Translated material
Trial by Combat
Report from the finals of the BattleHack hackathon from PayPal from California with a cash prize of 100 thousand dollars
On the weekend of November 15-16, the finals of the world-class event, the BattleHack 2014 hackathon from PayPal, took place in San Jose, California. Teams from 14 cities around the world, including Moscow, competed for the place of champion and for a prize of 100 thousand dollars.
TJ attended the event and found out what kind of projects the BattleHack participants were able to create in one day and which of them became the winner.
What is BattleHack
BattleHack is PayPal's annual hackathon, during which development teams create projects on their own using the company's payment platform and solutions from third-party partner services. The essence of the hackathon is to create a working project that solves a problem from scratch in 24 hours.
As PayPal explains, the main thing in a hackathon is not the business idea, not monetization, and not the final polish of the project with design and usability. First of all, the judges look at how global the idea the team came up with is, whether it can be scaled up and how it is implemented from a technical point of view.
The event in San Jose, held on November 15-16 at PayPal headquarters, was the final of a series of hackathons held in 14 cities around the world: Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, Mexico City, London, Berlin, Warsaw, Tel Aviv , Sydney, Toronto, Singapore and Moscow. Last year, a team from Moscow won the finals of BattleHack and took 100 thousand dollars with the DonateNow project, which allowed donations using contactless payments.
This time, the Moscow team almost missed the final of BattleHack due to the need to obtain an American visa: the Russian stage of the competition was the last of all, and the Russian participants literally caught the last plane to the hackathon.
According to the terms of BattleHack, you need to make a working project using PayPal payment tools within 24 hours and present it to the judges in five minutes. If desired, it was possible to use solutions from event partners: for example, the Twilio service for processing calls and SMS or Bluetooth beacons based on iBeacon technology from Estimote.
For first place, PayPal was awarded the main prize - 100 thousand dollars for the entire winning team. Second place went to the Flashforge 3D printer, and third place went to four DJI Phantom drones. Partner companies also gave gifts for better integration with their services.
Project descriptions
Each team managed to complete one completed project per day. Some of the hackers (as the hackathon participants are called) used only programming and smartphones on iOS and Android. Others soldered chips based on Arduino, WunderBar, Estimote and other tools to create device prototypes, including using 3D printing.
Project presentations lasted only five minutes, after which the teams were asked questions by the judges: ReadWrite Editor-in-Chief Owen Thomas, Head of Braintree (a division of PayPal developers) Bill Ready, Loop Commerce CEO Alex Sirota, CTO Wish Danny Zhang, and BrainTree Chief Evangelist and BattleHack host John Lunn.
A few hours after the start of the hackathon, a special evening was organized where hackers consulted with mentors from PayPal. Among the participants was eBay CEO John Donahoe.
John Lunn and John Donahue Boston
Arduino collects data on the patient's temperature using an electronic thermometer. They can be transferred to the server using a phone call via Twilio, that is, the service does not even need the Internet to work with the client, which allows it to work in Africa. Based on data from thermometers, a map of the spread of Ebola (or another viral disease) is built - according to hackers, this is similar to the way Google predicts infections based on search queries. The map displays a list of organizations that provide medical care. You can donate money directly there via PayPal to help fight the spread of the virus.
London
BuddyStudy environment where children can teach each other or teachers can post lessons of their own authorship. The teacher can change slides and draw on them in real time (text, diagrams), and students join via video call. Twilio and SendGrid are used to send notifications when a lesson starts, if one is scheduled. PayPal is required to purchase paid lessons. The platform retains 20 percent of the proceeds. It is assumed that schools will also buy the lessons, that is, sales are planned in large volumes.
Berlin
Reclaim are interactive billboards that show the content that the user likes. Walking past a billboard with an iBeacon and using a smartphone, the user can place their image on it (it is initially taken based on page likes on Facebook). To post an image (for example, a favorite painting, a still from a TV series, or information about a company), the user pays a small amount through PayPal. The Reclaim community moderates images available for posting. The point of the project is that in this way passers-by generate an additional source of income for advertisers, while posting information of interest to them for public viewing. There is even a slogan: “Let’s give us back our public space.”
Miami
Let's Go Eat is a food court aggregator app that allows a group of visitors to buy food from multiple food courts at once. The client sees an interactive menu with information about calories and the composition of dishes, and the order data is sent to the restaurant to prepare the order. Calorie information is aggregated into the Apple Health app. Naturally, payments are made through PayPal.
Istanbul
Fixx is a platform for solving urban problems. Using the application, you can send a complaint or proposal for improving the city (for example, fixing an unsafe embankment for walking or putting a sculpture in a park), and other users can vote for the initiative, donate money (they plan to transfer it to a responsible organization or government) or solve it themselves, by uploading a photo as confirmation. The creators of the application suggest that city officials can walk around the city with an iPhone and repair broken things. Problems can be detected via GPS on the map or using iBeacon - in this case, the application will send an alert. The judges noted that in a big city there can be too many opinions on how a particular problem should be solved, and reaching a consensus may not be easy.
Warsaw
WearASense - augmented feelings. A special belt or bracelet on the wrist exchanges information between a person and a computer. For example, he can tell the server that a person has become more active - in a club this could mean that he is having more fun, and the club can charge money for cheering up the client. On the other hand, such gadgets can be used for navigation: the map application will indicate through vibration of different parts of the belt which direction the user needs to move, so that he does not even have to take the phone out of his pocket.
Chicago
Positivo is an application that saves those who are in dire need of funds from extreme poverty. For example, a homeless person can receive a Positivo card for some useful action (the creators talked a little about this) and use it through a mobile terminal, logging in via NFC. The hackathon judges noted that in some states - for example, in Illinois and specifically in the city of Chicago - the authorities very strictly regulate financial flows (someone must sponsor the purchase of food and clothing through these Positivo cards), and the startup may have problems not only with the legalization of finance, but also in labor legislation.
Sydney
IceBreaker is a device that looks like a keychain or pendant and reacts to other similar devices to determine whether their owners have similar interests. The point is to make meaningful connections at large events (like BattleHack, for example). A flashing indicator indicates in color what category two users are in shared interest, and it is triggered simply by proximity - no additional action is required. In the application with which the device works, you can customize a list of your interests.
Mexico
A lone team member from Mexico City came up with the fairly common idea of an alarm clock that could only be snoozed after making a donation to an NGO (via PayPal). Using an iBeacon sensor located in the bedroom, the application will be able to monitor whether the user cheated and pressed the “Wake up” button without leaving bed. The application can communicate with the smart home control system and, for example, turn on the lights or coffee machine immediately after waking up.
San Francisco
Disconnect is an application for Android that motivates you to use your mobile phone less often and spend more time with friends in live communication. It collects application usage statistics and allows you to determine where your time is wasted the most. The user can set a time limit on the app, and if they break it, they will be charged a small amount to benefit the charity. The application is social - you can see what programs other users are running and challenge them. If the user succeeds, then the one who challenged will pay.
Moscow
Renty is an app for renting scooters at airports. The iBeacon sensor detects when the user takes the scooter and returns it to the destination (for example, when traveling between terminals), and the gyroscope calculates where on the map the road is uphill and where downhill. Payment for scooter rental is made via PayPal. The creators of Renty claim that in order to rent a scooter, you just need to approach it with the application running. By the way, the author of the idea, Pavel Osadchuk, admitted that he reads and loves TJ - we are very pleased.
Toronto
A service that helps blind people navigate stores. The application uses the camera and Siri's voice to read and speak aloud inscriptions and can, for example, determine the presence of ingredients in products that are dangerous to the owner. The product database is filled using crowdsourcing. The user can immediately pay for the purchase using the application. By the way, the Toronto team was the only one that included a girl.
Singapore
CipherBoard is an iOS keyboard that sends encrypted messages in any application (including Facebook). Its creators clearly tried to play on the popularity of the scandal involving the NSA and intelligence agency surveillance. Communication occurs only between two users (group chats are not supported), and in order to decrypt a received message, you need to copy it and launch the keyboard. A strange solution: it is unknown from whom it can protect and how much privacy it can preserve.
Tel Aviv
AirHop - the application sends mail, SMS or voice notes without an Internet connection or network. To do this, it searches nearby for other devices with AirHop, which will transmit the message further along the chain. The voice is transmitted through text passed through an audio processor, which reads the words out loud in integration with Twilio. The signal can pass through several phones, but all of them must have the AirHop app installed. Those participants in the chain through whom the message passes will receive a small reward via PayPal. The scheme of operation is reminiscent of the FireChat messenger , and the range of applications is similar: rallies, concerts, travel situations outside of roaming.
Winners
Third place was taken by a team from Boston with a project to prevent the spread of viral infections (they received DJI Phantom drones). Second place and a 3D printer were earned by hackers from Toronto with an application for navigating blind people in stores.
First place in the BattleHack 2014 finals was taken by developers Pavel Kaminsky and Shai Mishali from Tel Aviv with the AirHop application. Between them they received $100,000: PayPal lawyers signed the check that evening.
Pavel Kaminsky, 30, speaks fluent Russian: he was born in Ukraine and moved with his parents to Israel at the age of six. They met Shai Mishali in Tel Aviv at the hackathon itself.
TJ spoke with Kaminsky and Mishali about their project and impressions of the victory.
How did the idea for the project come about?
Pavel: Shai and I were sitting in a coffee shop in Tel Aviv and discussing something. We were angry about something and were discussing something related to my girlfriend. I think we had an argument: she was at the airport and I had to pick her up. I couldn’t reach her or send a message due to the lack of network, but I was embarrassed to ask people around for a phone number. The idea was very rough, we modified it a lot.
Did you expect to win?
Shai: Of course not. In a sense, we won everything here - after all, we are the winners of local BattleHack. All the teams are just wonderful.
It was clear that you encountered certain difficulties while working on the project. What was the most difficult?
Shai: To say that it was difficult is to say nothing. For the last six or seven hours of the hackathon, we were not at all sure that we would be able to complete the project: everything was breaking, nothing was working, and at some point we suddenly managed to get everything back on its feet - just an hour and a half before the final presentation. I was very nervous and almost cried.
Pavel: No, he was a rock star. I massaged him and provided him with moral support, that's all.
During the presentation you mentioned FireChat - do you compare yourself to them?
Shai: It wasn't the same technology.
Pavel: FireChat is about ensuring that the dialogue always takes place offline - you don’t need to connect to the Internet via 3G or Wi-Fi.
Shai: More precisely, it is about chats in a closed area or in a small space. What we do is the ability to transmit a message over a long distance when you don't have access to the Internet. It's not the same thing.
In order to transmit a message along a chain, each participant must have the AirHop application running?
Shai: Not launched, but installed.
Pavel: On Android it can run as a service - you don’t have to run anything at all.
Shai: iOS can run in the background, but it requires more development time.
Is it possible to make money by integrating AirHop and PayPal?
Shai: Yes, of course. I think you can also try advertising, but I can’t call it a business yet.
Pavel: I'm sure there are many cases in which the application can be applied. A lot of people are cut off from communication by their own governments. Not that we are guerrillas, but with AirHop these people will be able to communicate with the outside world. We in Israel are surrounded by many Muslim states whose people are suffering under their own governments, so we know what we are talking about.
But to start using the application, you need to download it via the Internet.
Shai: Well, yes. Tough question, I agree. I think there is a way to download this app in advance or distribute it offline.
Pavel: In the end, people in China, for example, are not completely cut off from the Internet - they have their own versions of Facebook and Twitter. There will be a way.
What will you do with the application?
Shai: We're not sure what exactly we'll do with it yet.
Pavel: We feel that we want to continue doing it. He has potential. Not to mention business, such an application definitely has applications in the world in which we live.
What would you say to the next BatteHack participants?
Shai: We'll definitely be back next year. If you have the opportunity to attend any hackathon, do it, but this one was special. Everyone here cares about you, you meet incredible people and learn interesting things.
How will you spend your $100 thousand?
Pavel: Let's talk about the legal side of the issue.
Shai: I'd do the boring stuff first like pay bills and pay off debts, and then all that's left is... I don't know, I'm still trying to figure out what's actually happening.
Buy something with this money, some geeky toy?
Shai: I was going to buy myself an ax, but now I already have one. I don’t know, there are so many free gadgets ( every BattleHack participant received a Moto 360 watch on Android Wear - TJ ). New screen for MacBook - mine was destroyed during the hackathon, someone probably broke it.
Pavel: I said goodbye to the corporate world, so the world of startups is opening up for me. I will probably invest in startups or become part of one of them.
How could a hackathon inspire developers to invest in startups?
Pavel: It’s not that he inspired me - it was always there, I just remembered it now.
Shai: It's like a beautiful painting.
Do you want to turn your application into a real business?
Shai: That's the thing, we don't know yet. We like what we did.
TJ thanks PayPal Corporation and Grayling Agency for the invitation to the hackathon in San Jose.
Corrections : The original version of the story stated that John Donahoe is the CEO of PayPal. In fact, he works as the CEO of eBay, and the CEO of PayPal is Dan Shulman.
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