Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Hackaday Offers Trip Into Space For Best DIY Hardware

Posted by samzenpus on from the hack-your-way-into-space dept.

An anonymous reader writes "SupplyFrame is launching The Hackaday Prize, a challenge to create open connected devices judged by Andrew 'Bunnie' Huang, and Limor 'Ladyada' Fried, among others. The grand prize is an all-expense-paid trip to space on a carrier of your choice or $196,418 if going into space isn't your thing. 'We launched The Hackaday Prize because we want to see the next evolution of hardware happen right now, and we want it to be open,' said Mike Szczys, managing editor of Hackaday.com."

37 comments

  1. Take the cash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    better for your health

    1. Re:Take the cash by davester666 · · Score: 3, Funny

      and they don't mention what you have to do when you get to space to be part of the return trip.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    2. Re:Take the cash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or take the cash, and wait a decade or two to see if the price comes down while investing the money.

    3. Re:Take the cash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Absolutely nothing, gravity gets you back.

      The real question is "what do you have to do to avoid deceleration trauma"

  2. I'll take the money, thanks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't get the appeal of a one-time sub-orbital hop to the upper atmosphere in a tin can. OK, wow, so you can look through a porthole for 5 minutes.

    I'll take the money, put it in the bank, invest in something banal and safe, and maybe work on my education. (I'm in Canada so 200k$ is for more than one semester!)

    Since obviously "space" travel is going to be so cheap in the future thanks to 3D printing and the massive demand, I'll just go in space in ten years for 20k$.

  3. 2nd place prize by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    goes to the person who can pronounce the guy's last name.

    1. Re:2nd place prize by szczys · · Score: 1

      Am I eligible to win your challenge?

  4. That'll Be a Fun Tax Bill for Some Poor Hacker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If the winner chooses the space trip over the money, I hope they have the cash to pay the taxes... lol

    1. Re:That'll Be a Fun Tax Bill for Some Poor Hacker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      if the winner is Canadian he wont have to pay taxes

      and if i win i'm so taking the trip to space and not paying a cent in taxes \o/

      100k or a life experience had by only handful of people and fulfilling a life long dream..

    2. Re:That'll Be a Fun Tax Bill for Some Poor Hacker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If the prize is awarded in the US, he will have to pay US taxes.

      Take the money and book a flight on a MiG in Russia. Almost as high, longer flight, you fly the plane, 25K$. Seems simple to me.

    3. Re:That'll Be a Fun Tax Bill for Some Poor Hacker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah but even if its awarded in the US, it all comes back to us. we are not US citizens, thus the US taxes do not apply. ask any canadian who's won on a gameshow. yes the IRS is waiting for their cut, but you land back in canada, you file a few forms, and you get your money back (or debt forgiven)

  5. No Thanks - Internet Use Required by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Whatever you make needs to be connected to the internet in a meaningful way. That requirements cuts out a ton of really useful and interesting hardware. Example: You won't connect an easy, DIY laser bug zapper to the internet. Would it tweet each time it zapped a bug? I'd love to have a laser 'wall' that would surround my porch and keep little flying things away. A laser lawn mower would be even better! Would that need a web UI? Example: The DIY hardware for brain-controlled interfaces could really use an upgrade, but that also doesn't fit into the internet.

    If they really wanted new DIY projects that could cause meaningful change in the world, they'd drop the internet requirement. With it they look like they're trying to add hardware to the data mining and social media fads.

    1. Re:No Thanks - Internet Use Required by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This laser lawn mower has internet access. http://grounds-mag.com/news/grounds_maintenance_youve_seen_mower/

    2. Re:No Thanks - Internet Use Required by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only requirements you really have to
      hit are quite simple:

              You must actually build something
              It must involve some type of electronics that are connected to something
              Our main requirements have to do with documentation. This includes lists of parts, schematics, images, and videos. Remember, Openness is a Virtue.

      ---
      please retarded AC that cant even USE the internet, go away and never come back

    3. Re:No Thanks - Internet Use Required by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Basic Judging Criteria
      Is the entry a connected device and is that “connectedness” meaningful to the function?

      They want something networked. Almost anything networked can be done over the internet as most people won't write their own networking stacks. What other connected devices are there? I don't think gluing a string to two devices will count much for making them connected.

  6. This cracks me up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Give us your most awesome idea in return for $196,418 or a trip to space. Meanwhile, if your idea really is that awesome, you could patent and build it. Probably make orders of magnitude more money from it, if it really is that good.

    1. Re:This cracks me up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      What cracks me up is Ladyada judging other people's designs. She's just a tinkerer that leveraged her gender into re-seling eBay trinkets for a huge markup.

    2. Re:This cracks me up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Give us your most awesome idea in return for a chance to win $196,418 or a trip to space.

      fix'd.

    3. Re:This cracks me up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      there's nothing wrong with that its hackaday they mostly post DIY instructions and ideas what are you affraid they'll do with your idea? post it on the internet and show people? anyone who visits hackaday and would submit something already knows this and is the type of person who would post the information publicly on their own anyway

    4. Re:This cracks me up by freeze128 · · Score: 1

      Were... were we just trolled by a perl script?

    5. Re:This cracks me up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You sound jelly

    6. Re:This cracks me up by GaAs+oldAce · · Score: 2

      What cracks me up is Ladyada judging other people's designs. She's just a tinkerer that leveraged her gender into re-seling eBay trinkets for a huge markup.

      She does have a Masters degree in electronic engineering from MIT, rest assured that is what she is leveraging.

  7. Laughable. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apparently, being open means giving Google your content, as youtube is a requirement.

    1. Re:Laughable. by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      Vimeo or nothing, thanks.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    2. Re:Laughable. by ben7744 · · Score: 1

      We're working on getting that changed, Vimeo will be acceptable.

  8. Best DIY website? by danknight48 · · Score: 1

    Not this one.
    Iam severely short sighted. This is the only website i can read with my glasses off.
    Great for when my glasses break, bad for my mouse wheel and middle finger.

    The Hackaday Prize
    You Build the Future. You Go to Space.

    Build a terrible website, waste space and potential applications.

  9. Re:The Obama on ObamaCare... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But, hey, that you've raised being a greedy asshole to a religion shouldn't stop you.

    Just like worshipping the ruling elite because they're somehow "more enlightened" than the unwashed masses who can't be trusted to see to their own needs without a Dear Leader deciding what's best for them doesn't stop you...

  10. Re:The Obama on ObamaCare... by nobuddy · · Score: 1

    hint: They aren't going to pay you your shill money if the post is off topic. you are supposed to try to blend in like a dissenting opinion- not like a ham fisted Nigerian spammer.

  11. Re:I'll take the $196,418 please. by manu0601 · · Score: 1

    But what are you going to do with it? Saving on the long term has become difficult, as global capitalism now has a crisis every few years.

  12. Re:The Obama on ObamaCare... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How about this, People would be a lot more apt to listen to the argument, if it is timely (IE if you had spent the time arguing against the ACA, Before, not after it was signed into law.) Not cliched already and something that the large portion of the nation has found out the truth about, has signed up for new health insurance and are now saving money.. and heres the important bit, the part you rolled out of bed and strolled into the boardroom without your pants on about... You might try making the argument on a site where people are "Actually still talking about Obama care and all the Republican butt hurt about it" Try foxnews.com This is a site where people are talking about a contest where the prize is a ride on spaceship 2. Here's how you can tell: the paragraph at the top.. if it is not about Obama care, it is generally going to make you look like a Teabagger idiot if you hijack the conversation to broadcast your overdue butt hurt about Obama, The rest of the country has been over it since 2008, not sure why you aren't.. God I hope you're not just parked at your computer having a "Mini-stroke" or something.. If that is the case call 911, but if it isn't stop being a troll. That is why no one listens, not because of any of your argument being right.

  13. beauty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nice Information, thanks for sharing. Hope we will read many other good things from you in future also.
    Regards . www.vaguscosmetics.com

  14. Why not Italy or Quebec? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I dont understand why Italy and Quebec cannot participate. Any idea?