Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

YC Fall Hackathon 2019

blog.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 52 posts

Re: YC Fall Hackathon 2019

#41

Post by soulofmischief »

zeko1195 wrote: post #26

I can do full stack web development, distributed computing, Cloud, IoT, Mobile Dev and a bit of data science. Email me up if you have some interesting to work on. :)

I'm tinkering with the idea of an IoT device which sits at the top of your IoT chain. It has microphone and other potential sensory input, which it processes completely offline and turns into text commands which get sent to other devices over the network.

I don't want 10 IoT devices each with their own mics and cameras. I want one device from a brand I trust, which veritably doesn't phone home other than updates, with a dirt-simple API for integration. All other devices can take commands from this one. The age of Alexa and Google Home and "smart TVs" with microphones needs to disappear.

If tenable, the idea could be extended to other sensitive domains such as payment processing with a token system.

Just a thought. Could be hackathon material if I find a good partner.

Re: YC Fall Hackathon 2019

#43

Post by break_the_bank »

Hey!

Can this be made remote? It'd help us non Americans/American non Californians to apply.

From the application page :-

Important note: This is an application, not a signup form. We have an application instead of a first-come, first-served signup because it helps guarantee a diverse group of participants and that matters a lot to us.

It seems counter intuitive to base this in Mountain View if you care about diversity. Non American Hackers, Americans who aren't in California get disqualified immediately.

Re: YC Fall Hackathon 2019

#44

Post by scientaster2 »

break_the_bank wrote: post #43

Hey! Can this be made remote? It'd help us non Americans/American non Californians to apply. From the application page :- Important note: This is an application, not a signup form. We have an application instead of a first-come, first-served signup because it helps guarantee a diverse group of participants and that matters a lot to us. It seems counter intuitive to base this in Mountain View if you care about diversi…

+1 to remote! As an east coaster, I've participated in many hackathons in person and I can vouch that none have actually benefited from colocation. Since teams are competing, there is naturally no incentive to associate with peers outside your direct team - which you can do plenty well remotely.

Re: YC Fall Hackathon 2019

#45

Post by komali2 »

sdan wrote: post #23
blhack wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a project I started a few years ago but abandoned. Is it fair to do that project again if I’m starting with a new codebase?

You start from scratch. At least that's what I've been following for the numerous hackathons I've attended/won/lost. Of course no one's going to check if you worked on it last night or whatnot (I know friends who've taken previous hackathon submissions and submit it to hackathons like it's new and actually won) but for the hackathon spirit you shouldn't.

That's the officiallyunofficial rule at all the hackathons I've been to, but also at every hackathon I've been to, the biggest prize winners were teams that were coming in with something they'd obviously been planning and working on for at least a couple weeks ramping up to the hackathon.

I imagine with a ycombinator interview on the line that sort of behavior will only be more prevalent.

Re: YC Fall Hackathon 2019

#47

Post by komali2 »

soulofmischief wrote: post #41
zeko1195 wrote: post #26

I can do full stack web development, distributed computing, Cloud, IoT, Mobile Dev and a bit of data science. Email me up if you have some interesting to work on. :)

I'm tinkering with the idea of an IoT device which sits at the top of your IoT chain. It has microphone and other potential sensory input, which it processes completely offline and turns into text commands which get sent to other devices over the network. I don't want 10 IoT devices each with their own mics and cameras. I want one device from a brand I trust, which veritably doesn't phone home other than updates, wit…

Just a thought, my old company ElectricImp could be a good fit. The company itself only provides diagrams for compatible hardware, an OS, and a cloud for deployment and a paired cloud-based VM for each deployed.

The only phoning home is OS updates, and then whatever you program the VM to do. So you could take audio in on the device, send to cloud VM, then send to some sort of homebrew speech to text (or be a total fucking badass and squeeze your own speech to text in squirrel code onto the VM itself).

Re: YC Fall Hackathon 2019

#48

Post by craigcannon »

meagher wrote: post #21

If you're on the fence, I would apply! I went last year — didn't have an idea to work on nor anyone to work with. Met some awesome people I still hang out with, hacked on some cool stuff, and later applied late to W19 with one of them (we got an interview). Highly recommend.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Re: YC Fall Hackathon 2019

#49

Post by craigcannon »

henning wrote: post #38

Is this for building a startup investors will want to invest in or to make something interesting? I.e., is it basically a YC application in another form? There are many interesting things that are worth hacking on but not appropriate for venture capital-funded startups.

Yeah, projects that win often resemble early startups. That being said, you're totally welcome to build whatever you find interesting.
Post reply on HN