Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Blocku on Sugar Labs

Our most recent Co-Op student in the FOSSBox, Kai Ito has completed and polished a game that was started last Spring in class, Blocku, a mathematical hybrid between the age-old "Magic Squares" math puzzles and Soduku.

Check it out!

http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4399

Student ambassadors from the FOSS planet :-)

Last night's GREAT! Awards were a heavily old school corporate event.  But in the program,  attendees were able to read these words (xxcerpted and merged for easier blog reading)from the awards program last night...

Justin: I admire the values of the Open Source Community.  I love the mentality that anyone can join in; using their personal strengths to help the community at the same time they can receive assistance when they need it.  When you put your work out in the open community, you know it might be useful to someone else or find its way into another project.

(I admire...) Mel Chua.  She is what I call a community hacker.  She raises awareness in education and the community.  Mel started off as a hardware and software hacker and eventually moved to community hacking, spreading open source ideology.  She understands how the open source way can provide good to society as a whole.

I hope to work for a company that grasps and respects the values of open data and collaboration.  I would like to work somewhere where my knowledge and skills can impact the greater community and not just the product of a single company.

Fran:  My inspiration comes from my own experiences with technology as a kid-the excitement of tinkering with computers and gadgets and figuing out how they work, and programming computers to do imaginitive things.  I'd like to keep this tinkering spirit alive for future generations- one of the primary reasons I'm an enthusiastic supporter of the Tree/Open Source (FOSS) community, which aims to preserve the freedom to tinker with software and keep the spirit of innovation alive...I admire Richard Stallman, founder of the GNU project and the Free Software Foundation, for his vigilant efforts in keeping the freedom to innovate alive.  I hope to work for a software company allied with the FOSS community.

Taylor:  My motivation comes from helping others.  I like to work on projects that provide tools for others to help themselves. The Open Video Chat project was a start at opening a communication outlet developed for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in developing countries through a video chat program on the XO Laptop.  I really admire Bill Gates' Humanitarian Work.  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated billions of dollars worldwide to help those in need and his giving pledge encourages the wealthiest people in the world to donate half their wealth to charity when they die.  Five years from now I hope to have made an impact on someone else's life.  I think the greatest contribution I can make in this world is to provide tools for the next generation.

Digital Rochester GREAT! Awards

The students who developed the Open Video Chat proof-of-concept last Spring was recognized for their efforts last night at the first of an annual award events here in Rochester.

The web page for the awards says the following...

"Vision
To recognize and celebrate the Greater Rochester community’s entrepreneurial spirit in technological achievement for advancing commerce and resource conservation.

Mission

Establish awards that are representative of Rochester’s historical and future technical development.  Build a sense of pride and community spirit. Identify distinct themes that are highly valued and sought-after in our region."

It's great to see an HFOSS project be recognized in a group of awards whose winners were primarily large and small businesses.

Congrats to Justin Lewis, Taylor Rose and Fran Rogers!