Data Challenge Winners

April 3, 2012 · by Anna Rohleder

Your participation in our April Fool's Day challenge made it much more than a one-day gag. Thanks to everyone who made an effort to crack the code. From those who tweeted the solution and/or sent me a private message, we chose 5 people at random to receive one of these stylish Opera bamboo 2GB thumb drives.

The list of winners follows below. If you are one of the lucky 5, please send me your postal address (NOT your e-mail address!) so that I can put your prize in the mail to you. Congrats!

Thu Win
benad
DeXTeD64
AdibMuhammad
tyw7

Readers' comments 54

Left under the original article, as archived.

nidheeshrTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:01:21 PM
congrats winners....

...pen drives looks cute...but 2gb??...hmmmmm
SaskatchewanTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:03:29 PM
Congratulations!
dahulevogyreTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:04:37 PM
Isn't tyw7 the same guy as Thu Win ?

... Hmm I should've tweet multiple times too.
Martin PiatkaTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:04:53 PM
Congratz to the winners!
João DavidTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:05:07 PM
And the solution was...?
TamilTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:05:10 PM
Congratulations!

Thu Win is tyw7
MedTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:08:57 PM
congratz
Diego SchildTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:09:29 PM
Congratz to the winners.

And the solution? The second part was very hard. =/

PS: the Bamboo thumb drives looks REALLY good.
quarkTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:14:23 PM
So they are now officially fools?

Congratulations
Sam Van den VonderTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:15:25 PM
Congratulations everyone Kind of disappointed seeing these are just 2GB (rather small) "thumb drives" and not actual "hard drives" like the message said.

I'd still love to have one either way

EDIT: What's all the racket in the comments below? Yea fine, the message said 'hard drive', but you're still getting something custom made for free. The winners should be thankful. Also, the "I don't have a twitter account"- statement is invalid because you can easily make a dummy one with 10minutemail or anything similar. You're getting free stuff, don't complain.

Though, I must agree that it's in fact quite simple to tweet the hashtag without actually solving the puzzle. The ones who did spend a lot of time searching for the solution didn't exactly get the reward (even just an 'oh yea!') because other people didn't have to do anything other than copy the hashtag from someone else.

I hope these comments (and everyone else's) don't affect future contests negatively, though they should be taken note of to make sure this doesn't happen again. You know how people are
Alexodius PrimeTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:15:28 PM
PHOTOTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:17:39 PM
congrate..for the winners
dżekTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:17:48 PM
First solution:
"Thank you for helping us out! Your participation is crucial for this April fools joke to work. To show our appreciation, and continue down the data savings road, we're giving away five external hard drives to some of the people solving this code. To prove that you solved the code, and to be qualified for receiving a hard drive, please tweet #operaaprilfools before April 2nd. Again, thank you for being awesome and participating! The Opera Team"

Second solution was bzip2 file, after extracting the file from archive there was a text file saying:

"Wow, you're persistent and good! Tweet hashtag #operaaprilfoolleet to participate in the next level of l33thaxx0rs competition. Hurry up! Tweet must be out by April 3rd 2012 CET."

Too bad I didn't win anything
Arif hossainTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:20:34 PM
Congratulations to winner.
nemetroidTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:21:25 PM
Congrats!

The solution to the second part was to parse the ones and zeroes into a binary string (the same way as part one), recognize the first few letters as a file type header (namely bzip2), and use some tool to unpack it (7Zip, Winrar, bunzip2, etc.).

The main problem you'll run into is if you use some method which requires you to copy and paste the binary string. It seems to me that doing this will corrupt the string.

Here are two programs that solve part 2 (in Javascript and Haskell):

JS (HTML, rather): https://gist.github.com/2292349
(requires https://github.com/antimatter15/bzip2.js )

Haskell: https://gist.github.com/2292365
Writes the bzipped content to foo.bz2 in your current directory.

SaskatchewanTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:33:03 PM

Here's my solution in Python:

import bz2

a = '010000100101101001101000001110010011000101000001010110010010011001010011010110011101110001011111011110101000111000000000000000000001100101011111100000000000000000010000011010001000010101111000000000000010101001000000000001001000000000111111111001111101111111100000001000000000000010001001000100010100111111010100001000011000010000011001000000110100001101000000011010000110100000110101010100111111000100011010000001001001100100011010001100100000001101101010011000001111010100100101000011111100011101011001010101110011101001001010001100110100011010010011011010110000001100010001100101000011101000011101001000011000111001001111011011011111001111101101100101001110100100111111001101001011010001101000000010100000001101100000010110100011011101100100110011111010111011000100010010000011011100100101111010011110011000101011101100111111101110001011101110000101101000001111011111001000100111010011100110011111001110110000010000000111110100101010000001000011011001110001110111010100011111000100100100100100000011001100111001001000111101010111001000010100010101110011101011101001111110100000110101010011100001001000111110000110101101101101111110001101100000001001110101011110101110000000001000100111010110011000111000101000101111001000001010000010011001111010101011010101101011101001001110110100010010011100011101000000100010010101010001110110011011101011010101111110001011101110010010001010011100001010000100100001101110001011111011110101000111000000'
b = ''.join([chr(int(a[i:i+8],2)) for i in range(0, len(a), 8)])
c = bz2.decompress(b)

print c

Martin PiatkaTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:34:19 PM
Well, you could convert the binary code to hex and then use a hex editor to save it as *.bz2 and open it with WinRar. That is how I did it.
SanyaZolTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:44:26 PM
Congratz
Anyways, i was first who decoded second part, and 4th who decoded 1st part.
Tweetable php decoder source for second part (pure solution is 95 bytes long):

<?php
$a='0100...';
while(@$l<strlen($a)){@$o.=chr(base_convert(substr(@$a,@$l,8),2,10));@$l+=8;}echo bzdecompress($o);

twitter hashtags:
https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23operaaprilfoolleet
https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23operaaprilfools
Nikola SivkovTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:45:43 PM
Congrats to the winers !

Tip to Opera: Next time please give away bigger drives 8 or 16 gigs , those 2gb drives are just going to end up in a drawer.

Originally posted by MaPisvk:

Well, you could convert the binary code to hex and then use a hex editor to save it as *.bz2 and open it with WinRar. That is how I did it.

Me too , here is detailed explanation : http://bit.ly/HdlRu8
Marek NowickiTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:48:09 PM
So many USB thumb drives on photo and only 5 winners .

Congratulations to the winners and all that solve those problems!

Saskatchewan - nice solution!
võ minh mẫnTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:54:05 PM
Congratulations to
winner.
SaskatchewanTuesday, April 3, 2012 2:57:25 PM
@faramir2, actually, I used bz2.decompress after seeing your solution . I don't know if I would come up with this idea if I didn't see it.
Thu WinTuesday, April 3, 2012 3:03:19 PM
Yes I am Twitter user Tyw7. I pm and entered through Twitter, expecting Opera to know I'm the same guy (I also used Thu Win on Twitter as well. How could they missed that! The Tyw7 account have the name Thu Win.) Just in case they missed. I pmed after some person started saying they enter through pm. Do I get two sticks?
Thu WinTuesday, April 3, 2012 3:07:25 PM
http://my.opera.com/wikipedian/blog/2012/04/01/opera-april-fool
How to solve it. Now made public.
Ide StoutjesdijkTuesday, April 3, 2012 3:09:28 PM
Is it possible to order Opera USB-sticks somewhere too?
mistressEVILTuesday, April 3, 2012 3:09:44 PM
This challenges are getting ridiculously weird and unfair.
- It requires a Twitter account. Some people out of personal reasons don't want to create one so they're "disqualified" at start. Fine.
Decoded text clearly said: "to be qualified for receiving a hard drive, please tweet #operaaprilfools" in which case "those who tweeted the solution and/or sent me a private message" is not valid.

- I didn't decrypt the code myself, yet tweeted both of required hashtags. I did so just to prove how ridiculous this is.

Could go on but meh.
EmoryyTuesday, April 3, 2012 3:16:23 PM
Originally posted by dzek69:

To show our appreciation, and continue down the data savings road, we're giving away five external hard drives to some of the people solving this code
External hard drives =/= 2Gb thumb drives
mistressEVILTuesday, April 3, 2012 3:19:26 PM
...but it was 1. April. So you sure fooled us good.
Thu WinTuesday, April 3, 2012 3:20:14 PM
The challenge is ridiculous. One simply have to follow a My Opera member to know the "secret" hash tag.
Thu WinTuesday, April 3, 2012 3:21:18 PM
I think you need to redraw the fifth winner (Tyw7) unless you are planning to give me two sticks.
nidheeshrTuesday, April 3, 2012 3:27:50 PM
@mistressEVIL...calm down...
stupid_catTuesday, April 3, 2012 3:52:59 PM
Congratulations

Although I couldn't decode the 2nd phrase, but it was really fun :3
XenoAntaresTuesday, April 3, 2012 3:55:41 PM
My Javascript-only solution: http://jsfiddle.net/xaxa/SDYKe/

Congrats to all the winners!
S a mTuesday, April 3, 2012 3:59:06 PM
I had a lot of fun cracking the 2 codes

At first, I thought the second one was garbage bytes, then I thought it could be a JPG.
Benoit NadeauTuesday, April 3, 2012 4:10:27 PM
What would be the best USB-bootable Linux distro with Opera running in it should I place on the USB drive? With an Opera-branded USB drive, I just *have* to make the ultimate portable Opera USB drive...
Sam Van den VonderTuesday, April 3, 2012 4:44:45 PM
Originally posted by benad:

What would be the best USB-bootable Linux distro with Opera running in it should I place on the USB drive? With an Opera-branded USB drive, I just *have* to make the ultimate portable Opera USB drive...

Ubuntu. Boots the fastest. You'll need that with these (presumably slow) thumb drives
Sanwar Singh BangarwaTuesday, April 3, 2012 5:25:18 PM
BADHAiiiiiiiiiiii ho winners nu:wizard:

pepkin88Tuesday, April 3, 2012 6:17:06 PM

Everyone is posting solutions, I'll post mine.
I saved file binary file with Node.js and opened in WinRAR. The code:

var code = '010000100101101001101000001110010011000101000001010110010010011001010011010110011101110001011111011110101000111000000000000000000001100101011111100000000000000000010000011010001000010101111000000000000010101001000000000001001000000000111111111001111101111111100000001000000000000010001001000100010100111111010100001000011000010000011001000000110100001101000000011010000110100000110101010100111111000100011010000001001001100100011010001100100000001101101010011000001111010100100101000011111100011101011001010101110011101001001010001100110100011010010011011010110000001100010001100101000011101000011101001000011000111001001111011011011111001111101101100101001110100100111111001101001011010001101000000010100000001101100000010110100011011101100100110011111010111011000100010010000011011100100101111010011110011000101011101100111111101110001011101110000101101000001111011111001000100111010011100110011111001110110000010000000111110100101010000001000011011001110001110111010100011111000100100100100100000011001100111001001000111101010111001000010100010101110011101011101001111110100000110101010011100001001000111110000110101101101101111110001101100000001001110101011110101110000000001000100111010110011000111000101000101111001000001010000010011001111010101011010101101011101001001110110100010010011100011101000000100010010101010001110110011011101011010101111110001011101110010010001010011100001010000100100001101110001011111011110101000111000000',
    i, buffer = new Buffer(code.length / 8);
for (i = 0; i < code.length; i += 8) {
    buffer[i / 8] = parseInt(code.substr(i, 8), 2);
}
require('fs').writeFileSync('answer.bz', buffer);

Thu WinTuesday, April 3, 2012 11:54:29 PM
Originally posted by Tamil:

Congratulations!

Thu Win is tyw7
.

Yup.
Didn't they see the name on the Twitter account? Maybe they were and chose me twice

Originally posted by dahulevogyre:

Isn't tyw7 the same guy as Thu Win ?

... Hmm I should've tweet multiple times too

I did not tweet multiple time... Perhaps I was new on Twitter and the Opera guys did not know me so well or I use a Twitter handle that does not contain my name in it (they could have checked the Twitter profile though... plus my sigs in the forum all link to the Twitter profile Tyw7).
K. WalkerWednesday, April 4, 2012 2:09:51 AM

Congrats, code slueths.
suleiman abdulrahmanWednesday, April 4, 2012 7:08:33 AM
wow!thats great with opera.I really apreciate for the competion it held though am not among the winners,lucky wasnt on my side but i wish to be one in days to come.
Congratulation to all my fellow members and partcipants together with opera it self as i say OPERA IS A GIANT OF ALL AND LIGHT TO US....
suleiman abdulrahmanWednesday, April 4, 2012 7:14:29 AM
wow!thats great with opera.I really apreciate for the competion it held though am not among the winners,lucky wasnt on my side but i wish to be one in days to come.
Congratulation to all my fellow members and partcipants together with opera it self as i say OPERA IS A GIANT OF ALL AND LIGHT TO US....
Anna RohlederWednesday, April 4, 2012 9:09:05 AM
Originally posted by wikipedian:

I think you need to redraw the fifth winner (Tyw7) unless you are planning to give me two sticks.

We will be re-drawing the 5th winner.

Having read everyone else's comments about this contest, I would just like to say that this was all purely for fun, so please take everything in that spirit, from the "rules" of the game to the prizes.
Thu WinWednesday, April 4, 2012 10:38:24 AM
You got my address right? I've emailed to you.
AlexisWednesday, April 4, 2012 1:44:51 PM
Aww, the thumbs look kewl.
D1sasterp1eceWednesday, April 4, 2012 2:50:56 PM
I, like many of you, was also expecting an external HDD, not a tiny USB flash, but oh well. And, if I understand correctly, anyone passing the first stage was qualified to win and the second stage was just 'for honour' - is it so?
CoyoteeWednesday, April 4, 2012 5:35:43 PM
Thanks Opera Team! Keep those contests coming.
mishkaWednesday, April 4, 2012 9:05:32 PM
oooo of course it is gooodddd )
juan gilThursday, April 5, 2012 5:19:34 PM
what if i want to buy one of those drives? they look cool enough
D1sasterp1eceThursday, April 5, 2012 7:38:32 PM
Originally posted by aljund:

what if i want to buy one of those drives? they look cool enough

I don't think that the people at Opera that usually give away stuff on contests would want to sell it, even if many people would buy some. Guess why.