Students create new applications in Hackathon

From Words with Friends to Instagram to iFart Mobile, the app market is a diverse assortment of both useful and pointless time-consuming technologies. To add to this collection, a group of Wash. U. students has been hosting “Hackathons” in which they code for up to 42 hours using the Windows Phone platform, which allows third-party members to create applications and submit them for official Microsoft approval for a spot in the Windows Phone Marketplace. Here is a preview of some of the applications developed during these meetings. To view and download more products of these hacking sessions, visit: http://students.cec.wustl.edu/~acm/hackathon/washUApps.html.

MetroLink
Timetable
Developer: Shubho Sadhu, graduate student
MetroLink Timetable is exactly what it sounds like. After you select your location, this app will notify you of the nearest MetroLink station and the times that the Metro is expected to arrive that day. The inspiration came from Shubho’s personal annoyance with the lack of accessibility of MetroLink schedules. “Before each break, I had a routine: wake up, do laundry, finish packing, take the MetroLink to the airport, go through security, grab lunch, catch my flight. I was always a bit rushed in the morning, and checking the MetroLink timetable PDF on my phone was a pain. So I started tinkering around with a MetroLink Timetable app. It’s now on the Marketplace, and St. Louis Metro loves it. I’m all about making other people’s lives easier, and this app does just that.”

Idobi
Developer: Brian Fink, junior
This idobi app is the online alternative to the radio station idobi Radio. The app features recent music news, photos from concerts, podcasts and interviews from the DJs of idobi Radio. It also has the ability to play the online stream of idobi Radio.

Simple
Cyphers
Developer: Leland Mayron, junior
Simple Cyphers allows users to encode and decode text using multiple different cypher methods. It is designed to be secure and easy for the user to navigate. After the user types content into the plain text field, this application will encrypt the text. This removes the need for extensive computer science knowledge to create other Windows Phone applications. It will also decode encrypted text.

Light Bright
Developer: Katie Ford, sophomore
This application is equivalent to an electronic version of Lite-Brite. After the user selects a color from a row of buttons, he or she will click on one of the circles that fill the screen. Place the color on the circle and repeat the process until the desired picture is created. Once a design is made, the user can hit a button, which will make the circles of color appear to light up.