Cereal Hack Is Back!
A Creation of
We believe that technology can change the world and the starting point is education. Hacker Lab aims to educate folks and seed startups with community-driven resources. Collectively we can build a brighter future using lean methods in both education and business. Come visit our space in midtown Sacramento! www.hackerlab.org
Rules
Below is a quick summary of Cereal Hack's competition rules. These rules are very similar to Angel Hack, which we consider to be a very successful hackathon. All participants are expected to work on the honor code and respect the rules below. In general, if you have a great idea, build something on the spot, and present us a meaningful new hack that can improve peoples lives (even if only in a humorous way) then we are impressed. If you have questions, feel free to email us.
1. Coding Language: Applications may be built in any code that you please.
2. Fresh Code: The main rule is that all code for your startup must be fresh. You can use API’s, previously built hardware, and/or open source algorithms, but all applications built must be new. Of course you can work on the concept for your application before the competition starts, including paper and/or digital mockups of the user interface and database entity diagrams. However, no production assets of any kind can be created until the start of the official competition period illustrated above. This includes “ready to slice” graphic design assets, application code, and user stories / test cases. When in doubt: Plan, don’t create.
3. 30 Hours: As a contestant, your team has exactly 30 hours to develop your hack.
4. Teams of One to Five Humans: Teams should be comprised of between one and five individuals. No more than five people are allowed on a team. No robots, aliens, or superheroes. However, team members should feel free to dress as robots, aliens, and superheroes.
5. Ownership and Open Source: Hey, we’re just running a competition here. What you do with your source once the competition is over is up to you. Note that the competition organizers will have access to your code base throughout the competition, in order to make sure that no cheating occurs (as outlined previously). We won’t steal anything from you, promise!
6. You Will Be Judged: We are looking for things that wow us. Things that have potential to be something amazing. That idea you’ve always wanted to build out, but never had the right chance to. Maybe dev tools or maybe a consumer app that fills a pain point? Is it useful? What could this hack look like after 3 months? How about 3 years? Your application will also be judged based on it’s visible merits, including: Completeness / User Interface / Design / Originality / and in some cases – humor!
Logistics
Agenda
TBA
What is a Hackathon?
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Step 1: Meet People
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Step 2: Form Teams
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Step 3: Build Product
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Step 5: Pitch for Prizes
We have several sets of oscilloscopes, bench top power supplies, soldering irons, multi-meters, breadboards and many tools commonly used for electronics development. We also have several computers setup with the Arduino environment and eagle cad software.
We are also targeting having a rep-rap style 3D printer available.
We have several sets of oscilloscopes, bench top power supplies, soldering irons, multi-meters, breadboards and many tools commonly used for electronics development. We also have several computers setup with the Arduino environment and eagle cad software.
We are also targeting having a rep-rap style 3D printer available.
YES! Although we have a few random components that you MIGHT be able to use, please bring everything you need for your hardware hack. There is an Ace hardware that will be open both Saturday and Sunday a block away, but they obviously do not have any electronics. Fry's electronics is about a 10 - 15 minute drive from the HackerLab in an emergency.
Absolutely! Hardware hacks are especially tricky due to the nature of relying on physical things. We recommend you bring all your components that you think you just MIGHT need (and even the ones you don't think you need for that matter!). You might be able to barter with other hackers, but no guarantees. Coming into the hackathon with an idea of what you want to build will save you precious time.
There are many great tutorials online at adafruit.com, sparkfun.com, instructables.com and bildr.org. We recommend you watch/read the tutorials that are anywhere closely related to your hack so your knowledge is as fresh as it can be. There are many other useful online forums and websites where people post circuit snippets and basic circuits that you can build on for your hack. Just like the software guys, if the circuit is "open source" such as posted online or declared open hardware, you are free to fork or modify the design and incorporate it into your own project.