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/

Just Will this week providing an update on wrapping up the Hack Sioux Falls Event that kicked off a few months ago. He also shares a couple other great regional events that took place. One being the GenCyber camp at DSU in Madison SD: the largest GenCyber camp in the country sponsored by NSA & AT&T Various guest speakers, mostly women in cyber careers including Secretary of the U.S. Air Force Heather Wilson Take-away Lessons:​​​​​​​ We need to expose more kids, not just girls, to all technology fields. Cyber, programming, hardware, microcontrollers, electronics There are camps and activities, you need to seek them out. It is so hard to get the message out about events. We will do our best to let you know about local events we hear about Links: https://www.cybher.org/camp/ https://www.gencyber.camp/ http://www.instructables.com/id/Infinity-Mirror-With-Ultra-Sonic-Sensors/

A local Sioux Falls School requests some additional STEM activities and Will delivers. The SFC Coding Club was born. http://sfc-games.sdgamingbootcamp.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTA02T5gsVo Will & Ross also discuss content and course distribution platforms, their nuances, and the effort that goes into building course for using as learning tools as well as generating extra income. https://www.udemy.com/gaming-bootcamp-mentor-training/

Will brings you another solo episode while Ross is still out on 'assignment'. He spent the last week co-teaching a Junior Achievement course called "JA Be Entrepreneurial". The course was made up of six different assignments that helped the students prepare business planes, research product/market fit, discover competitive advantage and more.

Will discusses where to purchase all the electronic supplies he mentions on the show as well as address some questions about cost and things to look out for. He also recaps how the local hosted event for Arduino Day 2018 went. When purchasing electronic supplies: 99% of what is needed can be purchased from Amazon & eBay Great success with eBay Exceptions with solder, LED strips, wires misrepresented, expect some dead components Arduinos, ESP8266, sensors, resistors, ICs, What NOT to buy from eBay: ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Solder; anything where performance is critical, high-end audio-amps, flash drives High voltage, test equipment, batteries & battery banks, Stuff “too” cheap probably is missing protection Keep in mind, virtually everything is made in China Take-away Lessons: Start simple, because you may decide not get into it A simple sensor kit is a good way to start: Arduino breadboard wires PIR ultrasonic LEDs Youtube is a great resource for how-to and demonstartion Links: https://www.ebay.com/ https://www.amazon.com/ https://sparkfun.com/ https://adafruit.com/

While Ross is out, Will digs up an old email that got him thinking about a great topic for an episode. In this episode Will goes over the experience he had with regards to the email conversation and disbelief (for lack of a better term) of the whole situation. He also goes over some excellent pointers on how to set yourself apart and the properly way to apply and subsequently land an internship. No spoilers here. You'll have to listen to the episode to learn about the content of the email.

In the Sioux Falls area and have a daughter? Will has a great event planned for May 26th from 10am-3pm and we talk about all the details on today's episode as well as why and how it got started. We geek out a little bit about backup solutions at the beginning but it's still great conversation.

Would you like to learn about the Arduino platform? Check out Arduino Day 2018 on May 12 for a worldwide celebration of Arduino. Our event will be hosted in Sioux Falls, SD and will be lead by our Hack Sioux Falls kids.

Will takes a trip to Cedar Falls IA and makes an interesting discovery while Ross stays back and takes a 2 week trip down memory lane.

In this episode, Will discusses his expectations and hopes for an upcoming summer event he is hosting. Hack Sioux Falls is an event for teaching kids about electronics, embedded technology, and engineering. The event is 90 days long, open to kids ages 9 through 18 and parents are welcome. Each kid is provided with all of the electronics necessary to complete the challenge. More details are available at hacksiouxfalls.com

Will gets invited to put together some activities for a local Women in Science event. The event consisted of 130 girls from 6 local schools and resulted in some great exposure to technology for everyone involved.  Takeaway Lessons from the event: We need to start introducing technology earlier It should not be scary How can kids get started? It is not expensive Need to not over-plan