
Data Runner Watch Prototype – Modded Casio F91W - pabloem
https://n-o-d-e.net/datarunner.html
======
Abishek_Muthian
Wow, apart from obviously cool project I'm super impressed with the minimalist
website design, aesthetics, effort put in the video to match the aesthetics
and all without any JS.

Either this is the first time I'm visiting this site or I don't remember; But
I wonder how they are managing to compete with Node.JS in the search engines
with that name. Google doesn't respect even N-O-D-E, where as DDG brings up
the site as first result for N-O-D-E. Not to mention there's another famous
Youtube channel by the name Node by Corridor Crew.

They seem to sell some items based on their design along with the stuff they
make at their store of the same name, I would like to know how they reach out
to their audience from any regular subscriber of their work.

~~~
classichasclass
I also liked the transcript below the video so you can read along. I wish more
sites would do that. I'm not hearing impaired (though it's definitely a boon
if you are), but it's a lot more convenient to just see the words sometimes.

~~~
Abishek_Muthian
I agree. I think transcripts beside graphical formats are absolutely necessary
or at least it's empathetic.

Self plug: I have a startup related site which is text only and occasionally I
draw some comics which always consists of transcription.

[1][https://hitstartup.com/tags/comics/](https://hitstartup.com/tags/comics/)

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nimbius
I used to buy F91W watches all the time. they were fun and practical, but
wasteful.

the most shameful fact about the F91W isnt its spartan design or its
affordable price, but the fact that the timepiece with its ten year battery
will easily outlast its resin strap, and its springbars are nothing more than
pot steel held into the soft plastic lugs by friction alone. Chances are, when
you replace the band after a few years youll pay just as much as the watch to
do so, and run a pretty good risk of damaging the springbars to the point of
rendering them warped or broken. the simple act of removing the springbars
themselves is enough to strip out the lugs sometimes.

the clearances between the lugs and springbars are also very tight, so it
discourages aftermarket additions like NATO bands or third party straps.

the B650WB is somewhat more durable.

~~~
rcar
I was curious about what "pot steel" was - for anyone else who hadn't
encountered it before:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pot_metal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pot_metal)

~~~
plutonic
It’s nice to know all those Casio watches I’ve been wearing for years and
years probably have lead exposed on them :/

~~~
jdietrich
Modern pot metal alloys are nearly all lead free, partly due to the EU's RoHS
regulations and partly because lead is a lot more expensive than zinc.

It's also worth pointing out that metallic lead isn't all that toxic - it's
lead compounds that you need to worry about, especially organic compounds.

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etbusch
Similar to Travis Goodspeed's goodwatch project, which is a replacement board
for Casio calculator watches that contains a sub-GHz programmable radio. I've
built a few of them and had fun writing software for it.

[https://kk4vcz.com/goodwatch/](https://kk4vcz.com/goodwatch/)

[https://github.com/travisgoodspeed/goodwatch/](https://github.com/travisgoodspeed/goodwatch/)

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motohagiography
Bought one in silver. As a massive product play, making this and other retro
era watches into a fido authenticator would be the use case functionality that
would make it huge.

I was going to do an Atari 2600 case based wifi router a while ago, and this
idea of taking design classics and adapting them to minimalist modern use
cases would be a company.

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mauricio
They also have a really cool zine that's loaded with 90s hacker culture.
[https://n-o-d-e.net/zine/index.html](https://n-o-d-e.net/zine/index.html)

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Erazal
Wow I'm amazed by the option of adding a chip from a tap to pay card.

This would be a lot better than an NFC chip on a standard smartwatch as the
F91W could last for years with that chip inside it.

The F91W is cheap, and really reliable. I've always fantasized about modding
one, and this exactly would be my dream. Sadly, I don't have enough time on my
hands.

If it were for sale, I'd buy it immediately !

~~~
codezero
Your wish is _almost_ granted: [https://n-o-d-e.shop](https://n-o-d-e.shop)

The link is at the bottom of the site, but it's pretty subtle, and I _think_
these watches have the same mods.

Edit: These have NFC, but no SD card, so maybe they will show up with enhanced
storage later, but anyone wanting the NFC features with the watch it looks
like they are available.

Edit Edit: The NFC chip in the ones for sale is not tap-to-pay :( still neat
though!

~~~
johnnycab
It is possible to scavenge the NFC antenna/chip from an Oyster card or indeed
any other card, which the author alludes to in their video. There are details
floating around on how to do it, by dissolving the card in acetone.

However, the relevant authorities might take a dim view of repurposing the
transit card in this manner and probably have certain restrictions in place,
to deter people from defacing their property. On another note, the author is
using a NTAG213 on the watches sold via the shop and Oyster is Mifare, from
what I can remember. There might be issues with response times regarding the
proximity to the reader, if you wanted to experiment.

~~~
codezero
I follow someone on twitter who explained how to do this at one point, using a
Caltrain Clipper card, and put it in a resin ring :)

I could dig that up if it’s helpful but in general I think it’s pretty
straight forward, just some risk of destruction :)

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hwj
Here's another F-91W mod:

[https://github.com/carrotIndustries/pluto](https://github.com/carrotIndustries/pluto)

~~~
JackMcMack
I built one of these, modified the firmware to show leap seconds:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQaPtOPP09U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQaPtOPP09U)

~~~
cculpepper
I ended up making an "app" to do hundredths of seconds for TSD rallies.
Awesome project. My build is 2-4 years old (IIRC), so it has some power
issues, sometimes I'll catch it waking itself up more than usual, and I can
hear the wakeups in the piezo which doesn't help.

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netsharc
Please add a few bullet points on the top of the page, it takes way too long
to figure out what functionality you added, when I open the page all I can see
is you starting with "It's a mod of this model watch" and then you talk about
how it looks now, and how you put it together...

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TedDoesntTalk
Nice to see someone hosting his own video instead of using YouTube.

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kingosticks
To me, the name of this sounded like it was going to be squeezing some kind of
running/sports watch functionality into a Casio F91W (and ideally GPS!). But
it's not that, it turns out (a few paragraphs later) that it's adding NFC for
close-range data sharing and some other cool mods. Which makes more sense
considering how small the watch is.

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jonpurdy
This is awesome. As I watched the video I was thinking how great it’d be to
have an NFC chip for payments and transit in my watch. Of course, I remembered
shortly after that my Apple Watch does this already but I never use it for NFC
because it’s easier to hold your phone up to a reader than to twist your wrist
and arm.

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wil421
Neat mod. I like the nod to Johnny Mnemonic.

The mod could be used by spies to authenticate each other on a data drop. NFC
powers the device and validates the key is correct. Once the two users are
validated the data is exchanged and the data runner exfiltrates the payload.

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jasona99
Does anyone know what NFC transponder they might be using? I might have
filtered too much on Mouser and missed it, but I'm struggling to find an 8KB
module with that case. I also can't find it on the site since there's no BOM.

~~~
kruffin
Freeze the video at 1:47 and you'll see K352 4SDYU from STMicroelectronics.
Dug a little and came up with M24SR16-YDW6T/2 which can be found in DigiKey
here:
[https://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=M24SR16-YDW6T%2...](https://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=M24SR16-YDW6T%2F2)

That one is only a 2Kb though. They also make an 8Kb 4SFYU:
[https://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=M24SR64-YDW6T%2...](https://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=M24SR64-YDW6T%2F2)

~~~
awiesenhofer
I am pretty clueless when it comes to NFC, does adding such a chip mean i
could copy my Mifare Classic card onto the watch? That would be neat!

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notJim
I really like this idea. I'd prefer a more traditional or minimal looking
watch, but I like some of the extra functionality I get from my Apple Watch. I
would love something more in between the two.

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plutonic
Now I just need a TV-B-Gone on my F-91W!

[https://learn.adafruit.com/tv-b-gone-kit](https://learn.adafruit.com/tv-b-
gone-kit)

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wodenokoto
I’ve been wanting a fitness tracker version of this watch for some time now.

Anyway, cool to see that this watch isn’t only a favorite of terrorists.

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all_blue_chucks
Couldn't you put the NFC chip in the watch band and use it with whichever
watch you like?

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holstvoogd
I like how it takes 10s to render any text because the font's don't load ;)

But cool project!

