KC2600 Meeting Tonight

Topics for discussion: Maker Faire, Google+, and anything else you feel like bringing up.

KC2600 - April Fools' 2011 Edition

We're still having our meeting. Be prepared to talk about high-tech shenanigans and network pranks :D

I also have a fun project to show off, if there's time. Afterwards: Delicious food and beverages. We'll decide where to go during the meeting.

I may be running a bit late today, so I'll see you all when I get there.

March KC2600 Meeting

bandy and I have a bunch of work to do on our laptops. We'll have all kinds of tools, spudgers, and parts. Ever seen open-part surgery in the middle of a bookstore coffee shop?

Also up for discussion: Amateur radio stuff, and potentially some info about APRS and packet radio.

Bring any other fun stuff you've been working on, or just come, hang out, watch and ask questions.

As usual, there'll be a migration afterward for food and drinks. See you all starting at 5pm on March 4th!

February KC2600 Meeting

Just a quick reminder. Tomorrow is the monthly Greater Kansas City 2600 meeting. Bring your projects and questions, or just come to brainstorm and geek out with us. Supper and drinks afterward.

January Meeting

This Friday, January 7, 2011. I have no clue what we'll be talking about, but I'm certain most of us have some new hardware to show off. I got a preview of it during my New Year's Eve party. Afterward: dinner and drinks.

December KC 2600. Don't forget about the new Venue!

December 3rd, 5:00 PM. Now at the cafe inside Barnes & Noble Booksellers.

Ostensibly less mall-like but still kind of in Oak Park Mall, we found last month that B&N's Cafe is quite pleasant for a 2600 meeting. Plus they have free WiFi. We talk about random geekery, often with a freedom and privacy spin on things. Programming, telephony, security, electronics, physics and encryption are popular topics we talk about, but bring any projects or questions and we'll all have fun discussing them.

Once that's done, it's off to a nearby restaurant for food and beverages. I'm really craving Thai this month, but open to other suggestions. And there's a chance we might visit the Dumpster that occasionally bears magical things, but it hasn't been terribly fruitful lately.

The end of an era, new KC2600 venue: Barnes & Noble at Oak Park

Short version:

Greater Kansas City 2600 is no longer being held in the food court at Oak Park Mall. The next meeting (December 3rd) and all future meetings until further notice will take place in the Barnes & Noble Bookstore cafe. It's ostensibly part of Oak Park Mall, but it doesn't feel like a mall. It feels like a coffee shop inside a book store, and it's a much better environment for casual discussion and collaboration.

Long version:

I initially found out about 2600 magazine and the meetings through a few local bulletin board systems. I went to my first 2600 meeting in May of 1993, more than half my life ago. I attended infrequently until 1996, when I got my own car and finally started going regularly. As long as I can remember, there has been a 2600 meeting at Oak Park Mall food court.

Most of us were teenagers. People came. People went. Some of them even died. Many who are gone are still missed today for the friendship, inspiration and guidance they provided. Mall security chased us away once or twice. The mall got remodeled. The payphones we used to meet near went away. Memories. Lots of them.

The food court is usually a noisy and distracting place. It's easy for people to marginalize and stereotype the usual teenage food court denizens, but when this whole thing started, I was basically one of them.

At yesterday's meeting, one thing prominently stood out. The food court was different. More distracting. Louder. Taking a look around revealed the cause. Eight high-definition television sets had been strategically placed. They were playing music videos, and using the sound system in the food court to leverage a pop-music aural assault on everyone there. That was the last straw for our group. We picked our stuff up and walked to Barnes & Noble Booksellers.

Leading up to that, however, was a number of discussions I'd had with other information security folks in town. They basically refuse to show up because "Dude. It's The Mall. Come on." and I'm hoping the slight change in venue might get some more attendees as well. It doesn't fix the fact that traffic sucks in the Oak Park Mall parking lot, but it is right off I-35 and I-435 and easy to get to from most parts of town.

On top of the more relaxed venue, we have immediate access to all kinds of reading material including 2600 Magazine itself, and free Wireless Internet, you know, for FireSheeping people.

If you have thought about coming out but never have, or it's been a long time since you visited a 2600 meeting, I encourage you to give the new location a shot with us.