It’s the little things.

Nothing super awesome happen at Laboratory B last week, lot’s of little things did.

  1. We got a DreamHost account! We haven’t cut over to it yet but getting it is super cool!
  2. Aaron & Charlie completed this cool sign!
  3. Our hunt for a new space has started! And it’s already paying off
  4. We got a Keurig!
  5. We  can now take donations online ——–> right over there!

Also we applied for a tech soup account so hopefully that will come through soon too!

 

 

Events in February with Laboratory B

It’s a new month and that means new events with Laboratory B.

Crypto-Party LogoLaboratory B  is currently working to organize a crypto party right in Burlington. This party will be your chance to learn about cryptography, information security and operational security. How to reduce some of the harmed caused by mass surveillance too. Learn about TOR, PGP/GPG, Pseudo-anonymity, TAILS and other super geeky privacy topics.

We are still organizing a location and time but stay tuned because it is coming soon!

Events:

2/7/2014: 2600 Meeting
Laboratory B is the primary supporter of the local 2600 meeting  if you are interested in hacking and security related events in Vermont, check out the 2600 meeting held the first Friday of every month at 5 o’clock at the Food Court at Burlington Town Square Mall.

2/10/2014: What the Hack? How hackathons & makerspaces are sparking innovation in Vermont
In the past few years we’ve seen hackathons and makerspaces spread across the state as creative ways to solve community problems and catalyze collaborations across sectors. Join Burlington NetSquared and leaders of these hackathons and makerspaces for an evening of learning, idea generation and reflection on how we can foster lasting multi-sectoral collaborations–and innovations– through these kinds of events.
If you’ve participated in one of these events, come share your experiences! And if you want to get involved in one of the upcoming hacks or new makerspaces, here’s your chance to ask questions.

Panelists include:
Bradley Holt, Code for BTV
Rebecca Roose, HackVT and My Web Grocer
Jesse Krembs, Laboratory B
Nate Herzog, StoryHack

Meetup info here

2/12/2014, 7-9pm: Crypto-Currency Night.
A semi-regular gathering of Burlington crypto-currency enthusiasts (Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Litecoin, etc.). Feel free to brings thoughts, schemes, snacks and/or beverages to share… RSVP on Facebook

2/18/2014, 7-9 PM: Learn to solder with us at the Lab.
We’ll teach you the basics of through hole soldering with kits from Sparkfun!.   If you interested in learning to solder microelectronics please RSVP us at [email protected] 

2/26/2014, 7-9 PM: Lock Sport Wednesday:
Generally speaking on the last Wednesday of the month we sponsor Lock Sport Wednesday from 6pm to 8pm. This event is a place for folks who are interested in physical security and locksports to get together. We adhere to the idea of better security through education, and we also follow the law in this matter.  Learning how locks works and don’t work is not a crime.

 

techie.com mentioned Burlington and Laboratory B a cool high tech place..

The BTV Web App Group meets several times a month for presentations and networking. Laboratory B, the local hackerspace, holds regular events. The sustainability-focused Green Drinks meets twice monthly, once in Burlington and one in Montpelier. CodeForBTV, a civic hacking group that meets weekly, enjoys support from Code for America, and they’ve produced several improvements to local systems and organizations. The meetup groupBurlington Net Squared also hosts regular meetups that cover many different tech angles. Tech Jam Vermont is a well-attended annual event sponsored by Dealer.com, which is headquartered in Burlington.

More at http://techie.com/techie-coms-most-promising-tech-hubs-to-watch-in-2014/

Bitcoinage Discussion!

Laboratory B hosted a bit of coin meetup last week and the local alt weekly (more like just awesome weekly) did a write up about it!

In Vermont, Users of “Cryptocurrency” Bitcoin Are Few But Committed

 Last week, in a small, subterranean workspace near downtown Burlington, a group of tech-savvy Vermonters held an open forum on a topic that’s attracted a great deal of attention lately: Bitcoin. Early adopters of the “cryptocurrency” believe it has the potential to upend the entire global economy…..
Also Laboratory B has some cool “I use bitcoin” t-shirts if you need one.

Designer Lighting!

IMAG0333 This post is long overdue but better late then never! We’d seen Rebecca Schwarz’s designer lights at the number of local maker and art events and we thought “Man those are super cool!” After talking with Rebecca a little we learned that they usually lived in her basement unseen and unloved. Well with a little cajoling we managed to convince her to hang them at the Lab! We maybe the only hackerspace with designer lighting! If you want to see the cool lights from recycled material come on down to the Lab! Rebecca can also do workshops on how to make similar lights at schools and such!

IMAG0332

Laboratory B at Tech Jam

Tech JamThank you everyone who came and stopped by at our booth at Tech Jam! It was great to meet all of you and we hope to see you down at the space during open hours 6-8pm Tuesday or Thursday soon! Here are copies of the flyers from the table with instructions on making free calls included:

Champlain Mini Maker Faire Roundup 2013

The Laboratory B crew had a great time at the two day  Champlain Mini Maker Faire! With the support of Sparkfun (Thanks, Dave(s) and Jeff) we taught kids & adults how to solder! We had three kits in the mix this year, Weevil Eye, Big Time Watch & Mr. Roboto. If you had trouble with your kit or ran out time please feel free to swing by the Lab, but let us know your coming ([email protected]) Awesome!

DIY: Screen Printing Laboratory B T-shirts

Members Julia & Kevin have spent the last two nights furiously handing silk screening new Laboratory B t-shirts!  Everything in this proccess is pretty much done by hand. From the printing of the screen, to printing up the shirts, to letting them air dry, ironing and then fixing any mistakes. The shirts aren’t perfect in everyway but that’s what DIY often looks like. You can pick one up at the Lab or at Champlain Mini Maker Fairethis weekend!

The Laboratory B will be running our awesome learn to solder station at Champlain Mini Maker Faire . We’ve got a bunch of kits to learn to solder with, and we might even be having some Arduino fun! We look forward to seeing you there!

FairPhone! Or VermontPhone?

FairPhone

Let’s face is Vermont is pretty hippy state, that cares deeply about fair trade, organic, environmentally friendly things. So let’s take it beyond our housewares & food. Check this out the FairPhone. It’s basically a unlocked GSM based smartphone. Price is roughly $450, it’s unlocked too. It’s runs Android 4.2 out of the box.

Item

Description

Network Type GSM850/900/1800/1900MHZ
WCDMA 900/2100MHz
OS Android 4.2
Chipset MTK6589 (quad-core) 1.2 Ghz
System Memory 16GB + 1GB (RAM)
Dimensions (mm) 126*63.5*10 mm
Primary Screen 4.3 qHD (960×540 pixels)
Glass Dragontrail Glass
Primary Camera 8MP AF (stabilization + image sensor)
Secondary Camera 1.3 megapixels
Battery 2000mAh (Replaceable battery)
Weight 170 g
SAR Rating (indication)  0.318 W/Kg
NFC Chip Nope, sorry!
Headphones/Charger Not included by default (good for environment!)

More specs here!

Soldering Workshop:Fix a phone edition!

Potential new member Charles stopped by the Laboratory to use the soldering station. Seems he tried an external antenna on his Samsung phone and the connector broke on him. This external antenna connector bypasses the internal antenna, so when it broke the phone could no longer use the 4G LTE antenna! Thus Charles was stuck with only 1x service (teh suck!). Charles used the Labs microelectronics station to desolder the broken connector. He then bridged the circuit with a bit of wire. Service went from 1x to 4G with 3 bars with this simple fix.

2013-09-05 18.36.30
After the MCA connector was removed.
Click to expand.
2013-09-05 19.21.12
After the connector was bridged with a bit of wire.
Click to expand.