HackIllinois was .. massive. More than 750 students from all around the Midwest descended on the UIUC technology campus for 36 hours of caffeine bolstered software and circuit design, Electric Imp flashing and a multi-floor nerf gun fight. We had a blast taking a look at many of the end results.

• An Android controlled multi-directional car, hours of fun
• PanLight, an internet controlled light switch, so you can turn off the lights in the living room in bed with your Pebble
• nextWave, in which a group of fearless hardware hackers opened up a microwave to add internet control over the timer (http://blog.kashevdalmia.com/2014/04/13/hackillinois-2014/)
• Teledildonix, tastefully created and well designed, shown without further comment
• The Metaliest Metal, from a solo first time hacker who is now able to use his toy guitar to make music with hardware drive needles!
• Drive Safely uses eye-tracking software and a buzzer to keep dozing drivers awake
• Electric Sheep inserted a wirelessly controlled alarm clock in a pillow, allowing your friends to wake you up at all hours from their phone

We were also pleased to see one of our Pocket PCB cards out in the wild!

Many thanks go to the wonderful and ultra-organized HackIllinois staff for putting on a great event! I was particularly excited to visit my alma mater, and found myself wishing that HackIllinois had been around when I was a student.