The microscopic world of mobile chip art
I’d heard about “chip art” before, but not really paid much attention to it. Then, over Christmas I saw a programme on Finnish TV which sparked my interest. I wondered – was there any ‘mobile’ chip art out there?
What is chip art?
For the uninitiated, “chip art” is created when silicon chip designers use redundant space on circuit boards to add a piece of personal artwork. It’s graffiti, but on a microscopic scale, and one which often goes completely undetected. Although chip art originally served a purpose – to help ‘catch out’ board cloners – since 1984 when copyright law changed there has been little reason to incorporate it. Except for fun, of course.
Mobile chip art?
There are hundreds of examples of chip art on computer-destined circuit boards, but far fewer in mobiles. Or are there?
Although not strictly mobile-related, this touch-tone telephone chip art was discovered on an Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) integrated circuit board. Cute, nevertheless, and retro is all the rage, right?
After digging a little deeper, I did manage to find a couple of pieces of chip art actually hidden within mobile phones. This one, above, was concealed inside a Nokia N80 mobile phone, and resembles a rat or mouse (of sorts). According to my (Finnish) wife the words translate as “Eat chicken”. It’s a safe bet that nobody except the person who put it there knows what that means.
This one, fondly known as “The Magical Mystery Pig”, was found on the RF component of another Nokia phone. Again, the significance of this is a complete mystery. The beauty of some of this chip art is not only in the wonderful detail – considering its size – but more fundamentally in why it was put there in the first place.
I wonder how much more mobile chip art is hiding out there?
12 comments
->@kiwanja: The microscopic world of mobile chip art http://tinyurl.com/dcwcbq
Microscopic works of art in your mobile? You have to see it to believe it, which is half the problem. http://tinyurl.com/dcwcbq
Microscopic works of art in your mobile? You have to see it to believe it, which is half the problem. http://tinyurl.com/dcwcbq
Awesome post!! Who’d have thought that people would do this for fun….
R/T @lucasgonzalez @cglusky has built @frontlinesms on a 12v DC minicomputer for under $280 (add solar & phone). http://tinyurl.com/dcwcbq
R/T @lucasgonzalez @cglusky has built @frontlinesms on a 12v DC minicomputer for under $280 (add solar & phone). http://tinyurl.com/dcwcbq
[...] Chip art [...]
This is seriously geeked out – mobile chip art – nice one @kiwanja for posting!
http://snipurl.com/esysc
This is seriously geeked out – mobile chip art – nice one @kiwanja for posting!
http://snipurl.com/esysc
The picture that says “Eat Chicken” is not a mouse it is a pig. It is common to see t-shirts, stickers, ect. of pigs, or cows that say “Eat Chicken” (rather then pork or beef) The reason I think the picture is definitely a pig is because of the curly tail.
I would like to explain the Nokia N80 ‘Rat or pig’ mystery. It is actually a Pig named ‘Hinku’, from old finnish animation series ‘Hinku & Vinku: Käytöskukka’. Here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUS57LTAX0s. And the sign sayin ‘Syökää Kanaa’ is few years old advertise from McDonald’s! Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZNu7InZF9s. Haha!
The microscopic world of mobile chip art http://t.co/rHoEAaW1
Leave a Comment