Monday, July 21, 2008

The Last Hope

Attended The Last HOPE conference over the weekend.

Here's a list of the talks I went to:
  • A Collaborative approach to Hardware Hacking: NYCResistor
  • The New York City Taxi System: Privacy vs. Utility
  • IPv6, The Next Generation Network Playground: how to connect and explore
  • A Decade under the DMCA
  • The Intersection of Culture Jamming, Hacking, and Hacktivism
  • Escaping High Security Handcuffs
  • Grand Theft Lazlow: Hacking the Media by Laughing at Them
  • Featured Speaker: Adam Savage (co-host of MythBusters)
  • Strengths and Weaknesses of Physical Access Control Systems
  • No-Tech hacking
It was lots of fun. I told a coworker about the talk on high security handcuffs and his response was "What on Earth are you doing in your free time?"

In addition to the vendor area, they had an area setup where they were teaching people basic electronics, how to solder, and helping beginners build kits with microcontrollers. They also taught a class and helped 60 people take the ham radio license exam, of which more than 70% passed (which I hear is unusually high).
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