Summarising the 2nd edition of BrainCode Mobi
On 14 March, at 19.00 the 2nd edition of BrainCode Mobi, i.e. a mobile hackathon organised by Allegro became history. This event was special because it was held in four cities: Poznań, Warsaw, Toruń and Kraków.
Again, we wanted to find out whether mobile coding is popular among students. That is why we asked higher education institutions, a source of the most talented coders for help.
Over 50 teams of various size (between 1 and 4 people) took part in the hackathon. During the product presentation, participants proved that modern smartphones can handle anything. We witnessed the process of creating apps that take shopping, sports, book reading or even relaxation to a brand new level of excitement.
We followed the last year’s path and invited participants to listen to lectures delivered by experts from Grupa Allegro and special guests. The speakers talked about mobile testing, code quality, Ruby programming or applying Apache Spark. Although the professional aspect of the event is important, we wanted to make the participants feel comfortable. That is why we took game consoles, nerf guns, beach chairs and baristas serving fabulous coffee. Moreover, we organised some competitions.
After 24 hours of intense coding, the jury from each city selected the best team in two categories, i.e. Allegro API and Open. One of the eight teams was granted a special award. Here is the list of awarded projects:
The best use of Allegro API:
Poznań - alleGift
AlleGift supports Android devices and hints gifts for various occasions suitable for family and friends. Naturally, the hints are not random, because they are based on a person’s hobby retrieved from Facebook. Moreover, a user can add suitable categories that describe the occasion. Presented gifts are retrieved from Allegro, thus the user can quickly and conveniently make the purchase or show the recommended item to his or her friends by sharing its auction link via selected app.
Toruń - Snap Buyer
Snap Buyer is for browsing and evaluating randomly displayed Allegro auctions. It saves user decisions to better adjust presented auctions. Easy and quick interface makes you feel like browsing through a catalogue or a shopping magazine. If the auction is truly attractive, a user can display it via the app. Soon, it will be available in Google Play.
Kraków - GNKG
Allecena! is for estimating a listing price that will maximise the chance for selling listed items. The app scans ended and on-going auctions to check details such as price, number of sold items, number of watchers, etc.
Warsaw - Allegrator (the best app):
Allegrator supports Android devices and selects gadgets (available on Allegro) that a user may find interesting. The choice is based on a user’s hobby scanned by connecting with accounts created on other sites such as Spotify, Last.fm, Steam, GoodReads or TottenTomatoes. By examining user activity, it creates a list of hobbies. Next, each hobby is linked with suitable gadgets, e.g. in case of music bands, the app will suggest T-shirts, badges and posters, whereas in case of games – collector’s editions. Gadgets are selected from on-going Allegro auctions. If the user finds the presented product interesting, he or she can display it via the Allegro app with one tap only.
Open category:
Poznań - drukujemy.mobi
This app meets the crucial (not only for students) need of optimal printing, i.e. quick, convenient and, last but not least, cheap. A user selects a document to be printed and sets printing options (format, colour or grey scale). Next, the user selects the printing point from a map or list that displays basic information about the place, including price for printing the particular document. After selecting the point, the document is sent to the printing point where the user can collect it after presenting a unique code generated by the app. The payment is made upon document collection.
Toruń - Drink&Food
This app is a quick pub, restaurant and bar navigator that takes into account your current location. It will show you the way to the nearest place where you can eat your favourite meal or drink delicious wine. This app is supposed to aggregate promotions that are presented as events on Facebook. It is quite natural that a newcomer does not know any places where he or she can eat. Nevertheless, D&F is supposed to change that. Owners of places displayed by the app can access a special panel (website) to manage their offer.
Kraków - MobiTouch
It is an innovative communication and expression method. It allows you to draw on a non-limited canvas with users from all over the world. Use three different brushes and any colour you like. Besides, you can insert photos and name or tag other pictures. The creators plan to add options that allow users to insert AV files, invite friends, share their creative work within social networks, etc.
Warsaw - Life Hero
Does your life lack motivation? Are you fed up with achievements that no one appreciates? Try Life Hero, an app that marks all achievements you will earn throughout your entire life! Change your dull life into an exciting game. From now on, when you built a house or buy your first car, make sure to mark it in Life Hero. Follow achievements of your friends and share yours. Turn your life into a game today!
It took us weeks of preparation, hours of talks, a few quarrels and some sleepless nights, but we made it! We delivered the product. We are very happy that we managed to organise the 2nd edition of BrainCode in cooperation with Faculty of Computing at Poznań University of Technology, Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at Adam Mickiewicz University, Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at Nicolaus Copernicus University, Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics at University of Warsaw, Faculty of Computer Science, Electronics and Telecommunications (Department of Telecommunications) at AHG University of Science and Technology. See you next time!:)
