Pebble goes to PennApps

This February, three Pebble developer evangelists headed out to Philadelphia for PennApps 2014.

It wasn't easy. First, our flights got cancelled due to Stormageddon 2014. Then, it was Valentine's Day.

The point is, we made it - and PennApps this year was worth it. Easily.

Some quick stats:

• Hackers: Over 1,000

• Hackers with Pebbles: Now over 150

• Hacks: Over 200

• Pebble Hacks: Over 20

• Hackathon Hours: 40

• Hours Slept: N/A.

A number of polished Pebble apps came out of PennApps, a feat made particularly impressive given that only one of the 30+ teams had ever used the brand new Pebble SDK 2.0 before. When the the time came to pick the winner of our Best Wearable Hack prize, we spent over fifteen minutes deliberating (for comparison, it took a lot longer to judge the Pebble prize than the Grand Prize).

Best Wearable Hack: Sober Up

Built by Evan, @matthalefi, @jkiske and @kevindcon

Sober Up won the Best Wearable Hack by helping Pebble wearers keep track of their beverage consumption. Given your weight and gender, SoberUp estimates your BAC to help make drivers make responsible decisions when and whether to drive home.

Pebble Selection: our Top 10.

SoberUp was an impressive (and useful) app, but it was far from the only app that deserves recognition. Here were some of our other favorite Pebble apps from PennApps:

Gestice

Built by @MarcoChiangTW, @stanzheng, Shane and Victor.

Unlock your phone with a shake of your wrist with Gestice, an app that correlates the accelerometer of your Pebble and your Android phone as a sort of secret handshake. As a bonus, depending on the direction in which you shake your phone, a different app comes up when you open.

Pebblin, the Pebble violin.

Built by @rbtying, @aditya_majumdar, @a2linx and Kevin.

Pebblin lets users simulate playing a violin, using their phone as the body and the Pebble as the bow.

Pebble Messaging Service

Built by @DavidPatuwo, @danielgur and @camdenfullmer

If you've got a Jailbroken iPhone, Pebble Messaging Service lets you see incoming SMS and respond with canned responses right from your Pebble.

Rebble, the first Pebble Reddit Client

Built by Joseph, Gary, @lDavixl and Chaoren

Read Reddit right on your phone, including support for custom subreddits and text AMAs.

BetsOn

Built by @aviromanoff, @sawyeraltman and @imjaredz

Make a wager with a friend using your mobile phone, then confirm and "seal the deal" by shaking hands while wearing Pebbles. To authenticate the handshake, BetsOn uses accelerometer, timing and location.

Pebblic Speaking

Built by @JiexiCao, @toptierphot, He and @mplewis

Improve your public speaking with the Pebblic Speaking app, which lets you receive key notecard-like cues from your watch at preset times. The app could be a great way to practice your timing or know when to transition to the next topic during a public presentation.

Conquistador

Built by @Drunkingo, @schmitzoide, Ricardo and Paulo.

Play a real world conquest game with Conquistdor by claiming areas for your team (before the other team does the same). Quite a complicated application for just 40 hours!

Pebmo and VenMoMoney

Pebmo built by @andyveloper, VenMoMoney built by @kt_seagull, @_ankushg, @carolynz and Qui.

There are now not one but two (count 'em) unofficial Venmo clients for Pebble, allowing users to easily send money to friends nearby, and (in VenMoMoney's case) approve requests for money right on the Pebble.

Thanks again for having us at PennApps! Hope to see many of you at our next events this season, HackDuke and Hack Illinois.

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