Video: PayPal opens up APIs for Charity Hack

Over the weekend of the 19th and 20th of September 2009, over 100 developers gathered at the PayPal offices in Richmond to take part in the first ever PayPal charity hack. Within 24 hours they had to use PayPal’s new adaptive payment APIs with brand new ones from MissionFish and JustGiving to create new ways for charities to promote their causes. On offer: a grand prize trip to Innovate 09 but what really motivated this group to give up their sleep and their time to hack for charity?

At the end of the 24 hours, the applications varied from mobile uses to online games. It was a glimpse into how these new applications could be used by developers to make payment and donation giving even easier for the consumer. The big winners were:

• Silliest hack – comparetheduck.com, by Alistair MacDonald and Michael Heap allowed you to compare rubber ducks and build your own top trumps cards. It was suggested that a charity could use the system with a more appropriate theme.


• Breast Cancer Campaign challenge – Pinkify. This facebook application allows you to select a friends photo and make them “wear it pink”. This ap has a huge potential to go viral as well getting the “wear it pink” message over to the facebook generation. The winners included Cristiano Betta and Melinda Seckington.


• Best Mobile hack – GetGiving was based on allowing you to make a spontaneous donation to charity on seeing a poster or paper/tube advert. This allowed you to either use an iphone ap/ text message or a mobile website.


• Best Social Media based hack- Sponsor Me. This facebook application allows you to set up a cause and donate the proceeds directly to a charity via Missionfish and PayPal. This app allows you to pick a charity and therefore has great potential on the world biggest social network. The winning team included Wakari founder, Mat Clayton.


• The winning hack was CharityFrag by a team of 5 including Tim Nash , Dom Hodgson , Kevin Prince , Leeky and Tom Morris. This amazing application connected an opensource first person shooter game up with PayPal’s adaptive payments. Judges picked this one not only as it used very innovative technologies, but it addressed the issue of engaging a younger generation in the donation process.

LINKS:
Find out about the history of hacking
Read more about Innovate 09 on PayPal’s developer network
Coverage of the event by Cambridge New Media Services

On Adam Sandler

My friend Josh works at the evening standard and sometimes asks me to write my opinion about topics that are in the news that day. Recently he asked me to send him 100 words on Adam Sandler - they didn't print it as they already had one with that point of view so I thought I'd print it here:

Saturday Night Live was the mainstay of my teenage years in Canada during the time Adam Sandler dominated the programme. Since then I think I've watched every one of his movies. The SNL alumni of those years seemed to breed the broad comedic acting Sandler is know for and that persona is hard to shake. Though I think of Billy Madison as a false start, Happy Gilmore really made Sandler into a main player and he has become an industry of his own as an actor, writer, singer and executive producer. But because of his comedic reputation, I believe his more serious turns are overlooked.

Though I enjoyed his films before, after watching his performance in Punch-Drunk Love, I saw Sandler in a different light. In amongst his teenage boy comedy or family fare, you'll find hidden gems like 50 First Dates or Spanglish, which I cited during my interview for my masters program. I now joke that an Adam Sandler film got me into higher education as his name is so often attributed to the type of American comedy Brits sneer at. But why? Look through his wide range of films and you'll find something for everyone. I think if his sweeter and more touching films were promoted more in the UK, he may be seen in a more serious light.

Who are your influencers?

Today I had to fill out an artist's profile and on it I had to list my influencers. I understood they meant writers and probably poets but my list looked something like this at the time:

Dave Eggers/ McSweeneys, Haruki Murakami, Raymond Carver, Wendy Cope, Bernardine Evaristo, Gerald Manley Hopkins, Wilfred Owen, Shel Silverstein, Robert Louis Stevenson, Rothko, Nora Ephron, Danny Boyle, Blake Snyder, Radiohead, Weakerthans, Postal Service, Ben Folds, Corb Lund, Johnny Cash

They are my influencers but really a lot of my influencers aren't people that someone can go "oh yeah. They influence me too." Some of my influencers aren't even people. So if I could have really put who my main influencers are I'd say (in no particular order):

My Mom: She told us to do whatever made us happy. It didn't matter if we were rich as long as we were happy (but not too poor as when you have to scrabble for money, you're usually not very happy). I think I also get my habit of taking in strays from her - if you don't have somewhere to go on a holiday or a night out and you're in Edmonton, my mom will make you feel at home. She also introduced me to indoor picnics, which are one of my favorite kind.

My Dad: He is one of the most generous people I know. If you are a sales clerk (or anyone who helps him really), he'll make sure to tell your manager there and then that you did a good job if you did. It's the thing most of us forget to do but he never does so I like to try to take that leaf out of his book.

Sarah (my sister): I can't describe all the ways she influences me. But we talk almost everyday. I have the phone bills to prove it.

Becky (my sister): Strong. Thoughtful. Rational. Hilarious. And knows more about politics in a logical, straight forward way then anyone I know. She also can bark like a dog in the most uncanny way.

Jonathan (my brother): He often reminds me that there's another way to look at life then the way I do. He's also hilarious. But in a different, goofy, teenage boy type way. I think we're clones.

Leah: Though I don't see her very often, she does remind me that sometimes straight talking is the only way to talk.

My auntie Cathy: There was something about her that made you think you could reach the stars. I'm still reaching and thank her for it everyday.

Alberta, Canada: As much as I think I try to get away from it, my home follows me. My writing, my dreams, my soul all have a touch of Alberta in it (whether I like it or not)

London: The buzz of the city. It's age. It's crowdedness. It's green. It's art, it's music, the Thames. The people who're in it (from pretentious to kind, from my friends to the people who I might never meet). It's hard to sum up London in a couple of words, what it means to me. But basically moving here changed my life.

I know there are lots more things that influence me and they shift and change on a regular basis but those people and things above are a constant for me. Family and home.