The first ever Foursquare-labs approved developer event outside the United States will happen this Saturday, December 1, 2012 at Smart Tower, Makati City. This will be one of the largest app development events in the Philippines as 46 teams of Filipino devs will try to code the best SoLoMo (social/location/mobile) app.
Dubbed as Foursquare Hack Day Philippines (#4SQHackPH), the event is organized by Smart Communications, Inc. and WebGeek Philippines. According to Paul Pajo, Smart developer evangelist, more than 92 developers will grace the event and will try to create a mobile app using Foursquare API in 9 grueling but productive hours. The API will serve as their main tool to create an app that communicate with Foursquare’s location and recommendation platform.
[stextbox id=”info” caption=”From Wikipedia”]An application programming interface (API) is a specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other.[/stextbox]
Photo courtesy: Smart DevNet Blog
The event was announced last October 29; ticket was priced at PhP1,000 per participant. It was made possible because of the existing partnership between Smart and Foursquare Labs Inc; and with the impetus of Smart Developer Network (Smart Devnet) and organizing efforts of WebGeek.Ph.
[stextbox id=”info” caption=”About Smart DevNet”]Smart DevNet has around 1,800 members nationwide. It has a proven track record in putting the local developer community in the spotlight.[/stextbox]
[stextbox id=”info” caption=”About WebGeek”]WebGeek is a community that serves as a venue for Filipino geeks, developers, designers and startups. It was founded by John Arce. It has around 5,000 active members.[/stextbox]
Sajid Mehmood of Foursquare’s platform engineering team based in New York City is here in the Philippines
According to Sajid Mehmood of Foursquare Labs New York City, such event will provide avenue to budding developers to embrace their platform and to creatively craft an application that can change lives and provide solutions to businesses. Smart DevNet sponsored Mehmood’s flight and stay in the Philippines. He will be at Hackathon to provide tips on using Foursquare API.
[stextbox id=”info” caption=”Did You Know?”]NASA’s Curiosity Rover Checked in on Mars Using Foursquare[/stextbox]
Winning teams will receive a total of PhP60,000 cash prizes and software subscriptions worth nearly $4,500. Apps will be judged based on the quality of software development, user experience, user interface, innovation, and quality of demo pitching. Participants may use a mix of programming languages, application frameworks, and development tools during the hackathon. They must demo their app using a smartphone. The theme of the apps they shall create will be announced during the hackathon since pre-work is not allowed.
Giancarlo Viterbo is a Filipino Technology Journalist, blogger and Editor of gadgetpilipinas.net, He is also a Geek, Dad and a Husband. He knows a lot about washing the dishes, doing some errands and following instructions from his boss on his day job. Follow him on twitter: @gianviterbo and @gadgetpilipinas.
