1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:23,160 Speaker 1: Yes. Now we're entering Hwong Engineering Center. Here at Stanford 2 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 1: h It's a freezing, cold, rainy Friday night in February. 3 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:36,240 Speaker 1: The campus is a ghost town, but inside the hall 4 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: it's hoppen. Hundreds of people are lined up to register 5 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 1: for something called tree Hacks, Stanford University's annual hackathon. It 6 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:48,080 Speaker 1: will last for thirty six hours straight. They're mostly high 7 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:51,520 Speaker 1: school and college age kids. Lots of them are wearing pajamas, 8 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 1: pushing roly suitcases and wearing backpacks. They're looking at their 9 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: phones and scanning the crowd for friends. One of the 10 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:02,320 Speaker 1: great things about learning computers science. Yes, it's like a 11 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:04,240 Speaker 1: superpower and you feel like God when you're able to 12 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 1: create something out of nothing. That's Cliff Whitesman. He's in 13 00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 1: his final year at Brown University. I'm able to sit 14 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: in the dining hall beyond my computer, build an app, 15 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: launch it, have seventy thousand users within a month. I 16 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:24,560 Speaker 1: just came up with an idea, built it. Pre Hacks 17 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:27,640 Speaker 1: is an elite gathering of more than six hundred extraordinarily 18 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 1: motivated students. Many of them study computer science. All of 19 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:35,000 Speaker 1: them build new technology for fun and of course bragging 20 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: rates They're not doing it as a means to like 21 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:40,959 Speaker 1: get money or whatever. They're just doing it for the 22 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:43,399 Speaker 1: sake of doing it and for the sake of creativity. 23 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 1: And that's why that's memo Duran, And he works at Amazon. 24 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:51,280 Speaker 1: You see, there's another group of people arriving for this 25 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: coding contest too. They work for the biggest tech companies 26 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:59,080 Speaker 1: in Silicon Valley. Memorous job is to mentor the hackers, 27 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 1: help them figure out how to use Amazon's Alexa voice technology. 28 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:10,399 Speaker 1: And I saw reps from Facebook, Google, IBM, and Microsoft 29 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:13,960 Speaker 1: all circling the hackathon. They were showing students how to 30 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 1: use their company's latest technology while impressing them as potential employers. Right, 31 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 1: and that last part is crucial. These kids, they may 32 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:26,079 Speaker 1: be here just for the fun, but for the technology companies, 33 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,919 Speaker 1: this is serious business. Hackathons have turned into a battlefield 34 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:44,040 Speaker 1: for the best software engineers of the future. Hi. I'm 35 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:47,520 Speaker 1: Brad Stone and I'm Lozette Chapman, And this week on Decrypted, 36 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:50,120 Speaker 1: we're going to explore the rise of hackathons and the 37 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:53,400 Speaker 1: role they play in the technology ecosystem. The hope is 38 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:57,760 Speaker 1: that these bright pajama wearing moderately sleep deprived students that 39 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:00,360 Speaker 1: you just heard from, students who are often still years 40 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:03,919 Speaker 1: away from finishing school. The hope is that they will 41 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 1: become the future Mark Zuckerberg's of the world, and that 42 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:11,200 Speaker 1: they will power the next generation of innovation in Silicon Valley. 43 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 1: And because of that, for technology companies as well as 44 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 1: venture capital investors, a lot is hanging in the balance 45 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 1: at these NERD slumber parties. Will take you inside one 46 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:28,080 Speaker 1: such hackathon today. So about these talent wars, there's a 47 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: lot of talk about how there's a shortage of engineers 48 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 1: right now in Silicon Valley. Well is that? What exactly 49 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: do we mean by that and what are the implications? Well, 50 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:38,920 Speaker 1: you can see it in the salaries. You know, starting 51 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:42,320 Speaker 1: engineers can earn a hundred and twenty five thousand or so, 52 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 1: but it can easily go up to two hundred thousand, 53 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 1: three hundred thousand dollars or more, because one excellent engineer, 54 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:54,120 Speaker 1: when truly exceptional, one that writes brilliant, clean CRISP code, 55 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: is worth fifty of his or her counterparts. And remember 56 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: you're losing at engineer is usually your competitors gain. Right, 57 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: So why did the tech companies need these hackathons. Why 58 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:09,480 Speaker 1: not go to places like India or China or somewhere 59 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 1: else in the world and find the talent that they're 60 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:16,360 Speaker 1: not finding locally. Well, they want them nearby an in house. Now, 61 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:19,240 Speaker 1: let's go back to Stanford's engineering Hall. I want you 62 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:21,599 Speaker 1: to meet Jeff Shaw. I own a pair of Snampchat 63 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: spectacles and they're really awesome. Like I was about to 64 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 1: stop using Snapchat, but then like I bought Harris spat 65 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:32,240 Speaker 1: Coles and its eye opening. Jeff studies philosophy at Lewis 66 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 1: and Clark University in Portland, Oregon. He likes country music 67 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: and tinkering with everything from cars to computers. And then 68 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:42,159 Speaker 1: I realized, like, um, not all my friends gonna see 69 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:44,280 Speaker 1: what I do. So I'd love to make version where 70 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: everyone gets to see what I do is so you know, 71 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:48,360 Speaker 1: face would be a good great platform for that. Jeff 72 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: has a track record at hackathons. He won forty dollars 73 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:54,600 Speaker 1: for building a payment app at a recent one sponsored 74 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:58,760 Speaker 1: by Mercedes Benz. Tree Hacks doesn't have big prizes, but 75 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:03,000 Speaker 1: Jeff says that's not what motivates him anyway. I'm not 76 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:06,720 Speaker 1: here to demo this product. Um, I'm I'm just here 77 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:11,279 Speaker 1: to build stuff. I love his idea. So did his 78 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:14,720 Speaker 1: Facebook spectacles work? Well, we'll get to that right now. 79 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,760 Speaker 1: We're just getting underway. I mean it's only midnight on 80 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:30,400 Speaker 1: Friday night. People are rushing around forming teams. The scene. 81 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:35,160 Speaker 1: It's chaotic, girl, I am looking, I cannot find my team. Crisis. 82 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: But many teams form on the spot at the hackathon. 83 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:42,800 Speaker 1: If they don't know each other at the beginning, well 84 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:47,720 Speaker 1: they definitely do by the end. Technology companies like IBM 85 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:50,920 Speaker 1: and Microsoft have been holding hackathouns for decades, but the 86 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:55,680 Speaker 1: number of college events has recently exploded. Seventy one hackathons 87 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 1: in North America alone this year. That's three times a week. 88 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:03,960 Speaker 1: You have hackers build things straight, well not totally straight. 89 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:06,039 Speaker 1: I mean they do take naps once in a while. 90 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 1: You know, they sleep in shifts, They drink insane amounts 91 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:12,000 Speaker 1: of red Bull, eat pizza, and from what I could sell, 92 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 1: very few took showers or brush their teeth. I'm sort 93 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:18,200 Speaker 1: of curious, what does it what does it smell like? 94 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:21,400 Speaker 1: At one of these, it was a little funky. That's 95 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:26,799 Speaker 1: really gross. You know, the hackathons have changed over time. 96 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 1: You know, it's no longer just guys or super technical 97 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 1: people that are doing this as it was in the 98 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 1: early days. People interested in figuring out how apps and 99 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:39,520 Speaker 1: services actually work can participate, and it's gotten easier for 100 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:42,800 Speaker 1: them as tools and technologies have become more and more 101 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:47,000 Speaker 1: user friendly. There's been explosion of new tools available for 102 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:49,920 Speaker 1: anybody to create applications and create games and share them 103 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:56,560 Speaker 1: with the world. That's Dan Garcia from the University of California, Berkeley. 104 00:06:56,880 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 1: He teaches the Beauty and Joy of Computing and introduct 105 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 1: re class for non computer science majors between Scratch and 106 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:08,160 Speaker 1: GameMaker and Unity. It's an incredible time and it's incredible 107 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,880 Speaker 1: space for beginners to create applications in games rather than 108 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:14,600 Speaker 1: just be passive users of them. He said that what 109 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 1: used to take weeks to build, now you can do 110 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:19,080 Speaker 1: in a couple of hours. So what are the building blocks? 111 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:23,440 Speaker 1: I'm thinking it's Amazon Web Services or Google's cloud business 112 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 1: or Microsoft is it is it payments to a p 113 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:28,720 Speaker 1: i S. What are all these pieces? It's all those 114 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:30,760 Speaker 1: things broad exactly. And you take a p i S 115 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:34,080 Speaker 1: for example, they're kind of like legos. They don't have 116 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:37,520 Speaker 1: to start from scratch, pouring the plastic and you know, 117 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:41,640 Speaker 1: doing the mold. These are preconfigured chunks of code to 118 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:45,080 Speaker 1: do things like process payments, connect to Twitter, or even 119 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: send a text. Hackers just combine them in new and 120 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:51,440 Speaker 1: interesting ways. So it sounds a little like competitive playtime. 121 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:56,720 Speaker 1: It absolutely is, and it's playtime for people who want 122 00:07:56,720 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: to build the coolest or most technically difficult thing while 123 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:06,680 Speaker 1: the clock keeps ticking down. By ten PM, hackers have 124 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:09,080 Speaker 1: all formed their teams and are starting to get to work. 125 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:13,720 Speaker 1: Around midnight, I checked out the four floors of Engineering 126 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:20,000 Speaker 1: Center where people were working. It's pretty facebook. A few 127 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:23,360 Speaker 1: lucky ones scored conference rooms with whiteboards. Most were working 128 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:25,960 Speaker 1: at wooden tables lined up in rows, or they lounged 129 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:29,280 Speaker 1: on bean bags shaped like smiley faces and poop emojis. 130 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,440 Speaker 1: Some groups were still debating what to build, but quite 131 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: a few had already decided. We want to build the 132 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:42,480 Speaker 1: slag for doctors, and we want to link still that 133 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:44,800 Speaker 1: patients and doctors are still in touch after the pat 134 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:50,360 Speaker 1: patient gets the treatment. I'm gonna build a plug in 135 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:54,120 Speaker 1: for the Internet that will connect on text, either on 136 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:58,760 Speaker 1: Twitter or on blogs and disrepeatable news sources directly back 137 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:04,320 Speaker 1: to Russian state media sources. But we most recently decided 138 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:07,960 Speaker 1: on using the artist simulate like some visual and auditory 139 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:11,000 Speaker 1: disorders UM that you might not otherwise be able to understand, 140 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:13,199 Speaker 1: Like what if you have a visual disorder that impairs 141 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:15,920 Speaker 1: your like vision or someone you're hearing, or maybe some 142 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:20,959 Speaker 1: kind of cognitive disorder that influences how you see the world. Sorry, 143 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:27,600 Speaker 1: that's a wide range of projects. I actually love the 144 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:30,800 Speaker 1: slack for doctors and patients. One did everyone stay hunched 145 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:33,240 Speaker 1: over their laptops all night? You know? I thought they 146 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 1: were going to I was expecting to see everyone crowded 147 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:38,000 Speaker 1: around sitting there straight, but but they weren't. I mean, 148 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:41,040 Speaker 1: sometimes members would go off and and work at the 149 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:45,200 Speaker 1: soldering station. Other times they'd go and meet with different 150 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:48,040 Speaker 1: engineers from Facebook and the like to get advice on 151 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:50,200 Speaker 1: how to use an a p I. And well, one girl, 152 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:52,720 Speaker 1: she just kind of wandered off looking for Uros, and 153 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:55,360 Speaker 1: like two hours later she still hadn't come back. The 154 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:58,520 Speaker 1: Grand Uros. Excuse now, dare? I asked, did you get 155 00:09:58,559 --> 00:10:01,600 Speaker 1: any sleep while you were covering the UM? I did. 156 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:04,480 Speaker 1: I found this cozy little server room and I curled 157 00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:06,080 Speaker 1: up on a table and I got a few winks 158 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:08,600 Speaker 1: it was nice. But actually a lot of people did 159 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:11,960 Speaker 1: take naps, short naps, mind you, on tables, even just 160 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:14,599 Speaker 1: straight in their chair, like this one guy who was 161 00:10:14,679 --> 00:10:17,439 Speaker 1: using earplugs in a blindfold just to ignore the chaos. 162 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:21,199 Speaker 1: And what about Jeff in his spectacles for Facebook efforts? 163 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:24,199 Speaker 1: Was he live streaming his life at this point? Well, 164 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:26,960 Speaker 1: by Saturday he had made some pretty good progress. He 165 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:29,600 Speaker 1: took an old baseball hat and he hot glued it 166 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:32,439 Speaker 1: to a Raspberry pie. For our listeners, that's a super 167 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:34,880 Speaker 1: powerful computer that's about the size of a credit card 168 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:38,120 Speaker 1: and it's cheap. It's like thirty five. Um. So he 169 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:40,960 Speaker 1: attached a camera and a battery to the hat, and 170 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:43,040 Speaker 1: then he secured a WiFi connection so that he could 171 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:45,959 Speaker 1: live stream the camera to Facebook. Then he encoded the 172 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:51,080 Speaker 1: video so Facebook software would accept it and did it work? No? 173 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:54,200 Speaker 1: Why is there red code in the green? That does 174 00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:56,839 Speaker 1: not mean you cannot open video device? That doesn't sound good. 175 00:10:56,920 --> 00:10:59,560 Speaker 1: That's the air that Facebook sending back. Okay, so yeah, 176 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:04,360 Speaker 1: so does that mean how do you get around that? Dude? 177 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:07,080 Speaker 1: Or this is that what you're figuring out now? Yes, 178 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:10,720 Speaker 1: that's what trying to figure out The Facebook representatives at 179 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:14,320 Speaker 1: the hackathon were there to help, but they couldn't figure 180 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:17,679 Speaker 1: it out. Jeff was scouring online forms all of Saturday. 181 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:20,640 Speaker 1: He tried swapping out hardware parts, even took an uber 182 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:23,959 Speaker 1: to the nearest fries, but by dinner time, with about 183 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:27,040 Speaker 1: two thirds of the hackathon over, it still wasn't working. 184 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:40,040 Speaker 1: Time was running out to come up with a new idea. 185 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:44,440 Speaker 1: Along with technical experts from Facebook and Amazon. I saw 186 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:48,640 Speaker 1: others from Google, IBM, Disney, and Microsoft. They stayed till 187 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:50,680 Speaker 1: late at night and they were back there early the 188 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:54,440 Speaker 1: next morning, wanting to help. Most technology companies consider this 189 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:57,360 Speaker 1: critical if they want to remain competitive. They can't get 190 00:11:57,360 --> 00:12:00,760 Speaker 1: the newest crop of makers excited about using their they 191 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 1: become irrelevant. So help me picture this. What what are 192 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:06,640 Speaker 1: the representatives from Microsoft and Facebook and Amazon? What are 193 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:08,959 Speaker 1: they doing at the hackathon? Well, you know, I thought 194 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:11,440 Speaker 1: they'd be circling around, you know, saying, hey, use my 195 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:13,560 Speaker 1: ap I, But it wasn't like that. It was a 196 00:12:13,559 --> 00:12:16,640 Speaker 1: lot more subtle. Remember their sponsors, so they paid to 197 00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:19,480 Speaker 1: be there. They got their tables set up with all 198 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:21,360 Speaker 1: their swag, and they're waiting for people to come up 199 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:24,480 Speaker 1: to them and passing out like swag what what? What 200 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:26,480 Speaker 1: good is are they passing out? They had all sorts 201 00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:30,119 Speaker 1: of good stuff. They had special hoodies with inflatable pillows. 202 00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:35,359 Speaker 1: They had warm fuzzy socks, blindfolds, ear plugs, water bottles, 203 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:38,040 Speaker 1: you know, all the normal swaggy stuff. So they were 204 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:39,360 Speaker 1: waiting for people to come up to them and then 205 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:41,640 Speaker 1: they could have a conversation. And they're holding events, they're 206 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:46,400 Speaker 1: holding talks exactly. They were holding talks on slack online 207 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:50,000 Speaker 1: and also uh they were having in person ones. In fact, 208 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:53,079 Speaker 1: Google had one on its cloud services at one am. 209 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:56,720 Speaker 1: It was standing room only one am session on cloud 210 00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:00,199 Speaker 1: services that is Devotion. And Microsoft was also to the 211 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:03,760 Speaker 1: late night crowd and they brought cool toys. We have 212 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:06,960 Speaker 1: a couple of technical workshops on bots and cognitive services. 213 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,120 Speaker 1: We try to get students wrapped on our cloud platform. 214 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:12,800 Speaker 1: We have about five Hollowans devices, ten surface pro Force 215 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 1: so that students can check out and develop on um 216 00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:18,080 Speaker 1: free cloud credits. I mean the really point, the point 217 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:20,120 Speaker 1: just to really get students to use the technology in 218 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:24,199 Speaker 1: a fun, easy way that's friction free. As the hackathons 219 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:27,720 Speaker 1: began digging into the technical nuts and bolts and began coding. 220 00:13:28,679 --> 00:13:31,680 Speaker 1: I kind of felt rude interrupting them. So I met 221 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:35,120 Speaker 1: more sponsors, like via McGee from IBM that work with 222 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:38,520 Speaker 1: the developers and they educate them on our technologies and 223 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: tap them um use our services an API and build something. 224 00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:47,480 Speaker 1: So how successful a strategy is this for companies? I mean, 225 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:50,560 Speaker 1: what's what's the return on investment for sponsoring a hackathon? 226 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:53,000 Speaker 1: You know, it's funny, Brad, I asked that a bunch 227 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:55,600 Speaker 1: of times, and nobody could give me a number. They 228 00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:59,840 Speaker 1: were all squishy, feel good, kind of futuristic answers like 229 00:14:00,559 --> 00:14:07,600 Speaker 1: endearing themselves to future employees or um evangelizing their technology. 230 00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 1: I mean, these are bright, self motivated college students who 231 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:13,400 Speaker 1: will very likely go on to build great things in tech. 232 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:15,880 Speaker 1: Is there anything substantial they get in return? Like? Can 233 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:21,080 Speaker 1: they keep on communicating with these programmers? Yeah? Exactly. As sponsors, 234 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:24,880 Speaker 1: they can access the list of everyone that was there. 235 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:27,080 Speaker 1: That means they definitely get a leg up in recruiting. 236 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:30,160 Speaker 1: That sounds valuable. Was it just tech companies? No, there 237 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:33,960 Speaker 1: were some venture capital firms that go to hackathons, like 238 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:37,120 Speaker 1: at Tree ACKs Andrews and Horowitz had a table, and 239 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 1: of course Peter Teal's fifteen seventeen fund. They've made that 240 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:44,840 Speaker 1: their entire strategy, visiting hackathons around the country and doing 241 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:49,160 Speaker 1: the circuit. Yeah, in the tech community, we have mythologized 242 00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:52,400 Speaker 1: innovators like Evan Spiegel and Mark Zuckerberg, who both began 243 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:54,600 Speaker 1: building their companies when they were in college. So I 244 00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:57,840 Speaker 1: could see why investors would want to prowl these hackathons 245 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:00,840 Speaker 1: looking for the next generation. Exactly, these these invest in 246 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:04,280 Speaker 1: raw talent. That's what fuels innovation, and they want to 247 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:06,800 Speaker 1: be on these kids radars. They have to be, and 248 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:08,640 Speaker 1: they want to be early, right because the first money 249 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:15,000 Speaker 1: went big. Exactly, first money in biggest check out. And 250 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:17,320 Speaker 1: this is a group of college kids who, instead of 251 00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:19,880 Speaker 1: going out and partying with their friends, are pulling all 252 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:23,000 Speaker 1: nighters in an engineering hall. Not for a grade, mind you, 253 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:26,240 Speaker 1: but for the sheer joy of creating something new and 254 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:32,800 Speaker 1: pushing their skills to the limit. So by now is 255 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 1: that it must have been getting pretty late. How many 256 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:38,280 Speaker 1: hours have you been there at this point? Quite a few. 257 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:40,560 Speaker 1: And you know, when I was walking around, I saw 258 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:45,520 Speaker 1: some groups hyper focused, surrounded by chip wrappers and chocolate 259 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:48,040 Speaker 1: kisses and cheese. It's and red Bulls and the like 260 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:51,200 Speaker 1: and acting like no one else in the whole world existed. 261 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:54,840 Speaker 1: They were totally in the zone, super focused, and other 262 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 1: ones were taking a break and having a blast. I 263 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 1: came up and you ladies are here and you're laughing. 264 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:05,680 Speaker 1: What are you laughing about? What is it funny? A 265 00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:10,760 Speaker 1: lot of things, Yeah, mostly sleep deprivation. No, um, I 266 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:14,000 Speaker 1: don't know. It's like it's it's almost like funny at 267 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:15,880 Speaker 1: the point where like you've been spending like all these 268 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:18,080 Speaker 1: hours trying to get like all these like random things 269 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:20,520 Speaker 1: to work, and it's like finally starting to like come together. 270 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:25,520 Speaker 1: It's like a little unbelievable. So it was relief and 271 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:29,400 Speaker 1: surprise basically when you've been trying like the same thing 272 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:34,280 Speaker 1: twenty times and then it randomly works. Okay, now give 273 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:36,240 Speaker 1: us an update on Jeff, the guy who was trying 274 00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:40,280 Speaker 1: to make Spectacles work with Facebook. Jeff, he was determined 275 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:43,080 Speaker 1: and he wasn't talking very much, so I just sat 276 00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:45,720 Speaker 1: down and hung out. The last time we heard from Jeff, 277 00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:48,560 Speaker 1: he had hit a wall. He had asked Facebook engineers, 278 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:52,520 Speaker 1: scoured online forums, but new parts from Fries, but nothing 279 00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:56,920 Speaker 1: was working. Then he asked one more friend to take 280 00:16:56,960 --> 00:17:03,200 Speaker 1: a look. I so you just screamed, what is it? 281 00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:06,840 Speaker 1: What happened? So this problem we've been trying to fix 282 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:10,439 Speaker 1: for twice four hours. Um, we've found the solution. And 283 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 1: it's the stupidest reason ever. Um. So, as you can see, 284 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:15,920 Speaker 1: this is Facebook right now. So it's on Facebook live 285 00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:19,160 Speaker 1: through my hat that I have. It's like live video. 286 00:17:19,320 --> 00:17:22,159 Speaker 1: And we couldn't get to work because we left these 287 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:25,679 Speaker 1: quotation marks out of this one fragment that we have. 288 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:28,439 Speaker 1: Let me see the fragment of code. Yeah, family, you 289 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:32,160 Speaker 1: want to walk all right through it, it's just right 290 00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:36,360 Speaker 1: where is it? So basically over here you can see 291 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:40,080 Speaker 1: we need these quotation marks and we had this link 292 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:44,600 Speaker 1: like this, and that's why they work. As simple as that, 293 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:47,040 Speaker 1: As simple as that. But Jeff still had a few 294 00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:51,080 Speaker 1: hours left until deadline. Yeah, but in that time he 295 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:53,120 Speaker 1: wanted to keep working. I mean, that's the whole point 296 00:17:53,160 --> 00:17:55,560 Speaker 1: of a hackathon is to push your limits and keep 297 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:59,320 Speaker 1: building something until you run out of time. Yeah, Jeff, 298 00:17:59,359 --> 00:18:07,600 Speaker 1: so we are is there audio? Hello? Hello? I don't 299 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:11,560 Speaker 1: hear anything, do you? So what are we just here? 300 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:17,680 Speaker 1: With that success, that was him working through continued issues 301 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:20,159 Speaker 1: again in the nature of the hack he had gotten 302 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:23,960 Speaker 1: the microphone hooked up but hadn't quite figured out how 303 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:27,120 Speaker 1: to encode the audio, so it streamed through as well. 304 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:29,400 Speaker 1: So what happens to all these projects after they get 305 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:31,920 Speaker 1: them working in the hackathon wraps up? You know, That's 306 00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:34,439 Speaker 1: something that surprised me probably the most when I was 307 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:37,720 Speaker 1: reporting this out, was that most of these projects, however 308 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:42,000 Speaker 1: cool they are, don't go anywhere. Alex Ayatala, who helped 309 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:45,720 Speaker 1: organize Stanford's first hackathon and is now working on his 310 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:52,359 Speaker 1: startup What's Goodly, calls Hackathon's the graveyard of ideas of 311 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:56,480 Speaker 1: the project takes of the time, and the last which 312 00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:58,919 Speaker 1: is about making the marketing and getting it on the 313 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:02,159 Speaker 1: app store and fix seeing bugs, making it so users 314 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:04,440 Speaker 1: can actually log in and sign up, which a lot 315 00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:09,360 Speaker 1: of hackathon projects don't like just skip over completely. Um, 316 00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:12,880 Speaker 1: that stuff can take eight of the time, so it's 317 00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:16,639 Speaker 1: just it's not no one's incentivice to do it. So 318 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:19,080 Speaker 1: you've got a bunch of projects that aren't totally built 319 00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:23,280 Speaker 1: out and can't be used by the general population. Yeah, exactly. 320 00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:26,640 Speaker 1: And a lot of people told me because they're working 321 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:29,560 Speaker 1: quickly and they just want stuff to work. The code 322 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:33,240 Speaker 1: that they write is usually really really bad. Oh I see, 323 00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:35,480 Speaker 1: So they'll use like ten steps instead of one to 324 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:38,359 Speaker 1: perform the same function, which usually means it's clunky and 325 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:41,560 Speaker 1: breaks more easily. Yeah, not ideal. And the other weird 326 00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:44,680 Speaker 1: thing about hackathons is that the better the project does 327 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:47,639 Speaker 1: with the judges, the less likely the makers are to 328 00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:51,520 Speaker 1: continue it after the hackathon. When you win that something, 329 00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:54,400 Speaker 1: it's it's like as if you you completed it, even 330 00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:57,640 Speaker 1: though you really didn't. That was Ebenezer Mamo. He won 331 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:00,440 Speaker 1: a recent cal Hacks hackathon with a project a team 332 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:04,359 Speaker 1: called test Lapathic. It basically allows you to control a 333 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:07,880 Speaker 1: Tesla car with your mind. My god, that sounds very 334 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:11,800 Speaker 1: cool and vaguely dangerous. So how exactly did you do that? Well, 335 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:14,560 Speaker 1: he and his team used an e G headset, you 336 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:17,760 Speaker 1: know those mesh looking devices that you put over your head, 337 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:20,679 Speaker 1: and it has maybe a couple dozen little metal disks 338 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:24,600 Speaker 1: that attached, right, and they detect electrical activity in the brain. Yeah, exactly, Well, 339 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:29,080 Speaker 1: they used that to map the brain activity to certain actions. 340 00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:32,200 Speaker 1: Then they used an analog signal to broadcast it to 341 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,199 Speaker 1: an RC radio which controlled the motors in the Tesla 342 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:37,440 Speaker 1: to make it stop or go, No wonder they won. 343 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:40,840 Speaker 1: That sounds ingenious, but the creators didn't want to take 344 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:43,760 Speaker 1: it to the next level. For us, it was for fun. 345 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:49,040 Speaker 1: Um it's always for fun, and the secondary um purposes 346 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:52,320 Speaker 1: to really showcase what the next generation of human computer 347 00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:54,880 Speaker 1: interfaces will look like. And for us, it's really all 348 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:58,320 Speaker 1: about showing people that it's possible and that limits and exists. 349 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:01,960 Speaker 1: It's this funny thing that while the students are pushing 350 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 1: the limits just for fun, they're being watched by all 351 00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:08,119 Speaker 1: those recruiters and mentors who are waiting for them to 352 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:11,240 Speaker 1: grow up so they can hire them. So, Lazette, do 353 00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:13,440 Speaker 1: you think you saw the next Mark Zuckerberg or Evan 354 00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 1: Spiegel at the Stanford hackath I don't know, Brad. I 355 00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:20,880 Speaker 1: met some pretty bright people who were really motivated, and 356 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:24,399 Speaker 1: I also saw a couple of cool projects. It was 357 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:26,399 Speaker 1: there anything there that you could see out in the 358 00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:29,960 Speaker 1: real world. Well, I really liked this one robotic drink 359 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:32,280 Speaker 1: mixer because I've got a penchant from Margarita to say 360 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:36,159 Speaker 1: no more, I'll where can I buy one? It was 361 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:38,879 Speaker 1: a fun experience, though, and I can see some of 362 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:42,119 Speaker 1: these maybe going on or maybe it just stays in 363 00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:44,680 Speaker 1: the graveyard. Who knows, maybe they'll be resurrected from the grave. 364 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:47,359 Speaker 1: I also loved Jeff's idea of taking something that was 365 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:51,520 Speaker 1: very proprietary and Menford Snapchat and repurposing it for Facebook. 366 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:54,240 Speaker 1: That seems like a future that we should have where 367 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:56,760 Speaker 1: any device out there works on the different social networks 368 00:21:56,760 --> 00:22:03,360 Speaker 1: that we all use. So as the hackathon at Stanford 369 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:06,520 Speaker 1: kicked down to the final minutes for people stressing out, well, 370 00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:09,800 Speaker 1: there were still that fun vibe and people still had 371 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:12,880 Speaker 1: smiles on their faces, but you could definitely feel that 372 00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:15,640 Speaker 1: people were starting to get stressed. I mean, these are 373 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:18,720 Speaker 1: very competitive people who had just spent the last thirty 374 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:20,879 Speaker 1: five hours crunching on a project and they wanted to 375 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:24,399 Speaker 1: be as good as possible. Hey guys, good morning. I 376 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:26,399 Speaker 1: just want to let you know that you can want 377 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:28,920 Speaker 1: your have to be judged. Please submit it on death 378 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:31,399 Speaker 1: post by ted am for all the prizes and sponsor 379 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:35,760 Speaker 1: prizes you want to be judged for. So what was 380 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:39,680 Speaker 1: the actual finish, Like, you know, it was kind of anticlimactic. 381 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:43,119 Speaker 1: I expected people to be high fiving and cheering, but 382 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:45,600 Speaker 1: nobody did that. It was just kind of quiet and 383 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:48,480 Speaker 1: even the winners of this hackathon, like Cliff, you know, 384 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:50,639 Speaker 1: the guy that felt like a god when he coded, 385 00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:54,440 Speaker 1: he didn't even seem really fixated on it, And like 386 00:22:54,560 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 1: Jeff said, it's really about the process of creation. And 387 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:14,280 Speaker 1: that's it for this week's Decrypted. Thanks for listening. We'd 388 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:16,479 Speaker 1: love to hear what you thought of this episode. Record 389 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:19,119 Speaker 1: a voice message and send it to us at Decrypted 390 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:22,520 Speaker 1: at Bloomberg dot net or I'm on Twitter at Lazette, 391 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:26,480 Speaker 1: Underscore Chapman and I'm at brad Stone. If you haven't already, 392 00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:29,159 Speaker 1: please subscribe to our show on iTunes or wherever you 393 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,119 Speaker 1: get your podcasts. While you're there, please leave us a 394 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:35,240 Speaker 1: rating in the review. It really helps more listeners find 395 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:39,479 Speaker 1: our show. This episode was produced by Pia Gtcari, Liz Smith, 396 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:42,919 Speaker 1: and Magnus Hendrickson. A big thank you to Emily Busso, 397 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:46,199 Speaker 1: who edited the Prince story I wrote about professional hackath honors. 398 00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:49,080 Speaker 1: It's different than academic ones. You can find it at 399 00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:53,280 Speaker 1: Bloomberg dot com, Forward slash Tech. Alec McCabe is head 400 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:55,880 Speaker 1: of Bloomberg Podcasts. We'll see you next week.