TechCrunch Hackathon

TechCrunch is hosting a hackathon at its SF conference, with $500,000 in prizes. There are also unusual hats. [TC]

More at Boing Boing

Ants and Stars: Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tesanovic visit the Sardinia Radio Telescope in Italy

TheRedMax

Unusual Hats? I see the TF2 bug is spreading!
EDIT : I see there is actual TF2 references on the site so my comment is redundant.
- Guest
  
  i see your redundancy, and raise you one compliment.
http://www.facebook.com/michael.valera.s Michael Valera

Is it bad that the mere mention of hats makes me think of TF2? Then again i am an admin for a TF2 community/site =P
Rephlex

I don’t know if anyone caught the livefeed of the demonstrations (I did by accident). I didn’t see them all, but what I did find interesting was the careful balance of presentation skills in contrast to the actual idea itself.

Some ideas, that I actually would use myself, were presented by someone that obviously was extremely talented in the coding aspect of the project, but not public speaking. These demonstrations would be met with limited applause. Other ideas that were not that revolutionary, but had strong presenters would charm the judges and audience alike with their public speaking ability, often resulting in standing ovations. Ultimately, I am sure the judges look at what counts, but I did find that interesting.

The project I found most “Edgy” was the “Ex-factor” social media experiment that allowed Ex-Girlfriend/Boyfriends to “Rate” you. Kudos to that team, who knew that would wind up the crowd a bit.

Lastly, I did not know anywhere else I could voice this, but the TechCrutch representatives at the podium were absolutely horrible. Often rude and full of cheeky remarks. I felt bad for all of those developers that had spent the majority of their 48 hours without sleep, hacking together some presentation, only to be met by these two clowns that had nothing but one liners to say in exchange for their hard work and shattered dreams.

Very cool stuff though and if the event ever makes it out of the West Coast I will make sure to attend. It was like speeddating but with gifted developers in place of bimbos. Love it!
Charlie Reiman

A $3000 ticket price seems inappropriate for cash-strapped startups. I think they’re selling shovels to the naive prospectors.