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Hands On: DEF CON 29 Badge Embraces The New Normal

August 5, 2021 by 13 Comments

To say that 2020 was a transformative year would be something of an understatement. The COVID-19 pandemic completely changed the way we worked, learned, and lived. Despite all those jokes about how much time people spend on their devices rather than interacting face-to-face with other humans, it turns out that when you can’t get more than a few people together in the same room, it throws our entire society into disarray.

Our community had to rethink how we congregated, and major events like HOPE, DEF CON, and even our own Hackaday Supercon, had to be quickly converted into virtual events that tried with varying degrees of success to capture the experience of hundreds or thousands of hackers meeting up in real life. While few would argue that a virtual hacker convention can ever truly replace a physical one, we learned there are undeniable benefits to embracing the advantages offered by cyberspace. If nothing else, the virtual hacker meetups of 2020 saw a far larger and more diverse array of attendees and presenters than ever before.

As we begin seeing the first rays of light at the end of the long, dark, tunnel we’ve been stuck in, it’s clear that some of the changes that COVID-19 forced on our community are here to stay. As eager as we all are to get back to the epic hackfests of old, nobody wants to close the door on all those who would be unable to attend physically now that they’ve gotten to peek behind the curtain.

With this in mind, this year’s DEF CON is being presented in both physical and virtual forms simultaneously. If you made to Las Vegas, great. If not, you can follow along through chat rooms and video streams from the comfort of your own home. Following the theme, the DC29 badge is not only a practical tool for virtual attendees, but an electronic puzzle for those who are able to bring a few of them together physically. Let’s take a closer look at this socially distanced badge and the tech that went into it.

Continue reading “Hands On: DEF CON 29 Badge Embraces The New Normal” →

Vintage Computer Festival West Is This Weekend

August 5, 2021 by 4 Comments

This weekend is the Vintage Computer Festival (VCF) West, which will be held in-person at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Here is the complete schedule of events.

If you’re in the area, go get your retrocomputing on at this two-day event that Hackaday are proud to sponsor. Who knows? You may end up hobnobbing with original system developers who are finally at liberty to spill the tea about the old days.

Case in point: Hackaday’s own Bil Herd will be there virtually to talk about the new Commodore inside history book he wrote with Margaret Moribito. Other speakers include Bob Purvy, who will discuss his novel about the Xerox Star. This isn’t your average history book — it uses fictional characters to play out actual events. Another talk delves into the history of computerized tic-tac-toe, and yet another will cover recovering lost floppy disks with an oscilloscope. Finally, Liza Loop will speak about the history of computing in education to close out the weekend’s talks.

There are also plenty of exhibitions on the schedule, too, including Rare Computers from Japan and Analog Computing in the 1960s. And don’t forget, you’re at the Computer History Museum, so there should never be anything approaching a dull moment. Have fun!

Reminder: Bring-A-Hack Is This Thursday August 5th

August 3, 2021 by No comments

Hey you! What have you been working on lately? No, wait, don’t tell us just yet! Save the juicy details for the summer edition of Bring-A-Hack. It’s going down in just two days — that’s Thursday, August 5th at 1:00 PM Pacific Daylight time (4pm EDT | 9pm BST/CET). Go register right now!

Historically, Hackaday has attended (or hosted) Bring-a-Hack events as a social activity along with live conference. You grab something off your bench and it gives you a thing to talk about as you see friends old and new. This virtual Bring-a-Hack walks in those footprints — anyone who wants to present their to the group can just type ‘I would like to present’ in the Crowdcast chat once the event gets under way. We also plan to have breakout rooms for more interaction.

If you were too shy to show off one of your projects at the last one of these back in April, now is your chance! Are you building something for the Hackaday Prize? What have you done to make working from home more tolerable? Whatever you’re into, we want to see it, so come and show it off to the hacker elite from around the world. And just because they’re elite, it doesn’t mean they’re elitist: it doesn’t matter what level your project is on. What matters is that you’re passionate about it, and that you probably learned something along the way — something you can share with the community that will bring you many virtual pats on the back.

So go and get registered, shine up those hacks, and we’ll see you there!

No Mask Required: Bring-A-Hack Is Back August 5th

July 22, 2021 by 9 Comments

Yes, we’re still in a pandemic and yes, these types of events are still happening over videoconference and not in meat space. But you know what? That means that so many more people have the opportunity to show up and show off their hacks! As long as 1 PM PDT is within your personal uptime, that is. Maybe you can make an exception if not?

Here is your link: the summer edition of Bring a Hack with Tindie and Hackaday will take place on Thursday, August 5th at 1:00 PM Pacific Daylight time (that’s 4pm EDT | 9pm BST/CET). Choose your gnarliest hack of late and go register for the event, which will be held on the Crowdcast video chat platform this time around.

The remote Bring-A-Hack held way back in April was packed with awesome people. Now is your chance to join in! You all have awesome projects from the last few months (we’ve seen a lot of them on these very pages), so come show them off to the hacker elite from around the globe. You know the deal: it really doesn’t matter what level your project is on, so don’t worry about that. As long as you’re passionate about it, we’d love to see it and hear all about the problems you had to overcome and yes, even the mistakes you made. You never know what knowledge you might have that can push someone else’s project over the finish line.

Shine up your hacks, and mark those calendars; here’s a timezone converter if you need it. Reserve your spot now. Seriously, don’t fool yourself into thinking your build isn’t impressive enough — we want to see it. My hack might not even involve a circuit, and that’s enough to pique your interest, right? See you there!

VCF Swap Meet Takes Step Back To Move Forward

April 28, 2021 by 44 Comments

When computers were the sort of thing you ordered from a catalog and soldered together in your garage, swap meets were an invaluable way of exchanging not just hardware and software, but information. As computers became more mainstream and readily available, the social aspect of these events started to take center stage. Once online retail started really picking up steam, it was clear the age of the so-called “computer show” was coming to a close. Why wait months to sell your old hardware at the next swap when you could put it on eBay from the comfort of your own home?

Of course, like-minded computer users never stopped getting together to exchange ideas. They just called these meets something different. By the 2000s, the vestigial remnants of old school computer swap meets could be found in the vendor rooms of hacker cons. The Vintage Computer Festival (VCF) maintained a small consignment area where attendees could unload their surplus gear, but it wasn’t the real draw of the event. Attendees came for the workshops, the talks, and the chance to hang out with people who were passionate about the same things they were.

Consignment goods at VCF East XIII in 2018.

Then came COVID-19. For more than a year we’ve been forced to cancel major events, suspend local meetups, and in general, avoid one another. Some of the conventions were revamped and presented virtually, and a few of them actually ended up providing a unique and enjoyable experience, but it still wasn’t the same. If you could really capture the heart and soul of these events with a video stream and a chat room, we would’ve done it already.

But this past weekend, the folks behind VCF East tried something a little different. As indoor gatherings are still strongly discouraged by New Jersey’s stringent COVID restrictions, they decided to hold a computer swap meet in the large parking lot adjacent to the InfoAge Science and History Museum. There were no formal talks or presentations, but you could at least get within speaking distance of like-minded folks again in an environment were everyone felt comfortable.

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Bring A Hack Is Back This Thursday!

April 6, 2021 by 4 Comments

As the pandemic edges further into its second year, the tedium of life under lockdown is taking its toll. We may be fighting the spread of infection by staying home and having our meetings over video conferencing software, but it’s hellishly boring! What we wouldn’t do for our hackerspaces to be open, and for the chance to hang out and chew the fat about our lockdown projects!

Here at Hackaday we can bring some needed relief in the form of the Hackaday Remote: Bring-A-Hack held via Zoom on Thursday, April 8th, at 1pm Pacific time. We know you’ve been working hard over the last year, and since you’ve been denied the chance to share those projects in person, we know you just can’t wait to sign up. Last year’s Remoticon showed us the value of community get-togethers online, with both the team soldering challenge rounds and the bring-a-hack being particular event highlights, so it’s time for a fresh dose to keep up our spirits.

It doesn’t matter how large or small your project is, if it interests you other readers will also want to see it. Be prepared to tell the world how you made it, what problems you solved, and a bit about yourself, and then step back, take a bow, and be showered with virtual roses from the adoring masses. There’s a sign-up link if you have a project to show off Looks like we’re full up for planned presenations, but still come and bring your hacks for showing in conversation groups. Don’t hold back if you’re worried it’s not impressive enough, a certain Hackaday scribe has submitted an OpenSCAD library she’s working on.

Hiding Behind The Silkscreen: The Carolinacon 2021 Badge Has A Secret

April 4, 2021 by 7 Comments

The pandemic may have taken away many of our real-world events, but as they’ve gone online their badge teams have often carried on regardless. One of these comes from Carolinacon, and it’s decided to eschew the bleeding edge of electronic wizardry and instead push slightly at the boundaries of PCB art. It contains a hidden message in a copper layer behind a band of white silkscreen, which is revealed by a set of LEDs on the reverse of the board shining through the translucent FR4.

Electronics-wise it’s a pretty simple design, sporting only an ATtiny microcontroller and a photoresistor alongside the LEDs, and with the secret message being triggered when the badge is placed in the dark. The conference’s pig logo is eye-catching, but it has no pretences towards being a dev board or similar. The technique of LEDs behind copper and silkscreen is an interesting one though, and something that we think could bear more investigation in future designs. It’s pleasing to see that there are still new avenues to be taken in the world of PCB-based art.

This isn’t the first time this event has had an eye-catching badge, we’ve covered one of their previous offerings.