I n d ep en d en t
Issue no.
S t u de nt
V o ic e
o f
B o is e
S tat e
Sin ce
1933
48
March
08
2012
Volume 24
w w w.arbiteronline.com
Boise, Idaho
First issue free
Top Stories
Primaries
Ada County hosted the largest caucus in the nation.
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3
Football
Bronco football schedule released for 2012 season
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8
Sweatshops
Activists need to stop insisting that sweatshops lack benefits.
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7
Weather Today
Apps from scratch CODY FINNEY/THE ARBITER
Students spend the weekend coding, programming mobile and web applications Lauren Jacob Journalist
Sunny
56º high
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Tomorrow
Sunny
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Saturday
Partly Cloudy
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What’s Inside News Briefs
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Local
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Opinion
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Sports
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The Arbiter
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Four students walked away from the Interactive Learning Center on Sunday afternoon $500 richer. The Whirling Dervishes ++ members Jacob Strength, Sam Campbell, James Shawver and Jose Prado won the first annual Bronco App-athon. The Whirling Dervishes ++ was just one of 13 teams of Boise State students that competed over the weekend to build a mobile or web software application that would wow judges from the community and hopefully get them recognized in the technology world. From 6 p.m. on Friday to noon on Sunday, the teams of up to four people worked on building their app from the ground up. A lot of coding, designing, restarts and energy drinks later, the teams had created apps hoping to impress. Apps ranging from an Idaho wine guide to a Finish- in-Four planner were made in the small 42-hour time frame they were given. Quite a few people stayed overnight in the ILC with only a couple hours of sleep and lots of caffeine in their system. There were snacks and drinks constantly available for moments of needed fuel and raffles overnight to keep things interesting
and give motivation to stay awake. Local companies such as Boise Cascade, Oracle, IBM, Bardenay, Pita Pit and CompuNet provided food, beverages and raffle prizes. “Normal programming assignments take about 10 days of work,” said Andrew Gable, freshman computer science major and member of the Green Dream Team. “It just depends on how bad we want to finish it.” Most of the apps presented at the end were far from being publish-worthy because of the limited time, but the teams gave presentations explaining visions of how they were going to finish off the project and perfect their applications to how they wanted them. Third place was the Robo Potato team with a replacement Blackboard app called Learning Assistant. They had the idea to do something regarding Blackboard because the student population as a whole loathes the site. “Ongoing hate for Blackboard is always there,” said Cameron Eagans, Robo Potato team member. They walked away with $100 each, after spending a solid 32 hours of work over the weekend creating their masterpiece. “The coolest thing was learning how to work as a team,” said team member Steve Smith. “It was also cool meeting other peo-
ple with our interests and meeting people in the local industry.” In second place was the Student Media Team with its app called MindStream, a real-time interactive brainstorming tool. The team stayed overnight both nights and got a total of about five hours of sleep. Their hard work was rewarded with a prize of $300 each. “All I wanted was to place. I’m incredibly happy,” said Darius Houle, Student Media team member. First place was given to the Whirling Dervishes ++ for its app called Magic Weight Ball. It was designed to randomly generate a workout depending on the preferences of the user. By plugging in the desired muscles to work on, how much time the user has to work out and giving the device a shake, the app is able to generate a quality workout plan. Collectively, the team put in over 100 hours of work. “It was definitely worth it,” said Shawver, Whirling Dervishes ++ team member. “I enjoyed it the entire time.” “We want to make this an annual event,” said Max Davis-Johnson, Chief Information Officer of the Office of Information Technology at Boise State. The three winning teams were able to talk with the judges about the
opportunities with their apps and with companies in the community. A big learning experience to all who participated, the
App-athon gave students the chance to put their passions into practice and win some cash while doing it.
Winners
1 2 3
st
First place was given to the Whirling Dervishes ++ for its app called Magic Weight Ball.
In second place was the Stu-
nd dent Media Team with its app
called MindStream, a real-time interactive brainstorming tool.
rd
Third place was the Robo Potato team with a replacement Blackboard app called Learning Assistant.