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The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain

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Re: The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain

#51

Post by sukuriant »

drewtemp wrote: post #36
sukuriant wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except it * Gives participants resume boosters * Gives people direction on what to build in their spare time * Gives a common goal for those that feel like it * Offers college students some money (because it's probably not a well-employed industrial designer that's going to win, because they aren't the ones participating) * Gets new ideas on the table, because cross-discipline innovation is where some of the most nov…

1. How so? I participated and won this hackathon is a resume booster? How does that compare with actual paid work from a client? 2. Getting a client and working on a paid project gives me plenty of direction as to what to build in my spare time. 3. What? 4. You're only getting money if they think your idea is best. One person/group wins, not everyone. You could have been doing something with guaranteed pay, not spec…

1. Because it shows you succeeded in a driven project; and, as bluehat said, bluehat's hired people based on that.

2. Participating in hackathons is an easy, passive way to participate. It also doesn't leave the opportunity to fail as easily. If you mess up or get bored of the hackathon, you just stop. You're not screwing over a client-base. If this is your first project like this, you can even use it as a litmus test of whether you want to keep doing this type of thing, or not.

3. A common goal. There's an idea that maybe you hadn't thought about before; and now you, and your friends, can focus on this goal. Also, you, your friends, and several other people who found an interest, can all work on developing a new thing. It'll probably be more innovators than a normal team that would be designing the new machine.

4. True, but it's still nice incentive. TopCoder contests have prizes for the best contestants, too; and some of those are especially sponsored in much the same way.

5. You never know a good idea until you see it executed; and... so? Some people are freely willing to do that.

6. You, the company, are getting feedback from the community by some of the people in the community making a version of the product that handles some of their problems with the current models

7. Maybe, maybe not. I'm not Coca Cola. They /could/ use it for scouting, even if they don't.

Re: The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain

#52

Post by pdeuchler »

bluehat wrote: post #50
pdeuchler wrote: post #48

When was the last time you heard Goldman Sachs rent out a room, provide pizza, and give 10k to whoever can improve on their strategies the best? Oh, but they're providing test data for free! Kraft is actually renting out a ballroom in SF for anyone who wants to improve their cheese recipe. You get 10k if you can make a better mac and cheese than Kraft! You'll get a gold star on your resume while we make an extra 13 c…

...you want $1M for a weekend of work?

That's kind of the crux of the problem, isn't it?

If I am able to improve the vending machine (one of the most ubiquitous appliances in the US, at least) in a weekend don't I deserve something of that magnitude?

On the other hand, if I can improve on the vending machine, what makes you think I'm going to spend my weekend doing it for 10k?

Re: The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain

#53

Post by solistice »

seivan wrote: post #15

Would not support a company that peddles carbonated sugary junk. It's to blame for the obesity. Period.

I am incapable of understanding some happening. (Coke is bad for you. Coke sells well) I shall therefore apply conspirationalization to it, thereby finding an explanation for it. (Ergo, Coke is controlling the public using mass media to sell massive quatities of unhealthy products). Instead of looking for other reasons why a coke drinker might drink coke (I think it's delicious, and I don't gain weight from it due to a slow metabolism, just as an example), you're assuming mind control. I'm unsure whether you hypothesis would hold up to occam's razor because I don't think that's the nearest explanation.

Note: This is directed towards everyone who assumes coke brainwashed us into soda consumption, so I started generalizing a little

Re: The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain

#54

Post by pyre »

seivan wrote: post #22
mrtron wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you want to sell sugared water for the rest of your life? Or do you want to come with me and change the world?

I mean selling stuff that isn't changing the world is fine. As long as it's not for the worse. Coca cola is worse than say pot. It rots your teeth and your insides. There is no value in it. Yet they sell it and people buy it. It's dangerous.

The parent comment is quoting Steve Jobs:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sculley#1983.E2.80.9393_:_...

Re: The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain

#55

Post by bluehat »

pdeuchler wrote: post #52
bluehat wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...you want $1M for a weekend of work?

That's kind of the crux of the problem, isn't it? If I am able to improve the vending machine (one of the most ubiquitous appliances in the US, at least) in a weekend don't I deserve something of that magnitude? On the other hand, if I can improve on the vending machine, what makes you think I'm going to spend my weekend doing it for 10k?

Well, I guess if you have some million dollar idea and the market/human resources to produce it, you probably should do that this weekend instead.

Keep up your brilliance every weekend and you could retire to some tropical island of your choice by the end of this month. If your brilliance also correlates to previous time, I don't know how you have time to write back and forth with me over HN, you should probably be busy with your billion dollars or so right now.

The reality is, great ideas take time to produce. If you want to dedicate years of your life to producing a great idea, go ahead. I wish you good luck. If you'd like to have a few beers that weekend, meet some cool people, play with some cool technology, and possibly walk away with five new Macbook Airs or whatever HN folks would like to spend it on, come party.

Re: The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain

#56

Post by Tichy »

gbaygon wrote: post #9
Tichy wrote: post #5

I'd design it like a Cobra to stress the fact that Soda is toxic... To each their own, but I like my hackathons to be about bettering the world.

"Everything is poison, there is poison in everything. Only the dose makes a thing not a poison." Overconsumption may be the problem, i treat soda like a candy and drink one glass once/twice a week.

It's designed to induce overconsumption (sugar+salt).

Re: The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain

#58

Post by pdeuchler »

bluehat wrote: post #55
pdeuchler wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's kind of the crux of the problem, isn't it? If I am able to improve the vending machine (one of the most ubiquitous appliances in the US, at least) in a weekend don't I deserve something of that magnitude? On the other hand, if I can improve on the vending machine, what makes you think I'm going to spend my weekend doing it for 10k?

Well, I guess if you have some million dollar idea and the market/human resources to produce it, you probably should do that this weekend instead. Keep up your brilliance every weekend and you could retire to some tropical island of your choice by the end of this month. If your brilliance also correlates to previous time, I don't know how you have time to write back and forth with me over HN, you should probably be b…

I think you're missing the point, I'm not attacking HackerDojo or hackathons, those can be quite fun. For the right reasons. But if someone succeeds in this task, that invention is worth millions. Coke is offering 10k. That's exploitation disguised as a "party".

It just feels awfully similar to that guy you kind of know inviting you over for beers, and then preceding to try and convince you to build his app idea for a couple hundred bucks and no equity. Even if I wanted to help him, why would I do it for so little?

It just seems like coke is piling on the "Get those nerds to build X idea and let us profit off it" train, and the lowball offer isn't helping.

Re: The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain

#59

Post by seivan »

pyre wrote: post #54
seivan wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean selling stuff that isn't changing the world is fine. As long as it's not for the worse. Coca cola is worse than say pot. It rots your teeth and your insides. There is no value in it. Yet they sell it and people buy it. It's dangerous.

The parent comment is quoting Steve Jobs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sculley#1983.E2.80.9393_:_...

Yes I am very much aware of it. Scully turned out to be poison :)

Re: The Coca-Cola Company offers $10K Prize to Re-Imagine the Soda Fountain

#60

Post by bluehat »

pdeuchler wrote: post #58
bluehat wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I guess if you have some million dollar idea and the market/human resources to produce it, you probably should do that this weekend instead. Keep up your brilliance every weekend and you could retire to some tropical island of your choice by the end of this month. If your brilliance also correlates to previous time, I don't know how you have time to write back and forth with me over HN, you should probably be b…

I think you're missing the point, I'm not attacking HackerDojo or hackathons, those can be quite fun. For the right reasons. But if someone succeeds in this task, that invention is worth millions. Coke is offering 10k. That's exploitation disguised as a "party". It just feels awfully similar to that guy you kind of know inviting you over for beers, and then preceding to try and convince you to build his app idea for…

But if you really do succeed in the big ground-changing way, you can decline the prize money and keep your IP. We specifically worked that into the contract with them for this reason.

I understand why people are afraid of big companies, and I have certainly seen the wreckage of these things done wrong, I just don't understand how any of those fears are founded in reality in the case of this event.

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