Geek Lifestyle

8 years ago, I moved from my tuned Linux desktop to OS X. This closed-source platform has attracted many developers with its BSD underpinnings and excellent user interface. Can a developer pampered by sleek design ever go back? I'm going to show you how to break the closed-source habit and run a true open-source environment without sacrificing usability. Read more.

Ever wish you could live in a cabin in the woods? Geeks, with their high income, superior problem solving skills, and ability to work remotely, are often in a better position to realize such Thoreauvian dreams. Based on my own experiences of going from the cubicles of Silicon Valley to the backwoods of Northern California, the talk will cover the ins, outs, hows and whys of life in the woods. Read more.

Open source folks are naturally lazy. Anything mundane task they can automate, they will. So what does an open source developer do when faced with planning, planting, and tediously watering a garden? Automate! Read more.

Think Zork is dead? Wrong! Come see what 30 years of evolution has done to the fascinating intersection of creative writing and programming. Witness the amazing open source tools that have made it possible: virtual machines, domain-specific programming languages, and IDEs. Learn about the intense indie community that develops these works, and how you can get involved as either a player or writer. Read more.

For the past two Open Source Bridge conferences, we've had Geek Choir sessions; in this presentation, we discuss lessons learned from the Geek Choir experience, advantages and disadvantages to mixing music and mathematically-inclined people, the benefits of singing, open source tools to assist in the process, and online open music resources. There also might be applied examples (aka singing). Read more.

What does it take to build a hacker culture? This talk will cover activities in creating a hacker society in Uruguay. The small south american country has engaged in the massive task of raising a generation of hackers. Every school child gets an XO laptop and every landline comes with DSL. While most of the world is trying to replicate silicon valley, Uruguay's building something quite different. Read more.

An overview of the current state of tools, groups, and collaborative efforts used to mitigate crisis situations that overwhelm local, state and federal response efforts. Looking at software tools from Ushahidi, Sahana, OpenStreetMap as well as Inveneo, OpenBTS, and more. Read more.

Giving a presentation is a scary experience for most developers. Yet, worrisome as they are, they are a great way to influence technical decisions. They aid informed choices through the distribution of pertinent knowledge. Our highly actionable "Gang of Four" style patterns illustrate tried-and-true ways to build technical presentations that inform, convince and inspire. Read more.