SeaChange International is offering prizes including an Xbox and an iPad to the best personal-video apps created during its Unleash Video Codefest, a two-day competition in September open to college students and professional developers.
The multiscreen-video software vendor said it's aiming to encourage competing teams to fast-track app concepts for tablets, smartphones, TVs and other devices. The event is set to run Saturday, Sept. 29, through Sunday, Sept. 30 at the Cambridge Innovation Center (adjacent to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus) in Cambridge, Mass.
"Video-enabled devices and the app market have forced a remarkable rate of change in personal video consumption," SeaChange CTO Steve Davi said in a statement. "We created the Unleash Video Codefest to challenge student and professional developers to apply their own desires to produce an extraordinary new video experience or capability."
At the 2012 Cable Show last month, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association staged a similar 48-hour "Imagine App Challenge" in which five teams of college students competed to develop and build prototype apps. Two Stanford University students took home the $10,000 grand prize with an app that let broadband users set bandwidth priorities for content and applications.
Winners of SeaChange's Unleash Video Codefest will be selected by a judges' panel and participants in three categories: undergraduate, graduate and professional team winners for "Best Application" will receive Microsoft Xbox 360/Kinect game bundles or Visa gift cards; the team producing the "Best User Interface" will win Amazon Kindle Fire tablets; and the team winning the "People's Choice" will receive Apple iPads.
"Whatever the ideas, the atmosphere of collaboration and enthusiasm could rapidly incubate a wave of exciting apps," Davi said.
More info is available at unleashvideocodefest.com. Registration is free for college students 18 and older with valid ID.
