Yesterday, Mailbox released their beta Mac app. One cute thing they did, was that instead of a beta link or code, they distributed cute little animated gif coins which you could then drop into a “tin can” in the app to gain access.
I was intrigued by the concept, so I got some used betacoins from my friends and did a little digging to figure out how they were doing it.
My plan was to diff the coins and see what was changed from coin to coin, but I didn’t even need to do that. A quick inspect with gifsicle revealed an obvious token in the gif comments extension block.
[email protected]:~/Desktop/betacoins ✪ gifsicle -I coin113121.gif '#0'
* coin113121.gif 122 images
logical screen 173x130
global color table [64]
background 44
loop forever
+ image #0 173x130 transparent 45
comment "F1699622-5500-4F31-B643-798427D0DBFA"
disposal asis delay 0.03s
[email protected]:~/Desktop/betacoins ✪
From there I checked a couple other coins to see if they had differing comments, and sure enough they did.
So now the question became, could I add the comment from a valid betacoin to another gif and have it still work?
I grabbed a lovely gif of a barfing unicorn off the web, and set to work.
[email protected]:~/Desktop/betacoins ✪ gifsicle unicorns_puke_rainbows_by_chronicle_vindictive-d56nvl0.gif --no-comments -c '"F1699622-5500-4F31-B643-798427D0DBFA"' '#0' '#1-' > unicoin.gif
[email protected]:~/Desktop/betacoins ✪ gifsicle -I unicoin.gif '#0'
* unicoin-a.gif 9 images
logical screen 660x850
global color table [256]
background 0
loop forever
+ image #0 660x850
comment "F1699622-5500-4F31-B643-798427D0DBFA"
delay 0.92s
[email protected]:~/Desktop/betacoins ✪
I then downloaded the beta, crossed my fingers, and dragged the unicoin into the tin can. I was rewarded with a tinkle of a coin dropping in, and access to the beta.
This is a valid betacoin.
Turns out, Mailbox could care less what else is in your gif. Just so long as you have a comment with a valid token, it’ll use that gif and animate it prettily.
As an aside, the coin gif has a staggering 122 frames. 122. Sparkles are expensive, yo.
Edit (2014-08-20)
I created a service for changing up your Mailbox betacoins, called Unicoin. You’re welcome.
Second Edit (2014-08-20)
Demo!
Comments
So cool. Thanks for pulling it apart.
Give it all to Hobbs.
Any chance you can post the Unicoin site source? Curious as to how you made that tool. Awesome work!
Wow. Such an amazing post Mr. Hobbs. Brilliant work. :)
@Charlie – I’ll try to get it cleaned up and posted to github tomorrow. It’s mostly just shelling out to gifsicle.
@Karthik – Thanks!
That’s so…wait for it….vomixtrodinary!!
Glad you did that!
And you rocks for that one: P.S. I promise not to steal your betacoins.
Xoxo
Actually, the unicoin trick doesn’t work for now. Is there an update by Mailbox team ?
Thanks for the try ;)
@Yao’ – Weird, it’s worked several times for me. Maybe they pushed out an update today. Does it give you an error message?
Super awesome. The second I went through this experience I dove into a search as to how it’s done. No results until today. Thank you!
I tried it just now and it did not work… any other options?
It just does the graphic where the tin spits out the coin. No real message.
Great post when it worked :(
Awesome stuff :)
@Jesse and @ymipaul – Bummer! I’ve got no idea why it works sometimes and doesn’t other times. Maybe the token is already used?
Either way, if you need a Mailbox betacoin, I can send you one!
Um yeah…if you have a betacoin could you send one my way? :)
Thats soo cool thank you for sharing, any chance to get a betacoin?
Regards
[…] the way, this cool dude made this little website where you can change the Gif on your Betacoin before using it. Not sure […]
And just like that, I’m all out of betacoins.
[…] Mailbox (Mac) A few days ago, Mailbox released their beta Mac app and so far it’s awesome. If you’re willing to try it, just write me a short message (I have three invitations to share). To use Mailbox you’ll need a so called “Betacoin” and in this article you’ll learn, how this idea works. http://www.velvetcache.org/2014/08/20/custom-mailbox-betacoins […]
Really struggling to find a bet coin online anywhere. Would be most grateful if you could pass one on :)
Hi, can you send me a betacoin. Appreciate it. Cheers
Hmm I have a beta code but not a beta coin. Any idea what I do with that? :) Help appreciated.
Hi, appreciate if you have new betacoins. Really looking forward to use Mailbox on my laptop.
Cheers!
if someone could send me a beta coin I’d highly appreciate it. I’ve been a longtime user of the iPhone app and can’t wait to get my hands on the desktop version!
ha! I love shit like this! Great job :)