Excited to be able to control my air-conditioner with a GameBoy Color, using my own ROM!
— JinGen Lim (@jg_lim) April 27, 2020
(How I built it: https://t.co/K1Rzhx0qbn ) pic.twitter.com/wQGq3iMHQC
Just when we thought that the GameBoy Color was already obsolete, we then find something rather amazing in this late 90’s gadget. Apparently, it can be used to control your air conditioner because of its feature that’s often forgotten — its infrared transmitter/ receiver. This feature…
allowed users to wirelessly share data and play co-op for supporting games, but so few titles used the feature (they didn’t call the system the Game Boy Infrared, after all) that it was often overlooked and is now largely forgotten. But forgotten or not, the infrared communication port is still there along the top edge of the system, and as Singaporean technophile JinGen Lim (@jg_lim on Twitter) looked at it, he got an idea. What if, instead of waiting for the extremely rare opportunity to use the infrared function to play some obscure decades-old game, he used it to help keep his home comfortably cool?
Since the Game Boy Color’s IR transmitter sends out invisible-to-the-naked eye flashes of light, just like a remote control, Lim’s theory was solid.
Lim was apparently inspired by this video that’s been around for quite some time.
Wow!
(Video Credit: JinGen Lim/ Twitter)