Last month we mentioned [bunnie]’s Name that Ware competition where participants try to guess the functionality of a random bit of hardware. We thought you might want to see another example; pictured above is the June 2008 ware provided by [xobs]. You can see a high res version here and an image of the daughter card as well. Be forewarned that someone has already posted the solution in the comments. At first glance there are quite a few interesting bits: board is copyright 1991, the 8-bit ISA connector doesn’t have any data lines connected, just power, and it’s got a lot of analog circuitry. Take a guess and then check out the comments on [bunnie]’s site to see the solution.
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NYC Soldering Championships
[Matt] let us know about the New York City Soldering Championships. They’ll be happening during the Ignite talks on July 29th at 7pm. 25 people will race head to head to assemble a fully functional electronics kit. Participants have to register in advance and are encouraged to bring their own iron. The kit hasn’t been chosen yet so people can’t practice. We hope they at least consider using a few SMD parts just to keep things interesting. Shout out if you’re planning to attend or compete!
[photo: Nick Bilton]
Build A Lifeform For Io9
Whether you consider yourself a bona fide mad scientist or you simply think your horrifying mutant creations are misunderstood, you’ll want to enter io9’s Build a Lifeform contest.
The contest doesn’t require any actual primordial soup, just a concept of a synthetic lifeform you think would be useful or interesting. There are two categories with different prizes for each one. The first category asks contestants to use the BioBricks registry of standard biological parts to design a lifeform that could be created in a lab. Descriptions of how it would be made, what it would do, and potential hazards in creating it must all be included with the entry. The winner of this category will recieve an all-expenses-paid trip to the Synthetic Biology Conference in Hong Kong in October.
The second category is more focused on creativity, asking for the same descriptions as the first category without any BioBricks data. While this is the more speculative category, proposed lifeforms must still be plausible to create using current technology. The prize is $1000 and a signed drawing of your lifeform rendered by “a cool comic book artist.”
Both categories offer pretty good loot for your concepts, just be sure they’re more original than an esquilax if you intend to win.
For the background on BioBricks, check out [Drew Endy]’s Hacking DNA talk from last year. He’s one of the judges for the contest.
Defcon Badge Hacking Contest
[Joe Grand] is designing the Defcon badges for the third year in a row. Just like the previous years, they’ll be hosting a badge hacking contest. This time around though, they’re going to start leaking clues in advance. Earlier contests were often frustrating because of the specialized equipment needed to talk to the microcontroller. Hopefully this year it will be a lot more accesible. The specs for the badge have not been released yet, but after last year’s 95 LED scrolling marque, we can’t wait to see what this year will bring. [Joe] has posted info on the previous two badge designs and resulting contests.
Name That Ware
Guessing games are fun, especially when unnamed hardware and prizes are involved. [bunnie] holds a Name that Ware contest on his blog once a month; he posts an image of hardware components like the PCB above (which is May’s mystery ware) and asks visitors to try to guess the machine it came from or at least its function. Aside from the prizes he gives out, winners get the most coveted of all rewards: bragging rights. He’s been running the monthly contest for quite some time and it’s not always PCBs; past wares have included this micron thickness guage (internal) and an xray of a crystal oscillator.
No Laser? Get Your Laptop Etched For Free!
Want to get your laptop custom etched… for free? During the next couple of months, I’ll be giving away some free etching sessions. How do you get one? Just submit a fresh new hack via the tips line. If it makes the cut and gets published, you’ve got a chance to get your laptop or gadget etched in this 45 watt epilog laser cutter. Here are a few guidelines to help you win:
- Make sure it’s fresh. Use google for 10 seconds to make sure it hasn’t been published on a major blog already.
- Make sure it’s got a picture – everybody likes a good visual aid.
- You’ll be more likely to win if you’re submitting your own work.
Good luck!
Hackit: Laser Cutters – With A Prize!
I’m going to have a special guest in my workshop for a while: an Epilog Mini 24 45 watt laser cutter. This is entirely thanks to Epilog Laser down in Golden Colorado. Here’s today’s hackit: If you had access to your own 45 watt laser cutter – with a 12″ x 24″ work surface, what would you make with it?
Oh, and there’s a prize on this one. Whoever comes up with the best idea will get a free laptop engraving session. (You can always just ship me the display cover.) You can have your own art put on, or we can always tattoo your machine with the Hack-A-Day logo.
(Pictured is Ladyada’s laser cutter. Mine’s coming tomorrow!)
