I Can Has Hackz?

AFTR NARROWLY AVOIDIN TEH AQUIZISHUN BY AOL FEW YEERS AGO, HACKADAI HAS DECIDD IT IZ TYME 2 PARTNR UP WIF TEH CHEEZBURGER NETWORK.

THOUGH U CUD NOTICE SUDDEN AN SHARP INCREASE IN KITTEHS LOCATD IN R POSTS, WE WILL STRIV 2 CONTINUE DELIVERIN TEH HIGHEST QUALITY HACKZ WE CAN FIND ON TEH NET. WE EXPECT DAT DIS NEW POSISHUN SHUD HALP PLANT US FIRMLY IN DA HEARTS AN SOULS OV TEH GENERAL POPULACE AN HALP MAK HACKIN MOAR ACCEPTABLE 2 TEH MAINSTREAM.

PLZ CONTINUE 2 SUBMIT UR TIPS AS WELL AS ANY CUTE PICTUREZ U CUD HAS OV KITTEHS OR DAWGGIEZ. COMBININ TEH 2 WILL GIT U BONUS POINTS.

aaaaand, that’s it.  Enjoy your April first and rest assured that the following posts will all be LEGITZ.

Think Geeks Wants You To Have Broken Stuff

Think Geek has a growing pile of returns and damaged product that they’re trying to get rid of. The purveyors of technological oddities, like any other large retailer, sometimes have stuff that doesn’t work right, or has been damaged somewhere between factory and consumer. The broken bits find their way back to the distribution center and now they’re stuck with the task of doing something with it.

They can’t sell it, and we’re happy to say they don’t want to throw it out. So they’re considering giving it away to worth-while causes like Hackerspaces and schools. Looks like no real details have been hammered out as of yet. But if you belong to a Hackerspace or other group that can find a use for this stuff, click-through the link above and sign up to let them know you’re interested. The goldmine of reusable stuff is located in Columbus, Ohio and pick-ups might be available. Otherwise they’re going to need to find a way to cover the cost to ship boxes to those interested.

Don’t forget to document your projects and let us know what you use this stuff for.

[Thanks RenderMan]

[Jason Scott] Gets A Job In A Candy Factory — Kinda

Remember when you used to have to dial into a Bulletin Board System to connect with others through computers? How about those fond memories of phone phreaking? If you find that the details are fading in your mind you’ll be happy to know that [Jason Scott] is making sure they’ll never be forgotten. And now he’s landed a new job that will make this mission even easier.

We’re most familiar with [Jason’s] film, BBS: The Documentary. This five-hour epic traverses the oft-forgotten world of the BBS. It pays attention to things like the formation of ASCII art groups, the elite control of the Sysop before the Internet decentralized access to information, and quirky technological limitations like what happened as FIDOnet ran out of addresses for new nodes.

In short, [Jason Scott] is a technological historian. He gives speeches, makes movies, and finds information stashes that history shouldn’t forget. He’s done this outside the tradition of finding a Professorship or Curator position for a major institution. Instead he asked for sabbatical funding through Kickstart, and now he’s found his way to a position that seems like it’s made just for him; Archivist for the Internet Archive. Go get ’em [Jason].

DARPA Needs Your Help! Design A Ground Combat Vehicle.

[Joe Schlesinger] of MakeIt Labs wrote in to let us know about an upcoming live chat session march 28th on IRC to discuss DARPA’s latest project, the Adaptive Vehicle Make.

DARPA, in the pursuit of innovative high-risk high-payoff tactical technology is looking to crowd-source the design and construction of the 3000-5000 parts that make up your run of the mill super advanced next generation military hardware. They are even going to distribute about a thousand 3D printers to schools, where students will compete to design some of the complex systems.  The project emphasizes “not traditional” vendors (IE: Hackerspaces) and monetary compensation will be involved in the parts production process.

If you like acronyms (and who doesn’t), or feel like wading through jargon, check out their site. We also found the Wikipedia entry to be helpful in understanding what they are carrying on about.  A briefing PDF (6mb) also contains a lot of information on DARPA’s plans, and pretty pictures.

As per usual DARPA plans on issuing several challenges to make up the entire project, all with huge cash prizes. The first two challenges last 9 months, starting with the Mobility/Drivetrain Challenge in the middle of 2012.   The Chassis/Integrated Survivability Challenge starts in 2013.  These first two also include a cash prize of  500 thousand to one million dollars. The third challenge, the Total Platform Challenge lasts 15 months and begins in late 2013 this carries a prize of one to two million.

[Joe]’s Hackerspace will be there, any chance we could help out?

Hackaday Is Looking For A Full Time Project Builder/ Video Host!

Hackaday.com is looking for an experienced hacker/writer to join our team doing original hacking and modding projects on video. Are you energetic, outgoing, and passionate about hacking/modding? Can you solder AND explain what you’re doing and why? Come join our team and modify/hack/create things daily with a professional film crew to be aired on HackADay, then post a writeup detailing how you did your hack. Let your mind run wild, combine Mythbusters with Ben Heck, can you do it?

To be able to do this job successfully you need to be energetic, passionate and knowledgeable about hacking. The person who is perfect for this job will have experience with computer modding, hobby robotics, basic electronics, microcontroller programming, as well as some larger manufacturing skills like running a CNC mill and welding. Take a look at Hackaday.com to see the kinds of projects we would like to see created. Writing/blogging experience is a plus.

Job duties will include:
-following trends to see what the latest awesome hack would be
-brainstorming your own original hacks and mods
-executing those hacks
-breaking down the hacks to educate the viewers

This is a full-time, in-house position at our Santa Monica office. Pay is $30-$40k a year based on experience and includes benefits. To apply, please submit a cover letter and resume to our online job board (http://mhlo.co/ed886g). In your cover letter tell us why you’d be the best fit for the job, and please feel free to include any links to personal hacks/projects, or any future hack ideas you’d bring to HackADay.