We keep PixelJam organized through use of a system called partymeister, conveniently hosted at:

party.pixelj.am

In addition to accepting competition submissions, the system also includes:

• Our full schedule of events that we can keep updated in real-time
• Room and ride sharing before and during the party
• Food run organization
• Notifications from us, your humble Notacon organizers

All PixelJam competitions eligible for remote entries are now open.  If you’re attending Notacon and PixelJam (and we sure hope you do!), get your entries ready.  Check out the PixelJam site for more information and full contest rules.

Any remaining registrations will be available at the door on Friday, April 13th, at 8 AM, for $120.

Click here to register now!

See you there!

• Rentech Solutions – Audio/Visual rentals, expertise and financial support
• Amplex Internet – Network equipment
• Centracomm – Network equipment
• GrrCON – Financial and promotional support
• @party – Financial support
• Mindacandy – Prizes
• ThinkGeek – Prizes
• No Starch Press – Prizes
• Nerd’s Nook – Prizes
• Paper Jamz – Prizes (provided by Pure Imagination, LLC)
• Dave Kennedy – Prizes
• O’Reilly Media – Prizes

Why pre-register?

• Get through the line quickly on-site and get going!
• Save $20 off the at-the-door rate of $120
• Reserve your badge parts kit (guaranteed for premium registrations!)
• Pre-order the Notacon 9 shirt at 25% off

As far as hotel accommodations go, the conference block is officially closed.

HOWEVER, if you still need a room, call the Hilton Garden Inn directly at 216-658-6400 (tell them you’re with Notacon).  Many people reserving a room online or via the 800 number indicate the hotel is full.   Booking via these methods at this time is not recommended.  I will post again once the hotel is actually sold-out.

So make your final preparations and packing lists!  Only 2 more weeks!

Remember, Notacon is the con the hugs you back.

<3

- Froggy

Who do you feel would benefit most from your presentation?
Anyone with an interest in swords and fitness.

What one concept or viewpoint would you like Notacon participants to walk away with?
Mind and body get an unparalleled workout from fencing.

When did you become interested in hacker culture and hacker conferences?
Primarily through a spunky, stabby relative.

What other passions do you have, besides those covered in your presentation?
Space operas produced in the late seventies, things under hill and Rivendell, and everything clashing steel.

What excites you most about Notacon 9?
Its an opportunity to reach many like-minded folks.

You can’t see Brian’s presentation unless you’re at Notacon 9! Register now!

Who do you feel would benefit most from your presentation?
Those with an interest in mathematics, algorithms, physics, or just really big numbers.

What one concept or viewpoint would you like Notacon participants to walk away with?
A new understanding of what ‘big’ is.

When did you become interested in hacker culture and hacker conferences?
In 1986 while sitting at my Commodore with a 300baud model.

What other passions do you have, besides those covered in your presentation?
Computer Science, Graph Algorithms, general algorithms and data structures, science fiction.

What excites you most about Notacon 9?
My first presentation!

Any final thoughts or statements you’d like to share with the community.
Make sure you teach someone something today.

You can’t see Brian’s presentation unless you’re at Notacon 9! Register now!

Who do you feel would benefit most from your presentation?
People not directly involved in the electronics hardware industry; they might not realize the sheer amount of IP, process methods and other knowledge that are locked up in corporations and not publicly available.

What one concept or viewpoint would you like Notacon participants to walk away with?
That despite all the textbook knowledge in the world, practical experiences and lessons reign supreme.

When did you become interested in hacker culture and hacker conferences?
Always been interested in hacker culture, but only recently started attending conferences (since 2009).

What other passions do you have, besides those covered in your presentation?
I am very passionate about applying advanced technologies that we may take for granted to improve life and society in not-yet-developed parts of the world.

What excites you most about Notacon 9?
PixelJam. I’ve heard a lot about demo parties, seen videos of demo parties from Europe, but I’ve never been to one proper. Really excited about that.

Any final thoughts or statements you’d like to share with the community.
I am really excited to spend a weekend with inspired, bright and passionate individuals who keep wanting to do *more* with technology.

You can’t see movax’s presentation unless you’re at Notacon 9! Register now!

Finally, our deadline for sponsorship ends very soon!  We still desperately need a few sponsors to keep our books balanced.  Read our sponsorship guide or contact us for more information.  We welcome all sponsors big and small.

Finally, our room block closes in another day or two!  Make sure you book your room at the hotel and get the special Notacon conference room rate.  You may be able to reserve a room after the block closes, but due to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cleveland this year, rates may go up and unbooked rooms in our block will sell out fast.  Please contact the hotel directly to make sure your room is in our room block!

As always, remember to register.  It helps us make sure we have enough Bawls to keep everyone caffeinated.

Who do you feel would benefit most from your presentation?
People who code. People who care.

What one concept or viewpoint would you like Notacon participants to walk away with?
Get off the couch and do epic stuff. Preferably to make the world better, but anything is better than watching TV.

When did you become interested in hacker culture and hacker conferences?
About 10 years ago, when I started attending my local Python user group.

What other passions do you have, besides those covered in your presentation?
Riding bicycles, cooking from scratch. Though both have gotten eaten by IRC in recent months.

What excites you most about Notacon 9?
Hackers! Also Cleveland, actually.

You can’t see Peter’s presentation unless you’re at Notacon 9! Register now!

Check out our Notacon 9 badge support site!

I’m happy to announce that the specifications of the Notacon 9 badge are good to go!  We are publishing this information so that everyone who wants to hack away at it will have an opportunity to bring whatever tools, parts and gear necessary.

Jeff “Kraln” Katz, along with aestetix and  milosch from the OpenAMD project were working with us to deploy their project at Notacon 9.  Unfortunately, after a lot of work on everyone’s part, Notacon simply didn’t have the budget to go ahead with the project.  Kraln, though, vowed that one way or another, Notacon 9 would have a kick ass badge.  In my view, he succeeded.

The design goals for this years badge were simple:

• Lower the barrier to entry for participants and give them the power to have their newly build badge do nifty things almost out-of-the-box once built.
• Provide avenues for hackers and experiments to expand the badge and explore the full capabilities of the design
• Easily plug in to a USB port
• Keep costs low so that we here at Notacon can actually make it happen!

To facilitate this, there will be 2 VERSIONS of the Notacon 9 badge.  Both versions have the same general functionality.  The novice version has fewer solder points and simpler power input.  Thus, it will be much easier to put together.  The advanced version has the same processor, LEDs and other gadgets, but utilizes a more complicated (and flexible!) power input system that, for all intents and purposes, turns your badge into a Minty Boost.  Yes, it is possible to put your badge together to charge your cell phone.  Very handy at hacker cons.

Anyway, here are some of the features:

• PIC based 8-bit processor (PIC18F14K50-IP) with USB support
• Powered off of either standard 9V or AAA cells (depending on which version you get)
• Electret microphone
• Mini USB port (make sure to bring a cable!)
• 4 bright blinky LEDs

In addition, for a nominal charge, we are also putting together a totally optional parts kit to help you extend your badge.  This kit will include a quality Mylar piezoelectric speaker and a pair each of yellow, green and orange LEDs.

All badge specs and designs are released by Jeff Katz under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States (CC BY-SA 3.0) license.

I hope you enjoy building and working with this year’s badge.  A lot of effort went into it on the part of Jeff Katz, as well as members of the Notacon community such as pjustice, melstav and Sam.  Without them, this project would not have happened!  Thanks guys!