Sparkfun Free Day 2012

[AmEv]

http://www.sparkfun.com/news/747

I'm excited for it!




They're doing away with the quiz, and just giving out gift codes.

[crenn]

3AM to 10AM... and you can bet I'll enjoy it ;P

[Fuganater]

4PM here. I'll try!

[NightrainSrt4]

Maybe I won't forget about it like the last two years, lmfao. Thanks for the heads-up.

[AmEv]

9AM.

My school starts at 8.
2nd period starts at 8:50.

I use my laptop at 9.
And I have the USB modem that works.
WOOTZ!

[Technochicken]

Maybe I won't forget about it like the last two years, lmfao. Thanks for the heads-up.

Same here.

Too bad it starts at 11:00 Eastern, I'll be in the middle of class

[AmEv]

They're saying something about running it for several hours, so....



I need to check the rules, one account per household, or one per person???

If it's one per person, I could have my mom running one account, and my own personal.

[crenn]

They're saying something about running it for several hours, so....



I need to check the rules, one account per household, or one per person???

If it's one per person, I could have my mom running one account, and my own personal.
I think it's one per person, but I'd personally dislike you instantly if you did that ;P

[AmEv]

*snicker*

[Konrad]

I don't mind paying a little to avoid rushes, lineups, and stampeding hordes. Freebies are great, but chances are I would (and will) buy different items anyhow.

[AmEv]

Well, we've got a plan.

I'm creating a SF account.
My mom is, too.

And so is my dad.

My mom will log into my hers and my dad's accounts at home (my bro's comp and mine), and I'll be online at school.

[NightrainSrt4]

Bumping this back up because I almost forgot again.

[crenn]

I haven't forgotten.... and I'm at a even bigger disadvantage now, until my ADSL is connected, I've only got Mobile Broadband!

[AmEv]

They're not doing the quiz anymore.

Just refresh, get a lucky gift code.


Remember: There is no age limit to the free day.

Just, one account per person.


:D

[crenn]

They're not doing the quiz anymore.

Just refresh, get a lucky gift code.


Remember: There is no age limit to the free day.

Just, one account per person.


:D
You're forgetting the fact that you have to connect to the server!

Also, if you remember from the first free day (I was there too ;P) that a large proportion of the prizes went to people in the United States, this is not a coincidence ;P.

Lastly, there is bot checking, so to enter, you have to complete a captcha (or something like that) every so often.

[AmEv]

Last BUMP for tomorrow! :D

[x88x]

Nice, didn't realize this was happening again. I'll have to wake up early tomorrow (been working 1700-0200).

[AmEv]

It's on!

GO GO GO!!!!!!

[msmrx57]

Trying and trying and trying........

Getting a headache from reading the captures.

[AmEv]

Same here.

[Fuganater]

Been doing it for 3 hours now....

[Fuganater]

so after almost 5 hours... nothing. probably gonna quit soon.

[NightrainSrt4]

I'm giving up after a half hour. Any more and it isn't worth the time to keep going.

[AmEv]

It's over :(

Man! I NEEDED some money to get homework done!
Argh!!!!!1!

Two RIDICULOUS captchas I got:

http://ubuntuone.com/1J86mYqPgRlE7YwgrN0su3

The B-double-S thingy is bad enough, but math operators????

http://ubuntuone.com/4mvajYBd0hWsbViJ8PFapL

How the FLIP am I supposed to type the thing on the right in?!?!?

[Technochicken]

Wow, even with this thread I still forgot. That's 3 years in a row now.

[SXRguyinMA]

I did it for 10 mins and got my $100 :D

http://www.computersandcircuits.com/images/personal/sfwinning.jpg

[AmEv]

Believe me, I'm glad you won.

Like I said, I needed some money for my physics project, for homework!

I just don't think that Captchas were the way to go.

10,000 Captchas later, $0.00 :(:(:(

[crenn]

I spend 3.5 hours doing captchas, and I didn't get anything :(
3rd year in a row I didn't get anything, oh well, maybe next year I'll finally win something.

I would have loved to be able to watch the stream the entire way through, but I didn't have the bandwidth available (I had 1.86GB left on my prepaid mobile broadband and that has to last me until next week).

I wanted to get a couple of XBee Pro 900 modules (These ones: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9098) for my plane/helicopter projects, as it shouldn't be too much longer before I can start flying. My RC TXRX is an effective 2.4GHz Jammer (I'm not kidding either!) which means the XBee modules I've got currently won't provide a reliable data stream back to my laptop.

[Fuganater]

I did it for 10 mins and got my $100 :D

http://www.computersandcircuits.com/images/personal/sfwinning.jpg

Grrrr.....

[msmrx57]

Congrats SXRguy!!!! Glad somebody got a winner. I've still got a headache from doing captchas for nothing.

[AmEv]

This is turning into the "Sparkfun Free Day 2012 RAGE" thread.

[crenn]

I disagree. While I'm disappointed I came away with nothing, I'm more annoyed about the method they used to do it, for example, the captcha system could have allowed an entry for 3 minutes or so before you needed to do another captcha for entry for the next 3 minutes. Except you had to constantly enter in captchas (I wasn't the only one saying this, even some of the winners hated the captcha system) and also time it with a train going around. We were told it was a lottery system ;P

[AmEv]

The worst part is some people got a code in less than 10 tries!

Better luck next year; hopefully, they do something better!

[crenn]

The worst part is some people got a code in less than 10 tries!

Better luck next year; hopefully, they do something better!

That was pure 'chance' and the power of the system ;P

As one comment put it:


This year’s game had an unintentional side-effect of “punishing” losers. After a few hundred (or few thousand) captchas solved, people start to feel frustrated and entitled to winnings. Definitely not the intended outcome…
http://www.sparkfun.com/news/782#comment-4f0f53b2ce395fed4c000003

[Drum Thumper]

****!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Forgot About It Again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!