Bergen County teams take honors at Comcast NBCUniversal Hackathon
JUNE 22, 2014, 8:52 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JUNE 22, 2014, 9:11 PM
BY LINDA MOSS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
NEW YORK — Studio 8H, the iconic venue of “Saturday Night Live,” was unusually busy for a Sunday, with a full house and a lot of people trooping onstage.
But it was computer programmers and coders, not comedians, who were addressing the packed room at 30 Rockefeller Center, putting a cap to the first but not last Comcast NBCUniversal Hackathon.
About 150 people participated in the overnight two-day competition that started Saturday in Englewood Cliffs, and several Bergen County residents came away winners, including Michael Hurley, 53, of Ridgewood, His group, Team Thumbnail, won the grand prize at the event, and will get $6,500 in cash, as well as other gifts.
But Hurley, associate creative director at the Manhattan ad agency RAPP, said that he was excited because part of the prize is a chance for his team to pitch its idea to officials at Comcast Corp. and its NBCU unit.
His team’s Thumbnail app uses an algorithm to track a person’s news interests, and then offers them related news items based on the time of day or activity they are engaged in. For example, if a user tapped the breakfast icon, he or she would get content related to the morning.
Hackathons are events where computer programmers collaborate on software projects, and in this case media-entertainment giant Comcast Corp. and its new NBCU Technology Media Center’s Media Labs unit was soliciting ideas for ways consumers can use the company’s content – from its TV networks to its movie studio — across various digital platforms, including phone apps. The hackathon’s theme was “Help Shape the Future of Media and Technology.”
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen-county-teams-take-honors-at-comcast-nbcuniversal-hackathon-1.1039631#sthash.FIEXxfVW.dpuf
