JawnCon 0x3 opens this Friday at Arcadia University in Philadelphia, expanded to two days and two stages for the first time, with nearly 30 talks covering topics from board games to modern pager networks. Tickets are available now. Students with a valid .edu address get in free. All talks will be recorded.
The conference badge is the main technical artifact worth examining. Built on an ATmega328P-P, it mimics a handheld calculator but runs a DTMF tone generator, games, and a badge-to-badge link protocol. It ships as a bare PCB in kit or assembled form, with an edge connector at the bottom for attendee hardware expansions. Printable case files in STL and 3MF are already posted. The event schedule itself is served via HyperCard on an emulated Macintosh Plus, which is either a joke or a threat, depending on your tolerance for vintage UI.
On the floor, Philly Mesh, PhilTel, and the Open Organisation Of Lockpickers will have exhibits. A dedicated classroom runs amateur radio exam prep sessions. Two Zebra ID printers are available for custom badge production, and the original piece notes, with visible restraint, that nothing untoward will happen with them. Hackaday is publishing a firsthand account after the event. That follow-up, combined with the badge hardware details at jawncon.org/badge.html, is the reason to read the original now.
[READ ORIGINAL →]