Mobile video is playing a progressively larger part of the landscape when it comes to mobile devices, so it's not surprising to see a correlating interest when it comes to apps for video. With that in mind, the TV HackFest is looking to bring the TV hackathon to the Apps World event happening in San Francisco this February with an eye toward making mobile video even better.

The hackathon will hit the ground running, starting on the first day of the Apps World event, and will put a wide variety of the best and brightest in Silicon Valley together for a massive coding marathon, and of course, a healthy dollop of hands-on collaboration. The programming muscle will be focused on several different television technologies--from SDKs to APIs and beyond--but especially on delivering video in a multi-screen environment, something that's been in rapid development itself in recent months.

Following the hackathon's conclusion--set to hit February 8th--there will be presentations from selected teams about the projects in development, followed by prizes and a party, which can, in turn, offer more opportunities to hack and confer on hacking. It's not just about code crunching, though, as the HackFest overall is looking to bring in content providers as well as general creative and technology types to contribute their own unique viewpoints to the frenzy of hacking. Meanwhile, Apps World in general will offer nine different workshop tracks complete with three developer workshops and one day focused strictly on television apps (including, of course, the multi-screen concept) which will provide plenty more groundwork for new innovations to come.


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The founder of Apps World, Ian Johnson, described the introduction of the TV HackFest hackathon by saying, "We are thrilled to be bringing the TV HackFest to Apps World. TV is an exciting new area for developers and our aim is to provide a platform at our events for these guys to really get creative with their coding and design… and TV HackFest does just that.". Meanwhile, the founder of TV HackFest, Richard Kastelein, also joined in the enthusiasm, saying " “Teaming up with Apps World in San Francisco and London in 2013 is a perfect fit for HackFest and with hundreds of APIs and SDKs relative to hacking new TV experiences – we expect the participants will really take TV to another level. The intersection of TV and the Internet is here – and there’s half a trillion dollars globally at stake in the traditional TV value chain. The Internet massively disrupted both print and music and TV is not immune.”

It's a safe bet that something very interesting, and ultimately worthwhile, is going to come out of this event if for no other reason than it's a whole lot of Silicon Valley muscle in one place. Tack on the input of the creative content providers and it makes for some new ideas that might not otherwise have been considered. Possibilities on this front range from increased social experiences to get people better engaged in what they're watching by allowing them to talk about it amongst their various social networks, as well as establishing new social networks around programs, to providing new ways to get content out to viewers while still allowing for monetization opportunities to keep development coming in the first place.

Just what will ultimately emerge from this event won't be fully known until February arrives, but the many possibilities should keep us all warm through the upcoming winter.