A standard precursor to TechCrunch’s annual Disrupt conference series is its Hackathon, which usually takes place the day before the main event. The Disrupt Hackathon is an intense 24-hour competition in which technology hackers come together to “invent” the next round of Silicon Valley’s most coveted products. Past Disrupt Hackathon’s overnight creations include such successes as GroupMe, a group messaging app that was eventually acquired by Skype and is now owned by Microsoft.
At this year’s Disrupt San Francisco, more than 1,000 app developers, engineers, and coders descended on Pier 48. They were divided into 144 teams that worked around the clock to compete for the $5,000 grand prize, which was determined by a panel of judges, including Ryan Broshar, managing director of the Techstars Retail Accelerator, and Jeff Queisser, co-founder and SVP of engineering at Box.
Credit: techcrunch.com
This year’s winner was PointShop.space, an app that uses augmented reality technology to provide users with contextual
information about gadgets they are considering buying. By lining up a phone camera with a physical product, say a new iPad, users can view a diagram of line-by-line text annotations that includes manufacturer information, retailer locations and links to e-commerce sites for purchase.
First runner-up was Support Collective, which offers companies, particularly SaaS startups, an opportunity to combine customer support ticket histories to share information about customers’ typical pain points and ideas for improving products. The second runner-up was Safe Route, an app that addresses the annoying situation in which GPS apps like Google Maps or Waze ask you to take a left at completely inappropriate intersections. It combines the APIs of different map services to determine the safest route to get from point A to point B, even when the trip ends up being a bit longer.
Other teams in the competition tried to solve similar problems that people face in their day-to-day lives. The frustrating experience of having to wait for 20 minutes or even an hour “for the next available agent” has become ubiquitous, whether it’s about calling insurance companies or fixing problematic Internet connections. To solve this problem, Waiter creates a conference line between the Waiter robot, the user, and the company service line. After a user inputs identification and account information, he or she can hang up while the Waiter robot patiently waits in line. It then dials the user back the moment a customer representative materializes.
It would be interesting to see where these new apps and products go after their successful demos at TechCrunch. The centerpiece of TechCrunch Disrupt’s startup showcase, TechCrunch Battlefield, started this afternoon and will continue for two days. NewsCenter will be back tomorrow with interesting tidbits and the latest news about innovative entrepreneurs and products that are generating buzz at this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt.