The Sensis API Hackathon
Time: the weekend of November 19th and 20th. Place: Melbourne. And so the stage was set for an epic battle: Android vs. iOS. No holds barred, 24 hours to create a functional mobile app from scratch. No networking or business people about, the event was strictly for devs in a competition not for the feint of heart.
To get proceedings underway, all the participants started off with a live codejuicer competition (codejuicer.mobi). Pick which language each snippet of code is written-in, in the fastest time possible. I managed to sneak in an entry and was proud with my effort of 2 minutes 52 seconds. Third last of everyone who participated, but not last - which was my expectation! The winning time by Eric Bae was a sharp 37 seconds, just shy of the all-time record according to the Sensis representatives on site.
The purpose of the codejuicer competition was to sort out which teams got what category. Ranging from Pets through Finance, Travel & Tourism to Aged Care Services, the category chosen determined what area each teams app would focus. Other than the category, the only consideration was that the app demonstrate some use of the Sensis API – the rest was up to the contestants.
10,000 was the number on everyone’s mind – the amount of cash up for grabs for first place. The $10,000 brought some heavy hitters to the party – teams flying across the country to compete. Once the categories were chosen, teams assembled their stations, set about brainstorming ideas, and got to work on development.
The mood was tense as everyone focused on building the best app possible in the limited amount of time at hand. Fueled by burritos, noodle box and pizza, teams coded through the night to come up with something that works. Though the competition was a bit uneven (of the seven teams participating, five were Android, two were iOS), the rivalry was evident, with some good natured banter throughout.
The time flew by and before we knew it, it was Sunday afternoon and presentations were upon us.
First app up (though ineligible on account of working for Sensis) – team ‘Hair 2 Eternity’ in the Health and Beauty category. A journey mapper for multi-stop beauty shopping/services.
This was followed by Pork n Bunny (Android) with ‘Friend Compass’ (Category: Transport). An app that takes care of the last kilometer when people are trying to meet up.
Spark (Android) with “What’s next” (Category: Entertainment). When you’re out, plan where you’re going next.
Pink Droid (Android) with ‘Suburb Rate’ (Category: Real Estate). Information you want to know when relocating to a new place.
Bonobo+1 (iOS) with ‘Medic’ (Category: Health). Find a chemist, doctor or hospital fast, in non-life threatening emergencies.
Katsu (Android) with ‘Meet Me For’ (Category: Food and Drink). Organise and share events – social, fun, and convenient.
Team Platinum (iOS) with ‘Platinum’ (Category: Home renovations). Yellow Pages on steroids.
As the beers flowed afterwards, the war stories came out – the lack of sleep, the sleeping on desks, the security guard playing Queen on repeat at 3am and teams who had been working all night only to find at the eleventh hour the app wouldn’t work without a complete recode, but still managing to pull it off!
After much deliberation, the judges (comprising of James Giang – convener of the Android Australia User Group, Carlo Santoro – CEO of RetailCare, Sean Woodhouse – organiser of the Melbourne Cocoa heads, and Tim Corr from Yellow Pages Digital, Sensis) decided on the winner. But first, the audience prize was awarded to ‘Friend Compass’ (Pork n Bunny), whose ‘Marco Polo’ inspired app helps people find equidistant meeting spots no matter how far apart they are.
In third place was ‘Platinum’ (Eric Bae), for a Steve Jobs like reinvention of the home renovation listings space. In second, was ‘Meet Me For’ (Katsu), an app for organising and sharing events. And the winner of the $10k in cash and dev work with Taboo was ‘Medic’ (Bonobo + 1), whose sleek app helps you find the nearest open Doctor/Hospital/Chemist depending on location in times of emergency. (Should all else fail, there was also the option of calling your mum!)v
All in all, an incredible experience, and I for one look forward to using some of the apps in the not to distant future! In regards to the Android vs. iOS debate, First and Third were awarded to the two iOS teams, but Android had numbers on their side. The people from Sensis called it a tie.
To check out more of the action head to: http://dev.jamesgiang.com/sapihack/ or read through the Twitter stream #sapihack.
From a Ninefold perspective, it was a pleasure to be involved as a sponsor. It’s events like these that demonstrate the talent runs deep in Australia’s tech community.
Amir Nissen is founder of Student Entrepreneurs Inc. and the Agents of Change entrepreneurship program (http://agentsofchange.org.au). He is an internationally sought-after speaker on Youth Entrepreneurship and has played advisor to many startups. Amir graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2009 with a double degree of Commerce/Philosophy. Amir is also ... Read more