Category: awesome

Join #laboratoryb on freenode, and make crank calls with our bot ‘whistler’

d00dz* do you rock out on IRC? If you don’t… You’re missing out on one of the pure joys of geekdom, one of the original forms of the hacker dungeon in cyberspace. And you don’t have to be a rocket scientist / brain surgeon / Ada programmer  / BIOS reverse engineer — you just have to download an IRC client**, or use one on the web (which is even easier) and for server use irc.freenode.net, and then join #laboratoryb (you do know that the hashtag originated from IRC channels, right!?)

Then! You can make all the obnoxious prank calls you want with our friendly*** bot Whistler! He’s our IRC robot who’s hooked up to our Asterisk box at the lab, and he’s got functionality which does a text-to-speech and originates a call to a phone number of your choosing to harangue your friends, foes, or send an “I love you” to your mom from a robot (moms love that, kinda?)

But, the best part is… He’s open source! You can check out all his node.js code on Google Code. So if you want to, you can set up your own instance, or get your hands dirty and improve your skill with node.js by adding feature and improving him.

* And dud3773s, of course.
** May I suggest irssi if you’re a linux geek who likes the CLI, or Quassel if you’re a GUI person (no shame, of course)
*** He might mom joke you now and again, and we hope he hasn’t become sentient.

 

You know you’ve made it when OED recongonizes you!

Aww yeah! Check this! One of the Auguest 2013 words added to OED

hackerspace
New words: August 2013
Syllabification: (hack·er·space)
Pronunciation: /ˈhakərˌspās/
noun
  • a place in which people with an interest in computing or technology can gather to work on projects while sharing ideas, equipment, and knowledge:we’ve seen some folks at our local hackerspace try to patch into the remote control itself

 

Event At Laboratory B in September & Late August

We’ve got a bunch of cool events coming up in September. The students are going back to school and the geese are flying South so it must be time for cool stuff!

August: 

Locksports Wed, August 28th. 6pm – 8pm:
Come by the Lab and learn about the inner working of locks, safes, and other physical security devices!

September:

Soldering Workshop Thu, September 5, 6:00pm to 8:30pm:
Come by the Lab from 6pm-8:30pm to learn to solder! We’ll be assembling Weevil Eye’s from Sparkfun. Donations welcome, RSVP [email protected] so we know you’re coming.
2600 Meeting Fri, September 6, 5pm – 8pm:
2600 this Friday from 5-8 at the Quarterstaff Game Lounge,(178 Main Street in Burlington Vermont) Get your geek on before football takes over! Traditional old school hacker meetup!
Art Hop: September 6-8, 2013 | Laboratory B CyberPunk Parade!
Laboratory B is having a CyberPunk Costuming Party before Art Hop, and then we are going down to make a spectacle of ourselves and check out some Art.  Check out the R.U Cyberpunk & The Real CyberPunk Fake Book available at the Lab. Leather Jackets, Mirror Shades, & Lasers are the way!
Co-op Happy Hour: Hackerspaces Edition: September 10th, 6pm-8pm:
Summer’s almost over, and it’s time once again for Vermont Cooperators to gather for pizza, beverages, and good conversation. This time around we’ll be gathering at Burlington’s hackerspace, Laboratory B, and there will be a short presentation from members about the hackerspace model/movement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackerspace). This Co-op Happy Hour will also be attended by a visiting delegation of students of cooperation from Japan, so be sure to stop by for some interesting cross-cultural discussions! BYOB, and if you want pizza, bring a few bucks to chip in…

Ruby Sessions  Node.js Thu, September 12, 6pm – 8pm:
Inexperienced and experienced  programmers gather to jam on Ruby node.js code.
Python Session Thu, September 19, 6pm – 8pm:
Inexperienced and experienced  programmers gather to jam on Python code. This session focuses on lesson’s from Python The Hard Way.
Locksports Wednesday Wed, September 25, 6pm – 8pm:
Come by the Lab and learn about the inner working of locks, safes, and other physical security devices!

Champlain Valley Mini-Maker Faire:
It’s so big and awesome (like Champ the Lake Monster) Event info here! Time is below.

Saturday, September 28, 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Sunday, Steptember 29, 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Shelburne Farms Coach Barn

Directions to the Laboratory B can be found here

 

Getting Physical..

 

970741_1380801475466227_77438708_n

Hackers aren’t exactly known for there physical ability or fortitude. But in recent years a number of hacker types have started doing some pretty impressive, dare I say athletic achievements. Bruce Potter and the Cycle Override teams are about to kick off a a mega ride across the country. While I used to ride my bicycle a lot I can’t say I’m up for a ride of that length. Instead I did the Goruck Challenge, right here in Burlington Vt with a bunch of folks. 4 of them were from the local Crossfit box.

It was epic to say the least.

There is often a perception that hackers fit into a certain stereotype…it’s changing, just you watch.

 

That First Friday of the year happens quick!

It seems like the First Friday of 2013 comes pretty quicl this year. 2600 meeting will be at the usual place the Game Lounge at 178 Main Street in Burlington Vermont from 5-8. It’s on the third floor, so just keep going up. There will be signs to point the way.

Afterwards we will probably head over to Laboratory B!  1.5 blocks away for further hijinks!

See you there!

Champlain Valley Maker Faire is coming!

Laboratory B will have a booth at the Champlain Valley Maker Faire, the Faire is Saturday  September 29th from 10-7 at the Coach Barn at Shelburne Farms. At the booth we’ll teach young and old how to solder! We’ll have some awesome kits from SparkFun. You should buy tickets now to make sure you can get into the Faire.

Do you think having a Maker Faire in Vermont is cool! If so print out some posters and join the street team! Let people know!

Labortory B gets a write up in Vermont Art Zine..

The Laboratory B crew had a great time Friday and Saturday night at Art Hop. We didn’t really get to leave our show to see all the awesome stuff other people were doing, but playing host is always fun. Bunches of new and old friends dropped by to play with a variety of the pieces we showed. We event got a write up in Vermont Art Zin

…”One of my favorite stops was Laboratory B, a self-described “hacker space” set up at 187 South Winooski. Jesse Krembs who showed us the work on display, says that Laboratory B is a group of tech-interested people who get together on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5-8. Most of them have related day jobs (he said he’s at Fairpoint Communications), but they’re all interested in privacy issues and the interesting things that can be made with imagination, microcontrollers, and apps. He said Laboratory B is “not a straight-up art group, but hacking can sometimes look like art.” For example, a piece called Walk Don’t Walk picks up information from cards on your person that aren’t shielded and changes the walk signal. Another piece used “throwies” (a LED light and magnet packet), a metal sheet, and an amplifier to make a species of music when the throwie “…

Read the rest here.

2600 Meeting this Friday..possible different location @ Lab B

This Friday is the first of the month. It’s 2600 time! Meeting will be at the usual place the Game Lounge at 178 Main Street in Burlington Vermont from 5-8. It’s on the third floor, so just keep going up. There will be signs to point the way.

We might have a little trouble secure the space, if we can’t we’ll have the meeting at Laboratory B. We will put up signs letting you know and make a post here.

Afterwards we will probably head over to Laboratory B our new hacker space just  1.5 blocks away for further hijinks! We’ve made a lot of improvements since we moved in 2 weeks ago!

5-8 is prime dinner, Pizza can be grabbed from downstairs
Hope to see some Vermont Makers there for more Fun.