As of today, I will no longer be keeping a website change-log for the TinkerersBlog.net.
I have given the Tinkerer’s Blog change-log enough time to test its utility. And honestly, it fails a basic cost-benefit analysis. The initial idea of it being used as a means to keep track of activity within the website, and guide the users towards the general trajectory of activity done by me – does have value.
However, it is insignificant when compared to the extra work load of actually having to manage and maintain it. It genuinely adds yet another layer of friction for successfully producing content for this website. Something that I am already struggling with as is, with my busy lifestyle and its myriad commitments. As such friction must be removed/limited in order to allow me to increase my output here. This blog’s workflow must be streamlined for the sake of efficiency. And this change log isn’t valuable enough to justify its continued existence within that paradigm.
In addition. At time of writing, the current state of the change-log is out-of-date. I forgot to upkeep it during the past couple of entries. And now it would be more work than it is worth to go back and update it using dates concurrent to the previous entries’ publications. For nothing really, in terms of a return for efforts and time.
With my leisure time I recently completed my first play-through of a video-game that came out this earlier this month (August 2026) named ReStory. In it you play as a repair technician in 2000’s Akihabara Tokyo Japan. Whose job it is to repair consumer electronics for the public. Including devices such as mobile phones, games consoles, electronic toys, and personal computers.
This inspired me to see if I can do this in real life. Can I – a crappy hobbyist repair tech actually manage to fix every item that is represented in this game?
The structure of the challenge I find appealing; a distinct and discrete list of consumer electronics to get through. No more, no less. I will even follow the game’s protagonist methodology of buying broken devices from the internet to then repair for resale (or shop decoration 😉 ).
official image taken from Steam store page
Technical notes
game name: “ReStory: Chill Electronics Repairs”
release date: 2026-08-06
game version: 1.0.013r
repairable devices: 29
ReStory Repair Challenge rules
Now that the fluff is out of the way. To the rules themselves:
1) To win the challenge one must repair every device featured in ReStory (v1.0). 1.a) There are 29 total devices across various categories, and they are listed below.
2) Alternative to repairing a faulty device: performing a full disassembly & reassembly of a working device counts as a successful repair.
3) Device substitutions can be made providing there is a good reason for it. 3.a) E.g. I have a near-enough device and don’t want to buy the specific device listed. 3.b) E.g. working on a Nintendo DS Lite, instead of an original Nintendo DS.
4) To consider a device completed, an article of the work must be published here, and linked below.
Device list
Note #1: ReStory is licenced to feature Atari products, so the names presented are official. The rest of the devices have either parody or generic names of their real world equivalent.
Note #2: These devices are organised according to ReStory’s categories. Even though they are not accurate to the nature of the devices.
This article is going to be updated slowly as the constituent articles are published and linked here. Additionally I do not intend to add more devices to this challenge, as ReStory updates – adding more content to their game. There is no explicit time limit to complete this challenge, however I would like it done by the end of 2028. Challenge start 21st August 2026. I will pin this article, as it is an ongoing project.
#0040: 1 Day Challenge Article: My opinion on AI technologies
NOTE: This article may have used AI, but was definitely written by an ape.
Preamble
I should state that I have not written anything in a while. Predominately I blame busyness. (It is the most common form of laziness after-all.) However perfectionism is also a solid secondary as to why my output here is so low. I have strangled many articles that I found 80% satisfactory. But I just couldn’t press publish because I knew that if I just put a little more effort into them they could be great. One more read through, and rewrite, one more supporting paragraph. One more edit to trim the fat. This all adds on and exhausts me to the point that the draft gets put on ice… Citing that: “I’ll do it when I have a little more time later.”
Well. This exercise is a way of trying to kill both birds with one stone. I want to give myself a solid deadline for making an article. 1 day. From start to finish. Initial notes, media collection, 1st draft, revision edit, and publish. All in a single day. The topic I have chosen for this 1 day article is… AI. More specifically I’d like to generally opine on what I think about AI. As a technology, as a business, and its effects on our lives and culture. It’ll be a rough and ready article.
So without further ado let’s begin.
What is AI? (Or rather what do I mean when I say AI?)
AI stands for Artificial Intelligence. However (thankfully) as of 2026 we don’t yet have a True AI. Id est: a real sentient or sapient intelligence. A self aware entity capable of reflection and personal growth. What we do have is various data manipulation models and scripts that we refer to as AI. Such as Large Language Models (LLMs), or chat bots (e.g. Personal Digital Assistants). I am not going to pretend to know more about this subject than I do – which is not much.
However I am familiar with using generative AI. AI models that create a novel output. Such as text, images, and various other media. As I understand this they do this by creating internal models by copying media that is fed to them. For example ChatGPT collects information by scraping websites then reconstituting that information and passing it to a chat bot which engages the user in conversation. That’s how I broadly understand it. So if you ask it for restaurant recommendations, it will scrape Yell and Google Reviews, then present that information in conversation to the user according to their criteria. E.g. location, food-type, budget, hygiene rating, etcetera.
I will primarily continue to use ChatGPT as an example use case of AI, as it is the one that I am most familiar with by a fair margin, and it is a good generalist that does a little bit of everything. It searches like Google Gemini, it can create images like Mid-journey, it could create code like Claude-code, and so forth. It is a Jack of all trades.
Is AI good for us?
Yes, but mostly no. Hear me out.
Information veracity and reliability
Firstly AI information output can not be implicitly trusted, and hence should not be used in a professional setting. Or any setting where liability may be an issue. ChatGPT warns users of its inherit unreliability within the chat box itself. Observe their disclaimer. “ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info.” Basically they wash their hands of any liability. How the user uses this information of dubious veracity is entirely up them. As are the consequences. In my opinion this means that AI can not be used for anything of deep importance. At least not as a stand alone source. Think looking up health symptoms, or asking for legal advice.
Why is AI provided information considered unreliable?
Two main reasons pop to mind. One is “AI Hallucinations”. This is were an AI agent would just spew out inaccurate information that it just made up whole cloth, or tried to bridge disparate datums with faulty assumptions. In the YouTube example video, the AI used by these users made up reference cases that either did not exist, or did exist but the AI misrepresented the context and case law that was illustrated in the specific named case. Watch the video.
The second reason why information provided from AI agents shouldn’t be implicitly trusted is to do with its source(s). Where does ChatGPT get its information from? The Internet. Is the internet filled with bad/inaccurate/malicious information? Yes. If it is present in volume, or in publications that the AI considers authoritative. Then is at a real risk of regurgitating the bad information to its users. AI can act like a magnifier for any bad info that is already in circulation. Such as information presented by ideologically captured (once prestigious) institutions, information in a main stream media circular source loop, or information that is in such volume that it could be considered Vox Populi. This is especially dangerous when it is presented by a vocal minority speaking on behalf of the majority across multiple locations online.
How to use AI even though the information is unreliable?
I do find it rather funny, because when I was in school I was told not to use Wikipedia.org as a reference for my essays. This is because it is not considered a reliable source; due to its core nature of compiling information from the public with little in the way of information discernment and validation. Wikipedia has the same weakness as modern AI. It draws its information from the public who are inherently unreliable, and from official (e.g. main stream media) sources who have been known to selectively report/omit information in order to push agendas/narratives, based on their political affiliations.
However both can be used constructively when researching a topic. To put it bluntly: they are both a good jumping on point. They are both good for an initial orientation on a subject. As long as you can read and compartmentalise the information provided, attaching a mental asterisks to the information to flag it. So that it is not integrated into one’s world view naively. I genuinely think that many if not most people do not have the ability to do this reliably. (Myself included.) We are too prone to cognitive biases, logical fallacies, first movers advantage… etcetera.
Additionally following Wikipedia’s listed sources is very useful for learning more about a given topic, and finding more authoritative sources on information. For example a book written by the author being studied. ChatGPT likewise can be asked to list its sources. Example prompt: “Can you list and summarise Kuji-In for me please. List sources. Prioritise books as a source.”
AI’s core methodology of replacing people
AI at its core is a technology designed to supplant and replace people. It is marketed to businesses as a way to replace staff. And save money by not having to pay their wages. At least initially, it seems as of 2026 the marketing has shifted tenor from “replacing” staff, to “augmenting” staff in order to increase productivity. Marketing bullshit. At the end of the day it has the same results. The technology’s presence lowers the need/demand for staff in general.
This means that it is fundamentally bad for the economy. As it causes job losses. Especially in the white collar office worker sector. Who are usually from an upper-working to middle class background. People who constitute the largest population of people with significant disposable income. This disposable income fuels the economies of the West, especially the UK. Which is primarily in the tertiary sector. And this demographic is the primary consumer base. Who buys the daily Starbucks/Costa coffee on the way to work every day? Who buys lunch every day? Who spends the most on restaurant food delivery? Or taxi services? Or is remodelling their house every 7th year, or replacing their cars every 5th?
Is it the once in a while purchases (assuming fiscally responsible) of the lower working class or underclass (benefits people), or is it the upper classes who aren’t in significant numbers enough to drive public consumption trends. No. It’s the exact demographic of people most affected/displaced by AI. There will be negative down stream to service workers and the tradesmen that service this demographic. Damaging the purchasing power of the core consumer bulk in a service economy country like the UK, will have significant negative fallout on all sectors and people.
AI’s frivolous use cases
Whenever I see AI being advertised to consumers. (Not businesses like above.) The use case always seems to be frivolous and largely unnecessary. many times it is designed to help the user avoid putting in any effort into their own life. Consider the example official advertisements that I have cherry picked here. Look at the situations where the consumer find themselves in, and how they use the AI to get out of it, as well as their conduct and mentality. The people featured seem like low quality trash people. They lie to the people around them, they are lazy, and they are irresponsible: often leaving things to the last minute. AI is being presented here as a tool to enable idiots. Just my opinion.
Also look at the ChatGPT ad of “You can just finish the work”, notice how it cuts the user out of the loop. There is great danger in allowing a computer to remove you from the process. It aggregates all the information in the files provided, creates a presentation for upper management, and sends it. All without user oversight. Just liability/blame if anything goes wrong. I wonder what could go wrong with that? It’s all too easy to show one’s arse with this over-reliance on automation. Building habits that enable complacency.
Look at the below adverts. All for AI personal agents. ChatGPT, Meta AI, Adobe Acrobat AI, and HP AI. All different companies. However the core use case is the same. Offloading cognitive labour from the user’s brain to the machine. What people don’t realise about short cuts, is that they ultimately harm you more than they help. Offloading cognitive labour, enables laziness and is an opportunity lost at learning (and hence growing). This tech is a crutch, that will guarantee that the patient will never walk straight again.
Can’t be bothered to read the reference materials, yet somehow can write loads base off of a summary.
AI and Privacy
I know that the modern man seriously does not care a lick about their own privacy. Often citing a defeatist rhetoric to justify their inaction, or active participation against their best interests in this manner. However I would feel remiss if I did not state the privacy concerns regarding AI.
One. People tell these things way too much private/personal information. Thinking that these machines are a black box, where nothing dropped into it will ever comeback to them. What people don’t realise (or perhaps do but don’t care) is that the box has a hatch that opens up at the back. And its technicians and owners see all via that hatch. Now you have strangers holding your private, personal, or otherwise sensitive information. People don’t appreciate the leverage that the masters of the tool now have over the users that do these things. At the very least, it could be used for highly effective targeted advertisement, or selling the data to third parties.
Above refers to service like ChatGPT the phone app, or website. Positions where the data they have is the data that users gave them via prompts. However AI that has complete access to user’s OSes, completely compromises the entire PC. From a security standpoint. This one really shivered my timbers. Who the fuck would give another person (or their agent) complete access to their private computer?
I can envision a situation where a machine sifting through a user’s files for a task: finds a media files that it flags as illegal for whatever reason. Then due to mandatory reporting policy – one in the EULA that the user didn’t read – reports the user to the authorities. Suddenly police are in your home, your PC is being seized, and reports are being made. All over what could amount to nothing. Cartoonishly extreme I know, but not outside the realm of real possibility. A more mundane example would be that the AI attaches private files to emails, shared projects, or correspondence that you may have wished it did not. It is a security risk in this regard.
This isn’t an environmental complaint, although there are plenty of those in regards to data centres, electricity consumption, and water use. I am not knowledgable, nor interested enough to talk on that. This is about the information ecosystem.
I would like to put forth the idea that AI products act as parasites. Hurting the very host they need to live. The specific AI product I want to example are AI summaries built into search engines. Like Google, and DuckDuckGo. (Note: I was surprised that Bing and Yahoo did not have AI search summaries.) Consider what an AI search engine summary actually does. It scrapes the information from third party websites to then present it to the user in an edited and easily digestible format. This process completely usurps the actual NEED for the user to visit the source websites themselves. This means that the user is satisfied without visiting and patronising the underlying websites from which the information was sourced. Usually by seeing third party adverts on these sites. This results in the business of running a website becoming less profitable, and even less viable.
Meaning that the presence of the AI summary actively damages the source that it itself uses to function. Like a parasite leaching off of a host. If the parasite gets strong enough or numerous enough it could even kill the host. Which would quickly cause the parasite to starve to death (assuming it couldn’t locate a new host). These AI summaries actively starve the very websites they use for information from the funding that keeps them alive. This means that the number and quality of source websites will diminish as AI summary use expands. A true example of the enshitification of the Internet.
Who is to blame for this? Is is the avaricious corporation, or the lazy convenience-addicted habitual path-of-least-resistance walking consumer? Why not both? My point is that the core financial incentive for people to put good information on the Internet, is actively damaged by the AI search summary tool. Which needs that good information to be of any use at all. It’s actually a sad situation. A starving snake eating its own tail out of necessity. Or maybe a better analogy would be a farmer who poison his own land by driving a leaking harvester.
I’ve herd people advocate for the idea of a revenue share with the source websites to offset this market usurpation. And it might work. Maybe if companies all of a sudden decide that they care about the future, and not about short term quarterly returns for shareholders. Unfortunately they are simply not structured in a way where they are incentivised to care about the future in any real respect. Obviously this is just my opinion on this.
Is AI a business fad?
I will say little on this for risk of really showing my ignorance. What I will say is that I have seen many people compare the “AI bubble” to the “Dot-COM bubble”. Apparently in the early 2000s there was a fad where every major business felt the need to incorporate web services into their business regardless of whether it made sense for them personally, or not. It was predominantly done to acquire share holder funds, by projecting the image of a forward thinking and growing business. Regardless of whether or not the website services that they advertised to prospective share holders actually had any value within them. I think the actual dot-com bubble was about primarily web businesses that did nothing but suck up share holder money, that is until the jig was upped.
I see an analogue in AI technologies today. It seems like every company in the technology sector has AI services which they advertise proudly. Regardless of use or relevance to their primary business model. And even outside of the tech sector, every other large corporation has some kind of AI service available — many of which are useless. Just there to tell prospective shareholders that your business has a foot in AI. And hence are a modern, forward looking, and growing company. It’s all surface level appearance based marketing to make their business more appealing to the cursory inspections of shareholders.
Is AI a bubble?
As a roll on from the fad conversation, I want to briefly discuss the future of the AI from a business prospective. I have heard rumblings of an AI bubble bursting. Once the naive investor money dries up that is. This is because AI products are largely not profitable. Id Est: they do not make more money, than they cost to develop and run day-to-day. In addition I have see an image circulating around the internet of how incestuous the funding actually is with big-tech companies and AI. Observe below. This implies that the money input (from outside sources) is fading, and instead companies are playing a game of hot-potato with debt and circular funding. A game that will eventually fail once one company defaults on a loan. Which would then cause a domino effect; that could then cause the collapse of the entire sector as a consequence.
The 7 Trillion AI Gamble Is Failing. Big Tech is TRAPPED Right NOW.
This is where I will throw around the term “Dead Internet Theory”. It is a theory that human users are becoming rarer and rarer on the Internet to the point that we could be drowned out by machines in the near future if we haven’t been so already. Bots communicating with bots en-masse. I personally think that it is not the case, at least not yet. However the presence of machines on the Internet is no longer something that could be denied.
Consider the YouTube comments sections. How many of those comments are from actual people? I have seen many that are obviously a chain of bot accounts replaying to each other trying to sell a product. Be it some no-name’s course, or a random shit-coin that someone wants to pump, or just some scammer’s Whatsapp. These comment chains usually come in the format of a comment that is tangentially related to the video content, that then mentions its product in passing, or asks for a solution. Then followed by reply accounts saying something like X product/service really helped me. Etcetera.
The scam adverting bots are easy to identify. However ones that are not are the political narrative bots. Let me ask you a question. Say that you are watching a politically divisive video. Then you scroll down to the comments section. How do you tell the difference between a bot and an NPC. A bot designed to mindlessly rattle off from a prescribed script. Compared to a human who is a tribally captured useful idiot online, rattling out buzz words, slogans, talking points, and rhetoric, as well as regurgitating statistics that they half remember from tribal sources. How do you tell the difference between a machine reading from a script, and a person reciting dogma? I personally don’t know. What I do see is the sheer volume of vitriol, or dare I say the word: “misinformation” on certain topics by suspect accounts.
Account age, geographic location, topic under discussion, and account username formatting. That is typically what sets off flags for me. Say all the people with very strong opinions are all new accounts, with no history on the platform. Now consider that all the accounts are from areas known for having bot farms such as China or India. All commenting on a video exclusively discussing US politics. Perhaps the topic under discussing has political relevance/significance to either a national power, or group of interest who would have the resources and would benefit from shaping online discourse/discussion on the topic. And finally bot accounts tend to be made using scripts, hence they will typically have a rhyme and reason to them. A pattern, or template that they all use. For example “john-smith-8783hukhfs”. First name, hyphen, second name, followed by a random string of numbers and letters. There is no hard rules for spotting bots, it’s more of a loose criteria that increases classification confidence. Like I said earlier, it is very difficult to tell the difference between a brainless machine, and a genuine living idiot. Both are incapable of independent thinking.
Bots in the YouTube comments sections example images
(check the full size files linked at the bottom of the article)
AI, culture, marketing, and public opinion
In my view the public opinion of AI has soured across the board. With people becoming increasingly more aware of all the negative affects of AI. Exaggerated or otherwise, a cloud is gathering around the perception of AI in general. Everything from job losses, increased wealth disparity, shrinking middle-class, loss of privacy, increased sophistication of surveillance methods and software – such as facial recognition, to increased RAM and GPU costs. The blame of which is being placed at the feet of AI.
Then add to that the AI tools that actively hurt the ecosystems that they draw from such as image creation tools that use artists work to create their own renders, only to then compete with them for customers. This sentiment is especially pronounced in nerd spaces. I often see YT videos denouncing any AI use, and pointing out AI channels as inferior in quality as well as morally. AI channels are often portrayed as artistically bankrupt thieves in these circles. And within the documentary space, they are known to be rife with unchecked misinformation and historical/factual errors.
Now from the customers perspective AI products are often looked upon as being of inferior quality. Hence use of terms such as “AI slop”. Poor quality videos whose target audience are gullible, easy to dupe people. Such as AI posts on Facebook for older audiences who may lack the discernment to identify and dismiss them. Consider the reactions to large corporations when they produce AI adverts, it genuinely hurts their reputation. At least in the short term — although it could be a storm in a teacup. Genuinely hard to tell with online outrage.
Big company AI adverts that have hurt their reputations
I see AI tools that create code and honestly I have never seen the purpose of these. Outside of hobbyist artists who want to create a video-game while avoiding the technical side of the creation. For example a visual novel game, or a narratively driven walking simulator. For serious companies/businesses I see little reason for them to use code generation tools, because they create as many problems as they solve. what is the reason a company would want products made by a machine with no oversight. With no one in the company who has intimate knowledge of the product. Hence incurring a huge degree of technical debt making the business dependant on the AI product/service. Because without it, they’d have to fight with an undocumented code-base that is alien in formatting, styling, and structure. And the bigger the codebase, the deeper the hole. The more AI is used the more AI needs to be used to keep the cobbled together boat afloat long enough to ship deliverables.
AI personal use
I am running out of time here so I have to move on. I want to discuss AI in my life. How I use it. I use ChatGPT, Duck.AI (which uses ChatGPT), and that’s about it. The funny thing is that I have not paid a penny to use these services. Typically I either use ChatGPT as a search engine, a first call for finding information quickly. Or I use it as for basic image generation.
Yes. Gasp! Despite all the moral grandstanding that it may have seemed like I was taking up against AI use in general; I use AI every day… I just don’t value it enough to pay for it. All my use cases are rather shallow, I either use it to search and sum things up, usually things of low stakes. Or I use it to generate images for my Dungeons and Dragons campaign — something that I would not pay money for. For example commission artwork. AI use in my opinion is in a similar vein to piracy. It is not theft, not does it represent a loss of a legitimate sale. A pirate is not a lost customer. Nor is a pirate a thief. A pirate is a pirate.
I use a free ChatGPT account. Which gives around 3 free image generations a day before it paywalls me. It took around 7 to 11 generations to create a Myconid Warrior wielding Soul Edge (From “Soul Calibur 2”), and a poisoned boomerang. This was done over days because the thing kept generating it wrong. Adding in details that I did not stipulate, or taking away things that I did state on an earlier iteration. It is an annoying process, and one has to learn to accept something that is 70% good-enough, rather than wasting time, energy, and tokens, additionally prompting for decreased returns.
Look at the image of the Myconid Warrior. It took several iterations to get the sword to not be held upside-down in it’s hand. I even had to create a mock up reference image for it to use as a template. I just don’t see a reason to give them any money. Additionally if ChatGPT went away, or terminated this service. Then I would just use another free image creation to make these reference images. And if they went away too (likely because they used ChatGPT under the bonnet), then I would do without. Using official artwork or random Google images to illustrate what I am describing to my players. It is not a big loss. I think I will elaborate more on this in a dedicated article, when I do I will link it below.
Acronyms used
AI – Artificial Intelligence ChatGPT – Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer EULA – End User Licence Agreement GPU – Graphics Processing Unit HP AI – Hewlett-Packard AI LLMs – Large Language Models NPC – Non Player Character OS – Operating System PC – Personal Computer RAM – Random Access Memory US – United States YT – YouTube
Closing thoughts
I am wrapping this article up as of 18:50 2026-08-15. Considering that I started this challenge at 14:00 on 2026-08-14. Already past midday for a 1-day challenge… It is safe to say that this challenge has been failed. Initial writing of article 1st draft at 12:00 2026-08-15 and published 22:16. However failed successfully. I do have an article done. Only it is a day late, and a dollar short.
This isn’t my greatest work I’ll admit. However it has revelled to me how little I actually know about this subject. Any one of the subject paragraphs above could be expanded into an essay of their own. With an equal exertion of research (an time) necessary. However this article has broadly outlined my current understanding of AI in general, as well as demonstrated my attitude towards the technology… Reading it back: I may actually be an AI Luddite. I seem to have the general depth of knowledge of a Luddite. The lack of differentiation between different technologies illustrates this well. It’s all AI baby — especially the tech that isn’t. 😉
Anyway. I’ll leave you with a relevant quote.
“I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.” – Blaise Pascal
#0039: How to access the URL address of YouTube video adverts
Preamble
If you are anything like me: then at one point or another you have come across an interesting YouTube advert. One that you may have wished to save for whatever reason. This article is a brief guide as to how to go about doing that. Primarily, this article is focused upon quickly acquiring an advert video’s unique URL. This is the direct address of the video itself. This can be done as and when an advert appears, without using any external tools.
However, once you have acquired an advert video’s URL – you may then wish to apply additional tools to download the video file itself. A few of which are recommended below. By the way, this method only works on desktop PCs. (I.e. not mobile device OSes such as Android or iOS.) This is because the specific steps illustrated here require a typical desktop web-browser. Although, there is very likely an alternative method for mobile operating systems; that achieves this same goal. However, that method is outside the scope of this article.
A note on the time sensitive nature of information presented herein
Please be advised: since the information presented here pertains to a specific niche functionality within the live version of the YouTube website. A website that is in a state of constant iterative development. I cannot speak to the forward looking accuracy of this information.
In other words: This method may cease to work on any given day. This is especially true if any significant changes are made to any of the website functions referenced within this method. Or even to underlying/invisible support functions not mentioned. The likelihood of which increases with time elapsed since initial publication of this article. This method works as of December of 2023.
[2026-05-14] EDITOR’S NOTE: This method works as of May of 2026. I kept the original written date in to demonstrate how long some of these articles can remain in stasis. I.e. Done. But not published for whatever reason.
What is an “unlisted video”?
Before we go on, we need to understand something of the nature of the files that we are after. Within the context of the YouTube website: an unlisted video is a video with zero discoverability. Basically, it does not show up when using either YouTube’s video search functionality; or a third party search engine like Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo’s video search functionality. This is because search services of this kind only return publicly listed videos. In addition, unlisted videos are also not served to users via recommendation algorithms, for the same reason. They are simply not in the pool of applicable videos. You could even navigate to a specific YT channel that hosts known unlisted videos and they would not appear.
The “unlisted” status is typically used for videos that are intended to remain undiscoverable to the general public. Although these videos can still be distributed, albeit in an alternative and limited manner by design. Broadly speaking there are three main ways to distribute unlisted videos. Manually, private directories, and distribution algorithms.
Manually. This is usually done by the video owner providing the recipient(s) with a direct URL address. (E.g. via email, Whatsapp, X, or whathaveyou). Simple. The second method is by listing the video address in a directory somewhere for selective/limited discoverability. For example using YouTube’s (comparatively excellent) infrastructure to host videos that are then linked behind a paywall in a member’s only section of a third-party website. Such as in the case of a WordPress hobby blog wanting to deliver videos to its paid membership as a premium user perk.
Imagine a blog where someone paints Warhammer 40K miniatures, and writes about their painting techniques, choice of paints, tools, and general work-flow. It’s all images and text. In addition to this they have a 3 hour long video of painting the miniature in real time, for premium members who wish to see the methods implemented in this manner. WordPress cannot natively host this video, however you could embed the video into the article, and have a banner over it asking the user to log in to access it. (Please verify this claim.)
Now, this type of thing was more prominent before YouTube started hosting members-only videos itself. Likely as a response to this exact phenomenon. Since it used to cost them money hosting and delivering the media in this manner, albeit with no reciprocal benefit. I don’t even think YT runs adverts on unlisted videos by default. “Think” being the operative word here. I just don’t see many people actually seeing the unlisted video in its default state to enable an ad to be ran on it. In addition many unlisted videos would be delivered in a particular way where a pre-roll ad would not be viable. For example if the unlisted video was an advert itself (look below).
So why are we discussing unlisted videos? Unlisted videos are specified here because all of the videos (that I have encountered) being actively used for advertisement purposes are unlisted in status. Only existing on YouTube’s servers for the purpose of being served to an audience under select conditions. Such as a 15 second video configured for an un-skippable pre-roll ad spot, or a 3 minute skippable video designated for a mid-roll ad spot. And since these are the exact videos that we are trying to acquire, we must acquaint ourselves with the circumstances and characteristics that they are presented in, and with respectively.
Tools used
Desktop computer (laptop) running a Linux Mint OS
Mozilla Firefox (web browser)
(optional) OS built-in screenshot software
Xed (text editor program)
3rd party video downloading programs/services
“Easy Youtube Video Downloader Express” (Firefox add-on program)
1) Quickly pause the advertisement video before it ends.
2) Right-click on the video and choose the “Stats for nerds” option.
This will give you a pop-up containing detailed information regarding the currently displayed video. Note that, at the time of writing, YouTube’s right-click menu for advert videos has significantly less menu items than their regular videos. Including the menu item “Copy video URL”. Which is basically what we are trying to do here.
3) Look at data labelled “Video ID”.
It’s an alphanumeric code that should look something like this: “MEOZkf4imaM”.
4) Copy that code.
Either highlight it with the mouse, right-click and select “copy” from the drop-down menu. Or if that ability is disabled for whatever reason, then use the keyboard shortcuts CTRL-C CTRL-V to copy and paste the URL. You could even manually type the code into a text editor. Be mindful however: it is case-sensitive. Additionally, I would recommend taking a quick screenshot at this point for future reference. Just in case it all disappears whilst you’re faffing about with this.
[2026-05-14] EDITOR’S NOTE: YT no longer allows this text to be highlighted. Let alone copied to clipboard. It now needs to be manually transcribed by eye into a text document. This is an example of an underlying or invisible functionality that was changed in the interim of time. The loss of being able to highlight this text has made the process notably more laborious.
5) Use the basic YouTube video URL address below as a template, and swap out the alphanumeric video code within it for your one.
6) Input this modified URL into the browser address bar, and press enter.
Done. That should bring you to the actual webpage containing the unlisted YouTube video for the advert.
7) (optional) download the video using additional tools.
At this point you may decide to use third-party tools to download the video file itself. Tools such as the Firefox addon “Easy Youtube Video Downloader Express”. Alternatively, the Linux console program “youtube-dl”: could be used to download the video by inputting the URL alone into it. Another option is to use an online website that downloads YT videos like “turboscribe.ai” – just to name a random one that worked at the time of publication. Not necessarily recommending it here.
Note: please keep in mind that YouTube itself does not want third-party services like the ones mentioned downloading its videos. As this competes directly with a paid service they provide. Namely YouTube Premium, which offers a local video download functionality amongst other services. However a YTP downloaded video is inferior to a third party downloaded video.
This is because the YTP video has a whole host of limitations imposed upon it. Such as only being viewable via the YouTube app. As well as copy-protection, and timed deletions. Basically the app functions as DRM software for the video files stored locally on your device. Curbing users’ ability to manipulate the files as they wish.
This is simply a no-go for me because the main reason I download files is to archive them. The second reason is to play the videos on random ancient devices that serve specific purposes. Such as my tinkering workbench’s android tablet which is solely used to host device manuals/documents and relevant YouTube tutorial videos. This use-case demands files not have any copy protection, nor have any app dependencies, or internet linked features such as timed deletion.
Because of third parties providing a superior service to YouTube itself in this regard; one that affects it’s bottom line. There has been a long going game of cat-and-mouse in regards to YouTube changing the technical format of how it hosts and serves its videos. This is in order to curb the utility and usability of third party tools of all stripes. In a similar vein as to how it handles/fights Ad-blockers. So try out lots of different tools and use whichever works at the time. Also don’t be surprised when the tool that you have become comfortable using for a while, suddenly ceases to work. As that is simply the way of things here. Adapt, adjust, and move on.
Example use-case: blog article
Say I want to write an article about YouTube allowing actual – I mean alleged (no sue plz) scammers to advertise on their platform. I could use the above method to acquire evidence (a copy of the video ad) that I can then store locally without limitations. This is so that it can’t just randomly disappear at a moment’s notice. Case in point – the videos are still up at the time of publication. (Probably because it costs them nothing to leave them up on YT.) However the website that the videos link to is gone-ski. AND their domain is currently (2026-05) available to purchase on the market! Double-dong done-ski!
Just in case they come back from the dead: I’ll say that in all seriousness – obviously these guys are NOT scammers. They just have a method of “harnessing an endless supply of free electricity in the ground” that can be used to power your house. For free. For ever. Which for some reason they can not articulate the basic principles of without invoking fanciful conspiracies of “big energy companies” hiding a “simple device” for a “100 years”. These types always tell a story, spin a narrative in this manner. Then push their audience to click the link in their bio and probably send them money at the least.
The video even ends with a odometer-style counter quickly ratcheting up numbers so you know they are serious. Evoking a sense of urgency as you sympathetically visualise your energy bill rise. With these NOT scams – they either use something like this, or a countdown timer – to evoke a similar sense of urgency. Time is running out! Limited time offer! Hurry before they are all gone! Simple FOMO. (Almost sounds like Latin, eh? Pricks.)
The whole video presentation is obviously targeting non-technical laymen people. The fear angle working especially well on the vulnerable, as it dangles hope in front of them. Hope for a better tomorrow, that could easily be attained with little effort on their behalf. A simple and accessible solution for their life problems. I hate this kind of stuff. Everything from the clueless desperation of the herd, leading themselves to slaughter; to the merciless predation of the scavengers, targeting the weak and the sick. It is a part of our humanity that I do not like dwelling on.
On a more personal note. (Feel free to skip.) Honestly I cannot relate to these types of people in the slightest. I don’t even want to put my face on the consequence-less crap that I write here. Mostly because I want it to stand on its own merits in the void. But also for privacy reasons. As I like having a small online footprint – since it allows me to be nimble in social situations and very often it gives me the opportunity to curate a first impression with a new party. Something that you cannot do when your personal life (or face) is online.
Look at these people: their faces are forever linked to this (alleged) scam for anyone willing to look them up. It is a forever black mark against them. One that could potentially undermine all future prospects. Business, employment, romance, anything – and at any time. You could be halfway through a deal, when the other party are sent this vid of you (allegedly) scamming online a decade ago. And they would be in their right to sever the relationship on the grounds that you may not be an ethical actor. At the very lest it would erode trust/credibility, making future deals less likely. It could genuinely be a reason as why a current employer may sack you, if your work requires elevated trust. Such as working with money or vulnerable people.
The internet is forever… and unforgiving. Don’t forget that. Learn from the mistakes of others. Think of it this way, imagine if any of these men walked into your shop/life. Knowing that they participated in organised (alleged) scams in the past. Would you do business with these tools, even if it happened a while ago? I personally wouldn’t – let someone else take the risk on ’em.
Video Examples
Please note: the featured videos below are used here under fair-use for the purpose of criticism.
DRM – Digital Rights Management FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out OS – Operating System PC – Personal Computer URL – Uniform Resource Locator YT – YouTube YTP – YouTube Premium
Closing thoughts
Firstly, did you enjoy the mini-article within this article. It got preachy quick didn’t it?
Back on task. I like simplicity in most things as a rule. This method is not an exception. Here, I tried to use as few external tools as possible. Using only my default desktop web-browser (any will do) and YouTube’s native functionality in order to access “unlisted” videos. Couple with with common/default OS tools like a text editor, and screenshot program.
As a side and final note: I always find the comments to be interesting under unlisted videos (if they are present that is), because they tend to be made by a select type of individual. The generally inaccessible nature of the video’s homepage acts as a filter for normal people. They tend to say things that are screen-grab worthy. If they haven’t already been deleted that is. Enjoy it when you come across it. Honestly it makes me feel like a net diver. Seeing things that are a little bit off the beaten path like this. It’s cool.
Personal Blog: Entry 2025-01-18 – 2025 Year-end Review and 2026 New Years Resolution
Preamble
Another year has come and gone, and with that: it is time to reflect upon it. What I did well, and what I did not. How I handled life’s challenges, and what decisions did I make within them and why? I have written a private end-of-year personal review document for this purpose. This is not that. This document is an extension of that one however, albeit only pertaining to project work. (I.e. hobby activities.)
A brief on Tinkerer’s Blog activities within 2025
As far as this website is concerned I did very little during the 2025 year. I do not believe this is the actual case. However it is true that I have very little to show here for that year. Just two personal blog posts, not even articles. One personal log entry in February in a similar vein to this document: a reflection on project progress. And the other entry consisted of another personal log. One pertaining to witnessing the March 29th partial solar eclipse. All in all. Not much.
Needless to say I have failed my 2025 goal of posting 12 articles. I believe this failure is due to a combination of factors. The main is simple busyness: I have been working 6 day, 60 hour weeks for a lot more than expected this year. It really helped with my monetary goals. However the time loss had an opportunity cost for every other goal. That’s my plausible excuse out of the way. Heck. Its not even really a good one, once critically examined. As unproductive busyness can be considered a form of laziness. This is because it enables procrastination. The postponement of difficult yet important tasks.
Now for the real reason for my failure. Discipline. I have been undisciplined with the time that I did have. Evidentially I didn’t have time for productive tasks, yet I had time for mindless recreation. Like playing videogames or vegetating in front of the television (YouTube) after a day’s work. I think I fell into the bad habit of putting off project work to the weekend. This weekend unfortunately is within the mystical future that never comes. Because come the weekend (usually just Sunday): there’d be another excuse for not working. Usually it comes in the form of the 3 perpetuals that I mentioned briefly here before. Time, Money, and Energy. Add head-space to that. Although I guess that’s a type of energy. Alongside: brain plasticity, mood, sleep, etcetera…
Somewhere along the way I started stating themes for my years. A theme is something that encapsulates my general attitude for the year. It governs my general modus operandi and orients me (and my actions) towards my top two to three objectives. If not only number one. Last year’s theme was “Grind Gold”. Like in videogames. I wanted to expand my wealth by improving my primary income, adding an auxiliary income, as well as gaining knowledge of money in order to be a better custodian of the resource. So focus on money first and foremost.
With this theme I volunteered for overtime whenever it came up. Which (un)fortunately happened considerably more than expected. Especially when I became known at work as ‘the guy who does overtime on short notice’ guy. Additionally, I setup my eBay shop to declutter and liquidate value. And listened to many (many) financial audiobooks while at work. I learned a lot, the most important being how ignorant I am on the subject of proper money management. For example I opened my first brokerage account in 2024 at the tender age of mid-thirties. To this day I still haven’t learnt to utilise the trading functionalities available, other than the absolute basics. So there is still much work to be done in 2026 for this goal.
2026 theme: “Do! Not Buy.”
2026’s theme is “Do” as in “do things, not buy things” in order to progress. I bought a lot of unnecessary stuff in the year of 2025. Much of it was for projects that I intended to do later. And before I knew it I ran out of “later”, and the year concluded. As it is I am buried in materials (and just a sheer crap-load of things) that are awaiting being used in projects. Resources that could’ve otherwise stayed liquid as money and furthered my pursuit of wealth. Not to mention give me more living space.
I have given much thought to my actions in this regard; this is in order to understand why I do the things I do (or did). I bought a lot of materials for projects that I never got around to doing. Why? I think its because it made me feel like I was legitimately progressing along these projects. It was a cheap (effort wise) way to literally buy the positive feeling of progress. Accomplishment. However it is ultimately farcical. Because the moment labour-effort was necessary to keep the project going: the project’s relevance in my day-to-day life suddenly faded. And the next project became what I was enamoured with. Complete with a new (novel and exciting) shopping list of materials. I was essentially hobby hopping on a smaller scale.
A summary on my 2025 purchases (i.e. the roll of shame)
In December 2024 to January 2025 I bought lots of camping gear and bicycle parts. Taking advantage of the January price slumps and deals. Also my new year’s zeal for the outdoors. February consisted of philosophy and chess books. Which I did not read. In March and April: I bought a (spares & repair) Tassimo Vivy 2 pod coffee machine, as well as £50 in pods, £50 in reusable pods (for myself and the household), and an extra broken machine to part out. Which I did fix, and use, and wrote 2 good articles on. One on repairing the machine, and the other on creating Americano drinks from espresso pods. Did not publish either.
May purchases consisted of more books. This time on religion, Stoicism, and a Dostoevsky box-set. Equally unread. Tool kits for working on mobile phones. I believe my Blackview A100 decided to break around now. Still broken. I also purchased a lot of first aid materials for the household as well as cases and boxes to stow them in. Got the prepper itch, and felt “unprepared”.
June I discovered an interest in better coffee. This was prompted by running out of Tassimo pods, coupled with an unwillingness to buy more expensive single-use landfill. Started watching James Hoffmann (amongst others) on YouTube. And consequently purchased a fancy grinder (£100 KinGrinder K6), pour over kettle, and drip coffee set. I have yet to use the pour over equipment, as I only use the grinder and a thermal French press. Still success. Also more books: this time a Friedrich Nietzsche box-set and several Albert Camus books. Introduced to me by watching YouTube channel “Unsolicited Advice”. Unread.
July to August: I bought multiple (cheap) solar charge controllers. Used them for making use of the large 250W solar panel I purchased the year before. Multiple USB plug kits for fashioning and repairing data cables. Two different screwdriver kits, because I just wanted them. RCD plugs, plural. Oh, and LEGO. LEGO friends sets: Mia and Olivia’s tree-house, as well as some LEGO city bundles. Stuff for the game that I was working on at the time called Toy Tactics. A basic tabletop tactics game that uses toys that the child already owns as units/pieces. It was designed as a gateway drug to tabletop games like Warhammer 40K. Unfinished.
September October. I bought parts and accessories to repair an air fryer. Fixed! Then broke again a week later. I bought plenty of Raspberry Pi stuff. Multiple computers for different tasks that I envisioned. A retro games console, a Pi-hole, a seed box, a stack of Pi’s functioning as a single “supercomputer”, etcetera. As well as various necessary accessories for them. Pi camera, micro-SD cards, micro-HDMI adapter, etcetera. I also bought a £300 E-ink monitor because the opportunity arised to get one at such a bargain price. Didn’t use any of the RPi stuff; my interest waned. Nor the monitor; as I bought it for programming and reading — and I didn’t do much of either this year. Also more LEGO, although this time it was robot sets. Two older LEGO Mindstorms NXT boxes at £40 quid a pop.
Finally November December. Here I continued the robot theme by buying accessories that allows a Raspberry Pi to interface with the LEGO Mindstorms peripherals. As well as around 10 PlayStation 2 games (for the collection). More LEGO in the form of a set of Bohrok Va (for the collection). More RPi/microcontroller peripheral boards (wanted to learn about I2C and SPI). Books (plural) on computers (found a bargain – not read). An RPi kit called the Pimoroni Scroll Bot. Got it cheap in an auction. Haven’t opened it to date. And finally a joblot of broken Casio watches and a used working unit for spares. Untouched.
Well. That was 2025. (Albeit somewhat inaccurate time-wise.) A year of mimetic desire, lifestyle cope spending, and opportunist purchases. To break that cycle I have a rule for 2026. And that is to only buy what is strictly necessary. So no more whimsical purchases fuelled by a temporary mimetic interest. Monkey see, monkey want. No book purchases either! I have a huge backlog, and one of this year’s goals is to get a library card. I want to become a book reader, not stay a book buyer. A card will help the transition along, as I can just borrow any book that catches my interest instead of buying it. Additionally the two week borrow window will incentivise actually reading the damn thing. Real deadlines tend to incentivise action like nothing else.
While I am mentioning ‘huge backlogs’: no new Steam game purchases also. I mean I write this as I am tempted to buy an ant based RTS game called “Empires of the Undergrowth”. Guess why? Watching another Youtuber. This time it’s my favourite Civ 5 Pole: Marbozir. I do not need any new computer games, I literally have hundreds available to me, and not time for them.
Going into 2026
Going forwards I have a significantly stricter budget than the previous year’s. This is to stop the silliness of these needless dopamine purchases. And to save the money for more fruitful endeavours. And considering how much crap I bought last year: I have more than enough for this year’s projects (and entertainment), and then some. I have one exception where I can purchase for a project – and that is that it has to be for an active project. The device is on my workbench and needs to get done ASAP. In addition to fitting into the budget. It can’t be for something fun that I want to work on a little “later”. Maybe this weekend. I have seen where that leads.
Do things, do not buy things.
That’s all well and good. Its a nice sentiment. However how will it actually be enacted in real life? Well, its via the day-to-day decision making. Do X, over buying Y. This is something that I have already taken on; as my mentality has changed on how I approach project/hobby work. The change coming from a keen awareness of all the wasteful spending of 2025 on projects that went nowhere.
I’ll give you two examples. A trivial case of doing X over buying Y is that I was going to buy a new calendar. Instead of dropping £2.50 to £9.99 on a calendar for my room; I opted to look online, print a free one off, and use that instead. See it’s the small day-to-day moment-to-moment decisions that matter here. Not an ideal that never really makes it’s way to daily life. Its a small effort, its trivial, but its also a single step of genuine progress.
Now the second example. I am still planning on cobbling together a working watch from the Casio spares and repairs joblot that I have. Then later doing more invasive watch mods. Think backlight LED swaps and LCD tints. However I need some specialised tools for working with watches. Things like a mini-forked pry-tool to remove the watch straps’ spring-bar (without damaging anything); and to a lesser extend other tools such as a jeweler’s hammer and pin to remove a metal strap’s link bars; or the various jigs to hold the watch parts secure.
The kit I was leaning into buying was going for £12 and had everything that I would need going forwards. However strictly speaking: I did not actually need this kit. Although it does look cool. And right now – not the mods that I’d like to do in the future – right now I do not need it to get done what I need to get done. A simple strap replacement, partial disassembly, internal cleaning, and battery replacement. And since I am not sure when (if ever) I will get round to doing the more involved mods which will require these specialised tools – I can’t justify their purchase as an honest need (right now), since I do not need them to get this immediate project finished.
Additionally my current eclectic mix of tools can be cobbled together to form a decent substitute kit. I could even go further and modify some cheap tools to specialise them for working on watches. For example sharpening a nylon plastic pry-tool – one of many I own – to make it thinner, then cut a notch into it to allow it to better encompass the watch straps’ spring-bar.
See I am trying to change my mentality from going to the store as my default primary action, to going to my store. And seeing how I can get done what I want to get done, using the resources I already have. In gaming terms, this would be min-maxing my resources. Getting the most out of what I already have. And it is only when my resources/tooling is insufficient for a given task, should I buy more.
What to expect on Tinkerer’s Blog come 2026
Lots of smaller one-session projects. Projects from my backlog. That are done and 80% written up. I am taking making pixel-art more seriously this year. Look at the title image. That is my base line ability as of today. I wonder where I will be for the 2027 post? And some programming stuff. I need to brush up on Python and C++ in order to make use of all the computers I am sitting on. Then some robotics projects. If I am shooting for the stars: they’ll even be the occasional book review. That’s the plan anyway. Y’know what they say about plans: they never survive first contact with the enemy. Anyway, consider this post 1 of 12 done for 2026.
Thank you for reading. You’ve officially read more than I have this year. 😉
Acronyms used
ASAP – As Soon As Possible HDMI – High-Definition Multimedia Interface I2C – Inter-Integrated Circuit LED – Light-Emitting Diode LCD – Liquid-Crystal Display RCD – Residual Current Device RPi – Raspberry Pi (a single board computer) RTS – Real-Time Strategy (game genre) SDcard – Secure Digital card SPI – Serial Peripheral Interface
Personal Blog: Entry 2025-02-22 – project review and goals
It has been a while since I have posted anything on here. I have left this website dormant for quite a bit. Specifically it has been around 22 months since I last uploaded a post here. Yes, 22 months. That’s two months shy of TWO years! That last post is namely “#0038 – Demonstration of chess game data featured in Cowboy Bebop anime” published on 2023-04-16. Fuck me. And even before that I only posted one more in 2023, number #37 in 2023-02-26. Then another year long break until I was posting at reasonable rate. So early 2022, and backwards.
A number of things have come up in life to cause this. Primarily working full time 50 hour weeks, in addition to dealing with the miscellaneous duties and responsibilities of life. One’s that put a significant claim on our resources as individuals. However I would be remiss in blaming busyness for this failure. I have had the time. I could have put in a single hour a week easily, and that would’ve netted me around 88 total working hours for the 22 month absence. More than enough to get a few quality posts out.
Now, I am mindful of the triumvirate of endlessly employable excuses. In format they are: Time, Money, and Energy. When one fails, the other two could be employed to enable procrastination and laziness. Even in cases where two fail, one will always be there ready and willing to excuse one’s bad behaviour. Consider if someone pins you to the wall on an excuse, and it becomes apparent that you both have the money, and time to do something good for you. The excuse of not having energy is ready and willing to take up the mantle.
Realistically the past couple of years have been busy for me. However having said that, it should be noted that I am aware that busyness is actually a form of laziness. People (such as myself) use being busy as a way to excuse not doing important things. And posting here is important to me. Not that much admittedly, but it is. Rank 5-ish. I should have done more. The funny thing is, its not like I have been abdicating entirely from participating in this hobby.
Over the last couple of years I have done a lot of stuff on the more practical side. I just have neglected to document them here. Off the top of my head: I have Assembled 2 different Outsunny brand metal garden sheds, replaced a shower bar, built a functioning gaming PC from scrap, repaired and analysed a light switch, repaired a washing machine twice (2 different faults), repaired 2 desk fans, etcetera, etcetera. “Blah blah blah, yackity schmakity.” – Hugh Tazmanian Devil.
I think the main reason why I haven’t posted as much is because it often takes more effort to document and write about any given project in a meaningful manner, than it is to actually just get it done. So very often in the moment I intend to do the write up later. (Yes indeed, that fabled “later” that never comes.) But after another work week, once the weekend winds around again often my mind has moved onto the next project. Now two years later, due to my lack of diligence in managing passwords, it has resulted in data loss. Meaning that I have lost pictures of projects that I need for articles. Oh well. Ce la vie. Move on.
A lot of my failings in the past (in relation to this hobby): has not just come from simple laziness, it has also come from the dark side of perfectionism. As I write this I have currently on my computer 33 half-to-almost finished projects. Some folders just contain pictures and videos from the practical, whereas most contain write ups. Being a drafted article, with supporting notes and reference documents.
So I have been working. It’s just for some reason or another I have been consistently dropping out at around the 80% mark. The writing and refining stage of these projects. I think it is because I enjoy the practicals, so there is little discipline needed to do them. However when it comes to technical writing it is easy to get stressed and overwhelmed trying to create something of value to someone. It is too easy to fall into the granularity trap with regards to documenting details. Then get stressed and take a ‘small’ break. Then not come back to it because time ran out and I have work in the morning. It’s a problem I am going to have to judiciously navigate because I do not have an easy answer for it.
Here is one answer I have for my perfectionism. Finish what you start. Sounds obvious eh? No I mean in a single sitting. When you start drafting a section of an article, take the time (in that sitting) to finish it. I am going to do that here. I am writing this blog post in a single sitting. Rereading it for clarity, then publishing it. I am not going to take breaks and work on it over multiple sitting over multiple days. Which would be likely weekend days because I seldom work on this stuff during the work week. A known issue. Start, stop, start, stop. No momentum.
Moving forward, I intend to have published at least 10 articles this year. Yes, considering it is at February’s end now. I need to publish one article every month at a minimum to meet this requirement. It’s not too much considering that I have a large backlog of half finished projects I could cap off and publish. Additionally this dovetails nicely with another new year’s resolution, something else that I am falling behind on. Namely, it is to read 10 (serious) books. This means 10 non-fiction books. After reading each book I will provide a summary of it’s content here. Not a review by any means, more of a brief on the book and it’s teachings as I understand them. I am not going to count these “book review” (yes yes I know) entries towards the 10 post goal. However their addition will make me more actively engaged with managing this website and it’s content.
Well that’s that. Gone awhile, and now I am back. Back again. Tell a friend. Time to put my nose to the grindstone, and hit the books. T-minus 10 months.
One last note before I go. Perfectionism is kicking in right now: as I look to copy this text into the browser. I have made my point here, and communicated my thoughts effectively. However it could be better, much better. Could I just post this? Or would I be better off reading and re-reading it. Then editing it down to get it just right. To make it read better, and to to catch all those pesky grammatical errors: sitting in this text like a hidden object game. Well. Two years of unpublished articles on my desktop say otherwise. Perfect is the enemy of done. And I am done. Print.
Thank you for reading.
Links, references, further reading
Image “Hugh_210x240” sourced from https://looneytunes.fandom.com/wiki/Hugh
I initially launched this website in 2020-02, with nothing but the default wordpress “coming soon” page to show for itself. Then after some months (2020-06) I finally managed to get round to actually publishing content onto it. And ever since then, I have been in a continual (albeit sporadic and intermittent) process of revision and iterative improvement.
So after about a year and a half of having this website online and functioning as intended: I now see the potential need for a master changelog here. A public facing log that will record all notable changes made to the website.
Utility of a public facing website changelog
Although this changelog will record all noteworthy changes made to the website as a whole. I specifically see the utility of this website changelog, with regards to noting changes made to the content of this blog’s articles themselves; rather than the website at large.
What I mean by this, is that it is more important to note post publication changes made to the content of articles. Than it is noting change in the wider website as a whole. This is because most changes made to the wider website outside of the articles hosted here will likely be concerned with aesthetics. Such as an addition/subtraction of a decorative graphic.
Simply put: they are less substantially important changes in terms of affecting the value proposition of the website itself. Although I do intend to note these types of things as well. At least for the most part. Although very minor website changes of this kind are unlikely to be noted.
That being said: I should restate the main function of this changelog. It is to note changes made to article content. This is because this blog’s articles (or blog posts) is where it’s primary (or most substantive) value is as a website. I.e. the primary reason a person may visit this site is to read the articles. This logging will allow readers to avoid confusion when/if they visit an article that they have already read, only to find that the content has to some degree changed within the interim.
My M.O. regarding editing published articles
Once an article has completed the development process and is finally published, I tend to have a habit of coming back to tweak and change things after the fact. This tends to happen some time time after the article is published when I have had sufficient time to rest and cool off on the topic. At this point I am usually more fresh minded, and hence I am more apt to find better methods to get my point across, as well as to spot any residual errors previously missed.
I am of the mind that I should also chronicle these changes as I make them. This is in order to avoid a sense of revisionist history. One caused by the absolute erasure of any mistakes such as: erroneous calculations, half-witted conclusions, or simple misinformation. I admit I am prone to getting it wrong a lot of the time. Especially when it comes to speculations made with limited observations, or ones unfortunately coloured with personal biases.
With that in mind, I should take a moment to state clearly the nature of this website in order to eliminate any misunderstandings or confusion as to the nature of this publication. As the name should suggest; this website is literally “a tinkerer’s blog”. The articles held therein are presented not as an authoritative source of information, but rather my (and only my) best understanding of any particular subject at the time. Complete with grammatical mistakes, spelling arrows, personal experience, and biases; as well as good ol’fashioned human ignorance and incompetence.
Although I (think I) do my due diligence in researching for articles; as well as re-reading my work several times over before publishing. This is in order to (give myself the opportunity to) catch any and all errors that I can. Unfortunately, often at that time: my mind can become exhausted with the subject matter, and would rather move onto to something else. Anything else! (Maybe even a refreshing punch to the testicles.) Add to that time pressures such as work and scheduled commitments. Well. They all add up; pushing me to hit the publish button perhaps earlier than I otherwise should.
Hence in an article’s final proofreading and finishing edits stage – I tend to find myself skimming sentences; or simply unconsciously mentally correcting the text grammatically and/or semantically. I.e. I knew what I meant by what I wrote, although I left the text in a state where it’s messaging is either ambiguous, nonsensical, and/or open to multiple unintended interpretations. Often I miss mistakes because of this and only really find them after I had some time to ‘cool off’ on the subject, as it were.
So that’s what normally happens with any given article. Post publish edits and refinements seem like a standard protocol for me. I even have a small to-do list regarding edits I need to make to past articles.
For example: my review of the video game “Princess Remedy: In a world of hurt”, has no critic of the game’s soundtrack. I somehow just completely forgot to mention it at all. I just blotted the concept of it out of my mind at the time of writing. So at this point: I intend to go back and insert this into it at a later date.
The thing is: I don’t like the idea of this additional content to suddenly one day appear within that article apropos of nothing, and masquerade like it has always been there from the beginning. I’ll leave that revisionist M.O. to the articles on political/activists news websites.
Hence, I need some way to communicate across to the audience that it is an add-on edit. In the past I solely used what I call an “update tag”. I’d insert a set of square brackets featuring the date before the add-on segment. Basically this: “[UPDATE: 2022-0X-XX] The music is …”. In the future I think I will use either the changelog alone to note smaller changes, and both the changelog as well as an in-article update tag for larger updates. Such as an entire additional segment to an article.
RSS
Just as an aside: if for whatever reason you want the raw undoctored initial publications. Free of my post publish meddling that is. Then please subscribe to my RSS feed. As it sends you the articles as they are published, and doesn’t update the content after that initial data transfer.
To do this, copy the below link into your RSS aggregator of choice: https://www.tinkerersblog.net/rss
Closing thoughts
Although as stated the main reason for a changelog is for logging post publication article edits, it will also be good for keeping track of more general activity around the website. Things such as when new manual scans are added, or which pages have been recently edited. It’ll give the readership insight into where my attention regarding the website has been recently. Allowing them a sense of the frequency and general trajectory of my activities here. Which would be useful / hold value to anyone interested. (If there really is anyone interested … that is.)
I think it’ll add real utilitarian value to the website. But we’ll see exactly how much once it is actually implemented, and had some time to operate. Theoretically there is no reason as to why a website shouldn’t have a changelog. I mean it is a software product with ongoing development just like any other. However, I do wonder why so few other websites actually do have a public facing changelog.
It could be something as simple as a public changelog not truly being a necessity. Or it could be the fact that it would bring a level of perhaps unwanted transparency to their website. I mean it’s hard to simply vanish things, if you have a policy of documenting changes. I guess you could just not document the vanishing of the undesirable content, but still document the more mundane changes made. Although that does undermine the utility of the tool.
If I were pushed to give an answer: I’d say that most people just don’t want the work of it. For example: with for-profit websites tending to streamline their overheads (i.e. cut costs wherever they can), coupled with the continual communication and co-ordination between multiple levels of staff required for implementing and routinely updating a changelog: they most likely wouldn’t want to bother with one. Especially since there is little in the way of returns in terms of profit for the work necessary.
Even single owner general hobbyist websites probably wouldn’t bother with one either. As the single operator likely focuses their efforts on documenting their actual hobby activities. Rather than developing the website itself. I’d imagine that this is especially true in cases where the subject of their hobby or activity is unrelated to technology.
So unlike with this website, there’d be no on-topic value to discussing website development as a subject. Such as a website documenting: a homestead, hobby farm, painting miniatures, religious education, or bodybuilding to name a few. Basically any website where discussing the website itself is unrelated to the core subjects of the website… Website.
That’s all really. Changelog incoming. (Actually its already here, this article is a month late. :D) Thank you for reading.
Term Glossary
RSS – Really Simple Syndication M.O. – Modus Operandi (mode of operation)
#0035: repair and analysis of a talon style folding lock knife
Preamble
I was recently given this folding lock knife to fix for someone. The internal mechanisms of which I found mildly interesting, so I figured it would be worth the time to document it. It may also prove useful for future reference incase I come across something similar.
Initial observations
The first thing that I noticed whilst examining this unit is the unusual blade shape. This is a talon type blade. It is a single edged, crescent shaped blade that curves forwards and terminates in a single point. It’s crescent shape, coupled with the blade edge being on the inner concave curve: give it both a visual as well as function resemblance to the talons of birds of prey. The blade is designed to roughly function in the same way: to pierce and then to hook. This shape of blade can easily convert slashing motions into pierces, due to the blade tip being the leading contact point.
The blade description above may lead you to think that the pictured example knife is a deadly weapon. And that would be the case, at least if not for my second immediate observation. Which is that this knife is a mass produced (I assume) chinese special tacticool toy knife.
It is rather cheaply made, and only really aesthetically resembles the weapon that it is aping. This pictured knife is just a box cutter. That is also it’s literal function currently. Its what the knife’s owner, who is a warehouse operative uses it for. It is also the only thing that it can be used for in my opinion.
Faults
The main thing that was wrong with this unit is that it was not maintained properly. The owner did not tighten the various torx screws on this thing as they worked themselves loose. This led to various joints and mechanisms developing too much play in them. This then resulted in the blade being seated at a crooked angle. Which in turn allowed the blade tip to scratch the handle as it was retracted into it.
Additionally due to the owner’s negligence: some of the various screws that loosened over time, fell out entirely and were consequently lost. This is rather unfortunate, because these fittings consisted of a paired torx screw and socket nut; that where sized to fit flush into the recesses of the handle plates. The socket nut especially is rather annoying to replace. Requiring a specific purchase as it is rather uncommon, and wouldn’t likely be present in any of my bins of miscellaneous salvaged hardware.
The blade itself also has an issue. The main one being that it is made from a miscellaneous soft junk metal; and the second one is that it was currently dull. So it required a basic sharpening, in order to make this knife operable. At least for the relatively short time period that the blade’s soft metal can maintain a serviceable edge.
Parts list
A complete version of this locking knife consists of several discrete components:
1 x camouflage painted outer metal knife handle plate (left)
1 x camouflage painted outer metal knife handle plate (right)
1 x black painted metal inner frame with spring compartment insert gap
1 x black painted metal inner frame with blade locking wedge
1 x black painted metal finger guard with box cutter point
1 x grey painted talon style blade
1 x metal spring
1 x metal spring compartment
2 x plastic washers
4 x smaller black painted metal hex screw and blind nut set
1 x larger black painted metal hex screw and blind nut set
1 x black painted metal trouser clip
3 x black painted hex screws for the trouser clip
Tools and materials
Tools:
Round edge metal file
Knife sharpener rod
Torx screwdrivers (T7, T9)
Tweezers
Materials:
plumber’s grease (or equivalent)
Repair
There really isn’t much to say on the repair itself, as its pretty straight forward. I disassembled then reassembled the knife; fixing everything dodgy about it as I went.
Actions:
Completed knife disassembly.
Bent the blade locking wedge on the inner frame so that it stops the blade from folding closed more reliably.
Greased the blade’s damaged plastic washers to help prevent future wear.
Bent the blade spring’s hook into a right angle in order to get a better hold on the blade.
Re-greased the blade spring within the spring compartment due to presence of dry grease here.
Re-tightened all the screws and socket nuts that keep the housing together.
Added a stand-in replacement for a missing screw and socket nut pair that consists of two screws and a salvaged threaded brass insert nut.
Added a plastic screw and nut to help hold frame. I chose plastic so that I could cut down the screw and round off the nut easily so that it doesn’t snag the user’s hand.
Performed a basic sharpening on the blade using a metal file, then honed the edge using a knife sharpening rod.
The actual repair itself is hardly anything to be proud of. It wasn’t a hard repair and didn’t even take long. However this knife has been saved from going into the rubbish bin, for at least another couple of months, and that should be the main take home. This thing is ready for work again; and should stay that way for quite a while.
Before and After video demo
Before
After
Recommended modifications
1) Grinding the blade edge and sharpening.
The knife blade could use a proper grinding and sharpening: if it to be used for anything more involved than opening boxes. I recommend grinding the blade down so that the angle of the blade edge slopes smoothly up to the mid-ridge. That way the blade can have more acutely angled edge.
This will consequently make the blade sharper than it currently is. A smaller angle will also remain sharper for longer whilst in use, due to the relative thinness of the new blade edge. Even as it dulls. Although the blade will also likely become more brittle and likely to snap as a consequence of the severe loss of material this newly angled edge will require.
2) Installing a blade backstop.
A blade backstop will stop the blade from over-rotating when it is extended. It will also prevent the blade from wobbling when extended by sandwiching it between the backstop and the blade locking wedge.
This knife likely already had a blade backstop of sorts, as it already has the screw holes where on could be mounted. However it was probably lost during use. As it is the blade overextends backwards when it comes in contact with any material that resists it.
3) Thread locker on the screws.
Thread locker such as “Locktite 243” when applied to screws prevents them from slowly working themselves loose during operation, due to factors such as vibration. This will extend the lifespan of this knife when applied to the screws that hold the frames together, as it will mean that they will (largely) no longer need to be checked and re-tightened at intervals.
And since we have already established that this knife’s owner is averse to maintaining his equipment: the lower the level of maintenance this knife needs, will be proportional to the extension of it’s operational lifespan. I.e. it will last as long as it lasts, if the thread locker can keep it together for longer, than it will last a little longer as a consequence.
4) Installation of additional retaining bolts.
I think that installing a few additional bolts and nuts to keep the frame together would greatly increase the overall structural strength of this folding knife. As it would share the strain of keeping the unit together amongst more points. This would allow this knife to be used in applications that require more force.
Although one has to be careful not to drill and install any bolts within the blades seating area within the knife handle housing, or within it’s pathway. Common sense right?
Post mod roles
As it is this knife tool is weak and too dull for any real work beyond cutting the tape off of cardboard boxes. however I theorise that if the above mods are made, then one would end up with a stronger, sharper, and more stable tool.
This would then allow the tool to used in a broader array of applications. For example light wood working, or bush craft applications. A talon style blade is good in both of those applications. The sharp hooked point is good for carving detail into wood. The concave blade is good for gripping and working with rounded objects like natural woods (sticks and branches). For example: for sharpening sticks, or for feathering wood to create tinder. It is also good for harvesting (in this case smaller) plants; as the concave blade helps bundle the stems together when cutting. Like a miniature sickle.
I could go on but I hope you get the point. The issue here is not with the knife’s design, it is with it’s flawed construction. If that could be remedied (or at least alleviated), then this knife could actually become a useful tool. It just requires work to get there.
Closing thoughts
Honestly, I actually rather dislike these types of low-cost low-quality mass produced items. This knife for example: it’s low-cost promotes replacement rather than repair: as it can very quickly make many repairs in it’s owner’s eye deemed as uneconomical. And that is assuming that the owner has a mend-and-make-do mentality to begin with. Most contemporary consumers do not. They have a use and replace mentality.
The main reason why a person may want to repair these things in my mind: is either philosophical (i.e. environmental conscientiousness, fiscal responsibility, anti-consumerist sentiments, etcetera); emotional sentimentality (e.g. hand-me-down from a relative); or if they are in severe financial strife and literally can’t afford to replace a £3.99 work knife.
Now look at it’s cheap build and materials. This factor exacerbates the issue above. Chiefly because it lowers the tools operational lifespan. This is the time it is in use, before it somehow breaks on it’s owner. Hence sooner putting them in a position to make the call on whether or not to either repair or replace the tool.
I do consider a knife like this to have been built with planned obsolescence in mind. Even though the term is hardly used for mechanical hand tools like knives; as it is usually reserved for electronic or computer products.
However, consider this: if the user does no maintenance on this knife. Then there are only so many operational hours that it is capable of before completely falling apart, or at the very least becoming inoperable. It’s shoddy build quality purposefully limits this simple hand tools lifespan. And when it is over, the user is expected to then purchase another one. That is a form of planned obsolescence.
I hate preaching, but please consider not buying this kind of shite. There are better alternatives available. Such as buying second hand quality tools. I always advise that people do the requisite research first. Then spend what they can afford in order to get the best value tools that they can, for their specific use case.
I said “Best value”, not most expensive. A chrome-vanadium spanner is a chrome-vanadium spanner at any price. Just because a person pays more for a brand name, doesn’t necessarily mean that their chrome-vanadium spanner is better than the off brand one.
Nowadays, it’s rather likely that they were both made in the same factory from the same material stock. An idea that would be laughable, if it wasn’t also true. Many brands on the market don’t manufacture anything. They purchase orders from the same OEMs then label the products as their own.
*proceeds to mount high horse.
If you absolutely have to purchase at the bottom of the market because you absolutely have no more money to spend. Then spend time instead. Time upgrading, fortifying, and maintaining your tool. This is so that it can last as long as you need it to. Or at the very least extend the time intervals between new purchases.
That being said, it is an unfortunate reality that most people who do mindlessly purchase bottom of the market products like this knife: are either unable; or more commonly, unwilling to invest time in their tools. They are in many cases content to use the shoddy tool in the short time until it breaks. Then purchase another bottom of the market shoddy tool to replace it with. Repeating this loop of short-sighted wasteful false-economy ad infinitum.
*proceeds to dismount high horse.
I feel that I should somewhat qualify my rather negative sentiments against these types of bottom market products. In the past I have worked within a small recycling facility, one that primarily serviced my local community on behalf of the local council, as well as the surrounding areas. (The point is that we weren’t shipping it’s garbage in.) I worked there as a materials sorter.
It gave me a certain perspective on the sheer volume of material wastage people engaged in. For a supposedly poor community, the amount of waste of useful materials was astounding. Every night I came across hundreds (not hyperbole) of very useable tools of all kinds. Everything from: screwdrivers, knives, drill bits, and spanners, to pots, pans, skillets, as well as whole bicycles some nights. All of that thrown away for recycling.
Many of these things were in decent conditions. Conditions that required either basic maintenance such as: sharpening, some hammering, replacing a handle, or realigning, or even a simple old fashioned cleaning. Gasp! Working there made me dislike a lot of these products; as when I now see them new: I think of where they’ll likely end up in less than a years time … In the fucking trash.
I just don’t like companies purposefully making tools/products that have such a short lifespan designed into them. I doubly don’t like it when these same products are purchased, used, and then wastefully discarded, by people whom I have heard a thousand times: claim poverty. But that’s another rant entirely.
#0025: Modifying a pair of Game Boy Advance SP earphones into an auxiliary audio dongle
Preamble
This article will consist of a basic tutorial on how to create a Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP (GBA-SP) audio dongle using a broken third party pair of GBA-SP earphones. Additionally I will also provide some related commentary (ramblings) on the similarities between Apple and Nintendo; particularly the way they design their products, and the way that their fanbases receive them. So if you have any old earphones you got as a child and broke yet kept, or maybe even recently purchased as spares and repair? Or if you are inclined to hear me bemoan tribal consumers and corporate avarice. Well here you are.
Creating an audio dongle
The actual conversion is rather simple. You just need to first cut the earphones off; then connect the wires as shown in the pinout and wiring diagram below.
Pinout
Audio jack 1: left speaker positive 2: right speaker positive 3: common ground
GBA-SP port 1: right speaker positive (red wire) 2: closed loop switch 3: (pin absent) 4: left speaker positive (blue wire) 5: common ground 6: closed loop switch
Now that we have the broad methodology of what to do to create an audio dongle, I’d like to talk about a few specifics.
Closed loop switch
In the pinout diagram I labelled pins 2 and 6 as “closed loop switch”. What I mean by this is that there is continuity between these two pins. This means that they are electrically connected to each other. I believe they are configured in this way in order to act as a switch when the plug is inserted into the device.
The electrical connection between the two pins effectively closes an open loop within the device. One that terminates with these pins’ respective sockets. This loop is probably used so that the device can know when an audio peripheral has been connected. This is so that it can act accordingly, by for example switching off it’s built in speaker.
Where to cut the donor earphones cord?
This might seem like a rather simple question at first. However in order to answer it, I needed to answer a few other questions before knowing where exactly I wanted to make the cut. The most important question that needed answering is does the pair of earphones actually work properly, or are they broken somewhere.
Assuming that they have at least one fault somewhere within them, where is the fault? If you can not easily identify it, yet the earphones are still not outputting sound. Then perhaps the fault is hidden. In this case, it will mostly likely be either at the earphones themselves due to snag damage; or if you are unfortunate, it’ll be located near the plug due to something akin to repeated flex damage. Please note that I am just speculating from my experience with repairing headphones.
Once the fault is found, then you must make a decision. Repair the fault, or cut if off (if applicable). In my case the fault was at the left earphone itself. I didn’t probe further than identifying roughly where it was, since I had no intention of repairing something that far down stream. I did however consider whether or not I wanted to retain the inline volume dial. After some consideration I decided to remove it. The reason for this is that I feared that the relatively low quality of the componentry involved; such as the potentiometer, or the PCB and it’s solder joints may actually negatively affect sound quality. So I just snipped it off. Didn’t like it much anyway. It didn’t feel nice to use.
What type of plug or socket to terminate the cord with?
This question was primarily answered by the materials I had available at the time. I did not have an appropriate female 3.5mm audio socket available. However I did have plenty of male 3.5mm jacks on hand; including ones that were corded. In the end I went with a jack that was colour matched (black) and that had the smallest profile.
This male jack enabled me to plug the GBA-SP into an auxiliary port on a sound system should I wish to do so. Additionally when coupled with a female-to-female 3.5mm audio adapter, it enabled me to use headphones or speakers with the dongle. This setup basically gave me the same functionality as having an adapter that terminated in a female 3.5mm socket, paired with a typical male-to-male auxiliary cord.
Soldering the jack
When it comes to soldering audio jacks like these: the first actual thing I did was prepare the heat-shrink tubing for it. Selecting the right sizes and cutting them to length. I prepared two pieces, which I thought was sufficient at the time; however in hindsight I should have prepared three distinct pieces. One to isolate each line.
As it is, it has one to insulate the central shaft from the surrounding ground pad, and one to act as an outer cover; protecting all three wires and acting as a general guard against flex damage for the entire cord. It’s good enough, but it would be better in my opinion if the inner two wires were separated by more than just the enamel coating of the wire strands themselves, as I have left them. A smaller gauge piece of heat-shrink tubing on the inner terminal to cover it’s solder joint would’ve been better.
As for the soldering itself: audio jack terminals like the one pictured can be rather tricky to wire up and solder properly. The reason for this is due to a range of factors. Factors such as: the general fiddliness and fragility of the enamel wires themselves. Although more-so the close proximity of the jack’s terminals to each other, coupled with the convex curve and orientation of their soldering pads, is what adds difficulty; as the awkward angles involved can diminish dexterity.
Additionally, the presence of structural plastic insulation between the terminals, meant that a lower heat and a shorter soldering dwell time was needed. This in order not to damage the jack’s plastics with radiant heat from the work area. Otherwise the plastic will melt and warp the plug’s general shape and structure. All these various factors can make it difficult to solder in a reliable and repeatable manner. However practice and work flow optimisations will mitigate these type of annoyances as one gains experience in this task.
An example in which I optimised the process: was by preparing the wires for soldering by removing their enamel insulation. This is because prior to this: during soldering, the enamel coating on the wires sometimes wouldn’t burn off within the liquid solder blob itself; especially with the necessary (relatively) low heat and short dwell time. When this happened, it resulted in the wire not forming a good electrical connection and/or not bonding physically with it’s solder pad.
I chose to prep the wires by burning off a segment of their enamel coating using a lighter. This had to be done in very quick manner in order to not oxidise the underlying copper strands too much. Burning off the insulation in this manner allows me to quickly solder the wires into place without worrying about any complications from the insulation.
After removing a segment of insulation in this manner, I chose to attach the wires in a way that limited any exposed segments of wire present outside of the solder joint. This is to limit any exposed conductors. Consequently, the solder joints were close to their respective wires’ insulated ends, and only used the exposed segments to get a good electrical connection within the solder joint itself. After-which I’d snip off any excess exposed wire that preceded the joint.
Testing the cable
The attentive readers amongst you probably have noticed that my repair notes contain several resistance tests of the various lines. Most I ran while working on the device, those are the numbers closer to the hand-drawn diagram. Some of which have been struck out. Discount those. The ones of interest are at the bottom of the notes. Those are the results from the post repair test.
The reason for the final test was because I was dubious of the quality of the cables that I was working with. As well as generally dubious of audio cables of this calibre. Specifically, cables that consist of a small collection of loose strands dipped in (I believe) enamel for insulation; then interwoven with additional plastic or nylon strands for strength. They all look and feel fragile and cheap. Having said that however, I should say that a post repair test is a good general practice. Even when confidence in the repair is high.
As you can see the left speaker line has a end-to-end resistance of 10 ohms. Five times that of the right speaker line, and ten times that of the common return (or ground) line. The right and return lines have acceptable resistances in general, and accurate relative resistances to each other. I expected the return common line to have half the resistance due to the doubling of the lines. However, what was unexpected was that the left line was clearly an outlier in line resistance. This in my opinion is due to either the low quality of the cable in general, or a hidden defect I did not find.
It’s not ideal, but upon testing with actual sound, the loss of volume on the left line speaker due to it’s higher line resistance was not noticeable at all. So I just left it be. The effort necessary to track the fault that is adding the 8 ohms to the line, is not worth the reward of having perfectly balanced lines for a GBA-SP’s audio. I used to call it laziness not ploughing down these types of rabbit holes. However as I have aged, I have come to understand the diminishing returns on investments that this type of perfectionism offers.
testing during repair
post repair test
Completed mod demonstration
Related thoughts on Nintendo and their Game Boy Advance SP console
Now that we have created our own DIY audio dongle, let’s talk about why we needed to do this in the first place. In other words, why the Game Boy Advance SP doesn’t have a built-in 3.5mm audio port to begin with. In order to get at this answer, let’s first discuss a completely different technology company and it’s products. As to why, I’ll let you join the dots.
Many people today (2021) credit Apple as one of the most anti-consumer consumer technology companies, specifically with regards to their product design. Although there are numerous examples I could pick out, the one relevant instance here: is the removal of the generic 3.5mm audio jack from their 2016 iPhone 7 models. Anyone who pays any critical attention to this company probably came to a similar conclusion to my own. (Proceeds to pat self on back.) This naturally being that they did so in a bid to to sell first party audio peripherals at a premium. This being to their captive audience of fruity cultists. Cultists that would happily eat that up.
Why am I mentioning this in a Nintendo article? Well it’s because peoples’ memory is generally fickle and often mired with nostalgia; and the residual emotional attachments that it incurs. This leads them to holding double-standards when it comes specifically to childhood brands like Nintendo, often holding them to a lower standard of conduct than brands like Apple. These same people forget that their friend Nintendo did the same thing 13 years prior in 2003 with the incremental release of the Nintendo Game Boy Advance Special (GBA-SP) portable games console.
A games console that had no tangible advantages over it’s Game Boy Advance (GBA) predecessor other than a few quality of life (QoL) improvements. Both consoles played exactly the same games, however the SP boasted: an internal rechargeable lithium-ion battery, and an LCD backlight. For consumers tired of repeatedly buying new AA batteries for their GBA, or always awkwardly angling the unlit LCD towards a light-source whilst avoiding glare; these were improvements worth investment. Those of you who can read between the lines, might’ve guessed that this internal battery naturally required a specific Nintendo battery charger. A theme that they continued in later products such as with the Nintendo Dual Screen portable console (NDS).
However, a more apt feature of criticism in the iteration from the GBA to the GBA-SP, is the removal of the 3.5mm audio jack. Why did they do this you may ask? Well, now I could be wrong, but the cynic in me says that it was to facilitate Nintendo selling official audio peripherals at a premium, to their captive audience of pedantic neck-beards in waiting. That’s us mate.
Laughably, Nintendo’s official response against their audience’s pushback in 2003 was basically the same as Apple’s in 2016. They both said something to the tune of: that the new device simply didn’t have the space for a 3.5mm audio jack. Apple added some device waterproofing claims to this as well. But the core reason was the same: that there’s simply no space for it. Now shut up and buy our official peripherals. Peripherals that use the same port for both audio output and power delivery. So good luck using wired headphones and charging the device at the same time. Enjoy.
To cut it short. My point is that Nintendo has proven themselves to be as anti-consumer as Apple when the mood takes them. However it saddens me that their customers are prone to look at this company through rose tinted spectacles. Often even shouting down valid criticism, yet many within the community still consider themselves distinctly different from the stock of Apple enthusiasts.
That’s what happens when one thinks with their feelings. It’s tribal fanboy-ism at it’s finest. People for whatever reason forget that an individual’s relationship with a company or business like Apple or Nintendo, is strictly transactional. Nothing more. They are not your friends. A corporation does not have the capacity for camaraderie, or loyalty. Only the capacity to take advantage of such feelings in order to sell more to the same people.
Obviously, I am not talking about the entire consumer base here, just the vocal fanatics that seem to dominate public discourse. If anything a logical or reasonable person who likes the products of a particular brand to the point of becoming brand loyal; should ideally, be even more critical (than the average Joe) of their chosen company when it strays into anti-consumer practices. Due to their investment within the brand and it’s products. They likely would wish for them to stay good, more than a person who isn’t all that invested. But that’s not the world we live in. Instead the more invested a person is in a brand, it seems the more likely they are to tribally defend them regardless of circumstance. It’s sad really.
Closing thoughts
I know what you might be thinking, this article is nice and all, but it’s also almost twenty years too late. I mean in previous years getting a hold of an audio dongle for the GBA-SP might have been troublesome or expensive. Back when (the famously litigious) Nintendo were still protective of the console. However in 2021, one could easily purchase a NEW Game Boy Advance SP audio dongle from Ebay for less than a fiver. Since Nintendo doesn’t care much about protecting the rights to peripherals for a console that old (read unprofitable). Sure, the item that you buy won’t be an official Nintendo product, or even a notable third party contemporary brand peripheral, like Competition Pro. But it’ll work. Probably.
example of an unbranded Ebay adapter
To answer that question: Yes, yes you could. You could purchase an unbranded china special peripheral for your almost twenty year old console. Alternatively you could also make use of any old and/or broken first and third party peripherals that you may already have lying around, or even purchased in a mixed joblot or bundle. Essentially converting (basically) e-waste like that into a useful cable. One made to your exact use case and specification no less. Chances are your convert will also be better quality than a bought cable depending on what materials you use to make it.
Mine isn’t, I made mine from a pair of Competition Pro earphones. But still you get my point; I bet if you made yours from a pair of official Nintendo earphones (should you happen to have them), they might be better quality. As for making something for a specific use case: I totally use mine to blast Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow’s soundtrack, via my home sound system. I do it for maximum “immersion” during my midnight gaming sessions. I also want my neighbours to know that I am cool. The banging on the wall seems to indicate that they do.
In a bid to make more immediately useful content, I’d like to start recommending some of the various tools that I use. In this case it is an online service. Namely Mozilla’s Firefox Monitor; or more to the point, it is actually the website: haveibeenpwned.com (HIBP), which Firefox Monitor uses to enable it’s service.
What do they do?
In essence Firefox Monitor and HIBP are used to check whether or not an email address is associated with a recorded data-breach. Keyword: “recorded”. It does this by using a database of known breaches provided by haveibeenpwned.com.
The purpose of this service is to allow people to ascertain whether or not, an online account (and the user information there in) associated with the email address: has been compromised in a known data breach; and thus in need of immediate remedy. Things like: changing passwords, recovery phrases, and generally being aware that any potentially sensitive information associated with that account, such as: full name, mother’s maiden name, GPS location, education, birth date, telephone, city, school, or business information has now circulated within the hacker community.
Additionally, it helps to know which company is to blame for the spike in volume of spam and phishing emails, that will most certainly accompany said breach. I don’t know about yourself, but that’s something I’d certainly like to know.
Why is this service important?
It is my belief that every solution begins with awareness, the awareness of the problem. Only then can we move to better the situation. This tool gives you exactly that.
In my opinion, the main reason why I think this tool is important is because the companies involved in the data breaches themselves are loath to make their customers aware of them. Even though it is in their user’s best interests; it is not in the businesses best interests to advertise any breaches beyond the legally mandated/enforced minimum. Furthermore, who knows what that actually even is when dealing with global or multinational companies that operate over many legal jurisdictions. This is especially true when dealing with larger companies with entire legal teams at their disposal.
This service is important because (still just my opinion): companies in general tend to quietly patch any security vulnerabilities as they find them, and move on hoping no-one has noticed. This is especially true when there is no internally confirmed security breach.
Whenever a confirmed breach does happen, the first thing that the company responsible does is downplay the scope and severity of it. This may (and probably does) include: not even publicly reporting the breach until it is already made public elsewhere, often at a much later time. In many cases there is even resistance to acknowledge fault after the breach is made public. This is most likely a bid to exonerate themselves of any potential legal liabilities involved.
At the very least acknowledgement of fault could be seen as weakness. Weakness that will shake public confidence in the company and/or service. Therefore it is in their best interest to maintain the general illusion of control and/or competence. It’s corporate PR 101. It’s just a shame that the company and it’s users’ interests don’t align within this circumstance.
Why should people use these tools?
Both Mozilla Firefox Monitor and HIBP are free to use publicly available tools. Both tools come from reasonably trusted sources. Firefox Monitor is the product of an open-source community driven effort, giving it a certain level of transparency. And HIBP was developed by Troy Hunt, an authority on the topic of digital security. Even if you don’t know who Mr Hunt is (and I didn’t prior to this post), the fact that the Mozilla team decided to use his HIBP database for Firefox Monitor means that they are vouching for it.
More importantly, the tools themselves can assist an individual with regards to protecting their personal information online. They do this by allowing the individual that exact thing that I mentioned earlier: awareness. Awareness of whether or not that person’s email associated account information has been circulated, and which company is at fault for it.
For example: if you used the tool and because of it now know that, an account associated with your email with company X has been breached; and along with that breach your “security questions” were revealed. Then now you know to both remove, and not to use those particular security questions, with any future account … ever. As they are basically permanently compromised. Forewarned is forearmed.
taken from https://github.com/mozilla/blurts-server
Difference between Firefox Monitor and haveibeenpwned?
Firefox monitor is a very slimlined version of the HIBP tool that gives the lay user just what they need, without overwhelming or putting off said lay user. It is rather idiot proof; merely requiring user’s to input their emails and press enter. That’s it. Firefox monitor also has been bundled in with a few basic articles on good security protocol, that may be helpful to the average user. Common sense stuff a lot of it, but you know what they say about common sense.
Although Firefox is the simpler tool to use, it must be said that HIBP is a far more robust tool. And the one that I recommend. This is because in addition to searching email addresses, it allows searching via: passwords, and domain names. The website also allows users to browse a catalogue of breached websites without running a search. Extracts below.
Ever wondered how many accounts have been breached because they used the password “love”? Wonder no more. According to HIBP, its 356006 times.
I have also perused a nice little selection of companies from HIBP’s catalogue of known breaches that you may find interesting.
Personal experience with a data breach.
Just an aside if anyone is interested. From reading the above “Why is this service important?” section, you might have gotten the idea that I may be ever so slightly cynical about the companies involved in security breaches like these.
Frankly speaking, whenever data breaches do happen, I do not consider the corporations involved to be “victims” of cybercrime, as many others seem to do. It is a nauseating sentiment. One that condones bad behaviour. This is because it is my personal belief that the vase majority of the cases are due to one core thing: a dereliction of duty. Them failing in their duty to protect the data that they collected. Little more.
In addition to consuming the various news articles about data breaches over the years. Ones that had the general themes of corporate incompetence. Like for example: employees carrying around sensitive data on unencrypted thumb-drives, only to lose them on the train. I also have a few examples of companies that leaked my very own personal information. All of this has coloured my opinions thus.
The most memorable is the online virtual tabletop gaming website roll20.net. The thing that rubbed me the wrong way about them is that at no point during the process did they ever take any accountability for allowing it to happen. They did eventually outline what information was taken, but they never offered an apology for their lax in security. Instead they covered it up with boiler plate (legal friendly) corporate speak.
Example: “The investigation identified several possible vectors of attack that have since been remedied. Best practices at Roll20 for communications and credential cycling have been updated, with several code library updates completed and more in development.” Assuming that is indeed true, the same could literally be said by any company involved in a similar data breach – just change the names.
Although from what I understand by reading the article that they linked in their post, technically (purely technically) this appears as though it’s not their fault. But rather it was due to the underlying technology that they used. At least that is the implication presented. I’d argue that they still made the decision to use said tech, and thus vouched for it by doing so. Making them responsible, at least tangentially. At least enough for a simple sorry. The closest their customers got to an apology was a “Frankly, this sucks.” Writing it in an official company blog post that they passed for a conclusive public report; authored by Jeffrey Lamb, the Data Protection Officer.
I remember thinking at the time that whoever was writing this was good at the bland formalities of corporate speak, but otherwise is (and excuse my French): a fucking dickhead. You have to keep in mind reader, that they only knew of their own data breach because of a third party report. One that was published months after the fact. The report was published in February of 2019, and the breach happened (according to Mr Lamb) sometime late 2018. No apology warranted, not even for missing the hack, until a third party told you about it months after the fact. They then go on write their conclusive report in august of 2019. So nearly a year, between data breach and the final public debrief, where they outline exactly what data was exposed. I call that incompetence. “Data Protection Officer” more like resident salary sucker.
The ultimate lack of accountability is what really rubbed me up the wrong way here. And why would they be accountable, there is little in the way of consequence it seems for these messes. There are even examples of customers defending roll20 in the comments, referring to them as “victims” of cybercrime. They aren’t the victims here idiot, you are! I’ll include some choice examples of this for your entertainment. Its customers like that, that make businesses feels like they don’t have to be accountable either for their actions, or in this case general inaction with regards to proactively protecting customer data. Please read through the example comment thread.
You really can’t reason with people like that. They have too much emotional stock in a corporation to admit to themselves that they got screwed by it. There were even people actually praising roll20 for it’s meagre efforts. A sum total of 2 blog posts, some notice tweets/emails, and for patching a hole in their own boat. Thanks roll20, stellar job. Shame about all my cargo sinking to the seafloor for the bottom feeders to enjoy. I mean you only lost my full name, my IP address (so my physical location), my password, oh and some of my credit card data. Don’t worry about that roll20 (not like you would), that’s my problem. Fuck those types of customers. Wankers.
Moving on. Another example of a gormless entity losing my data is ffshrine.org. A final fantasy fan site that I registered with in 2010 I believe; and haven’t used that account since 2010. Ideally, they would have flagged the account as non-active and deleted it after a couple of years. But alas, instead they just kept whatever details I gave them for the five years until their 2015 data breach. Where they lost subscriber passwords and email addresses. No warning email post event, nothing. Radio silent. I had a similar experience with tumblr back in the day. Radio silent. No accountability. Are you sensing a theme here, dear reader?
Closing thoughts.
I have written far more here then I initially wanted to, so I will keep this summary short. Tools like haveibeenpwned and Firefox Monitor are things that you as an individual can use to help protect yourself in cyberspace. They can help you take proactive measures to safeguard your own data. They can also show you evidence that the large corporations really aren’t as professional or as infallible as they like to appear.
And that when, they make mistakes; mistakes such as losing your data. It is often you that has to bare the brunt of the repercussions, with little if any repercussions to them. Maybe they incur a temporary stock dip. But the fact of the matter is, they’ll recover from it. However whatever data you provided them for safe keeping, well that’s now permanently out there. Enjoy.
For example. To this day I still get phishing emails that say something like: “hey MY_FULL_NAME, YOUR_BANK has detected multiple login attempts using PASSWORD_FROM_FFSHRINE.ORG to login. We have frozen your account because we suspect fraudulent activity. Follow the obviously dodgy link provided and give us your security questions to fix this.” Although I can recognise a phishing scam when I see one, many technology illiterate users can not.
And make no mistake, the companies that were lax in their security. The one’s that have the attitude that breaches happen; are the exact ones to blame for the perpetuation of the black market information economy. An economy that preys on people; the real victims. The people who trusted these corporations with their data, thinking it in safe hands. Not the corporations themselves whose lack of diligence and general incompetence allowed for the data that they were trusted with to be exposed.
Jeez… that got a bit preachy towards the end. Didn’t it? Sorry about that. It’s just seeing companies fobbing off their responsibilities, and then seeing customers with Stockholm syndrome defending these same companies against criticism – really ruffles my feathers.
