Category: Events

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Party in our new Space on Dec. 5th

Hackerspace Party Madness
Hackerspace Party Madness

Party in the New Space!
Dec 5th. Doors open at 9PM
Hive76 Headquarters
Food and Drink available all night
$10 suggested donation at the door
RSVP required!


We just moved to a new Headquarters (3x the size of the old one), and we want to celebrate. So we’re throwing a party December 5th with the doors opening at 9PM. We’ll have a couple of VJ, a DJ, and food and drinks all night. This is open event, so if you’ve wanted to come check out our new space, or meet the crew, come on out. If you want to drop in, we’re going to ask for $10 donation at the door, because we’ve mostly wiped our our saving to expand. If you’re broke, well, come anyway. (If you want to know what a hackerspace party looks like, here’s a peek).

Here are some numbers for you math-heads. 6 months now. 4 classes, 10 workshops, 24 open houses, and 1 (minor) electrical fire. From 4 to 12 members. 42 awesome personal projects, 33 pointless arguments, and a 1-billion ‘dude, that is such a bad idea’s’. OK, those last 3 are made up. But we are living the life, and doing what we promised. We are making things awesome, and making awesome things.

We are a little limited on space, so be sure to RSVP for it, so we can plan.

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Hackers In An Organ

Hive76 member and quartermaster Brendan Schrader got his fellow Hive members an awesome field trip last Saturday. A journey into the inside of the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ, the worlds largest working pipe organ. Many thanks to Brendan and Andrew, the Curator’s Assistant for giving us this once in a lifetime experience. It really was amazing.

The Wanamaker Grand Court Organ, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the largest operational pipe organ in the world, located within a spacious 7-story court at Macys Center City (formerly Wanamaker’s department store). The largest organ is the Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ (which is barely functional). The Wanamaker organ is played twice a day, Monday through Saturday, and more frequently during the Christmas season. The organ is also featured at several special concerts held throughout the year, including events featuring the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ Festival Chorus and Brass Ensemble.

We also got a sneak peak behind the scenes of the Macy’s Light Show, which Brendan helped build.

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BarCamp Philly is this weekend

barcampphilly2Bar Camp Philly is Nov 14th (This Saturday already). It’s Philly’s version of the Bar Camp un-conference scene, and is going to be jammed with webby and invent-y people talking about what is going on in Philly.

Or if you just want to party on, you can just rock out at the Geekadelphia party. I think tickets are sold out, or close to it, so get your tickets (or not). I myself will be working the sign in table on Saturday, so if you are coming, say hi to the guy in the weird hat signing you in.

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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.

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Pumpcon 2009

Pump_logo500There are no words to describe the sadness in my soul as I woefully admit to the public that there will be a pumpcon 2009. Or, as Pumpcon themselves put it Fuck! Not AGAIN!! It’s Pumpcon 2009 b1tch3z… Pumpcon is Philadelphia’s only con, and of course it’s on Goth Christmas so a lot of geeks are already partied out that weekend. If you have a strong stomach, a strong desire to learn, and are not afraid of getting technical, PumpCon is the place to be.

Early Friday October 30th till dawn Sunday, November 1st 2009
Contact them at at info@pumpcon.org

Best Western Inn
501 N. 22nd St.
Philadelphia, PA 19130

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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

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Gameboy Hacking

tmp_gboy_classWe has a pretty awesome Gameboy Hacking class Saturday that got some good interest, especially following 8static the night before. We ended up with 9 folks walking away with an old school GameBoy fully decked out to be a sweet chiptunes platform. The folks from nonfinite electronics walked us through the mods, and made sure everyone walked away happy.

It’s good to put you money where your mouth is, so you want to grab some GBA parts, or USB Programmable cards for Gameboy, may I suggest buying from folks that run cheap classes for fans?

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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

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Music Night This Monday

On Monday the 21st, we’ll be having our first ever DIY music night. Anyone with an interest in music –whether its assembling analog effect pedals, designing custom MIDI plug-ins, or modding up a fretless bass — is welcome. Come with your own personal secret project, team up with like minds, or get some guidance from our resident experts. There will be copious supplies of common electronic components (no digikey necessary), several computer workstations, and a good deal of geeky comraderie for inspiration and assistance. This study-group/workshop is open to novices and pros alike.

And feel free to bring a guitar/synth/childrens-toy to jam out on!