By Marianne Do
The main meeting space of Alpha One Labs looks like a mash-up of a physics classroom and a garage. A whiteboard wall is covered in frighteningly complicated math equations. Cables dangle over tall shelves of computer gear. Objects retrieved from the street sit on a table, ready for fixing: a vending machine money slot, a broken iPod dock. People sit with laptops open and argue over Java versus C# programming. Conversations containing the phrases “bash script” and “micro-controller” can be heard over the rhythmic thumping of electronic music from mounted speakers.
Alpha One Labs is a hackerspace—a collaborative techno-centric workspace where members pay a small monthly fee for access to the space, equipment, classes, and the collective knowledge of other geek-minded members. “They’re mostly software developers,” explained Sean Auriti, 33, the co-founder of Alpha One Labs. “Coming here, they get to tinker with things.”
Auriti, who is also a web developer, oversees the organization’s logistics, which include monthly fundraising parties for equipment and projects.
The members also work on smaller projects, some of which they plan to eventually sell: a glass tube calculator, a motion-detecting LED necklace, laser-triggered ceiling lights, an interactive electronic wall mural. They also keep an extensive list of proposed projects, including a flying saucer, an automatic tooth-brushing machine, and a self-cleaning coffee pot.
Alpha One Labs is part of a growing national hackerspace movement. According to hackerspaces.org, there were fewer than 30 hackerspaces in the United States in early 2009. Now there are more than 160, and Alpha One Labs is one of a handful in the city. It currently has about 30 members, with a few off-and-on visitors who sit in on in-formal meetings. Membership is open to anyone. Most members have backgrounds in software development or a related field, and had never met before joining the hackerspace.
Themed meetings are scheduled every week: Make A Bot Mondays, Tuesdays Open Meeting, Dad Lab Wednesdays, Thursday “Ask a Hacker” broadcast on ustream, and Solder Sundays. Additionally, the hacker-space frequently holds special weekend workshops; a recent afternoon tutorial on lock-picking filled the room. “How can you call yourself a hacker without knowing how to pick a lock?” said Auriti. The most anticipated events at Alpha One Labs are arguably the monthly fundraising parties. One party earlier this year played chiptunes—electronic music synthesized by a computer or video game console sound chip—all night. A guest from Japan “attended” the party through Skype.
Another party at the hackerspace featured a de-soldering contest, in which contestants were given 10 minutes to de-solder as many components of a mother-board as possible. A small crowd gathered to watch member Robert Diamond, a software developer for Bloomberg, and the night’s first contestant. It quickly became apparent that watching someone de-solder at a desk under a lamp was not exactly the most gripping form of entertainment. “This is so riveting,” said one onlooker sarcastically. “I mean… soldering.” Later in the night, Diamond’s wife Becca regaled listeners with a story about her husband. “He was home sick and I came into the bedroom, and he’s in the bed and under the sheets hiding something.” So she lifted the bed sheet. “He’s soldering something on the TV tray!”
At a recent Alpha One Labs meeting, Vermont, a New School grad student who prefers to go by his online handle rather than his real name, was discussing making pamphlets to promote the hackerspace’s next fundraising party. He asked for the other members to design templates and write up some informative text.
Someone suggested, “Let’s just do it in binary.”
Alpha One Labs
148 Frost Street
www.alphaonelabs.com
(814) 422-5372
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