Compute Midwest event produces 16 projects, details of KCITP endeavor

The Compute Midwest Hackathon concluded Nov. 11 at the Google Fiber Space with coffee and donuts, demos and awards.

The inaugural Compute Midwest featured a full day of talks from a slate of tech leaders on Nov. 9 at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, Mo. And on Nov. 10, that conversation gave way to action as Compute Midwest, an event put on by Kansas City IT Professionals, concluded with a hackathon at Google’s Fiber Space.

The hackathon, which was promoted as a way to “learn, create and collaborate on the fly,” resulted in the creation of 16 applications. It kicked off the morning of Nov. 10 and wrapped up just more than 24 hours later with team demos and awards.

BECOME A SPONSOR

Join us in championing the narrative of success, resilience, and ingenuity that defines Nebraska’s startup community. Learn more »

The 16 applications made during the hackathon were:

Beacon – Connecting locally with contacts that have similar interests
Meetable.io – A personal assistant for coordinating meetings
Getcha ‘Sum – Helps match social media promoters with influencers who can help spread the word about their products and services using a micropayment system
iGotcha – A tag-like game that aims to blur the lines between your online and offline worlds
Friendly Hires – Work with friends you trust by finding out where your friends are working and if they’re hiring
LeoGetz – Order and pay for your drive-through food before you even arrive
Automated On-Call Notifications – An automated on-call system through which members can view events and notifications
Epoch – Time tracking that reminds you and allows entry for interruptions
Hashegories – Keyword notifications that allow you to buy and sell items faster on platforms like Craigslist without having to manually search
Budgetinator – A simple way to manage your personal and social budgets using standard phone functions
Dough.io – IOUs for the 21st century
Alpha Scram – A fast-paced word game
Texts With Friends – An SMS-based password game
Arb.io – Ask “arbio” via chat or SMS to send an email for you or tell you the weather, anything you need
Spin.ly – Easily turn your Tumblr site into a platform for digital download sales
Just N Case – Find a doctor in your health insurance network anywhere you’re traveling

To read more about the participants and projects in this year’s Compute Midwest Hackathon, check out their page on Hacker League.

The winners

Awards were given out based on the best usage of specific APIs, and overall prizes were handed out by a panel of judges that consisted of Mike Farmer, the co-founder and CEO of Leap2, Jonathan George, the co-founder and former CEO of Boxcar, Justin Graves, the co-founder and CEO of Infegy, and Pete Thomas, the CIO of Pollenware. Applications were judged based on completeness, user interface, originality and usefulness.

The winners of the awards for best use of APIs were:

Best use of Dwolla: Getcha Sum
Best use of Sengrid: Arb.io
Best Use of Iron.io: Friendly Hires
Best Use of Sing.ly: Friendly Hires
Best Use of Twilio: Dough.io

The winners of overall grand prizes were:

Funniest App/Demo: iGotcha
Best API mashup: Getcha Sum
Best Mobile App: Friendly Hires
Best Demo: Spin.ly
Overall Winner: Texts With Friends

Disruption Institute

Demonstrations and awards weren’t the only things presented at the end of the hackathon. Michael Gelphman, the founder of KCITP and organizer of Compute Midwest, also shared with the crowd information about his newest project, Disruption Institute. “I want Kansas City to be the number one place for mobile developers,” Gelphman said of the project, which he first announced to conference-goers on Nov. 9. Disruption Institute will offer 12-week programs to teach people how to code and create mobile applications.

For more from the inaugural Compute Midwest Hackathon, see the photos below.