AFKFest Update: Three tech-guys walk into a bar...

**ChasPhillips** · 07-19-2011, 04:06 PM

Our thinking about this year’s AFKFest had become so uptight--we needed a change of perspective. We needed... a violent bolt of inspiration. The wheels somewhere in Rob’s head were turning... slowly at first, but picking up speed..... Then, it happened. Kaboom. Back to our roots, back to the community; something exciting, something.... of the community, by the community, and for the community.

A Hackathon.

We were immediately worked up into a fervor about the idea. With the level of expertise in this community, and poised on the brink of a revolution in mobile apps, car computing, and software/hardware design, we were pretty amped. Once we settled down a bit, Rob tapped this more tempered description on his keyboard while the idea was still in its infancy:

"Hey everyone. We're doing a hackathon on the Sunday after AFKFest to create some amazing software and/or hardware using existing SDKs. The day will be devoted to collaboration between software/hardware engineers, project managers, and designers. We're interested in knowing what SDKs you all would like to work with. Any ideas? What companies are you the most interested in working with right now? And they don't need to be necessarily associated with car computing.

We know Centrafuse (and other companies) will be there with their SDK."

What can we accomplish in a short period of time, fueled by collaboration, CARisma and coffee? The sky’s the limit, but one thing is for sure: this thing will live or die based on your input and participation. Let’s see what kind of amazing concepts and ?????? we can come up with. I can barely sit still. To get started, let’s hear what you think. Post a comment, ask a question, let’s get this conversation started.

[Photo by Flickr user marycoit82]

**Sonicxtacy02** · 07-19-2011, 07:00 PM

Let's take down google!

J/K... Whatever it objective ends up being i'm there!

**PaulF** · 07-19-2011, 08:53 PM

Grr, I love this idea, but I can't make it on Sunday. I live in MA and I'll be at school by the time AFKFest is happening. For me to get to AFKFest, when I leave class on the Friday prior, I'm hopping in my car and driving down to Baltimore and not sleeping more than a couple of hours and then heading back up to Boston right after AFKFest is done to finally sleep. I think this is a great idea though, and you guys have my full support.

As it get's really close, I'll see what I can do about staying in Baltimore an extra day but I won't really know until mid-september. I'd really like to be there though.

**Fiberoptic** · 07-20-2011, 03:20 PM

A quick video reply:

By the way, I wrote the part about CARisma...and then rewarded myself with a cheese stick from Chas's Recent grocery order.

We mentioned this before, but AFKfest is also going to be a component of Baltimore's Betascape. Here is a video Heather did from last year's betascape.

**JohnWPB** · 07-22-2011, 01:46 AM

I would love to see either access for Twitter, or Facebook (Both with SDK's available) worked into something usable on a CarPC. Being able to post to your Facebook or Twitter accounts (While parked of course) would be a great way to update your accounts while on the go.

Both SDK's are fairly complicated, at least for me!

Maybe some sort of wrapper .dll or something as a "bridge" between plugins for front ends, and the SDK's.

Info on the Twitter SDK

Info on the Facebook SDK

**malcom2073** · 07-22-2011, 04:29 AM

Sounds interesting to be sure. Not sure how much I'd be able to help, but I'm certainly more than willing to hang out

**Fiberoptic** · 07-22-2011, 06:53 AM

Originally Posted by malcom2073

Sounds interesting to be sure. Not sure how much I'd be able to help, but I'm certainly more than willing to hang out

Depending on How many people we get there should be something to do for everyone. It takes all sorts of people to pull off a successful project. In addition to programing there are graphics designed to be created, people to think about UI, hardware integration, planning, documentation, and all the other good stuff that makes a team project go.

Originally Posted by JohnWPB

I would love to see either access for Twitter, or Facebook

Good stuff! We'll add that to the list.

**Sonicxtacy02** · 07-22-2011, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by JohnWPB

I would love to see either access for Twitter, or Facebook (Both with SDK's available) worked into something usable on a CarPC. Being able to post to your Facebook or Twitter accounts (While parked of course) would be a great way to update your accounts while on the go.

Both SDK's are fairly complicated, at least for me!

Maybe some sort of wrapper .dll or something as a "bridge" between plugins for front ends, and the SDK's.

Info on the Twitter SDK

Info on the Facebook SDK

I've actually got apps in development for a client for both twitter and facebook that could easily be implemented into a plugin for CF/RR. I'll make sure to bring my latest build

**JohnWPB** · 07-22-2011, 02:41 PM

Sounds great Sonic! Wish I could be there....

I had a Twitter PI working really well here, and then they went and changed their authentication for the 3000th time! I was able to tap a button, that would update Twitter with your current location, (Street, City, State) and was a clickable link to open a Google map to show the exact location. I also had a button for "Tweet Music" that would simply tweet what artist and song you were currently listening to.

Of course, when the vehicle was stopped, you could also type out a tweet and post it as well.

When you went to the screen in the skin, it would show your tweets in a list. Here is a screen capture of the 3 different types of tweets that I had working at the time:

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Size: 119.5 KB

**optikalefx** · 07-28-2011, 12:19 PM

So the FB and Twitter APIs are pretty widely available, pretty much anyone can get those and work with them. Can you guys think of any other SDKs or even just services that you wish had an API to work with? For example, if Vlingo opened their API to allow their voice to text translation. Or if Foursquare allowed anyone to checkin from any app. Of course we are also thinking deeper in terms of Ford Sync SDK and maybe even Toyota's new carputer SDK, if they have one.