As for the questions about the life restrictions, that's part of this program: these are going to be funded projects, and then at the end of the program, we're going to hopefully be handing them off to foundations, organizations, governmental organizations, or possibly even VCs for further support. Ideally, all of the products that come out of the labs will have a life of their own long after the summer is over and we're going to do everything in our power to ensure it. We want to figure out a process to bootstrap social enterprises from the ground up, and part of that is making it economically feasible for excellent people to take the jump.
All that said, we are totally open to remote Hackers In Residence. Our primary goal is building products that help. Our fellows are either in NYC or relocating, but for our engineering teams, remote work is fine.