Noisebridge Blog » Rubin Starset

Noisebridge Birthday – 4 years of Excellent Failures

Rubin Starset — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 20:07:06 +0000

It's been 4 years since we opened our doors on October 1st 2008 at 83c Wiese Street, and a little over 3 years in our current location at 2169 Mission Street. Since then we've done a number of silly things, gotten in trouble, provided internet freedom, become extremely angry at people, been to outer space, come together as a community of techno misfits, and started our own republic. Above all else we've shown time and time again at failing in the most excellent ways. And some how we still haven't managed to burn the building down, (fully) chop off someone's limb and get horribly sued, or be the target of a government raid.

On the night of Sunday October 7th, come and celebrate the fact that we are the most oldest (and still operating), most resilient, and probably most open to everyone hacker space in San Francisco.

We'll be at the space from about 20:00 onward with paper and tinfoil hats. There'll be some sort of music. Surprise guest appearances by Pedobear. I'm sure you could donate some Bitcoin on food and drink, if not BYOB. This'll be a very informal gathering so don't expect the theatrics from parties past. Think of it as a hack night with a general theme of party, socializing, and crying into each others shoulders remember 4 years of excellent failures.

Toorcamp with Noisebridge

Rubin Starset — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 22:15:58 +0000

Toorcamp is a hacker/maker conference and camp, the next one is coming up August 8th through the 12th and takes place on the Northern Washington coast in Neah Bay. Hacker camps generally consist of talks and workshops, plus the fine tomfoolery that hackers can come up with when faced with the great out doors.

Just like last year, Noisebridge is planning a camp, The People's Republic of Nosebridge. Within PR0N we'll be hosting the Welcome Pavilion, Light Tower of Consenso, Occubus, Drama Cafe, and a vomitorium.

Interested in going to Toorcamp? Want to possibly camp with PR0N? Are you an excellent human being? Great! Get on our mailing list and ask how now!

Stop by Noisebridge after Maker Faire!

Rubin Starset — Fri, 18 May 2012 18:32:54 +0000

We'll be open every day/night during Maker Faire, drop by and check out the space if you're visiting!

Hackupy.org – Hack Nights for the Occupy Movement

Rubin Starset — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:30:26 +0000

The Occupy Movement is an international protest movement which is primarily directed against social and economic inequality. Currently near by to us there are Occupy encampments in San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley.

Noisebridge as always is open to those looking for a space to work on projects, and resources to make those projects a reality. We've been seeing more and more groups coming through seeking aid for things related to the Occupancy. Together we've built out interesting ways to recharge car and cell phone batteries, provided internet at camp, had meetings about web presence, document GA minutes and more.

We want to let participants of the Occupy Movement know that we're here and open to them. We've also started a site called hackupy.org. Hackupy are open hack nights at hackerspaces for Occupy related projects, and the site gives a listing of spaces which provide such nights. So far hackupy has been happening at NYC: Resistor and almost 24/7 at Noisebridge, and we look forward to seeing more hackerspaces jump in and provide time to those wanting to hack for excellence!

Wall-O-Tubes v1

Rubin Starset — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:23:00 +0000

The internet is a hard problem, not really solved yet. Getting the internet into your hacker space is another hard problem. Thirdly making it easy for folks to diagnose their (own) network problems without taking down the internet for others or killing other network hardware is also hard.

At Noisebridge we've got a network rack named Susan The Rack (she might be old but she's got one hell of a rack), she held our internet important network gear. After a month people started throwing their own gear in there (because obviously a free hacker space wants to host your internet/power hungry torrent box), she thing turned into the rats nest of cables and junk and hacker STDs, and we couldn't tell what was internet important and what was just garbage hardware not doing anything. Eventually the DSL modem got shoved off the rack and was just hanging off by its phone cord. One night a couple hard working dedicated Noisebridge members aimed to fix this problem...

Behold, The Wall-O-Tubes! The idea is that everything that involves getting the internet into the building and back out through our wifi is bolted onto this wall. If the wall has power, the internet should work through our wifi network. If the internet goes down, it'll be easy to diagnose, and hard for someone who isn't dedicated to fix (you have to go get a stool or ladder or poking stick to do much of anything). Currently the image shows version 1 of the wall.

One of the biggest problems we had was someone's laptop would stop loading web pages, the person would freak out thinking the whole internet is down, and start unplugging and rebooting device without doing any sort of diagnostics. For version 2 we're setting up a machine called Minotaur! This guy will monitor different parts of the network (our internet links, the router, servers and services on the network, wifi link), and display a sort of heart beat message in plain English on a monitor under the wall. If all is green, then your "internet problem" might most likely be somewhere between you and the keyboard.

Noisebridge 3 Year Anniversary – Hacker Prom!

Rubin Starset — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 08:25:31 +0000

It's been 3 years since we initially opened our doors to all kinds of hackers from all parts of the world. Time to celebrate, hacker prom style! Bring a date (robots are totally allowed) and come on down to Noisebridge to relive those awkward moments from high school with your fellow hacker/maker.

We're also kicking off Noisetor, our no nonsense donate to help keep Tor functional service. Half of the donations collected for the night will go to feed the servers with glorious internet and provide more bandwidth for those in need!

Where: Noisebridge - 2169 Mission St, San Francisco (2 blocks from 16th Street Bart)
When: Saturday October 1st, starting at 8PM
What: The dancing, Makeout room (with Makerbots), spiked punch, awkward prom photos, geeks, Noisebridge-discuss Drama Queen and Queen
Humans: Wear either dress shirt with tie or dressy dress (bad ties will be given out at the door if needed)
Robots: All external metal bits must be polished

There will be chaperones, so no funny business, and we'll try to provide acceptable music. Come and have fun!

Update! We'll have Doctor Popular and crashfaster on deck for the night to provide you with musical tickling!

Flier by Tensory.

Anti/Surveillance Fashion Show

Rubin Starset — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 17:09:18 +0000

Noisebridge is proud to present Anti/Surveillance Fashion Show at the upcoming Maker Faire in San Mateo. Anti/Surveillance is a runway show exploring the uses of wearables for surveillance, and for hiding from surveillance. We are currently accepting submissions for participation in the show. Constantly under the lens of the camera, fashion is a natural form in which to explore the relationship between surveillance and culture. How are we watched? How do we watch? How do we present ourselves to the eyes of the world? At Maker Faire 2010, May 22-23, we will be presenting Anti/Surveillance, a runway show that explores the role of and our relationship with surveillance in our society. We are looking for submissions covering the range from playful to practical. Do you make accessories that blind CCTV cameras with IR LEDs? Have you imagined makeup that will thwart face detection? Ever built an invisibility coat? Or maybe you just like to put QR codes on all your clothing to make it easier for people to track you. If you are interested in showing wearable work that explores the boundaries of surveillance please submit your work to be included in Anti/Surveillance Fashion Show. To submit your project, please send the following information to fashion@synthesize.us as soon as possible: A photo or short video of your project, or a link to a URL with photo(s) or video(s)

A few sentences describing your project and how it relates to surveillance

How the item is worn on the body, and any physical restrictions on the model wearing it

Any special requirements for care or use of the item

For more information, including a time line, please check out the wiki page.

Hacker EPROM – Noisebridge’s First Prom! – February 27th

Rubin Starset — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:59:43 +0000

Time Lapse of Interactive Party at NYC Resistor by openfly - Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License

Date: February 27th
Time: 20:00
Location: Noisebridge, 2169 Mission St
Dress code: Formal Attire Required

There will be the dancing, we'll have DJs, there'll be a disco ball and punch. We will have some kind of photo couple portraits thing setup. The Makeout room will be in full swing (to make things out of other things in).

Formal attire and a date required (doesn't have to be human, can be a robot). Please check the wiki page for more information.

Nosebridge Apartment

Rubin Starset — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:59:45 +0000

20091228

Got yelled at by the landlord.

REAL MAGIC DONGLE

Rubin Starset — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:59:27 +0000

20091222

Communication. Brisk ride down Broadway into Downtown Oakland. At Noisebridge eating left over tofu scramble and staying warm.