UPDATE: Please attend NYTM’s SOS Jan. 18th, 12:30pm-2pm
Outside the Offices of Senator Charles Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand 780 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Please RSVP with NY Tech Meetup: http://nytm.org/sos/

As the saying goes:

Dear Congress, It’s No Longer OK To Not Know How The Internet Works

Jan. 24th will be a big vote for the Internet. PIPA, SOPA’s twin will be voted on in the Senate. Here’s what we’re doing to let our Senators know they should reject PIPA on Jan. 24th. We are asking our 2 NY State Senators to have town hall meetings or an in-district meeting with us (you can request them but sometimes the request stuff like faxes). We don’t have a date for a meeting in NYC yet, because the Senators are on recess and it’s difficult to effectively schedule a date with an answering machine. New Yorkers, stay tuned, we’ll announce the date to meet with our Senators. If you’re not in New York – we urge you to contact your Senators for a town hall meeting or in-district meeting in your area before the Jan. 24th vote. Those of us who call the Internet home need to educate Congress on the dangerous nature of this Act, because srsly, do they get how DNS works? Or what xkcd is? We don’t think so.

The following is a citizen packet prepared by Public Knowledge: 

Tell Congress to Reject Internet Censorship Tools in PIPA

On January 24th the United States Senate will be voting on S. 968 the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). Your two Senators will have the opportunity to decide whether America will adopt the tools of censorship used to block websites in China or reject them by voting no and standing with Senators Wyden, Moran, Paul, and Cantwell. Ask your two Senators to stand against adopting the tools of censorship in any bill that comes up for a vote.

What you should know about PIPA:

• 83 of Internet’s original creators including Vint Cerf, co-designer of TCP/IP, and Robert W. Taylor, founder of ARPAnet, oppose SOPA and PIPA.
• The government has a poor track record of protecting free speech on the Internet. For example, lawful hip-hop music blog Dajaz1.com was held by the government for anentire year on the accusation of copyright infringement.

• Think tanks, government agencies, and industry associations across the political and social spectrum have said that SOPA and PIPA would undermine freedom of expression
• Top cyber security experts have said that SOPA and PIPA would undermine a 15 year government initiative (DNSSEC) to update Internet security.

• Human rights groups have told Congress that PIPA would help censorship regimes like China and Iran by sacrificing America’s fight for Internet freedom worldwide.

• Congress has yet to allow experts on free speech, network engineering, Internet security, or human rights testify at a hearing on PIPA.

• The content industry has spent $94 million in lobbying Congress to pass their bills in 2011, arguing that if China can censor the Internet the U.S. can also do it.

• Lobbyists have misled Congress by saying the United States already uses censorship tools for malware and child pornography.

Sample Town Hall Questions:

•  Will you stand with Senators Wyden, Moran, Paul and Cantwell and oppose Internet censorship on January 24th?
•  Do you understand what the Domain Name Server (DNS) system is and have you consulted with cybersecurity experts on the effects of the Protect IP Act?
•  Would you still vote for Protect IP if it restricts freedom of speech?
• Have you taken money from the movie and music industry?

Who Opposes SOPA/PIPA’s DNS Filtering Provisions (full list)?

Non-profit organizations and education institutions, including Public Knowledge, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and library groups like The American Association of Law Libraries, American College of Research libraries, the American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries, and the Special Libraries Association. Other non-profit organizations opposed to the bill include the Future of Music Coalition, the Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice, the Internet Society and the Public Interest Registry.

A group of 41 “press freedom and human rights advocates,” including the Center for Media Justice, Free Press, and organizations from the European Union, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, England, Finland, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Sweden. Additionally, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, and Internews all oppose SOPA/PIPA’s filtering provisions.

83 Internet professionals, cybersecurity experts, and Internet engineers including Vint Cerf, the creator of TCP/IP, Paul Vixie, the author of BIND, Esther Dyson, the founding Chairman of ICANN, and Robert Taylor, an early ARPAnet innovator.

Founders of some of the most successful Internet companies: Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape, Michell Baker, co-founder of Firefox, Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and Square, Caterina Flake, co-founder of Flickr and Hunch, David Filo, co-founder of Yahoo!, Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, Arianna Huffington, co-founder of The Huffington Post, Chad Hurley, co-founder of YouTube, Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive and co-founder of Alexa Internet, Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal, Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist, Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay, Biz Stone, co- founder of Obvious and Twitter, Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation, Evan Williams, co-founder of Blogger and Twitter, and Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo!.

Think tanks such as the Brookings Institute and CATO Institute as well as consumer groups such as the Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, and U.S. PIRG: The Federation of State PIRGs, and the Entertainment Consumers Association.

The Sandia National Labs under the Department of Energy and OpenDNS, “the largest DNS and Internet security service in the world.”

130 “entrepreneurs, founders, CEOs, and executives who have been involved in 283 technology start-ups,” including Chas Edwards of Digg, Chad Dickerson of Etsy, and Dennis Crowley of Foursquare.

55 venture capitalists from firms such as Union Square Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, and SV Angel.

Thanks Public Knowledge!!

This time of year our laser gets pretty busy, so we’ve opened up an additional laser night on Wednesdays. Tonight through December 21st, come by on Monday or Wednesday from 7:30-10:30 to fire the laser!

And another thing…

Because it’s such a popular time of year for lasing, we ask that you prepare your cut files so they can be broken up into smaller batches. That way instead of one person monopolizing the machine for hours, we can rotate through. So if you have an army of 100 Christmas ornaments to make, prepare your file so they can be cut in 2 sessions of 50 or 3 sessions of 33.3333.

Don’t forget that Sunday, 10/23, we have two back-to-back excellent workshops at Resistor: Alexis’s HTML5/CSS3 deep-dive workshop (sold out), followed by pumpkin hacking for Halloween.

The pumpkin party starts at 4pm. Please register (free!) on Eventbrite to RSVP. We’re thinking circuits, laser cutting, and maybe more.

We have a very small number of pumpkins available, along with cutting tools. Please BYOPumpkin. If you’ve got orange or purple LEDs or weirdo electronic components (or UV LEDs?!), bring those. We wouldn’t say no to contributions of snacks or tasty libations, either.

Photo: Trammell Hudson

WHEN: January 13th, 6pm-9pm “Craft Night*”

WHERE: NYC RESISTOR

(*Craft Night will be open for general hacking/crafting as per usual, the special event takes place in our large room.)

Come to NYC Resistor on the 13th when author and engineer Dustyn Roberts will donate a copy of her new book, Making Things Move, to the members of NYC Resistor.  She’ll tell us what it’s all about, and bring all your mechanical questions for a Q&A session!

Read more

We’re doing another session of our Soft Circuits class! Learn to make functioning electronic circuits using conductive threads and fabrics. You will leave with samples of the materials we use in the class and a warm glow in your heart. Or in your pocket. Beginners welcome!

http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1134540441

The 555 Timer IC is a classic from the days of analog electronics tinkering, hacking, and other good clean fun. Learn how the 555 can measure time! Blink an LED! Play music! Control a Servo motor! Output PWM! Wireless IR link to Arduino! Think of this as your Grandfather’s Arduino. The workshop will cover the basic configurations of the chip and what’s going on inside. Then we’ll explore more custom circuits and learn about how resistors and capacitors work together to control charge, and time events. You will get a kit with all the parts needed, a 9V battery and a breadboard. If you have your own servo, please bring it in.

This class is taught by Joel Murphy. Click here to sign up.

All NYC Resistor classes are for people 18-years and up.  Sorry, no minors.

Photo Credit: Tekserve

It’s that time of year again! Tekserve in Manhattan is having its sort of annual  eWaste event!  Recycling help provided by the LES Ecology Center.

WHEN: OCTOBER 9TH (THIS SATURDAY) FROM 10 AM to 4PM!

WHERE: 119 W 23RD ST (near 6th Ave)

BRING:  VCR, Computer, CRT/LCD, Fax, Printer/Copier, Television, DVD Player, Radio/Stereo, Telephone, Camera, The Heat (See link for complete details.)

DON’T BRING: Appliances, Microwaves, Stoves, Refrigerators, Air Conditioners, or used Large Hadron Colliders (only small ones.) No bulk business drop-offs!

Prizes, coupons, moar.  No landfills, no poisoning children overseas.

Dan Steingart of City College taught a 2 hour introduction to batteries, we had 25+, standing room only after announcing it less than a week before. so I guess this is a hot topic! Watch our classes page for upcoming hands on battery workshops.

You can download the slides from Dan Steingert here:
ResistorBatteryTalkAugust2010

NYCResistor has a new space and it’s beautiful and we’re nearly done fixing it up. Maybe you’ve heard that we’re having an Arduino Art Party? It’s going to be featuring the superstars of the Arduino world! This show is important because while the arduino has been a growing factor in the cutting edge art scene, an art show that showcases the full capabilities of it as the main focus of the art show has never been done. This will be a landmark event in the history of mechanized and programmable art!

So what will be at NYCResistor on March 27th from 8-12pm at 87 3rd Avenue in Brooklyn?

wind-up birds (hc gilje 2008) from hc gilje on Vimeo.

HC Gilje’s wind up birds. Cyber woodpeckers, need we say more about that?

Arron Koblin will display data crashes transformed into art. (Not pictured above)

Laura Greig‘s arduino powered painting machine.

Hernando Barragán – The creator of the wiring board will display Infomatic driven LEDs.

Things – Edith Kollath Creates Books that Breathe from Bre Pettis on Vimeo.

NYCResistor Member Edith Kolath

Jan Borches and REne Bohne’s Luminet Jacket will be on display and blinking.

Becky Stern‘s interactive embroidery will be blinking.

\
Oscar Torres and Jackoon the painting robot will be doing their thing.

Raphael Abrams has a twitchie. Half doll, half robot. It’s a dollborg.

Joe Saavedra – Will be displaying a jacket that has the game of life displayed over LED matrix based on your pulse!

Ok, now you know the awesomeness that is in store for you! Get your tickets now!

We’ve had a handful of questions about the hackathon, so here’s a helpful FAQ! Got more questions? Leave them in the comments!

I can’t stay for the whole time. Can I still come?

Yes! Please do! Come for any part of the hackathon, or just drop in! We’d love for you to RSVP so we know how many people to expect.

What if I don’t know how to solder / program?

Come anyway! There will almost certainly be a project you can help out on if you’re a quick learner, or maybe folks who are willing to help you realize an idea.

We’ll also be holding an informal soldering workshop from 12pm – 2pm on Saturday. For $20 you’ll get a TV-B-Gone kit and we’ll teach you how to put it together. Alternately you’re welcome to bring your own stuff to practice soldering on, but frankly the TV-B-Gone is much cooler.

We’ll also have soldering irons on hand, including some for sale, so if you don’t have on yet don’t worry about it!

Will Resistor really be open all 48 hours? Can I show up at 3am?

We’ll be there as long as people are still hacking. If things wind down in the wee hours of the night we’ll pack it up and grab a few hours of shut-eye, and re-open at 8am 10am. If you’re thinking of coming by at say, 4am, check twitter to see if we’re still yammering away.

What is club mate?

Club mate is an amazing yerba mate energy drink common in German hackerspaces. We had some imported, and drink it so we can hack all night.

Club mate is $4/bottle (they’re BIG bottles!) and because we’re really hoping to not have to move so much of it, we’re doing a special for the hackathon: every third bottle is $2. An easier way to say this would be 3 for $10, or “trade in two mate caps for $2 off your next bottle.” Either way, mate is good for hacking. As for the flavor, it’s described on the bottle: “one gets used to it.”

What should I bring? What about food?

Bring anything you need for your project. We’ll have soldering irons and snips and things, but everything else is up to you. If you’re feeling friendly, a box of donuts / bag of bagels goes a long way!

We’ll most likely organize a couple big delivery orders when it comes time for food. From 4pm to 6pm on Saturday there will be a mandatory dinner / etc break (we need to clear out for the class happening there) where we’ll probably organize a group trip to a local diner.

Can I bring my son / daughter / other person under 18?

Sorry, for liability reasons we require everyone in the space be 18 or older.