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In the 1980s we downloaded games from the radio

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286 points spzb | 1 comments | 28 Mar 25 22:14 UTC | HN request time: 0.224s | source
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atoav ◴[31 Mar 25 12:56 UTC] No.43534493[source]▶
I know audio gear that does firmware updates via audio input.

The most obscure thing I have ever seen is a device that received firmware updates by strobing the bits as light into a photodiode. You would go to a website on your phone, press upload and hold the phone in front of the thing.

replies(1): >>43538124 #
1. jandrese ◴[31 Mar 25 18:29 UTC] No.43538124[source]▶
There was a brief period during the late 90s/early 2000s before WiFi became ubiquitous that laptops came with IR transmitters/receivers for streaming data.

It was always touchy, slow, required an unbroken line of sight, and poorly supported by both the OS and application software, but I did make it work a couple of times. The PDAs of the time used a similar technology to send contact information (business cards) between devices.