Go Hack Something - Where Education and Technology Meet

Today Will discusses how to avoid issues when purchasing from resellers on eBay. Lessons learned derived from a few recent transactions. Takeaways: Plan ahead, can easily take 5 to 12 weeks Always order more than one item If you need a larger quantity, diversify with different sellers

In this episode Will provides an update on the current Hack Sioux Falls project. Also shared is some insight and advice Will provided to a college student curious about what he should be doing now to be better setup for after graduation. Key steps to take now: Find a mentor Take an online course outside of college material https://www.pluralsight.com/ Read Will’s Book: Wired For Coding

Will announces another Hack Sioux Falls and the theme for it as kids are now settled back into school.

It was quite a busy summer. Will provides a brief update on what he has been up to and how some recent events went. Also in this episode Will explains his experiences being a content creator and sharing training course online.

All the kids are now back in school so Will is back to tinkering and sharing some fun and interesting projects. This week Will shares his experiences and take-aways regarding 3D Printing: Device(s) he uses  How they work What you can actually print Current setup What he has printed And Links to great resources: http://thingiverse.com/ http://tinkercad.com/ https://www.repetier.com/ ​​​​​​​

Summer is winding down and Will reflects back on some of the great events that took place over the last few months.

Ross is finally back (if only for an episode) and brings with him a topic he has been focusing on a lot lately. Will shares his lessons and experience with keeping code from past projects for future use. Learning to 'code' is the on the top of many career lists. We talk about where coding is going, how and why to start building a code portfolio and the benefits of holding on to everything you've created in the past. Links: https://GitHub.com / https://gist.github.com https://Gitlab.com Git Beginers Guide: http://rogerdudler.github.io/git-guide/ Will's Public Repositories: https://github.com/bluemonkeydev

Will shares his experience with building IOT devices for monitoring and controlling devices around his home as well as the parts and processes to build some of your own. The particular project discussed in this episode is a temperature control module that helps keep an incubator room using a small ceramic space heater within 1 degree celsius. Take-away Lessons: These projects are not that complicated The cost to build a simple solution is just a few dollars. In this case, less than $15 Leverage existing dashboards and services; especially when getting started Links: https://youtu.be/H55IOwxkdY8 https://www.instructables.com/id/ESP8266-Temperature-Controlled-Relay/

This week Will discusses wrapping up the Hack Sioux Falls Project, lessons learned, project outcomes, and plans for future events. Also, this last week was the first event partnering with the Sioux Falls School District. Cyber Patriot Camp where 6 instructors/volunteers helped 21 kids learn about passwords, security policies, running a VM, securing a VM. Links: Hack Sioux Falls: http://hacksiouxfalls.com (signup for notifications of future events) Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqvaQa2ZLifihNcFORzVzAQ youtube channel KDLT School Zone: https://www.kdlt.com/2018/07/19/school-zone-cyberpatriot/ KDLT Evening News: https://www.kdlt.com/2018/07/20/cyberpatriot-boot-camp-offers-students-a-crash-course-on-cyber-security/ KELO Evening News: https://www.keloland.com/news/education/sioux-falls-holds-national-cyber-camp/1313303479

Ross is out yet again but Will has more details about exciting the Gaming Bootcamp events happening around Sioux Falls and the state. Native American Gaming Bootcamp: 3-day camps and free Funded by AT&T, huge thanks to them Have six planned around the state; Sioux Falls, Chamberlain, Mission, still planning a few Bobby, our instructor, brings a lot of Native culture into the program Gaming Bootcamps in Sioux Falls: Over 35 kids joined us this summer and 4 mentors or helpers Built 7 games in 5-days. Most games allow the kids to explore and create Custom Doodle Jump this year, huge success Always have a handful of kids who build their own custom games Host onsite at Raven and DocuTAP; great being on location, the kids love it Take-away Lessons:​​​​​​​ We want kids to learn and understand the basics of coding. It’s not just a “play games” camp even though I could easily host “play games” camps all-day long! amazed as how well the kids understand writing code and the creativity. We really need to do a better job allowing kids to learn and explore. Links: http://www.sdgamingbootcamp.com/ http://native.sdgamingbootcamp.com/