AT&T is challenging developers to create mobile apps that present a real solution to the texting while driving epidemic—which causes more than 100,000 automotive accidents every year—by inviting them to participate in an “It Can Wait” Hackathon in Los Angeles, Calif. on Sept. 7-8, 2012.
AT&T will provide quick presentations and code samples that help to bootstrap your hacking, food to keep you going, and caffeine to keep you awake. Along with technical senseis to assist you in building faster, smarter, and with new tools.
The grand prize winner—announced on Sept. 18th—will receive $20,000 from AT&T. The event is part of AT&T’s national campaign to save lives by discouraging texting while driving.
Bring your laptop, skills & ideas. Come with a collaborative, team focused mindset and/or team up in advance on Twitter/Facebook/Google+ via the #atthack hashtag. Whether you are a backend person and code in Ruby/PHP/.NET or are a designer and only work with Illustrator, you are invited to attend this event.
Five finalists will be selected following an 24 hours of coding. Finalists will then have 10 days to refine their apps and present them again on Tuesday, Sept. 18—the eve of AT&T’s national day to discourage texting while driving. At that time, winners will be selected and will receive the following prizes:
- 1st Place: $20,000
- 2nd Place: $7,000
- 3rd Place: $3,000
6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7 – 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8; Winners announced at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012 at Coloft, 920 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, Calif. 90401
Twitter: Follow @ATTdeveloper, #ATTHack and #ItCanWait --- Register for event.
I'm a developer making $10k-100k and I'm going to take time off to get free food and coffee?
It's it's hard to come up with that app to stop people looking at their phone while driving, because in order to get an app to work people usually have to look at the phone. The only thing that may work is some kind of voice activation and scolding from the phone if you even touch inside a car.