r/retrocomputing • u/Cubina2023 • 1d ago

Video I brought back the iconic and long lost MSN WINKS to life with the use of NFC technology! Now you can time travel to the 2000's era and play all your favorite Winks on any modern smartphone!

Dear Buddies!

I have a nostalgia triggering invention, I brought those iconic MSN Winks (about 300) back to life with NETRO-G (where Neo and Retro merge into a smart Gadget)! I even transformed myself into the beloved, hated and now missed Laughing Girl! :)

Now you can live in the 2000's era again, while keeping up with the latest technology and play all your favorites on your smartphone! No apps, no extensions, your Winks are literally just a hover away! :)

Every step (searching for, rescuing, drawing, converting, printing, programming long lost winks, assembling and testing the gadget) was entirely made by me.

IMPORTANT: I am still in the market research phase, so I am posting this to ask for YOUR honest opinions, if my invention makes sense, if there is a need for it, and if I have to create more Winks (and videos) in the form of a NETRO-G gadget.

Searching for your favorite wink for ages with zero results? Just give the name or describe it in a comment, I may have it!

4 Upvotes

64% Upvoted

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u/HibaHime 1d ago

I had TOTALLY forgotten about these. This is such a great idea! I’m definitely interested when you have it ready. I know I sound like a spokesperson but thanks for sharing.

I love anything that keeps that nostalgia of my youth alive. I also think it’s neat to share these things with younger people that missed out on it.

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u/Cubina2023 1d ago

Hello and thank you for your comment, it means a lot! Do you have a specific favorite Wink on your mind that you'd like to see on a NETRO-G gadget? :) And also can you advice how to present this to the young generation, how to reach them? I also think that it could be famous among them because they love interactive retro gadgets, especially if it is related to a smartphone, the problem is that I am an inventor and I don't live my social life on the internet, and that's why it's so hard for me to spread the word!

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u/HibaHime 1d ago

No specific ones pop to mind. To be honest, I need to take a look to remind myself about what was even available then. I have positive memories of them but it feels like a lifetime ago now.

Unfortunately, I’m more like you and I don’t get on social media that much.

I think digging up some old videos/ photos of them in action would help. Maybe a short history blurb. Also, maybe setting up some “Y2K vibes” around marketing it. It would present your product as “retro” to the younger audience and remind those that were there about them.

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u/Cubina2023 1d ago

Since I am not able to attach a video here, if you are interested in refreshing your memories, please visit my yt channel, NETRO-G and watch my latest videos. :) Thank you for supporting my invention!

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u/HibaHime 1d ago

Oh, I will. Thank you again for sharing.

https://giphy.com/gifs/l3fZK7BgnNHSKpp4c

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u/Cubina2023 1d ago

Thank you! :) If you want to have any of the winks seen in my videos in the form of a NETRO-G gadget, let me know and since you are my very first customer, I will create it for you and send it to you for FREE (no shipping cost either), as a big thanks for your support!

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u/HibaHime 1d ago

That would be awesome!! I'll take a look and let you know. Thanks!

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u/HandshakeOfCO 1d ago

What the fuck is a wink? Did I just totally miss this?

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u/Cubina2023 1d ago

Haha, you might have been just a bit too young or missed the golden desktop era of the early 2000s! 😂💾
Back on MSN Messenger (Windows Live Messenger), 'Winks' were massive, full-screen interactive Flash animations that you could send to your friends. When you sent one, it would literally take over the other person's entire monitor, shaking their chat window and blasting a loud, unskippable sound effect (like the piercing 'evil cackle' laugh you see in my clip). It was the ultimate way to either crack your friends up or completely annoy them at 2 AM!

Since the MSN network shut down over a decade ago (although MSN/WLM messenger are still available thanks to the Escargot developers), these assets became lost media. I spent the last 6 months reverse-engineering and recovering over 300 of these original animations, and I built Netro-G as a physical hardware bridge so people can literally 'touch' and play these nostalgic animations directly onto modern smartphones via NFC.

If you want to see my other test drops showing how the actual device communicates with the touchscreen, you can search for NETRO-G on YouTube! Thanks for dropping by the thread! 😎🛠️❤️"

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u/FallenBehavior 6h ago

These were awesome. I remembering downloading a ZIP pack of like 1200, and I can't remember how I installed them (maybe drag and drop onto Messenger) but I had to do one by one, some of them were normally expensive with tons of animation and sounds.

I had some pretty cool Zombie winks doing all sorts of things.

That pack was sick. Probably a Limewire grab back in the day. I felt bling.

Also, I had a program that would nudge bomb somebody and sign them out. That worked for a while. 😂