Microsoft Singapore recently hosted AppHack Singapore 2013 which attracted over 300 participants for the hackathon. I was fortunate to be able to interact with tons of great developers and entrepreneurs, and to learn about the latest technology developments and start-up ideas for mobile platforms.
Event registration started at 9am and I was excited to see a great mix of experienced and junior developers gathered for the hackathon.
After an ice-breaking round of conversations over breakfast, participants gathered for the opening address by Guscloud’s CEO, Vincent Ha.
Event partners took turns to share their entrepreneurial experiences (such as the revival of inSing.com from the “Valley of Death”), the latest technologies (such as Pearson’s developer platform and Microsoft’s Open Technologies), and potential development ideas for the hackathon (such as audience engagement for the 28th SEA Games in 2015).
The Microsoft booth managed to attract a lot of attention with the promotion of Microsoft Open Technologies and a special giveaway of limited edition t-shirts for tweeting about the event and Open Technologies.
After the morning presentations, participants eagerly gathered in their teams and started working on their mobile applications.
Numerous breakout sessions were held throughout the day to introduce various technologies and platforms to assist participants in the development of their mobile applications. Microsoft Singapore Technical Evangelist, Chun Siong, gave a special presentation on the ease of developing mobile applications using Windows Azure.
Participants had access to a variety of toys to serve as fun distractions from the stress of designing and developing applications, such as Nerf guns, a Parrot AR Drone, and a claw machine that dispenses M&M’s.
As night approaches, some participants got ready for the long coding journey ahead, while others took a well-deserved break.
I had a great time at AppHack 2013 meeting old friends and making new ones. Hopefully, I will be able to participate in future AngelHack events in Singapore.
What do you think of AppHack 2013? Do you have other great events to recommend for us to participate? Do share with us your recommendations in the comments below and we might just do a special report based on your recommendations!
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