Hacking The Olympia InfoGlobe

Kinda-vintage internet-connected spinning-LED bulletin-board

Timespan: June - August 2022

Published: 2023-11-05

Last year I co-opted an Olympia InfoGlobe display with an ESP8266 and made the code public here.

The hardware details are in blog posts part 1 and part 2, and I walk through the software in part 3

Motivation/Lore

A middle school teacher was cleaning out their closet and wanted to throw away their InfoGlobe. A valid decision, considering that it's useless without a landline phone and spheres don't pack efficiently. I promised them I'd make something cool with it and saved it from the landfill, at least for a few years.

I started playing with Arduinos to make this thing say what I wanted, and I got kinda close but never figured out the delays in the IR messaging protocol.

(2018) Early attempt to make the hacked Infoglobe, timings are off so some letters are missing

(2018) Early attempt to make the hacked Infoglobe, timings are off so some letters are missing

I revisited it a few years later, while working at a software company. During the day, I'd get tired of looking at computer screens for hours on end, and wanted some way to talk to my friends when I got home that didn't involve typing at them on my phone or computer. The reader may mention letters or other physical artifacts, but I also wanted semi-instantaneous communication.

With my newfound electrical engineering skills, I vanquished the timing issue and got consistent messages to show up on the InfoGlobe.

(2022) Photo of the modern, working version of the Infoglobe. Desk has not gotten any cleaner

(2022) Photo of the modern, working version of the Infoglobe. Desk has not gotten any cleaner

Interactions now

Then I created a website where anyone could leave messages to be displayed on my 'globe. This is totally unmoderated, so do not get mad at me if it says something mean about anyone.

Screenshot of the Infoglobe website where messages can be uploaded. This is actually how I learned of Gorbachev's death

Screenshot of the Infoglobe website where messages can be uploaded. This is actually how I learned of Gorbachev's death

I also added the time and date as possible messages, because it was easy. Actually it wasn't super easy, since the ESP8266 has no geo-locating features and I didn't want to add them. Basically, there's a secret webpage I can visit on the infoglobe site which sets the time zone offset for the infoglobe. Assuming only I visit the page, then the infoglobe's time will always match my timezone.

Here's what the the current website looks like. If you are a designer and want to make it look less like an eyesore please hit me up. I have no money but it is a very simple page, and maybe you like the concept enough to send me a Figma link :)

Anyway, here's the website where you can write messages: aksuper7.pythonanywhere.com