#Hackdisrupt

Hackathon (hack·a·thon): A hackathon, also known as a codefest, is a social coding event that brings computer programmers and other interested people together to improve upon or build a new software program.

Basically, imagine hundreds of professional computer programmers (or people with no programming knowledge, just there to wing it – a.k.a. myself, two years ago) forming groups and whatnot, to create the next big thing.

Apps to help people – make life easier, robots to live your life with you; hackathons tend to produce the best of tech-creations, and today, we have a whole lot to tell you.

Welcome to a world where ideas become reality.

Disrupt

Yesterday, TechCrunch hosted this hackathon called Disrupt.

There were a ton of innovative ideas and it was extremely tough to pick a winner. Of course, hackathons are essentially a competition and the winner takes home a grand prize. Other than recognition and nifty little awards here and there, the winners of this hackathon took home $5,000!

Before jumping right to it and telling you what the “next big thing” is, we want to tell you some of our favourite ideas out of the lot.

reVIVE

3 high school juniors worked on an app to “treat and diagnose ADHD”. Using a VR headset, they set up a few games/tools to aid to their goal. The results are linked to a website where your scores are tabulated and you’re given reports on it. We could see this going a long way for people of all ages.

TexTranslator

Although language creates bonds between people, it can also be an obstacle for many. These kids managed to create some sort of application where (after a few steps of setting up), you can text people in your language, and have them receive a translation in their preferred language! As you’ll see in the video, say we text you “Hello!”, and you have your preferred language set to Spanish: you will receive “Hello!” and its translation: “Hola!”.

BackMap

This is an impressive one. This bag helps visually impaired people navigate through cities and indoor areas. After inputting a location into an app, it will guide you with vibrations through the backpack’s straps! Couldn’t get the video for BackMap on this post, but feel free to watch it here.

Valet

In a world of self-driving cars, finding parking is STILL a challenge. Val.ai created a system where vehicles could bid for nearby parking spaces. When in need, the self driving car will submit a “real time bid” for local spots occupied by others. “If a currently parked car knows it needs to pick someone up soon, and it will earn from selling the parking spot now than the gas it might burn driving around until its pickup time, it can accept the bid”. It won’t be long before self driving machines learn how to steal.

With 89 teams and a total of 750 engineers and designers, this has been 24 hours of non stop coding, non stop innovating, and non stop creating. Apps, software, even robots; the ideas and the solutions have been splendid and extremely beneficial for now, as well as the future. And although many ideas were brilliant, there could be only one winner.

REVIVE

So congratulations to reVIVE, and congratulations to all of you for being part of such a wonderful time in our lives where in 24 hours, people have the ability to create something from nothing.

[bctt tweet=”The sky isn’t the limit, your imagination is.” username=”iflsmartgadgets”]