I wasn’t able to attend the third birthday party for San Francisco hackerspace Noisebridge, but I think that their meeting notes summarize it well:

Concept came from Moxie. Everyone brings $10 and the theme of the party is what to do with the money. Visual computing voting system. Ended up choosing to send one member of the party to visit Singapore. Antonio was chosen by Rock Paper Scissors tournament, and went off the next day. He successfully visited the hackerspace in Singapore.

Antonio’s next 2½ days were split evenly between visiting hackerspaceSG and flying (30 hours each). Read his account here.

As you’d expect from a bunch of hackers, the “visual computing voting system” (shown above) was quicker than paper ballots and more precise than a show of hands. Using a camera aimed at the audience and custom software that counted bright dots, people instantly registered their votes by holding up a light source, such as a cell phone or a lighter.

See also A visit to Noisebridge and the Birthday party invitation.