Did we mention we have a big awesome laser cutter? Probably! We always mention that. Enjoy this little video Matt threw together while laser cutting himself a laptop stand. Complete with corny Antiques Roadshow-esque jazz music.
Do you want to cut your own laptop stand? Head on over to Thingiverse! Have your own idea? Come on in and we’ll teach you how to use this beast!
It is April 12, 2012, the first day of Notacon. You are in the hallway outside the main presenation room. Through the open door east, you can see an enthusiastic presenter gesturing at her slides, and about two dozen people sitting in chairs. On the hallway wall is a printed schedule. West is another presentation room. South is the lockpicking area. The hallway continues north.
> LOOK AT SCHEDULE
The schedule reads "NOTACON 9 ROOM 1 FRIDAY
3pm Milkymist: video synthesizers at the cutting edge of open source hardware
4pm Reverse-engineering for fun and profit
5pm Game Maker: Crash course in video game programming
6pm Creating parsers using standard UNIX tools
..."
> GO NORTH You are in the hallway outside the hardware hacking area. To the east, attendees and off-duty conference staff are crouched over soldering irons, modifying the circuitry on their conference badges. One appears to have been converted into a small vehicle, scooting around the table. Someone hollers "It works! It's transmitting my callsign!" To the west is the pool. To the north, a "PIXELJAM" sign adorns a closed door with music thumping behind it. The hallway continues south.
> INVENTORY
Between your pockets and your backpack, you have:
A Notacon 9 conference badge circuit board with nothing soldered to it.
Your cellphone. (2003 called, they want their Nokia back.)
A half-empty bottle of Bawls energy drink.
A printed conference program, folded open to the puzzles section.
A cheap set of lockpicks.
A menu from the sushi joint across the street.
Two 4GB USB flash drives.
A towel with "Hilton" embroidered in the corner.
Man, what a weird dream! Good thing it isn’t actually April yet, because the discounted pre-registration happens much earlier. Notacon, the longest-running (and coolest) tech/art/hack conference in the midwest, has just extended that discounted reg period, and for anyone whose ambition extends to submitting a presentation, good news! The Call for Proposals closes on February 10, there’s still time to sneak one in…
Have you been learning to program with the Codecademy‘s Code Year program? It’s not too late to start! Participants are gathering around the world to celebrate their progress and compare notes, and i3 Detroit is the venue for the Detroit-area Code Year meetup.
Like almost all of our events, non-members are explicitly welcome. Doors should be open by 6:30, meetup officially starts at 7.
(Note to members: This means the regular membership meeting has been pushed back an hour, to 8:30.)
Friday at i3 Detroit: It’s the return of the infamous unusual musical instrument jam session! Does you own something that makes noise? Then bring it along, and play it! Things should be rolling by 8pm, see the original post for details.
Saturday at District VII: Travelers on the Fabric of Time, a steampunk ball at which some i3 creations will be featured. Also burlesque performances, an aerial act, music, and more. District VII has a fantastic space, and if you haven’t been down there for an event before, it’s worth checking out. It’s not too late to glue some gears on something! 😉
(Also, website hiccups continue as we work with our new webhost to iron out some server quirks. Bear with us.)
Is it the fourth Tuesday? Then it’s Android meetup!
Tonight I’ll be attempting to apply the rest of the “Unbrickable” mod to my Galaxy Tab, plus whoever else shows up and whatever else gets hacked!
Meetup starts at 7pm, but there should be a member around by 6:30 so non-members are welcome any time after that. Bring toys…