18th December 2017: The BrightonPHP Christmas Hack Night

Ho ho ho and all that! This month, we wanted to do something a bit special for Christmas, so on Monday 18th December, we’ll be meeting up not at our usual venue, but at Holiday Taxis on Black Lion Street (details below) for a night of festive cheer, mince pies, and teaching Alexa Christmas carols … or something like that. Come along any time from 6PM, bring a laptop, and let’s see what we can put together.

As usual, you can let us know you’re coming on Facebook, and get in touch there or by e-mail. Merry Christmas one and all!

Give Alexa a New Skill for Christmas

Rather than a person doing the talk, this month we’re going to let a robot do it, in the form of Amazon’s Alexa personal assistant. We’ll have a couple of Amazon Echo boxes to play with, and our aim for the night is to build a new “skill” – a set of keywords Alexa can respond to. You bring a laptop, some creative ideas, and some programming genius; we’ll provide some festive snacks and drinks.

Our Hosts for the Month – Holiday Taxis

Please note that this month’s event is not at our usual location.

Holiday Taxis are a local business who help millions of people a year get from the airport to their hotel. They have an in-house team of around a dozen PHP developers and related staff, and are on the look out for more, so check their careers site for current positions.

Their office is at 13 Black Lion Street – in between the Lanes and the seafront, and more specifically in between the Black Lion pub and the Pho Vietnamese restaurant. Here’s a Google Maps link if you need to get your bearings.