The details:

WHAT: Finish It Friday (& movie night)
WHERE: HackPittsburgh, 1936 5th. Ave.
WHEN: March 5th, 6pm – Completion (movies at 7pm)
MINISTER OF DONE: Matt Mets

After the Intro to Ponoko, join us for the rescheduled Intro to Documentation Lighting! Members Matt Mets and Bonnie Bogovitch will cover the basics of documentation photography, using the equipment you already have.  They’ll talk about choosing backgrounds, how to set up a simple softbox to take photos, and then demonstrate a few techniques to get you started.

Bring your camera along, as well as a thing or two that you’d like to photograph. We’ll provide one or two backdrops and lighting setups.

As with all Friday events, these introductions to Ponoko and to documentation lighting are open to the public! Doors open at 6pm, and the intro to Ponoko will begin at 7pm, followed by documentation lighting.  HackPittsburgh is located at 1936 5th Avenue in Pittsburgh, PA.  You’ll find the entrance in back, on Watson St., next to the big garage door.

Tonight at 7pm, join us at HackPittsburgh as member Sayan demonstrates how to send live data from your Arduino over the cell phone network using a cheap pre-paid cell phone and the free-to-play Gumband SMS API!

As with all Friday events at HackPittsburgh, this Arduino + Gumband SMS demo is open to the public.  Doors open at 6pm and the demo should start around 7pm.  HackPittsburgh is located at 1936 5th Avenue in Pittsburgh, PA.  The entrance is around back on Watson St., next to the yellow garage door.

Tonight, in celebration of the Olympic spirit, HackPittsburgh will be kicking off our own HackPittsburgh 2010 Hacker Olympics!

Shake off the snowpocalypse and join us tonight at 7pm as HackPittsburgh’s Matt Stultz challenges you to two weeks of projects that will test all of your skills and push you to learn and do new things! We’ll also try to have the actual Olympic Opening Ceremonies on, for inspiration.

HackPittsburgh is located at 1936 5th Ave. in Pittsburgh and the entrance is around back on Watson St.  As with all Friday events, the Hacker Olympics Kickoff is open to all.  Doors open around 6pm, and the Hacker Olympics will kick off at 7pm.  See you there!

Update: Matt S. has started a forum thread with the official details and the list of “event” categories. Check it out and get cracking on those projects to win one free month of membership!

After the members meeting last night, the M-team (Marek, Marty, Matt S., and Matt M.) brewed our first batch of Open Mate soda. Inspired by the Club Mate that Marty had ordered, but put off by its closed-source nature (hey, we are a hackerspace here!), we realized that we should brew our own. After acquiring some yerba mate tea, caffeine powder, sugar, and kegging equipment, the first batch is brewed! Check out the photos of each step, and be sure to stop by this Friday to taste the results!

Ingredients
3 gallons water
85g Chai mate tea (from Teavana)
2.5 cups ‘raw’ cane sugar
1.5g caffeine powder (handle with care!)
CO2 (to taste)

Terse instructions:
Sterilize all equipment. Bring water to just under a boil, add tea and sugar, steep for 5-7 minutes. Cool, add caffeine powder, stir well, then transfer to keg. Float 15psi of CO2 over the mixture, then release the pressure valve and re-pressurize. Repeat 5 times (to purge oxygen from the keg. Let sit for 24 hours, to allow the soda to carbonate, then drop pressure to 7psi and enjoy!

This Friday, February 5th at 7pm, join us at HackPittsburgh and learn how to lie, cheat, and steal your way through documentation photography!

Members Matt Mets and Bonnie Bogovitch will cover the basics of documentation photography, using the equipment you already have.  We’ll talk about choosing backgrounds, how to set up a simple softbox to take photos, and then demonstrate a few techniques to get you started.

Bring your camera along, as well as a thing or two that you’d like to photograph. We’ll provide one or two backdrops and lighting setups.

As with all Friday events, this intro to documentation lighting is open to the public! HackPittsburgh is located at 1936 5th Avenue in Pittsburgh, PA.  You’ll find the entrance in back, on Watson St., next to the big garage door.

Come on down to HackPittsburgh on Tuesday, Feb. 9th at 7pm and join us for a couple of quick presentations, and a group activity!  HackPittsburgh member Marty McGuire will demo his MakerBot 3D printer, and member Matt Mets will demo his laser harp!

The activity is still a mystery, so stay tuned to the Make: PGH blog and follow @MakePGH on Twitter for more updates!

WHAT: The first Make:PGH Meeting!
WHEN: Tuesday, Feb. 9 @ 7PM
WHERE: HackPittsburgh
1936 5th Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Entrance is in the rear on Watson St.

If you’re planning to attend, please drop the organizers a line at info@makepgh.org.

We built out the wall to separate the workshop from the main room, to help keep dust and dirt away from the delicate electronics.

Thanks to Andy, Dean, Forest, Marty, Matt M., and Matt S. for coming out and getting it done!

Now, at long last, Synth Night is back!  On Friday, Jan. 29, starting at 6pm, join us at HackPittsburgh and build your own Atari Punk Console, an awesome and tiny kit-based synth designed by Jimmie P. Rodgers.  Members Andy Leer and Matt Stultz will lead us in building these kits, which require a bit of soldering.

The kits are $15 each, and can be purchased via the Paypal link below, or in the shop on the night of the event.  Unfortunately, we don’t have enough Altoids tins to provide cases for everyone, so if you have your own Altoids tin (or other case idea), please bring it in!  We’ll have some soldering stations set up, but if you have your favorite soldering iron, Panavise, helping hands, etc., please bring them in!

Doors open at 6pm at HackPittsburgh at 1936 5th Avenue, Pittsburgh.  The entrance is around back, on Watson St., next to the big garage door. Like all Friday night events at HackPittsburgh, Synth Night is open to all!

Sorry kits are sold out but feel free to stop by and hang out.