[maffydub]

I sometimes wonder whether hackathons are in some way an evolution of the LAN party (or the demo party).

It does depend a lot on the hackathon - many these days are very business-oriented. :(

...but there are still some where people show up just to experiment with technology - to prototype something quickly and understand whether a technical idea has potential and where the dragons are.

(These are definitely my favourite hackathons. If anyone knows of any like this around London, let me know. I'm hopeful that http://www.hackthesenses.com/ might be one!)