Hack Day at TechCrunch Disrupt

Posted 05/25/2010 at 10:29am | by Eva Meszaros

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Most of us are unlikely to invent anything in our lifetimes, let alone in 24 hours. But that was the goal for droves of eager hackers at TechCrunch’s Hack Day, a 24-hour hackathon prefacing the TechCrunch Disrupt convention this week in New York.

Hunched over glowing laptops, scattered papers, and energy drinks, more than 300 contenders turned nascent plans into working inventions. Three lucky teams will be going on to Disrupt to present their winning projects.

Some teams had solid blueprints to work through the night; some brought vague ideas they hoped to flesh out along the way; and others came simply to absorb and contribute to the creative energy. In the end, 60 teams pitched their products. Here are our top ten builds that truly impressed.

 10. Worst Phone Ever

The interminable love-hate relationship iPhone owners have with the call-dropping device spawned this project. Using a simple flash uploader, it parses information from an iPhone's stored crash logs. Dubbed a “crowd-sourced class action lawsuit,” it illustrates just how guilty your device has been.

9. Twitter Demographics

This program revealed the statistics-aggregating dream that is the Twitterverse. Delving beyond simple mapping, its creator reined in a vast network of valuable information, geocoding tweets to find congressional representation, income, home values, and even trends based on word usage.

8. Welcome Mat

This hack gives a brain to an everyday welcome mat. Linked to its owner’s social media, including Twitter and FourSquare, the Welcome Mat can greet a users arrival with a fitting comment, whether by cheering you up after a melancholy tweet, laughing along to your LOL, or congratulating you on your latest FourSquare badge.

7. FBCall and Audiopost

Two teams developed similar services using voice control for calling in Facebook status updates. FBCall uses twilio and talk2.us to offer text and voice updates on the move; AudioPost goes through Phonzy.com. Both let Facebook addicts update their status incessantly.

6. The iPhone Builder

This hacking genius—who’s also deaf—garnered huge applause for demonstrating (the day prior) his ability to build an iPhone from scratch in a brisk 48 minutes. The sheer skill exhibited underscores the spirit of the hackathon: tinkering, testing, and discovering what one can do with a few wires and tools.

5. News Cred

Passive on-the-go search at its best: Call a number, state your query, and get information delivered to you via SMS or email within seconds. This voice-controlled service can text a list of nearby sushi hotspots, email you articles on the latest political scandal—and pretty much everything else a quick search can do.

4. StereoScan

 Two webcams and a laser pointer are all you need to use this software, which creates detailed 3D images and vertexes to manipulate the object on your screen. It’s impressively accurate - not to mention cheap and surprisingly easy to use.

3. API for the World

This team of NYU students presented a hack that gives a digital upgrade to anything with an on/off switch and a plug. Giving a “voice” to such objects as bedside lamps, this invention has the power to trigger everything from status updates to ordering new bulbs when one burns out.

2. Home Dictator

Peeking into the future of tech immersion in daily life, the Home Dictator functions as an all-ears program that jots down (to your smart phone or computer) any commands, requests, or reminders you speak while going about your daily business at home.

1. Future Mario

The crowd cracked up watching this team show off its Eyewriter technology, but its implications left everyone—judges included—in awe. The team demonstrated working game controls (via Super Mario Bros) using voice, blinking, and eye-tracking technology. Entertainment aside, it reinvents hand-oriented controls to give people with paralysis a chance to interact with their environment again, making art and other creative outlets truly accessible.

For additional photos from HackDay, click to page 2!