We marked the beginning of a new BlinkenArea at HAR a few weeks ago. Of course, we showcased our flashlight projects and we had a great looking tent with an amazing atmosphere according to our new motto “Light. Beauty. More.”. But we also added some static lights in the treetops near our village — our wonderful Blue Tree Lighting — to head for our new field of activity: light up things and create more beauty.
The BlinkenArea members did not only set their sights on developing and operating flashlights, but also on collecting money that is intended to flow into public welfare. Accordingly, visitors were able to get one of our nice construction sets, T-Shirts or buttons during HAR and to give some money for charity at the same time. Afterwards, the donations went to UNICEF (Education in Nepal) and FoeBuD e.V. in equal parts as already announced on Twitter. We wish to thank all contributors, that enabled us to support each organisation with 123 Euros!
During What The Hack!, the BlinkenArea was encircled by construction lights. They were blinking all in a tumble, because they were not phased so far. Since HAR, the construction lights are operated by full flashlight support. The Chaos Construction Light Controller 32 (CCLC32) provides 32 outputs, which can be connected to construction lights, when those are rebuilt in a certain way. A serial interface can receive CCLC32 data from BlinkenOutput. Furthermore, a running light-function is integrated as well.
A scheme and a part list can be found on the CCLS32 page at our Wiki.
The building, in which project bluebox took place, had been built in 1967. Shortly after the German Reunification, all inhabitants started to move out. Almost each of them left behind a nice ceiling light in his or her flat. In the run-up to HAR2009, nine of the old lamps went into action again. After cleaning and repairing them, they were arranged as a 3×3 matrix. Now, they are showing the appropriate hacker symbol Glider, which refers the the hacker culture around free software and open source. See Wikipedia for further information..
Unser namhafter Datenspeicher terranova wurde zur Verbreitung der Streamdumps auserkoren. Wir werden die ausreichende Datensicherung und Verbreitung sicherstellen. Der Server wird mindestens bis 16:00 am Netz bleiben und in den nächsten Tagen auf blinkenarea.org gespiegelt – ohne wareZ und Pr0n. 😉
Yesterday afternoon, we had our presentation about the BlinkenArea and our flashlight projects. Unfortunately, the tent was not full to capacity, because the weather was very well for the first time. Nevertheless, we got a lot of positive feedback and we would like to thank those, who joined the presentation. Some of you asked for more technical details after it. Apparently, we should hold two different presentations during one event to get you all satisfied.
Thanks to Sascha for the nice pictures! Get more on flickr.com!
The BlinkenArea arranged a movie competition and would like to invite you to enter the contest during the next few days. The objective is to create movies for TroiCade, that is placed in the HARcade Village, with resolution 32 by 24. All animations will be shown on the project as soon as you send them in. In the run-up to HAR, a jury was assembled to choose the best three movies. Prizes will be awarded at the end of the event.
You can find information about how to create your own movie on HAR Movie Contest pages of the BlinkenArea Wiki. Please submit your animation by 16th August, 2009 at 11pm. Send it to contest ‘at’ blinkenarea.org. If you have any questions, please drop us a line, call the BlinkenArea (DECT #2023) or visit us at BlinkenArea Village in our nice tent.
During the last two days, we continued to build up more BlinkenArea projects. Yesterday, the construction lights were arranged and got wired today. We also set up the Glider and improved it by coating the roof battens with black paint (Thanks to PoC Sascha, who origanised the paint and to the guys, who borrowed it). TroiCade is now operating at HARcade, a village about computer games. Furthermore, the IT infrastructure has been installed and the tent has been cleaned up already. Today, we will ad some information about the projects. Thus, we nearly completed the BlinkenArea village so far. Unfortunately, the weather is cloudy and rainy most of the time. 🙁
Now, it is time for cooking. Have a nice afternoon!
Yesterday, we prepared our first meal in our great tent. It was spaghetti with cheese and tomato sauce – what else? But for the sake of variety, we had pancakes with a various number of side dishes, such as apple and cranberry puree, Nutella, bacon, and cheese, a short while ago with Efelon and Sandra, who joined us this afternoon. Hence, our mothers can be assured that everything is fine with us.
