hacklab.to

Come visit hacklab Sunday October 16th, 3pm onwards as we revive the “gamfternoon” gaming sessions of hacklab lore. There will be a copy of Settlers of Catan and Dominion (with Seaside expansion) on hand, or bring your games to share with others for the afternoon. The more the merrier, invite all your friends! Non-members totally welcome, the door will be unlocked. We’ll be repeating these gaming sessions every other week, so: Oct 16th, Oct 30th, Nov 13th, etc.

Free and open to the public.

Hacklab will be having a t-shirt hacking workshop on Monday October 24th, 7-9pm. We’ll be working with t-shirts and doing things like:

– laser cutting them, ala Diana Eng
– boxy to foxy, like this: Boxy to Foxy
– stylishly cut up your t-shirt, like this:
Cut up the Back of your T-shirt
Revamp an old t-shirt.

Or any other t-shirt hack, if you’re keen and you find some instructions, let’s try it out! Bring your old t-shirts and let’s make them fresh again!

We just has hacklab’s first Burrito Night. It was a massive success.

Yay Burritos!

I organized vegetarian ingredients, Eric organized chicken, Nick brought Jalapeno peppers and Daniel lent us his grill/press. Our expenses were 40 dollars for generic ingredients and 6 dollars for the chicken. We made 65 dollars, after expense that left us with 19 dollars for hacklab. Yay!

We’ve received some queries for further details on the Arduino Workshop. So here’s some more info for those of you thinking of coming:

Arduino Total Beginners Workshop
Monday Sept 12th 2011, 7pm-9pm

You’ll need to bring your own Arduino (any kind will do) and a laptop on which you can install software. Also please bring any cables required to attach your Arduino to your laptop – typically this means an A to B USB cable. If you do not have an Arduino, you can purchase one at Creatron, only a few blocks away from hacklab at 255 College Street.

As before, all are welcome, no RSVP required. Eric will show you how to get started with Arduino, the super-friendly microcontroller platform that even artists love. We’ll cover getting the software installed and going, hooking up the Arduino, and a little bit of basic programming, via explanation of the Examples. You too can cut and paste your way to a working project!

The Hacklab.TO Monday Workshop series is starting again! Each Monday we will be offering a way to get started hacking. Learn some basic skills, meet some friends, and see what hacklab is all about!

Monday Sept 12th: Arduino Beginners Workshop. For total beginners. All are welcome, no RSVP required. Eric will show you how to get started with Arduino, the super-friendly microcontroller platform that even artists love. We’ll cover getting the software installed and going, hooking up the Arduino, and a little bit of basic programming, via explanation of the Examples. You too can cut and paste your way to a working project!

Monday Sept 19th: Learn how to Solder. For total beginners, or those with some experience. Learn how to solder, which is one method of assembling an electronic circuit. Instruction by Eric is free, and we’ll have a variety of interesting kits on hand for you to purchase as learning templates. You’ll take your kit home at the end of the night, working, guaranteed! RSVP here: http://hacklab-soldering.eventbrite.com/.

Monday Sept 26th: 3D Printing. For hacklab members only. Come learn how to use the makerbot from Christopher. Note: this is not a modeling workshop, you will not learn how to design 3D parts. You’ll learn how to use the Makerbot to actually print them. RSVP here: http://hacklab-3d-printing.eventbrite.com/.

Hope to see you at a workshop soon!

A short clip of  the recent Train Overlord hackaton:

Haskell is an awesome purely functional language that I’ve been becoming more and more obsessed with in recent months. I consider it to be the most elegant language I’ve ever worked in and want to introduce more people to it!

So, on Monday, August the 8th, 7pm/19:00 I’ll be teaching an introduction to Haskell workshop! Come and learn about laziness, type classes and (the awesome power of) monads!

Please note: This is not an introduction to programming class. You will not be able to follow along if you don’t have experience programming. I am planning to do a day long weekend Introduction to

Programming/Python workshop sometime in the near future that would be much more appropriate for you.

(Sorry about the late notice. I posted to discuss and then forgot to put up a blog post.)

Update: And it went awesome! There was a much bigger turn out than I expected. Here are some notes:

(continue reading…)

Come one, come all, to the 3rd Train Overlord Hackathon. Saturday August 6th, 1pm onwards.

The plan for the Hackathon is to put up way more track. With super awesome acrylic base. But if you’ve got passion to hack on the engine, the software, or whatever, come and hack! The more the merrier.

What is Train Overlord? It’s hacklab’s robotic denizen, our friendly robot overlord, who rules with an iron rail. (well, actually, the rails are aluminum, but the overlord doesn’t let that stop him). The Train Overlord is controlled wirelessly, there is a web interface, and you can download an app on your smart phone to control him directly from your phone. Our goal for the Train Overlord is to have him able to ferry empty cans from the desk to the recycle bins, on command. To that end, the Train Overlord is equipped with a winch mechanism. He also sports a laser, because what self-respecting robot doesn’t have a laser?!?

Anyway, come join us and hack on robots, no experience necessary! Saturday August 6th, 1pm onward.

Come visit hacklab this Sunday, 3pm onwards as we revive the “gamfternoon” gaming sessions of hacklab lore. There will be a copy of Settlers of Catan and Dominion on hand, or bring your games to share with others for the afternoon. The more the merrier, invite all your friends! Non-members totally welcome, the door will be unlocked. We’ll probably repeat gaming sessions on a regular basis, though dates and times may change.

Hacklab.to member Byron Sonne who was arrested June 22, 2010 on charges related to the G20 summit in Toronto was released on bail today. Byron is innocent until proven guilty and continues to be recognized as a full member of Hacklab Toronto. His trial will begin in November 2011.

Full information about the case, including links to media articles and other information can be found at: http://www.freebyron.org