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Plantronics Developer Connection Offers Rich Prize Package at LAUNCH Hackathon

21 Feb 2013CPOL3 min read 14.5K   1  
Here’s how you can win cash and recognition for your Plantronics-based app or service.

This article is in the Product Showcase section for our sponsors at CodeProject. These articles are intended to provide you with information on products and services that we consider useful and of value to developers.

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The annual LAUNCH Festival offers startups a chance to receive valuable product feedback and funding. This year’s festival on March 4th-6th in San Francisco will be preceded on March 2nd-4th by the first-ever LAUNCH Hackathon, presented in partnership with Angelhack. It offers developers and designers an opportunity to present innovative app ideas, with the winner receiving $50,000 in investment money or $20,000 in cash. Registration is completely free, and each participant will also receive a complimentary Festival Pass.

As a sponsor of the event, the Plantronics Developer Connection (PDC) is offering its own unique prize package for the winner who best integrates Plantronics headsets into their winning app or service, using the Spokes SDK or other technologies.

Entries will be judged based on equal parts: Idea, Marketability and Execution.

Here’s what you could win from Plantronics:

  • $1,000
  • Space to demo the winning solution at the PDC "Demo Pit" table at the LAUNCH Festival
  • Voyager Legend UC headsets for each team member.

The Demo Pit prize is a significant one, because members of the LAUNCH Festival Grand Jury will pass through the Demo Pit area to select two to four teams to go up on stage and present their solution. (Here is some background on requirements for the Demo Pit.)

Presenting your solution on stage will give you a shot at the LAUNCH Hackathon grand prize-- $50,000 in investment money or $20,000 in cash. To get a taste of what it will be like to present your creation on stage, here’s a video from 2012 showing the BlackLocus presentation.

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Getting Started

Your first step is to register yourself or your team on the LAUNCH Hackathon site. (And remember-- registration is free.)

Then you will need to register at the Plantronics Developer Connection, allowing you to download the Spokes SDK and also make use of the rich collection of code samples, how-to articles, case studies and videos found there.

One tutorial that might spur some creative thinking is Cary Bran’s blog entry, How to Get Your Voyager Pro UC to Tweet.

One of the newest developments in communications is WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication), allowing browsers to communicate with each other using voice calling and video chat without the need for plug-ins. In another tutorial, Cary Bran describes how to get started in Integrating Plantronics Call Control with WebRTC.

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How Threewill Used the Spokes SDK to Create a Groundbreaking App

Providing real-time customer information for salespeople, pulling automatically from backend CRM systems when a call is made or received, has been a significant goal for some time. Threewill solved this problem with Popcorn, and the Spokes SDK plays a significant role.

Using the Plantronics Spokes SDK Caller ID API, Popcorn can identify the caller’s number and then match it against the caller’s profile in systems such as Salesforce. Information on the customer and their past interactions pops up automatically on the salesperson’s screen, allowing them to direct the call and make real-time notes that are then saved in Salesforce.

To get a better idea of how Popcorn works with the Plantronics code, view this video. You can also read a complete case study here.

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The LAUNCH Hackathon Challenge Awaits

The LAUNCH Hackathon begins in San Francisco on March 2nd. Start using the Plantronics links in this article to help you develop an inspiring solution that will win you $1,000 and time at the Plantronics Demo Pit table. You might be the lucky one to make it onto the main stage of the LAUNCH Festival, and the even luckier one who wins the LAUNCH Hackathon grand prize of $50,000 in investment money or $20,000 in cash.

Note: We will be updating this article after the LAUNCH Hackathon to profile those who entered the Plantronics challenge.

Summary of Key Links:

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
United States United States
Today’s smart devices and applications have untapped potential in the realm of context-aware computing. Plantronics is making it possible for its audio devices to deliver contextual information to a range of applications through Plantronics headsets. The Plantronics Spokes SDK allows developers to create a range of business applications that will have the power to change the way we communicate and collaborate.

Please check out our DevZone for more info on the Spokes SDK:
http://developer.plantronics.com/community/devzone

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