1. Home

Web Vulnerability » Akron Maker Faire » Launch League SpaceWalk

Blog Date
Author(s)
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.
Tags
Technology
Akron
Maker
Entrepreneur
WebSigCleveland.org
Library


Web Vulnerability » Akron Maker Faire » Launch League SpaceWalk

September 19, 2015 -- what a day!

I am a person who likes to attend a lot of events, but this day was unusual even for me! I got up at 6:00 a.m. to prepare for the day, and did not get home until late at night.

The reason for sharing my day with you, the reader, is twofold:

  • I learned about a lot of interesting things.

  • I want to thank everyone that made the day's events a grand success. Most of the people involved are donating their time to make our community better.

Here is how I spent my day:

Web Application Vulnerability

WebSigCleveland.org Meeting - Introduction to Web Application Vulnerability
Enlarge Image

I want to give a big thank-you to Tom Pieragastini for sharing his knowledge about web security issues. If you are in the Greater Cleveland area, Tom recommends attending CleveSec (@CleveSec - Meetup.com/CleveSec) meetings, where local security experts gather to share the latest in this evolving field.

The following is a description of Tom Pieragastini's presentation:

WebSigCleveland.org - Introduction to Web Application Vulnerability

Though it is often thought that breaches occur through complicated techniques, the vast majority of website breaches and application vulnerabilities are the result of relatively simple attacks on known weaknesses in web application functionality.

In this Introduction to Web Application Vulnerability talk, Tom Pieragastini will discuss some of these vulnerabilities and some simple ways that developers can test their own applications and prevent some of these common vectors of attack from leading to a breach.

Tom Pieragastini has been working in information security professionally for only a short time, but has engaged in years of research on vulnerabilities and security.  He has been a participant and security consultant on projects at Cleveland GiveCamp 2015, the Fix216 Hackathon and other events in the Greater Cleveland area.

Learn more from the following tweets which relate to the meeting.

Please use the #WebSigCLE hashtag if you want to share information about WebSigCleveland.org meetings, and visit the website to learn about upcoming meetings. I have meetings scheduled for the rest of 2015, and soon will start planning for 2016. Watch for details on:

Akron Mini Maker Faire

Akron-Summit County Public Library - Akron Mini Maker Faire
Enlarge Image

If you have not been to Akron-Summit County Public Library's Akron Mini Maker Faire, I highly recommend it. The following photos, videos, and tweets tell the story. Be sure to also see links to past Akron Mini Maker Faire blog posts at the bottom of this post. These past blog posts contain additional photos, videos, and useful links.

If your device does not support Flickr.com photos/videos,
please view them here.

I also want to send out a special thank-you to the science & technology division manager of the Akron-Summit County Public Library, Monique Mason. I greatly appreciate her sending me advance information about the Akron Mini Maker Faire. After communicating by email for the past two years, we finally met in person at this year's event. She took time during this busy event to introduce me to her technology center staff. They took me on a private tour, and I learned about the expanding services.

This being the third Akron Mini Maker Faire, I was interested to learn of all the new year-round technology resources that the Akron library now makes available to the general public.

More is coming! I learned that through the support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation (@knightfdn), there will be a new micro business center at the library.

As I was writing this blog post, I saw the September 26, 2015, Makers of all stripes bring their wares to Main Library downtown (Video) article on the Akronist.com (@Akronist) website. Here is their video from the event:

Makers of all stripes bring their wares to Main Library downtown
Published on Sep 26, 2015
From robots, jugglers and cosplayers to musicians, ham radio operators and antique woodworking tool collectors, the Akron-Summit County Public Library’s recent Mini Maker Faire had a wide array of craftspeople, robotics engineers, science enthusiasts, artisans and other community makers and is part of a growing national culture of “maker spaces,” or sharing DIY arts, engineering and other types of projects.

 

Launch League SpaceWalk 2015 Reception

Launch League - SpaceWalk 2015 Reception
Enlarge Image

I was not able to attend the Akron SpaceWalk, since I was attending the Akron Mini Maker Faire. It was such a popular Akron tour that it sold out. Here is the official description of the walk:

SPACEWALK TWENTYFIFTEEN

We're touring some awesome Akron spaces and planning a reception on the sixteenth floor of a downtown building where we'll reveal something that will ignite Akron's startup scene! Be sure to come dressed up as your favorite space character for the walk and reception. (It'll be weird if it's just us... Don't let it be weird) 

The tour will depart OSC Tech Lab at 4pm on 9/19.

We'll be viewing the Evans, Law, Delaware, and Malone buildings then we'll head to the reception.

The reception will begin at 6pm (better not be late!). Appetizers and a cash bar will be available. At 7 we will be revealing what we've been working diligently on over the past few months.

I heard from talking to some people who went on the walk that there is some wonderful space for startup companies in Akron -- they were impressed.

I attended the reception that followed the SpaceWalk tour, which was on the 16th Floor of the PNC Building on Cascade Plaza. From this height, there are some incredible views of Akron, which would make this an exciting office space.

If your device does not support Flickr.com photos/videos,
please view them here.

It was a fun event, with people in space-related outfits, and it was great to catch up with people about what was happening in their businesses.

The most important part of the evening was the announcement of the nine new Launch League (@LaunchLeague) startup support "Communities" that are being created. Currently, the first two are active. Go to the LaunchLeague.org website to watch for future developments on the following:

  1. Front End Dev
  2. Hardware Dev
  3. Design/UX/UI
  4. Marketing
  5. Investing
  6. Operations
  7. Biz Dev/Sales
  8. Back End Dev & Ops
  9. Big Data

There are special inquiry forms on the Front End Dev and Hardware Dev web pages to sign up to receive notifications.

Event participants were invited to take the Akron Declaration of Innovation. Since the reception, others have been taking the pledge as well (see tweets below). Here is the beginning of the Akron Declaration of Innovation:

Akron Declaration of Innovation

We believe in Akron.

This city is built upon a foundation of invention, ingenuity, and risk taking. Our ancestors took the risk to dig a canal from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, giving birth to our city. We grew quickly and embraced innovation and new ideas that led to massive growth from the rubber industry that ushered in the modern age.

Read and sign the full pledge on the web page.

Congratulations to Rick Stockburger (@RickStockburger) & Nick Petroski (@oscTechLab) for founding the Launch League Communities initiative.

Also, thank you to Ken Burns of TinyCircuits (@TinyCircuits) for taking the leadership role in starting the second of the Communities -- the Hardware Development Community.

Thank you to Rick Stockburger (@RickStockburger) who sent me the following Launch League SpaceWalk 2015 video announcing the Communities.

Launch League SpaceWalk 2015
Richard Stockburger
Uploaded on Sep 22, 2015

Regards by Kimberly Beckett, Nick Petroski, Ken Burns and Rick Stockburger

Launch League is made possible by these supporters:

A final note before you review the following tweets from the event. It is interesting to note how many attendees went to the Barley House Akron (@BarleyHouseAK) after the main reception. The large number of people indicates to me that Launch League is building a true community of talented people who are interested in supporting each other. They did not rush home after the reception, but instead were interested in continuing the excitement. They wanted to be part of something bigger than themselves. This is the Launch League Communities initiative!

I look forward to watching the progress of Launch League (@LaunchLeague) after this great kick-off of the Communities initiative at the SpaceWalk 2015 Reception!

Related Blog Posts

Here are other blog posts that I have written that you might find interesting:

Maker Faires:

 

Here are some past blog posts on economic development and entrepreneurship:

 

Be sure to return to our sosAssociates.com blog again, and follow Stuart on Twitter at: @sos_jr