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Software engineer Sylvain Zimmer has solved a puzzle embedded in a Google advertising video for the firm’s Chrome OS netbook and won a Cr-48 in the process.
CTO of free music outfit Jamendo, Sylvain Zimmer noticed the formula written on the backboard in the amusing Google Chrome OS video which features a Chrome OS netbook being destroyed in various amusing situations.
One of which featured the netbook being immersed in liquid nitrogen and it’s this scene which featured the blackboard with said formula. Eagle-eyed Zimmer snapshotted the image and discussed it with his fellow geek work colleagues.
Reportedly spending a full day on the puzzle, Zimmer converted the 30 numbers into 4 characters used in the Google URL shorting formula goo.gl but even this didn’t work. Then finally when travelling home from work, Zimmer had his eureka moment:
"That was when I noticed there were far too many zeroes in that sequence, even without the ones I added So I tried different splits, and ended up with “19 16 05 05 04 01 14 04 04 05 19 20 18 15 25," said Zimmer.
"There, any geek would have known what to do I translated it to letters and got “s p e e d a n d d e s t r o y”. Obviously, at this point my fingers were very shaky but I managed to type goo.gl/speedanddestroy in my browser and got to a form telling me that I was the “first to figure out our MENSA-certified puzzle” and would receive a Cr-48. WIN !"
Zimmer’s full account can be found here.
