---
layout: post.html
title:  "Hackathonarama 3: with great power comes great hacks"
date:   2017-10-31
tags: hackathon
summary: "For the third year running I attended [Hackference](https://2017.hackference.co.uk/) again. Once again, a 1 day conference followed by a 24 hour hackathon and as always a really great weekend."
---
For the third year running I attended [Hackference](https://2017.hackference.co.uk/) again. Once again, a 1 day conference followed by a 24 hour hackathon and as always a really great weekend.

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The conference was opened by [Jon Kingsley](https://twitter.com/JFKingsley) talking about device hacking in a fetching cape.

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The day included a wide range of great talks including [an integer that you can't use in JS](https://twitter.com/Lily_2point0/status/921305171338125312), [calls to Ben's mother](https://twitter.com/edent/status/921311892919943169), [a promise of cake](https://twitter.com/jna_sh/status/921313320254222336), [live coding a slide clicker](https://twitter.com/JamieTanna/status/921330784841228288), [tips for releasing your website on Mars](https://twitter.com/cbetta/status/921342143393910789) and [a sobering look at privacy](https://twitter.com/bevishalperry/status/921400192447983617).

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As always, the hackathon was great fun. While I didn't crank out my usual 4+ hacks this year (tiredness hit me hard) I did manage to tinker on a couple things. I managed to put together a fun little "Virtual Stickers" app that let you scan QR codes to unlock stickers that you could place on your screen and create a collage from. This could then be downloaded or shared with others. I also managed to put together a crude Alexa Flash Briefing to tell you what [Digital Oxford](http://digitaloxford.com/) meetups were happening in the next week.

Many great hacks came out of the weekend such as [Tinder for GitHub](https://twitter.com/bevishalperry/status/922094521789435904), [GitHub contributions graph as music](https://twitter.com/bevishalperry/status/922083878889803776), [Kudeliscope](https://twitter.com/danielthepope/status/922097304999522310) and the ever useful [Is It a Bench?](https://twitter.com/danielthepope/status/922095102230753281).

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Every year I find more and more friends at Hackference, new and old, many whom I only see at these events. I have so much love for [Mike](https://twitter.com/ukmadlz) for putting on this event and providing me with the chance to connect with so many amazing people.
