The first is an instant CORS search at nuscors.com, built by Rollen Gomes a week after the launch of our Unofficial CORS API. Simply type a module name or code to have the list filtered down to the module you’re looking for. It’s blazingly fast in a desktop browser, and I must say that it’s really changed the way I do my module planning.

The second cool project is a shuttlecock launcher built by James Yong (and a few other contributors) on the side, for two years, while at SoC. No technical details released, but see below for a demonstration:

Enjoy!

Since I am writing the post, I get to talk about myself first. I am taking part in the Google Summer of Code Program and I am working for Umit Organization. They are involved with network scanning tools and their main product is a user friendly front end to nmap. I am developing a Network Scanner for the Android. It has three components – Host Discovery, Port Scanning and OSFingerPrinting. Most of my code is in Java but I am also writing native code in C++. It has got to do with raw packets, sockets and lots of cool low level networking stuff. You can follow me on Github or have a look at the official Project page.

Cedric is working on his startup Pandamian, the easiest way to publish books online. He just finished ePub, txt and PDF conversions. Most of his ePub work is now open sourced on a fork at Github. He is also fiddling around with this thing called hackboard – which is a real time noticeboard for hackfests, built on Tornado. He is planning to use it next year for NUS Hacker’s Friday Hacks. There are a couple other things he has been meaning to do – for instance, contributing documentation for Tornado, though he hasnt gotten around to doing that yet. He also wants to switch his personal site to something generated by Hyde.

Laurence is part of the StartupRoots program and is having intense coding fun at Chalkboard, a location based advertisement startup. He says he loves working at Chalkboard because 1. He gets to do real stuff. 2. He feels trusted. 3. Chalkboard guys are great. Laurence had also started the Social Coding initiative which we will soon be updating and working on. The servers are up, the framework is installed. Its just waiting for some code commits :) You can follow Laurence on Github.

Divyanshu is also part of the StartupRoots program and is coding in Ruby for PlayMoolah, a financial literacy startup for children.

Shanmugam, the hardware geek, is interning at Johnson Controls and is playing around with FPGA boards, trying to get a hardware decoder for mpeg-3/H.264. He is putting together a retro audio amplifier  with tube amps (yes, the valves). He is also taking part in the NUS iCreate challenge and is creating a web app using Google Web Toolkit.

So thats all from us. Drop us a comment on what you are doing for the vacations. Even if it is reading a book, or writing blood vomiting regex.

Go watch The Social Network first, if you havent and then come back to this list :P

I will keep updating this list by any new I find. Drop me an email, or comment below if you want to add something to this list.

Documentaries

[link] The History of Hacking – Discovery Channel Documentary

[link] The Code Linux

[link] Hackers: Outlaws and Angels

[link] CodeRush – The Netscape Mozilla documentary

[link] Freedom Downtime – The story of Kevin Mitnick

[link] The Google Documentary

[suggested by Darren Teoh]

[link] Revolution OS

[link] The Code Breakers

Lectures

[link] The Secret History of Silicon Valley – by Steve Blank

[link] Richard Stallman of Free Software Foundation

Movies

[link] Pirates of the Silicon Valley – a movie about Apple and Microsoft in their early days.

So what we think is that learning is important and is a never ending process. And we will be providing you with workshops in the future too to make sure learning never stops. And we are getting better at doing the workshops :P (If you cannot attend them, the material will always be present on the linuxNUS website)

We want to develop applications for fun and learning. There are ideas everywhere. And I think each one of us can execute these ideas – either by forming a team or by doing it yourself. Its really fun to see your application or your code helping somebody. And we want to bridge the gap between the audience and us doing the workshops.

So next semester, we will be focusing a lot on making applications, websites and software – Implementing our own ideas and doing things that we like. We have lots of small ideas and the best way to learn is to learn it by doing. So expect a lot of coding sessions where we all sit together in places (COM1, canteens etc) to code for all sorts of random things.

Have a look at this to get what we mean – https://github.com/nushackers

Just to give it a push – we will be closing down the hws@linuxnus.org method of reaching out to you and starting a separate mailing list for the Hack Workshops, discussions and all the cool stuff that we do. Join this mailing list here http://groups.google.com/group/nushackers where its not just a one way communication of we guys sending you the details of the workshops etc. You can join in the discussions and get to meet a lot many interested souls who can collaborate on all sorts of interesting projects.

Also, we are planning to rename our group from linuxNUS to Hackers@NUS – we realized, we are more than just Linux :) We have lots of cool stuff in the pipeline for next semester. Join the mailing list to be in the loop for the activities. Came across an interesting link? let the CS42 know :P

If you are interested in joining the coreteam and think you can help us with our activities, drop in an email coreteam at linuxnus dot org

Btw, if you are wondering what is CS42 -
We were usually discussing some interesting topics on a restricted linuxNUS mailing list.
CS42 is simply to get those discussions kickin for if(isNerd) return true;

CS = Computer Science
42 = the answer to life the universe and everything

“Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.”
Edsger Dijkstra quotes (Dutch computer Scientist. Turing Award in 1972. 1930-2002)

We had 27 participants in the Programming Lab 1 in SoC, NUS. It was fun to see them all churning out Ruby code to grab onto the prizes (and glory). The SingPath platform created by Chris and Sandra is a great place to practice new languages and syntax. The leaderboard on the screen in front of the participants made the tournament even more interesting.

The prizes were sponsored by IDA and Garag3. We had Ruby books – “Cloning internet applications with Ruby” by Chang Sau Sheong, thumb drives and memory card readers as prizes.

Here are the pictures from the day and we can see happy prize winners :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41455961@N08/

The Hack Workshop Series, sponsored by IDA Singapore, equips geeks/non-geeks with a good base in development and idea execution.

It is co-organized with NES, Garag3, e27, Hackerspace and NOC Alumni.

The next event in the linuxNUS Hack Workshop Series is the Singpath Ruby Tournament.

As its name suggests, this is a Ruby Programming Tournament, with a focus on simple, logical problems. The cool thing about this? You don’t need to know Ruby in order to participate – all you need is some programming experience and an ability to Google for syntax! (Psst: we do suggest, though, that you go over some basic Ruby bits. Spend a couple of minutes at http://tryruby.org/ – it’s really easy to learn!)

We have two interesting people from SMU coming over to host the tournament – Chris Boesch and Sandra Boesch. They last organized an informal Python tournament at Geekcamp, which everyone found rather fun.

You can try some practice tournaments on the Singpath website to increase your chances of winning.

And yes its a tournament –  so there will be prizes! Come join us to test your speed and skill!

Register here :  http://bit.ly/asGNxT

Location : PL1

Time : 6.00pm

Date : 22nd October, Friday

Note: Places are highly limited for this, as the tournament can be hosted for a small group of people. So sign-up for it ASAP!

Registration will be confirmed to you.

The Hack Workshop Series, sponsored by IDA Singapore, equips geeks/non-geeks with a good base in development and idea execution.

It is co-organized with NES, Garag3, e27, Hackerspace and NOC Alumni.

You are invited to join us at the best-suited place for a Hackfest – Singapore’s very own Hackerspace. Hackerspace.SG is a geek’s paradise for such events. You’re likely to meet some of the best developers, hardware hackers and entrepreneurs in Singapore, because the Hackerspace is where they come to hang out after they’re done with work for the day.

The theme of this Hackfest is “Hacking Education”. We’re interested in making digital education better, be it for Singaporean students, or for students around the world. For instance: we’re thinking of doing an overhaul of the NUS IVLE interface. Or setting up a tuition registration system. Or contributing to khanacademy.org website development. (We’re not kidding: it’s really up to you what you want to do)

You’re also welcomed to work on other ideas, of course, that aren’t related to education. Or maybe carry forward a project from the workshops. We’ll be happy to help you out with your execution, and we welcome team formation/participation.

Register here for the Hackfest : http://bit.ly/cus6RD

Venue : Hackerspace.SG 70A Bussorah Street Singapore
Time : 10am to 6pm (drop in and out as you wish – it’s up to you!)
Date : 17th October 2010 Sunday

The Hack Workshop Series, sponsored by IDA Singapore, equips geeks/non-geeks with a good base in development and idea execution.

It is co-organized with NES, Garag3, e27, Hackerspace and NOC Alumni.

The Hack Workshop Series, sponsored by IDA Singapore, equips geeks/non-geeks with a good base in development and idea execution.

It is co-organized with NES, Garag3, e27, Hackerspace and NOC Alumni.

The slides for the workshop are available here : http://linuxnus.org/hack/files/PHP_CI.pdf

The notes application example that was shown during the workshop http://angad.sg/ci/

Source Code for it : http://angad.sg/ci/notes.tar.gz github http://github.com/angad/Notes-webapp

Do email at angad (d0t) singh (at) linuxnus (dot) org if you find any bugs. If you want to take this project further with AJAX, search and what-not features, go ahead.

The Hack Workshop Series, sponsored by IDA Singapore, equips geeks/non-geeks with a good base in development and idea execution.

It is co-organized with NES, Garag3, e27, Hackerspace and NOC Alumni.

Location : COM1/202

Time : 6.30pm 8th October 2010