Hive76 gets a Larger Space!

We are proud to announce that we have acquired a new space to be awesome in. It’s just down the hall from where we are were, and 2.5 times the size. We’ve been around for less than a year, and this is a big step forward. Keep an eye out for more details on an Open House event.

Interested in becoming a member? Check out our wiki entry for more details.

Big Planning meeting coming up….

EDIT: We will be meeting Sunday October 22nd at 7:00PM at the space. for this meeting. See the agenda on the wiki for topics for the night.

Hive76 has a good chance to grow, and we need to move on it reasonably quick. To decide how to deal with the opportunity, and better organize our group, we are going to have a 2+ hour planning/ organization meeting. This meeting is key for Core/Basic members, and people that have a strong interest in Hive76. Input is welcome from all parties, but voting on issues is reserved for Hive76 members.

We are picking a date now, and will announce the meeting date on the mailing list. If you are interested in Hive76, and want to see become even more amazing, this is a good time to get interested. The Planning Meeting date will be added to this post as soon as we nail it down, so watch this space

Crazy Hacker Weekend!

The weekend of Aug 19th and Aug 20th is a crazy busy weekend for Hive76. Between stuff going on at Hive76, and things going on around Philly, there is a lot to do.

MakerBot 3d Printing Intro
Saturday, 1PM to 5 at Hive76 just $25
MakerBot founder Zach is in town, to teach a MakerBot 3d Printing class at Hive76. 3D printers allow people convert their digital designs into real world objects, and MakerBot is one of the most popular 3D printers. Bring your own 3d object designs, or lean how to design things on the spot. Once you’ve taken the class, you’re certified to use the Hive76 MakerBot, and can print things out at Hive at your own schedule. Get a ticket now, we’re almost sold out… More Info

Hackers Dinner
Saturday, 6:30ish to 8sih at Dahlak
Want to hang out with the infamous Nick Farr or the ineffable Zach Smith? Got questions about technology, the future, or making things that you need answered? Then come have dinner with us, and get to know a couple of the folks behind Philly, D.C. and N.Y.C.’s hacker scene. This is also a kind-of celebration of 3 months of Hive76, so come celebrate. RSVP to Hive76@gmail.com by Friday, because this is a dinner, and we need a headcount. More Info

8static (non-Hive76)
Saturday 8PM till ?? at Studio34
8static is a chiptunes show in West Philly, and it’s just blocks from Dahlak. So wander on over after eating and check out what happens when musicians start to reverses engineer their gear. More Info

Nick Farr talks about ’42 Points on the Future of Everything’
(Sunday 12:30 to 2PM) At Hive76. Free coffee and (pay) order-in-brunch
Nick Farr is known world-around for his advocacy for hackerspaces, and for pushing the edge of what spaces do. Because of his travels and experience, he has a unique and deep understanding of spaces, geeks, hackers, and where this whole thing is going. His talk is a recap of a SIGINT talk covering the future of everything. More Info

Guitar Effects Study Group
Monday the 21st, 7:30PM to 10PM at Hive76
The third Monday of every month is Guitar Effects Workshop at Hive76. We will build a simple musical gizmo and discuss how it works. Even if you have never touched a soldering iron (or a guitar), stop by and learn how to build simple musical electronics. More advanced mad scientists are encouraged to come show off their own guitar effect creations. More Info

September Wrap-up & Announcements

We’ve been busy at Hive (not so much solving the Hive collapse problem, but we like the idea) and have not announced anything since last month. So, lets fix that right now. FIrst off, we just finished our second “Scrum sprint” with some moderate successes. Here’s a brief summary of what we did over the last month:

August Wrap-Up:

We did a ton of awesome things in August. Brendan and Far helped Tory Franklin with her exhibit at FLUXSpace (http://www.thefluxspace.org/pages/current.html), and we also made a Frabjous (or it’s almost done at any rate) http://www.georgehart.com/sculpture/frabjous.html

We built a MakerBot (http://makerbot.com/) and Jordan heroically lead efforts to get it working in only two days (the last two Saturdays), with help from Dan, Brian, Far, Brendan, some Adams, and… anyone else I’m forgetting who also helped.

We attended the Make:Philly BBQ, shot some water rockets, and there was much rejoicing.

Jordan, Brian and many visitors hacked on an iPhone app for ShareUrMeal… that’s almost done. Brian & Far hacked on a Python script to enable Python shell tab completion in multiple operating systems.

We cleaned and reorganized much of the space at the Hive. It’s a little bit less cluttered now.

Here is a quick list of upcoming events at Hive76! Our calendar can be found at http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/hive76%40gmail.com/public/basic.ics or on our website at Hive76.org.

Upcoming Hive Events:
PhillyCocoa iPhone Deviation
+ Thu, September 4, 7pm – 10pm at Hive76
– The local cocoaheads hang out, and build apps for iPhone and Mac. If you want hands on mac devs to work next to, this is the place. This week we’re hoping to finish up our “ShareUrMeal” app!

Python Hacking Night
+Monday, September 14th, 7pm-10pm at HIve76
– We hack on and play with some Python code, and try to get some kind of new functionality
working by the end of the night

Django Hacking Night
+TBD, probably Thu. Sept 17th or Mon. Sept. 28th
– A complement to Python Hacking Night, Django is the web framework “for perfectionists with deadlines,” and is written entirely in Python. Anyone experienced with Django, or looking to get some experience, come on by. Contact Brian w/ interest/questions/date preference. we have one or two experience Django developers lined up to help run the class, but Brian’s organizing it to learn more himself! brian dot glusman (a) gmail dot com

Guitar Effects Workshop
+Mon, September 21, 7:30pm – 10pm
-Come hang out and work on making Pedals and effects! Bring your own.

Makerbot Class
+ Sat, September 19, 1pm – 4pm
– https://hive-76.ticketleap.com/makerbot-class-09-19-2009-13-0 for more info

Makerbot Party
+ Sat, September 19, 7pm – 8pm
-Celebrate the day’s successes with the Hive!

Hive76 Scrum
+ Every Weds 7pm – 7:30 pm at Hive76
– The weekly member check-in and planning. Short and sweet (15 min) time for members to brag about what they’re doing, and talk about the space.

Hive76 Open Hours
+ Every Weds 7:30 pm to ? at Hive76
– The weekly open hours. Anyone can come hang out, and use our space (and some tools, depending on crowd/complexity). Drop in to check us out!

Make things awesome, and Make Awesome Things!
– Hive76

Hive Mind is now Active!

hive76-bulb_onlyHopefully this will be just a starting place, because right now I can’t claim credit for much of the design or implementation (Dan did the logo, and Pinax/Eldarion did most of the code), but we now have a small set of web applications for our members to use, communicate, discuss ideas, keep track of GTD, etc. Suggestions, feedback and help are all appreciated in the future development of these tools, but for now, registration is open, though e-mail is not being sent. I recommend using OpenID if you’re comfortable with it, wordpress.com is one of the more widely used providers. Feel free to email me for help or with questions! The site is at http://mind.hive76.org

Repurpose

Repurpose is A great little documentary that just came out. It’s a short film by Jack Oatmon that looks into the hardware hacking community in Montreal, centered on Foulab. It’s always awesome to get a peek inside other hackerspaces! Gratz to Foulab!