HackDFW and the project Sputnik story

March 10, 2015

[Notice: Previously I mistakenly noted that this event was hosted by MLH when, while it was part of the MLH season, was the result of the hard work and effort by a team of students from UTD, SMU, and UNT.]

Last week I attended HackDFW, a student hackathon in Dallas put on by  an intrepid group of local students from UTD, SMU, and UNT.   The hackapalooza, which was part of the Major League Hacking season, was a 24-hour event featuring students from around the country.  Besides getting to go around and talk to the students during the event I was fortunate enough to be asked to give the closing keynote.

I presented on Project Sputnik and how we crowd-sourced the development of a developer laptop.  Here are the slides I presented.

The Judges and Winner

After the preliminary judging, seven teams presented to impressive panel of judges with included, among others, Mark Cuban, the CEO of American Airlines and the Mayor of Dallas.

The winning team used Oculus Rift which connected to engine that rendered an ever evolving world of dinosaurs.   This would allow students to get a feel for the enormity of the dinosaurs and watch them as they grew and die from disease and predators

Here a few pics from the event.

Looking down on one of the groups

Looking down on one of the groups

 

Hackers and Hammocks

Hackers and Hammocks

Taking a "short" nap

Taking a “short” nap

Extra-credit reading

Pau for now…


Chatting with the leaders of Major League Hacking

October 27, 2014

The weekend before last, the Major League Hacking crew helped put on a hackathon at the University of Texas.  The event drew over 700 students organized into close to 100 teams.

Major League Hacking, which Dell helps power, is the official collegiate hackathon league and puts on more than 50 hackathons across the US, UK, and Canada per semester.

In advance of the event I got to have lunch with MLH’s commissioner, Mike Swift along with co-founder Jon Gottfried.  After we ate I grabbed some time with the duo to learn what MLH is all about.

Some of the ground Swift and Jon cover:

  • What is Major League Hacking and what’s a hackathon?
  • How did Dell get involved and what role did project Sputnik play?
  • How the U Penn hackathon beat out the triple deterrents of Valentines Day, the release of House of Cards and two feet of snow
  • MLH’s plans for global domination
  • The power of learning from fellow students and the community

Pau for now…


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