Yahoo! Hack Day was a Rousing Success

 

I should have taken the bet. At Yahoo’s first public Hack Day, a 24-hour mash-up contest/party/extravaganza that challenged engineers and developers to hack out innovative hybrids from Yahoo! APIs, I spotted the overall winner early-on. Not only were they hacking software but also hardware, with wires and diodes and circuit boards laid out in front of them. And then there were the sewing machines. Yeah, that’s right: sewing machines, the last thing you would expect to see at a hacker confab.

 

Dazzled, I said to one of my Yahoo! colleagues, “Bet they’re gonna win.”  But I’m the conservative type, and when called to actually lay down cash on it, I declined, fearing my compatriot had some inside dirt.

 

Lesson learned: Always go with your gut.

 

The winning team, Black Box Nation, a group of hack-meisters from MIT, won hands-down with their “wearable”—a moblogging mash-up that combines a hand-bag decked out with a mobile phone, digital camera, GPS, a pedometer and the new Zonetag API. Mixing fashion, photo-blogging, maps and fun, Black Box Nation’s hack creates an automated photo blog, taking pictures at regular intervals, determining the wearer’s location and uploading them via Flickr. Check it out. 

 

The hacker wow factor was high, but there were other highlights, too. On Friday evening the word got out, making Hack Day’s surprise musical guest “the worst kept secret in the valley” as one wag put it. That’s not surprising, since roadies had been on campus for two days building the stage for… (drum roll, please)… Beck.

 

 

Yeah, that Beck. The group came on at 8 p.m. and did a 90-minute show that included not only the hits but also some never-heard-before arrangements and, the biggest surprise, an expert puppet show featuring expertly handled marionettes of each of the band members. They even made this video, especially for Yahoo! and Hack Day:

 

 

To say that Yahoo’s first public Hack Day was a rousing success would be an understatement. Check out some of the pics on Flickr and stay tuned for more on the other winning hacks and how you, as a publisher, may be able to benefit from them.

 

More Coverage

 

Yodel Anectdotal’s Nicki Dugan testifies

 

Check out the Schwag on Flickr 

 

Jeremy Zawodny was impressed

 

Chad Dickerson blogged live from Hack Day

 

Matt McAllister on Yahoo’s mojo

 

Zoomr thought hack day “quite cool”

 

Bradley Horowitz says “Hell Yes”

 

Canada’s Jay and Silent Rob say “eh!”

 

CBS 5 gives Hack Day its props

 

The Scobliezer is jealous

 

Tagman’s got three cool Yahoo! API hacks of his own he’s eager to share

 

Industry gadfly Guy Kawasaki thought the CEO of Beck’s Beer had come to sing

 

Even Matt Cutts gives Hack Day its kudos

 

—Michael Mattis, Blog Editor