"They are a national phenomenon."<p>They are an international phenomenon. I see them, along with startup culture, happening in pretty much every Europe centre too.
Jon Mumm used to be a professional counter striker. Read his article here: <a href="http://eseanews.com/css/index.php?s=news&d=comments&id=10446" rel="nofollow">http://eseanews.com/css/index.php?s=news&d=comments&...</a>
I attended my first Hackathon last year (in fact, the first Hackathon I attended was one that I hosted!). It was a really incredible experience. So many more people turned out than I expected, and the quality of the work was really impressive. Most people who showed up were University kids, and they really killed it. In the course of 5 or 6 hours we created 15 or more three.js based browser games (there were close to 50 people there).<p>My only regret has been that I've been too darn busy to host another!
When Jon first told me about what his job entailed I found it interesting. He came to our Startup Weekend and even became the lead designer for our team (HackLadder). I think it would be great to branch out and see Hackathons in different areas.<p>Jon is spot on when it comes to our community. There has been a pretty big spike in Hackathons around here. I have noticed a lot more talk about it on the internet as well.
tokbox blog went down! but you can read it on venturebeat too: <a href="http://venturebeat.com/2012/03/15/the-rise-of-the-hack/" rel="nofollow">http://venturebeat.com/2012/03/15/the-rise-of-the-hack/</a>