San Francisco, California | September 8 - 9, 2012
We’ve written a lot about our Hackathon hackers: their shirts, their hats, their ability to code all night sustained by only junk food, beer, and Red Bull. But this year we decided to do something a little different.
We followed one hacker, David Kay, through all 24 hours of the event. Through the ups, through the downs, and through the delirious moments. → Read More
The night has been a long one for our intrepid crew of hackers, and all their arduous, caffeine-fueled work has led to this moment. A stunning 147 teams have taken the stage here at Disrupt SF to deliver their fast and furious one-minute pitches — that’s more than we’ve ever had before. Still, only three teams will get the chance to demo their projects on-stage once Disrupt kicks off proper… → Read More
As we approach the Technological Singularity it’s important to keep an eye on the harbingers of true superhuman artificial intelligence. While many will point to primitive projects by researchers at MIT and Stanford, I feel the history books will note Sirious Margaritas as the absolute point when man and machine will truly live in symbiosis.
Sirious Margaritas a highly complex system that… → Read More
On the web, we have a host of user names and passwords we have to remember, whether for news sites or apps or Netflix. So Michael Thomas and Vahur Roosimaa of Los Angeles-based startup Scopely have hacked together PhoneID, which lets you login to websites without a username and password. → Read More
Using off-the-shelf hardware, SafeHouse aims to disrupt the home security space. Raspberry Pi and Ninja Blocks are used to build a surprisingly robust security system. As seen during their Battlefield presentation, even though SafeHouse was built during our 24 hour Hackathon, this product could be a legitimate service.
I spoke to creators backstage. Going forward, SafeHouse could live on in… → Read More
Unlike something like Evernote, which helps you store and reference information, TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon entrant Memstash helps you actually memorize stuff. For example, if you want to memorize a famous quote, you can put it in your Memstash through a bookmarklet and the app will send you that quote via SMS or e-mail at specific intervals until you have it memorized. → Read More
This hack comes from a pair of charming Germans who created an app to find books related to apps you just opened. For example, when you download or install an app – Word, Photoshop, Skype – it will automatically find books related to the new app. → Read More
It’s become more clear than ever that analytics about how people interact with things — from physical stores to television screens to websites — are key for businesses to optimize their relationships with potential customers. And the more detail, the better.
It’s this philosophy that drove Jason Shah to build HeatData over the past 24 hours at the Disrupt SF 2012 Hackathon. HeatData is an… → Read More
Peter Ma says hadn’t switched on his HP laptop for nearly six months when he booted it up at the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon yesterday afternoon.
From May until August he backpacked alone in the Sierra Nevada, with no electronics other a watch and a head lamp, just trying to get away from society and come up with a truly new idea. “I wanted to get in touch with basic human needs,” he explains. → Read More
At the TechCrunch Disrupt SF Hackathon, a presentation on stage was very polished and caught our attention. Advise.ly provides peer-to-peer career advice on demand. It uses both the LinkedIn API the Twilio API to first find people with the same career background and then initiate a phone call. The site is already live and working, which is impressive for a 24-hour hack.
First, you authenticate… → Read More
It was a long and trying night here at the San Francisco Design Center Concourse, but after it all, the sun did rise in San Francisco this morning, bringing in a new day for the scores of programmers at the Disrupt SF 2012 Hackathon. → Read More
If you’re working on an iOS app and would like to demonstrate key features to users, Appetize.co makes things a little bit easier. Rather than hacking together in-app videos, Appetize allows programmers to add one line to their code that can simulate button presses and swipes. You can then play these movies back in the app itself during demonstrations. → Read More
A mere 24 hours ago an eclectic group of coders gathered outside of The Concourse at San Francisco Design Center intent on hacking together the next great app. And now after a sleepless night these groups are ready to show off their creation on massive the TechCrunch Disrupt stage.
Join us live as these apps, services and hardware hacks are displayed for the first time. Each group gets 60 short… → Read More
Hex3 founder Jon Atherton didn’t have any hardware hacking experience when he launched Kickstarter campaigns for the company’s debut products, the AppTag Laser Blaster and the JaJa Pressure Sensitive Stylus for the iPad. But now, just a few months after raising over $100,000 between the two campaigns, both are real and available for hacking at the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon. “I’ve had the… → Read More
The Hackathon never sleeps, and neither do the hackers. Just like the Disrupt NY 2012 Hackathon, and the San Francisco Hackathon before it, this year’s bunch of coders are up and at ‘em, ready to disrupt… well, anything.
Surveying the San Francisco Design Center, you’ll find a lot of empty red bull cans, beer bottles, and bags of chips. It’s not necessarily the most nutritional sustenance… → Read More
As this is being published, it’s just after midnight at the Disrupt SF 2012 Hackathon, and programmers are elbows deep into their projects (or perhaps in the middle of a well-deserved nap) with a very limited amount of time left to finish them off and polish them up for on-stage presentations Sunday. It may be hard for those bleary-eyed hackers to believe, but it was only hours ago on Saturday… → Read More
Every Disrupt we like to walk around the hall and meet with the uber-cool hackers who have dedicated their lives to making cool stuff in less than a day. We cornered five hackers and asked them what they were working on, what their biggest problem has been so far, and who would they consider a hacker hero. Their answers appear below, uncensored, unadulterated, and completely candid. → Read More
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Bryan Schreier (@schreier), Dropbox’s board member and partner at Sequoia Capital. Sequoia is an investor in Dropbox, Evernote, Stripe, Tumblr, Instagram and Airbnb and a TechCrunch Disrupt Partner.
Everyone follows the mainstage events at Disrupt, and with good reason. Who can forget Heather Harde recovering the missing check for Mint at TechCrunch… → Read More
We’re four days away from the TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco Hackathon.
We’re crossing the t’s and dotting the lowercase j’s, and passing the savings onto you!
But more importantly, we’ve been working very hard behind the scenes and pleased to bring you a bunch of new event information, including: → Read More
Ford today announced that its AppLink platform is now available in 1 million vehicles across the company’s fleet. The AppLink API allows developers to link their mobile apps to Ford’s SYNC platform and lets drivers manage the apps through voice controls and radio buttons on their steering wheels. The platform is still invite-only and some of the supported apps include Pandora, TuneIn, Slack Radio… → Read More
We’re just two and a half weeks away from the fourth annual TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon!
We wanted to take this opportunity to announce additional tickets and our API workshop lineup. So, listen close…
If you haven’t gotten a ticket for the event, now’s your last chance. Head over and sign up on Eventbrite → Read More
Ladies & gentlemen! The third annual TechCrunch Disrupt SF Hackathon is officially open for business.
It’s 24 hours of heads-down, caffeine-fueled digital duct taping with the Bay Area’s brightest, culminating in a no-holds-barred Hackathon presentation on Sunday afternoon. We’ll bring the API workshops, food & drink and industry veteran judges. You bring the MacGyver-style wicked… → Read More
