i3Detroit Game Night

I have added the 5-minute Flash Duel to the plethora of innovative board and card games, and at least two of us will also probably play Destino, the territory-based wargame using Tarot cards. As usual, pizza will be provided. This game night is the first and third Thursdays of the month at i3Detroit.

Featured on Dangerous Prototypes: Reverse Engineering Car Parking Sensors

One of our members, James Kemp, was featured on the Dangerous Prototypes blog for his work on reverse engineering car parking sensors. Cool!

James’ full article can be seen on the instructables website here.

Open Shop Friday: Tool of the week: Vinyl Cutter

Looking for an excuse to visit the space? As if Open Shop Friday weren’t enough already, come this week (2/24) and get a quickie demo on how to use the vinyl cutter!

Of all the machines in the space, this is one of the easiest to learn, cheapest to run, and most addictive to use. Start with vector art, and within minutes, you’ll be sticking it on your friend’s car. With their permission, of course…

Like every Open Shop Friday, first-timer visitors are explicitly welcome. Just show up, 6pm or later, and figure out the doorbell.

Fun With The Laser Cutter

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!

Notacon CFP closes 2/10, early reg still open

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…