoles.
For the Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, and Game Boy Color, makers like BennVenn, Midwest Embedded, McWill, and a bunch of no-brand online sellers all came up with similar adapters and cables. The new wave of conversion kits all seem to feature the exact same surplus Palm Centro display. Some of the kits even can be fitted into a Game Boy without any cutting or gluing, making the procedure more accessible to gamers less inclined to take a Dremel tool to their beloved handheld.
Perhaps the best replacement Game Boy display available is from a company called FunnyPlaying. This high-resolution screen has fantastic color and contrast, and it gives anyone who can solder a few wires the option of adding brightness controls. Out of all the aftermarket display upgrades, Makho gives FunnyPlaying's V2 kit the highest marks: "It’s pretty much perfect, as far as I can tell. It still could go a little farther on power consumption, but I don't think there's a good way around that. You gotta power the conversion hardware and the new screen as well."
With this essential fix for the console's Achilles’ heel out of the way, it makes sense that what’s left on any modder's wish list are nice-to-haves, additions that let Game Boy enthusiasts customize the less-critical components. Kyle Capel, CEO of online store Hand Held Legend, stocks a wide variety of mods that can tweak a Game Boy's exterior appearance or bestow it with new functionality. Want to add an internal battery that charges over USB? He's got that. A rainbow of plastic shells and buttons in glow-in-the-dark, translucent, or neon hues? Yep. Custom-cut, scratch-resistant glass screen covers? He's got those too.
"As kids we decked out our Game Boys with lights, screen protectors, battery packs,” Capel says. “Modding Game Boys today not only brings back some good memories, but expands upon the desires we had to make the experience even better. What we would have given to play games in the dark! Now we can play in full color with backlit screens, loud speakers, and modern rechargeable batteries."
Boxy Pixel, a manufacturing house based in Michigan, will sell eager Game Boy modders metal cases that give the famously cheap Nintendo handheld a premium look and feel. "I design all my own components that are CNC machined from aluminum," says Boxy Pixel founder Nick Rose. "I get most of my ideas for my designs from necessity of other modders."
Others are getting their designs using more crafty methods. The resourcefulness of the Chinese manufacturing world often leads to a rapid dissemination of ideas—and sometimes involves outright intellectual property theft. Small makers trying to peddle their wares frequently find strikingly similar versions of their unique components being sold elsewhere at a discount by shifty and nimble overseas retailers. Even electronic components like Ben Grimmett's screens can be copied almost exactly.
"Our first clone was found on Taobao,” says Grimmett, referring to the popular Chinese online marketplace. “It was identical right down to our name and website printed on it. Knowing another person or company spent the time to copy our work, reverse engineer our code—it was an honor, but it also made me feel a little nauseous,"
"Having said that, in the last few months or so we've seen some great innovation coming out of China. Copies of our screen kit that have in some ways improved upon our first versions made us evolve our design further to compete." Grimmett's latest screen upgrade, called Aioli, is his response to the copycats. This new kit, he says, should be almost as easy to install as his imitators’ wares, but will suck down less power and provide smooth frame rates.
The Game Boy platform itself has its limitations, just like any aging digital device. Old capacitors and fuses can burn out. Power switches can corrode and break. But between its flash-based game cartridges and a thick plastic construction that's proven to be close to indestructible, the Game Boy is a born survivor. "Game Boys are extremely tough, and as such, most electronic components on the circuit boards can be fixed or replaced. They will be here for a while," says Boxy Pixel's Nick Rose.
And as long as Game Boys are still kicking around, the tinkerers will tinker. InsideGadgets, run by a hardware hacker who goes by the name Alex, hosts a Discord chat where aspiring Game Boy modders brainstorm and dissect the latest mods. He’s been in the scene for around a decade. The Game Boy was his first hack, and he’s been using the handhelds to make misfit electronic toys ever since.
Alex has come up with some wacky creations, like an adapter board with a display-out for a TV, a Game Boy with a big 7-inch display, and even a custom cartridge that turns a Game Boy into a Bluetooth controller for other systems. "I thought the Game Boy Advance was a nice handheld and that we should be using it as a controller for other things too," he says. "After a couple of hours I had a working prototype."
Despite its ancient chips, Alex says the Game Boy could eventually get a full internal revamp from the community. "If you wanted to, you could design a new board for all systems to have modern components and new features," he says. "One of the users on our Discord is planning to do this with the Game Boy Advance." With a new board designed to natively support features like USB or a high-res screen, the Game Boy could live on indefinitely.
Perhaps it's not a coincidence that the baked-in simplicity from Nintendo’s design philosophy is what gives the Game Boy line an audience in 2020. Even with impressive, cheap clones available—as well as successors like the $50 Sega Game Gear Micro and the $200 Analogue Pocket, a device with a high-res screen that's compatible with multiple gaming systems—fans are adamant that only the real thing will do.
"No phone or box with a screen can replicate a genuine memory like those we have with our Game Boys," says Kyle Capel from Hand Held Legend.
At its core, the quest to update the Game Boy is one fueled by nostalgia and a longing for a simpler time. In the Game Boy’s heyday, there were no software updates to download over Wi-Fi, games started up at once, and a fresh set of AAs was all you needed to keep playing all day.
“There is something simple and satisfying about plugging in a game cartridge, turning it on, and pushing some buttons,” says Boxy Pixel’s Nick Rose. “Game Boys take you back to a time when things were simple and technology could still cast a spell. On a practical level, these modifications are a form of upcycling. Each piece that is modified becomes useful again and won’t end up in a pile of rubbish. Unlike some antiques that hang on the wall, this one can be used and enjoyed.”
The Game Boy lived a long life. From its launch in 1989 until its discontinuation in 2008, Nintendo's handheld gaming device sold hundreds of millions of units. It went through seven different design iterations, six of which were sold in the US. And because the system was propped up by Nintendo's thousands-deep library of titles, the Game Boy remains one of the top-selling videogame consoles of all time.
But for a gang of modders and hackers on the internet, these machines aren’t something to be left in the past. Rather, these underpowered, inexpensive toys are canvases for creativity and experimentation. Groups of hackers who congregate on the r/Gameboy subreddit, on Discord, on Instagram, and across YouTube have been dragging Nintendo’s tiny, world-beating machine into the 2020s by creating a cottage industry of parts, custom components, and prebuilt modified Game Boys along the way.
Today's Game Boy modding scene largely sprang up in response to Nintendo’s own conservative tendencies. Always intent on making its game systems affordable and efficient, the Kyoto, Japan-based company has a long history of keeping its consumer products technologically behind the curve in an effort to hold costs down. Nintendo engineer and Game Boy creator Gunpei Yokoi famously relied on a philosophy of “lateral thinking with withered technology.” In short, Yokoi preferred to find how far older, cheaper tech could be stretched to still provide hours of Pokémon-catching, Goomba-stomping fun.
One example of this mindset is the fact that for years, Nintendo outfitted Game Boys with non-illuminated screens. This meant that a copious amount of ambient light was required to see whatever you were playing. In response, accessory makers offered up all kinds of crazy add-ons, from booklight-like gadgets that shone light onto the screen to bulky screen magnifiers with bulbs and batteries in them. In many ways, the poor display quality of the Game Boy stunted the platform's success by making it impossible to get your game on under dim or inconsistently lit conditions. This became a meme in the early 2000s, when the online comic Penny Arcade posted its take on the handheld's biggest shortcoming.
After 14 years of craning our necks and clipping on light attachments, we got our first light-up Game Boy in 2003 when Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance SP. This clamshell gadget packed a front-lit screen at first, and in later revisions labeled AGS-101, the Game Boy's first backlit LCD. It was a revelation.
So, of course, Nintendo modders got busy figuring out a way to get that backlit display into older models. This was the first transformational mod in the console's history, since it modernized the older Game Boys in a way that made them more playable and, in essence, brought the aged tech back to life.
While the display inside the AGS-101 had shallow viewing angles and less-than-vivid colors, it was the best option for the modders to use; given the odd shape of the hole for the screen in the Game Boy's plastic body, there were only a limited number of aftermarket screens that could be slotted into the device. And using adhesive films or optical glue to add a light to non-illuminated screens had proven to be hit-or-miss; one early company that sold such a kit called Afterburner netted either spectacular results or ugly outcomes, depending on the skill of the installer.
"I mean, it was nice for a while when the AGS-101 screens were nice and cheap, like 30 bucks or so," says modder Makho, who goes by Admiral_Butter_Crust on Reddit. As an enthusiast, he's tested and catalogued most commercially available Game Boy screen kits on his YouTube channel, keeping a notated and frequently updated document on Reddit. "I guess there was like a warehouse full of AGS-101 screens. Game Boy nerds bought them all, and stock ran out."
So, it was the end of the road for the AGS-101 LCD. But where there's a supply chain, there's a way, and the Game Boy modding community got cracking on potential solutions. Realizing the screens they had been using were substandard and expensive, the modders were eager to experiment. "Let's try putting some newer, better screens in there and see what happens," said Makho.
Enter Ben Grimmett, who runs a boutique hardware shop called BennVenn that serves the Game Boy hacking community. Grimmett's shop relied on the AGS-101 display for one of its products, a ribbon cable that adapted the display for use in the older Game Boy Color. The Game Boy Color installation "was complicated and required a fair degree of dexterity to modify the shells to accept an LCD almost as wide as the console itself," Grimmett says. Modders needed to hack away at the plastic inside the Game Boy to fit the newer screen inside, and even then, it was a tight fit that required shaving every possible millimeter from the handheld's circuit board.
"A few months into releasing the Game Boy Color mod, we noticed the prices of reproduction AGS-101 LCDs starting to climb and original AGS-101 consoles being destroyed for the LCD." Through his suppliers in China, Grimmett found a color LCD screen that was the perfect shape for the older Game Boys with square screens. In order to make it work, he had to whip up an adapter cable to let the new display talk to the old 'Boys, and he had to add a custom-programmed chip that got the new screen perfectly in sync with the console's circuit board.
After fine-tuning the design, Ben sent an early kit of the mod, dubbed Freckle Shack, to YouTuber KyleAwsm to debut on his channel.
"This LCD is out of a Palm Centro 690 or something like that. So, like, a 2009 smartphone," said Makho. These small TFT screens sell in bulk for a fraction of the cost of the ones sourced from the AGS-101 consoles.
For the Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, and Game Boy Color, makers like BennVenn, Midwest Embedded, McWill, and a bunch of no-brand online sellers all came up with similar adapters and cables. The new wave of conversion kits all seem to feature the exact same surplus Palm Centro display. Some of the kits even can be fitted into a Game Boy without any cutting or gluing, making the procedure more accessible to gamers less inclined to take a Dremel tool to their beloved handheld.
Perhaps the best replacement Game Boy display available is from a company called FunnyPlaying. This high-resolution screen has fantastic color and contrast, and it gives anyone who can solder a few wires the option of adding brightness controls. Out of all the aftermarket display upgrades, Makho gives FunnyPlaying's V2 kit the highest marks: "It’s pretty much perfect, as far as I can tell. It still could go a little farther on power consumption, but I don't think there's a good way around that. You gotta power the conversion hardware and the new screen as well."
With this essential fix for the console's Achilles’ heel out of the way, it makes sense that what’s left on any modder's wish list are nice-to-haves, additions that let Game Boy enthusiasts customize the less-critical components. Kyle Capel, CEO of online store Hand Held Legend, stocks a wide variety of mods that can tweak a Game Boy's exterior appearance or bestow it with new functionality. Want to add an internal battery that charges over USB? He's got that. A rainbow of plastic shells and buttons in glow-in-the-dark, translucent, or neon hues? Yep. Custom-cut, scratch-resistant glass screen covers? He's got those too.
"As kids we decked out our Game Boys with lights, screen protectors, battery packs,” Capel says. “Modding Game Boys today not only brings back some good memories, but expands upon the desires we had to make the experience even better. What we would have given to play games in the dark! Now we can play in full color with backlit screens, loud speakers, and modern rechargeable batteries."
Boxy Pixel, a manufacturing house based in Michigan, will sell eager Game Boy modders metal cases that give the famously cheap Nintendo handheld a premium look and feel. "I design all my own components that are CNC machined from aluminum," says Boxy Pixel founder Nick Rose. "I get most of my ideas for my designs from necessity of other modders."
Others are getting their designs using more crafty methods. The resourcefulness of the Chinese manufacturing world often leads to a rapid dissemination of ideas—and sometimes involves outright intellectual property theft. Small makers trying to peddle their wares frequently find strikingly similar versions of their unique components being sold elsewhere at a discount by shifty and nimble overseas retailers. Even electronic components like Ben Grimmett's screens can be copied almost exactly.
"Our first clone was found on Taobao,” says Grimmett, referring to the popular Chinese online marketplace. “It was identical right down to our name and website printed on it. Knowing another person or company spent the time to copy our work, reverse engineer our code—it was an honor, but it also made me feel a little nauseous,"
"Having said that, in the last few months or so we've seen some great innovation coming out of China. Copies of our screen kit that have in some ways improved upon our first versions made us evolve our design further to compete." Grimmett's latest screen upgrade, called Aioli, is his response to the copycats. This new kit, he says, should be almost as easy to install as his imitators’ wares, but will suck down less power and provide smooth frame rates.
The Game Boy platform itself has its limitations, just like any aging digital device. Old capacitors and fuses can burn out. Power switches can corrode and break. But between its flash-based game cartridges and a thick plastic construction that's proven to be close to indestructible, the Game Boy is a born survivor. "Game Boys are extremely tough, and as such, most electronic components on the circuit boards can be fixed or replaced. They will be here for a while," says Boxy Pixel's Nick Rose.
And as long as Game Boys are still kicking around, the tinkerers will tinker. InsideGadgets, run by a hardware hacker who goes by the name Alex, hosts a Discord chat where aspiring Game Boy modders brainstorm and dissect the latest mods. He’s been in the scene for around a decade. The Game Boy was his first hack, and he’s been using the handhelds to make misfit electronic toys ever since.
Alex has come up with some wacky creations, like an adapter board with a display-out for a TV, a Game Boy with a big 7-inch display, and even a custom cartridge that turns a Game Boy into a Bluetooth controller for other systems. "I thought the Game Boy Advance was a nice handheld and that we should be using it as a controller for other things too," he says. "After a couple of hours I had a working prototype."
Despite its ancient chips, Alex says the Game Boy could eventually get a full internal revamp from the community. "If you wanted to, you could design a new board for all systems to have modern components and new features," he says. "One of the users on our Discord is planning to do this with the Game Boy Advance." With a new board designed to natively support features like USB or a high-res screen, the Game Boy could live on indefinitely.
Perhaps it's not a coincidence that the baked-in simplicity from Nintendo’s design philosophy is what gives the Game Boy line an audience in 2020. Even with impressive, cheap clones available—as well as successors like the $50 Sega Game Gear Micro and the $200 Analogue Pocket, a device with a high-res screen that's compatible with multiple gaming systems—fans are adamant that only the real thing will do.
"No phone or box with a screen can replicate a genuine memory like those we have with our Game Boys," says Kyle Capel from Hand Held Legend.
At its core, the quest to update the Game Boy is one fueled by nostalgia and a longing for a simpler time. In the Game Boy’s heyday, there were no software updates to download over Wi-Fi, games started up at once, and a fresh set of AAs was all you needed to keep playing all day.
“There is something simple and satisfying about plugging in a game cartridge, turning it on, and pushing some buttons,” says Boxy Pixel’s Nick Rose. “Game Boys take you back to a time when things were simple and technology could still cast a spell. On a practical level, these modifications are a form of upcycling. Each piece that is modified becomes useful again and won’t end up in a pile of rubbish. Unlike some antiques that hang on the wall, this one can be used and enjoyed.”
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