Tech

FOOTHILLS MAGAZINE: Arcade owner keeping the games alive

Published

1 year ago

August 28, 2023

Glowing screens, flashing lights and the synthesized tones of chiptune music blending together.

That’s the dream Steve Smith is keeping alive, one circuit board, one coin mechanism, one CRT monitor at a time at Retro Oasis, his Okotoks arcade.

“I loved arcades as a kid,” Smith says as he sits over a workbench where he’s testing the circuit board for an arcade game called Cyberball, made by Atari in 1988.

“I’ve been in Calgary for 27, 28 years, and they just started disappearing not long after that.”

As the arcades closed, the games made their way into the hands of hobbyists and collectors, often in various states of disrepair.

“I had a bonus from oil and gas sitting in the bank one year, the last arcade in Calgary had closed and their cabinets were up for sale, so we did a paper bid on The Simpsons for $500 and we won it,” Smith recalls.

“There were several other games I would have really liked to have had, but it’s like, ‘No, we can’t afford all of them.’”

Even before Smith opened the Stockton Avenue arcade with his wife Gina in early 2023, he began to acquire more cabinets.

“It was just that sort of thing; you get one and then you might be looking on Kijiji and somebody’s selling another one, so you go look at it,” he says, adding condition and cost aren’t always proportionate.

“Wrestlefest I paid $300 for a long time ago, then Miss Pac Man I paid way, way too much money for from a professional company versus somebody’s basement, and then it had issues a few years down the road.”

As the arcade cabinets piled up, the projects and debugging multiplied and Smith began his quest to unravel the arcane secrets of arcade restoration.

“So at that point I started learning. Wrestlefest was always two-player, and I wanted it to be four-player, because it’s a four-player game,” Smith says. “I made a new control panel and put it on and put in the buttons, because I knew I could buy those.

“Then left the ground wire loose while I was doing some work, so it dropped and landed on the coin tray guard box and it was enough to blow a fuse, so everything died immediately. I was just freaking out, like I have no idea how to fix this, and so the first thing you do is go on Google and you ask some questions here or there and they’re like, ‘No, it could just be that, check your fuses.’

“My first lesson I learned when these things go down abruptly is to check the fuses, because a lot of time those fuses are there to protect the hardware.”

After learning various skills, such as how to use a multimeter on YouTube, Smith isolated the fuse and swapped it out.

“Everything came back to life, and that was it,” he says. “Thanks to the Internet resources you have available these days, nowadays when I have an issue, the first thing I will do is do some Googling.”

Hunched over the test chassis made out of wood 2x4s with a monitor, speaker, joystick and buttons, Smith tests out the circuit board for Cyberball.

“When I first plugged it in, I wasn’t getting any audio, and I wasn’t getting any audio on ThunderJaws either, so I thought that was strange,” he says.

“So I pulled up the game manual and it told me these three bulbs (he points at diodes on the board), each of them represents if you have plus five volts, plus 12 and minus five (respectively), so the first two were lit up and the last wasn’t, so it’s not getting minus five volts, so I hook up minus five volts and I had audio.”

The tinkerer’s quest has been one of constant learning, and a mixture of computer science and amateur electronics.

“There’s so much I don’t know, I probably know 40 per cent of what I would like to know,” he says.

Often, Smith will get to the end of one challenge, and it turns out the princess is in another castle.

“Sometimes you fix one problem, and it exposes another problem you wouldn’t have noticed without solving – it’s like debugging software, right?” he says. “You have to solve the first error that comes up on the screen before it can run the script to pass that and discover the next one.

“There’s a high that comes with solving a puzzle, because you feel smart, you feel like you can come up with something, and it’s probably one of the other reasons we like escape rooms so much.”

The renewed interest in the arcade has been satisfying for the analogue entrepreneur.

“What we were hoping for when we set up the business has occurred: kids come in and they’re immediately, pleasantly surprised by what they see and excited about the stuff,” Smith says.

“So this will be an eight- or 10-year-old’s first experience in an arcade ever, and it’s very exciting that they come in and they experience something similar to what we experienced as kids.”

The games have also been a bonding experience for parents who grew up on them to share with their kids.

“This past weekend we had a dad and his three daughters playing Ninja Turtles, and that was just awesome,” Smith says, beaming.

“I’m excited that there’s interest in it. The granddad and his granddaughter that come in and they play Gauntlet once a week, or the other granddad and his granddaughter that come in to play Frogger, you know, that’s just awesome stuff.”

While vintage arcade cabinets often fall within the realm of a hobbyist collector, operating a working arcade brings Smith’s ideals down to Earth.

“Obviously I have a dream world where all the machines look pristine, and all the artwork is on the sides and they look close to what they look like coming off the factory floor, but at the same time, I know you have to wear your hat a little differently,” he says.

“The money isn’t bottomless, you know, we have to think about where it’s being spent and think about things a bit differently.

“When you’re a collector, they’re in your basement, you can work on them and get them looking just fantastic, but you’re spending $500 on the artwork. At the same time, most collectors don’t let 6,000 random strangers come in and try their stuff or have to deal with the ones that are playing a little rough.”

The circuit board for one of his arcade staples is currently undergoing repairs, but the standardized architecture of arcade cabinets means he can swap out another game board in the meantime.

“So right now Mortal Kombat is Thunder Jaws, and it’s probably going to be for another month, but at least somebody can go in, they can put in a token and they can enjoy it for what it is.

“Thunder Jaws in particular is really rare; in 1989 they made 811 boards, and who knows how many exist now.”

As Generation X and Millennials age and acquire the skills and funds, more are fulfilling their passion for the glory days of the ’80s and ’90s.

Smith sees a resurgence in the old games as those generations see what they almost lost as arcades closed.

“There’s so much market enthusiasm for pinball and arcade,” he says. “If anything this will just create enthusiasm for another generation of collectors 15 years from now, and that’s cool, that’ll keep it going.”

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Tech

Ottawa orders TikTok’s Canadian arm to be dissolved

Published

3 days ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

The federal government is ordering the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform, but stopped short of ordering people to stay off the app.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government’s “wind up” demand Wednesday, saying it is meant to address “risks” related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.

“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” he said in a statement.

The announcement added that the government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content.

However, it urged people to “adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”

Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking details about what evidence led to the government’s dissolution demand, how long ByteDance has to comply and why the app is not being banned.

A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of well-paying local jobs.

“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said.

“The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”

The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but it was not public knowledge until The Canadian Press reported in March that it was investigating the company.

At the time, it said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.

A government database showed a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”

Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were lightning rod for privacy and safety concerns because Chinese national security laws compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering.

Such concerns led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill in March designed to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sells its stake in the business.

Champagne’s office has maintained Canada’s review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has yet to pass.

Canada’s review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to might harm national security.

While cabinet can make investors sell parts of the business or shares, Champagne has said the act doesn’t allow him to disclose details of the review.

Wednesday’s dissolution order was made in accordance with the act.

The federal government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.

— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

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Health

Here is how to prepare your online accounts for when you die

Published

2 weeks ago

October 24, 2024

Anne Joseph

LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?

It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.

Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:

Apple

The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.

You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.

Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.

Google

Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.

When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.

You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.

There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.

Facebook and Instagram

Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.

When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.

The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.

You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.

TikTok

The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.

Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.

It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.

Passwords

Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?

Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.

But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.

___

Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

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Tech

Google’s partnership with AI startup Anthropic faces a UK competition investigation

Published

2 weeks ago

October 24, 2024

Anne Joseph

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.

The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.

“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”

San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.

Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”

“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.

The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.

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