2nd Annual CEA MoDev Hackathon
The 2nd Annual CEA MoDev Hackathon at CES returned to Las Vegas’ Venetian Hotel for an exciting event. Developers were given only 10 hours to build apps, qualifying for over $50000 in cash and prizes.
MoDev CEO, Pete Erickson increased the event’s intensity by offering $100 cash spot awards to each participant first implementing CEA MoDev sponsors' technology. In only minutes, contestants amazingly built apps for the Sony SmartWatch 2, the Samsung S Pen, and created apps which enabled payment and cloud storage services using PayPal APIs and Amazon Web Services.
After this quick cash spot jolt to the event, developers honed their development skills on the more bigger prizes. Hacker League was CEA MoDev’s tool of choice for managing hackathon participants. The Hacker League countdown clock continuously reminded developers of their app submission deadline.
I worked intensely like my fellow developers helping teams register their apps with Hacker League, providing app development and presentation support, helping judge submitted apps and contributing all I could towards a fun hackathon experience.
In the end, 23 apps competed and the Travel Channel best app that compliments, improves or extends the Travel Channel Cities app top sponsorship prize ($12000 Belize trip + $5000 Cash + GoPro cameras for the team + one hour meeting with the Travel Channel mobile team) was awarded to "Journey Together," comprised of an awesome four member team. This app plans and shares your travel itinerary through your social network and the Travel Channel. Users can view their friends’ previous trip experiences to help plan their next travel adventure.
Notable recognition goes to a three member team whom were able to learn and operate Intel's XDK (an HTML5 app building tool this team had never used before) and in no time, created “WE-Cation,” a real-time vacation management app keeping family and friends socially connected no matter where they are in their shared vacation.
Congratulations to Pete Erickson and the CEA MoDev Hackathon team for producing this awesome event and big thanks to the sponsors: Travel Channel, Samsung, Amazon Web Services, Sony, Paypal, Microsoft, and CEA MoDev Hackathon for providing the hackathon prizes and supporting the developer community. And to the developers and attendees, you rock!