Hive 76 and Hactory hackathon for interactive displays at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts exhibit

Tim Bieniosek, of the Hacktory, explaining his plans for LED matrices, at Saturday's art hackathon.

Arduino boards, Kinects and LED matrices littered the tabletops. UV laser pointers and photochromatic powders were being mixed like magic potions inside Hive76′s Spring Garden studio space this weekend.

The Hacktory and Hive76, two Philadelphia-based DIY groups, joined together for a hackathon on Saturday to discuss their upcoming installation at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts for its After Dark: Turned On exhibit.

Turned On focuses on Henry Ossawa Tanner, a Pittsburgh-born black artist who studied at PAFA in the 1880s. Hive76 and the Hacktory will be creating the interactive exhibits that will be on display.

“We’re exploring themes of transcendence, light as a metaphor for mystery and making the invisible, visible,” said Stephanie Alarcon of the Hacktory.

The resulting projects will allow visitors to draw with light-sensitive ink and lasers and also play with an interactive projection. Their goal is to provide a fun, safe and educational piece that teaches visitors the importance of technology in art and society.

“We want to take a more modern look at the historical context of Tanner’s work,” said Alarcon.

SEPTAlking: voice command SEPTA schedule tool launches [VIDEO DEMO]

A tool that allows users to call in for voice activated SEPTA schedule updates has launched.

Called SEPTAlking and built by Voxeo Labs developer Mark Headd, the tool is particularly suited for those who drive from homes or work to a SEPTA train station and need to confirm train arrivals, departures and delays.

The tool also has text and IM functionality. To give it a try, users can call or text (215) 987-5418 and be prompted for details. The project uses Tropo, a service from Headd’s West Coast-based Voxeo. Currently, it is focused on the regional rail.

Visit the SEPTAlking.com website here.

Headd began developing the project at the Apps for SEPTA hackathon that he helped organize and Technically Philly co-sponsored. He also demoed SEPTAlking to a roomful of amused SEPTA executives at a recent event.

Headd says he plans to continue to develop the project and seeks feedback on improvements or bugs.

Sheltr.org stars at Random Hacks of Kindness Philadelphia [VIDEO]

The Sheltr.org group, from L to R: Salas Saraiya, Robert Cheetham, Casey Thomas, Cheyne Rood, Mike Ball, Gabriel Farrell and Bula.

Sheltr.org, a mobile-friendly, web application to display nearby housing and food services for needy residents, was the featured tool at Random Hacks of Kindness hackathon held over the weekend at Drexel University.

The tool, built by a volunteer team of seven developers and designers, launched Philly.Sheltr.org, using available homeless intake facility information and a meal-providers data set collected by the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger, said team members.

A representative of the city’s Office of Supportive Housing, who was contacted over the weekend by the team, said the department was interested in supporting the project, which could be used by service providers and the general public to more accurately direct distressed members of the street homeless population.

Sheltr was one of six projects created by nearly 40 participants, which also included non-developers, during the second local version of the global hack weekend led by a smattering of tech giants, like Google, NASA and the World Bank. This weekend, Random Hacks events were held in 34 cities, including Philadelphia. Locally, the event was hosted by Drexel University, led by PhD student Michael Brennan and sponsored by Voxeo Labs, CloudMine and, full disclosure, Technically Philly.

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What problems can be solved during Random Hacks of Kindness 2 this weekend?

The second local version of Random Hacks of Kindness to be held at Drexel University is this weekend. It’s the fourth global RHOK, which are held in cities throughout the world.

Like last June, the weekend hackathon is being kicked off with a reception at Indy Hall in Old City where developers and non-developers alike can talk about what could be built, designed and delivered.

RSVP for the free Friday night reception here and the hackathon here. All are welcome. The hackathon is organized by Drexel PhD student Mike Brennan and, full disclosure, the reception is sponsored in part by Technically Philly.

Though participants will be able to choose from problem definitions offered by U.S. AID, Voxeo Labs, NASA, like last June, Technically Philly has collected a few other ideas:

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SEPTA developer showcase puts realtime schedule apps on display for transit agency officials [VIDEO]

Developer Reed Lauber presents NEXTSepta, his application using the SEPTA real time API. A dozen other projects were displayed at the showcase inside SEPTA headquarters to a roomful of transit agency officials.

Those in the open gov movement call it ‘evangelizing.’

By not letting technology be the end but the beginning and taking projects to decision makers to improve alternatives, the civic-minded technologist can make development easier for the next guy (or gal). Philadelphia has seen much more of that in the last year. Friday marked another installment.

More than a dozen local transit application developers held captive an audience of more than 40 SEPTA officials with a clear message: keep providing stable, real-time APIs and related data sources, and we’ll keep building cool, useful tools that the public will use.

The SEPTA developer showcase, organized by the transit agency emerging technologies lead Mike Zaleski, was a follow up to the October Apps for SEPTA hackathon, which Zaleski and SEPTA endorsed and was organized by Voxeo Labs hacker Mark Headd and the Devnuts crew. [Full Disclosure: Technically Philly was a sponsor of the hackathon.]

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PennApps: how the University of Pennsylvania hackathon group started and what’s next [VIDEO]

Boris Treskunov, a Penn sophomore, puts the finishing touches on his project in the final hours of the PennApps hackathon on Sept. 18.

The following is a report done in partnership with Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods program, the capstone class for the Temple’s Department of Journalism.

The Dining Philosophers, a student computer science group at the University of Pennsylvania in its third year of existence, has become known for its hackathons.

The group’s flagship is the PennApps hackathon, which kicked off in 2009, was followed up in fall 2010 and this past spring, and celebrate this weekend its latest and largest yet.

The group’s signature competition attracts students from Penn and other local universities to build a piece of software or hardware in 48 hours for a grand prize. The field of participants has become larger with each successive event, welcoming some 180 students this weekend, but the purpose of them has remained the same: to give students an opportunity to learn and build on their skills.

That mission will push forward what the group will become.

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PennApps fall 2011: hacked microwave-driven video player wins $2,500

Varun Sampath, Teddy Zhang and Kevin Conley pose with their winning microwave on stage in the Towne Engineering building on Penn's campus.

The following is a report done in partnership with Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods program, the capstone class for the Temple’s Department of Journalism.

They hacked a microwave.

This was the buzz on engineering quad at the University of Pennsylvania this weekend as a team of four Penn seniors took home the grand prize of $2,500 and a chance to present their handiwork to Google engineers at the company’s New York branch. They had won the 2011 PennApps Hackathon.

The hackathon was a competition where 41 teams of around four people had to build an application between 6 p.m. on Friday through noon Sunday using all the coding and software savvy they could muster.

This was the third year of the twice annual hackathons.

While most groups focused on building apps for mobile phones, the winning team of Kevin Conley, Ben Shyong, Varun Sampath and Teddy Zhang added a hardware element into the mix.

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