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Hype-wise, Apple pretty much owns this weekend. Even though I swore I would sit this one out, I broke down and bought an iPad, scheduled to arrive on Saturday. ![permalink](http://scripting.com/images/2001/09/20/sharpPermaLink3.gif)
But before that, starting on Friday night at Courant Hall on the NYU campus, there's the NYC Hackathon. As I understand it, the goal is to get students from New York-area universities to meet New York-area startups, who will pitch their APIs, hoping to attract interesting overnight projects from the students, and longer-term interest once they enter the workforce. ![permalink](http://scripting.com/images/2001/09/20/sharpPermaLink3.gif)
I'll be there on Friday evening as an "ambassador" -- trying to help the students and entrepreneurs connect. I can be useful during the ideation stage, but I might try working on a project myself. ![permalink](http://scripting.com/images/2001/09/20/sharpPermaLink3.gif)
There's also an iPad party on Saturday night at Gawker, which I plan to make a stop at. It's all in the neighborhood!
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The hackathon is a project of Chris Wiggins of Columbia, Hilary Mason of Johnson & Wales University, a member of NYC Resistor, and the lead scientist at bit.ly (a NYC startup); and Evan Korth of NYU. I've met both Chris and Evan and look forward to meeting Hilary. ![permalink](http://scripting.com/images/2001/09/20/sharpPermaLink3.gif)
And if you're in the area, with either an API or some undirected programming energy, maybe I'll see you at the Hackathon. ![permalink](http://scripting.com/images/2001/09/20/sharpPermaLink3.gif)