Notacon Newsfeed

The Call for Proposals for Notacon 8 is now posted and available. Please see the CFP page for more information.

Most of the specifications are the same as last year, but as always, please read before submitting. Incomplete submissions will be returned.

Reminder, we will be in a new hotel next year, so layouts will be completely different from what we had at the Wyndham. If you need information about the hotel, please include this in your submission email. We will do our best to assist.

Filed by Tyger at 2:35 am under Announcements, News, Notacon
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Tyger and I are having a ball here at the Grand Traverse Frag Fest in Traverse City, Michigan! To celebrate this event, Notacon 2011 registration is now open! There are a few changes from previous years, including some modest price increases. New this year, groups can register and pay online. Also, we are introducing a limited number of reduced rate “starving hacker” tickets intended to help those in our community without the financial means to do so. We hope this will enable us to increase the scope and breadth of knowledge and creativity within the community and make Notacon 8 the best Notacon ever!

To help make Notacon 8 the best yet, we are pleased to announce that the event has moved to the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Cleveland nearby to Progressive Field. The new location offers us many new and exciting opportunities, including expanded conference space, better parking options, exemptions for energy drinks sponsorships (Can you say BAWLS?) and exemptions for outside food after hours. In addition, the new space has renovated rooms containing a refrigerator, microwave and other amenities not found at our previous venue. A booking link to register hotel rooms will be announced shortly.

And finally, some of you may have wondered about the future of a demo party at Notacon. Worry not, we have major plans and announcements coming in the near future. We will put together a new tightly integrated party that will be bigger and better than anything done previously at our event! The North American demoscene lives!

Filed by froggy at 7:54 pm under Announcements, Blockparty, News, Notacon, Uncategorized
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For those who don’t want to read this whole post, suffice it to say the following: read your contracts carefully and have a qualified lawyer review them before signing them.

Suffice it to say Tyger and I made a huge and costly mistake regarding one of our contracts. Right now we (as in she and I and not the company who runs Notacon) are on the hook for approximately $6,000 or approximately 20% of the Notacon budget. In order to make things right and move forward, we must come up with and pay this amount before the 14th of July.

So we are looking for sponsorship at all levels, but know that every little bit helps. Paypal sponsorships can be sent to registration@notacon.org. If you’re not sure about sponsoring, then check out our store and get something more tangible for your money. We’re willing to work out ad deals or whatever is needed to make sure we can pay off this debt.

Thanks in advance,
Froggy

Filed by froggy at 2:20 am under News, Notacon
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Since year 1 of Notacon in 2004, we have had our shirts printed by JakPrints in Cleveland. Well, except one year, but that’s because we got the design in too late for them to print. They have been amazing to work with, and have always had a speedy turn-around and great service. We always recommend them to people when they ask us for a reputable and good quality t-shirt printer, and they’re known for using eco-friendly inks, materials and printing processes.

While eating lunch out this weekend, we came across this article in the Cleveland Scene.

Best of luck guys, I hope this gets you even more business.

Filed by Tyger at 2:20 am under Notacon
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Immediately following Notacon this year, we learned of some items being taken from the Hackerspaces room, which was being run this year by Makers’ Alliance. We were very saddened to hear this news, as the equipment taken was available for sale from one of our big supporters, Mitch Altman. While we like to think that the thefts were purely a misunderstanding, the quantity of items taken is a great concern to Notacon staff.

While Notacon does have a visible security staff, some decisions were made which made it easier for these items to be taken. We will be correcting some of these issues in the future, but would like the community to band together to figure out who took these items. If you accidentally took a kit, not realizing the items were left there for display or for sale, please either return the items to Mitch, or send payment. For more information see the NYC Resistor blog or the Make: article.

If you did not take any of these items from the room but would like to assist Mitch in being able to restock his kits and continue his classes across the various cons, consider donating.

Filed by Tyger at 1:44 am under Uncategorized
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Froggy and I and the rest of the core staff are actively recovering from Notacon 7. I hope everyone else had as awesome a time as we did. As we all wind down and people start posting pictures and writeups, I’d like to encourage you to email tyger-at-notacon.org with links to your information, so that we can share reviews on our website.

I’m in the process of prepping the page for Notacon 8, and as soon as the bills are finalized we’ll be posting more about our budget on the website, as well as details for all of you to get ready for Notacon 8!

Froggy is going to Penguicon, we will both be at @party. Make sure to say hi if you’ll be there!

Filed by Tyger at 1:14 am under Uncategorized
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Notacon presale is over for this year, but tickets will still be available for $100 at the door. We do not anticipate selling out of our block of 400 tickets this year.

For those of you who are local, make sure you check out our FREE THURSDAY PREVIEW! Starting Thursday at 7 PM, the Notacon space will be open to the public. We still have a slate of presenters who will give capsule summaries of the talks they’ll give later in the weekend. Also see us run around with our hair on fire as we try to get everything set up in time for the main event!

Finally, the crew at Recycled Rainbow need your photos and images for the Friday night experience they are putting together. Likewise, they also want your music selection suggestions. Please read the blog post about this event for more information on how to submit!

Filed by froggy at 1:34 am under Announcements, Notacon
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Pre-registration for Notacon is officially extended until Sunday April 4th, 2010 at 7:00 PM Eastern. If you haven’t bought your ticket, buy it now before you have to pay at the door!

Filed by froggy at 1:53 am under Announcements, Notacon
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Recycled Rainbow wants YOU to get involved in the performance! On Friday, April 16th, the organizers of Recycled Rainbow will take control over the Notacon ballroom and transform it into a palette upon which YOU can build your own interactive experience!

As part of that interactive experience, they need YOUR images & music to include in their multimedia presentation. Therefore, we are calling out to everyone in the Notacon community to submit all photos & images to notacon@recycledrainbow.org by April 15th.

We ask you to wear as much WHITE as possible during this presentation, as it will enhance your ability to interact with the project. White shoes, pants, shirts, hats, gloves … MASKS!

As a bonus, they’ll be DJ’ing music as a backdrop to the presentation (dancing is both permitted & encouraged!) They want suggestions for songs YOU would like to hear! Email them to notacon-music@recycledrainbow.org

So get involved now and start your Notacon experience early. Then join us on Friday night when we dim the lights and turn on myriad projectors for an event you have to show up and build to fully appreciate!

And don’t forget: Friday night, wear white!

Filed by froggy at 11:31 pm under Announcements, Notacon, other events
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Many of you likely remember the lockpicking village the last couple of years. This year, FOOLS have a lot of other commitments going on, so we heartily welcome our new hosts of the Lockpicking Village, Cleveland Locksport! There’s a lot of buzzing about what the Cleveland Locksport group has up their sleeve for the village this year, so make sure to stop by the Embassy room on the third floor to see what they’re up to!

Also this year we will be featuring another challenge from Deviant Ollam of TOOOL, The Defiant Box:

“In the tradition of the classic 1958 film “The Defiant Ones” this contest is played by paired teammates… who must tackle the challenge of a series of locks while they are shackled together. The handcuffs come off… but that’s the last thing you remove. “

Filed by Tyger at 1:15 am under Announcements, Notacon
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