Announcing the ThinkUp iPad 2 Bounty

What are you doing in the next 4-6 weeks?  Here's an idea: Get a wow-worthy contribution accepted into ThinkUp and earn yourself a brand new iPad 2 and "I made a great open source project better" bragging rights. 

Expert Labs is offering an iPad 2 bounty (16GB, Wi-Fi only) to a community member who makes a significant contribution in the next month and a half.

Working our way toward ThinkUp's 1.0 release, Expert Labs wants to give contributors a little extra motivation to fix that bug, build that feature, or write that documentation they've been pondering. Apple's new iPad 2 is going on sale this Friday, and Expert Labs will have one ready to award to a ThinkUp contributor who adds a feature or fixes a bug that helps us get to 1.0. 

Developers, here's how it will work:

• Developers get 4 weeks to issue a GitHub pull request for a new ThinkUp feature or fix of their choice (by April 6th); plus another 2 weeks (April 20) to get that code reviewed, accepted and merged into master. As always, tests must be included in your patch submissions, and all code must comply with our style guide.
• After all the submissions are in, the developer will post screenshots or a screencast plus an explanation of what the new feature/fix adds to the project on the mailing list. The community will then vote on what their favorite new feature or fix is. With the community's help, Expert Labs' employees (Gina, Anil, and Andy) will determine the iPad winner. 
• The developer who has the feature which was both merged and deemed most useful gets a brand spanking new iPad 2. Expert Labs will cover international shipping, and we'll do our best to order the iPad in your local Apple Store; if not, we'll ship you a U.S., WiFi-only version from the States.

What should you build? Here are a few ideas:

• Create a new new data visualization that displays post statistics, analysis, or information in a useful way
• Create a JSON API for ThinkUp post replies (Issue #565)
• Improve the ThinkUp Facebook plugin so it offers the same features as the Twitter plugin does
• Create a mobile CSS stylesheet to make ThinkUp easy to use on an iPhone or other smartphone
• Create a Bit.ly plugin which stores click count statistics in ThinkUp's link database, and add a list of most-clicked links for a ThinkUp account (Issue #354)
• Create an email invitation system so it's easy to invite people to register on a TU install without having to open registration to all (Issue #42)
• Redesign ThinkUp's user page to use the standard dashboard/post page template (Issue #256)
• Add the ability to see replies from multiple posts in one view (Issue #407)

These are just a few ideas. If there's something else you're inspired to work on, go with it. But remember, to win the iPad you've got to wow the community with your work and be able to sell use cases when you post your submission to the list.

Not a developer? Here are some ways you can get yourself that iPad:

• Make a killer screencast of ThinkUp features or use cases
• Draft new documentation or improve existing pages on the ThinkUp wiki with complete, well-annotated screenshots and clear, step-by-step instructions
• Mock up a new and improved thinkupapp.com which sells ThinkUp and makes it easier for visitors to understand and get started using
• Mock up a new visualization of ThinkUp data

This is our first time doing a bounty like this, so let us know if you have any questions on the ThinkUp mailing list. Can't wait to see April's submissions. Good luck!

Comments

[Mrlanrat]

I'm too busy now, but I hope this project is part of the Google Summer of Code, I'd really like to work on some of these ideas.

[Bochenn]

I want to help. I'm a designer. Maybe with some UI improvements for the ThinkUp app?.

[Anil Dash]

@Bochenn we definitely design help! One area that I know is a huge opportunity is actually the ThinkUpApp.com page itself. Right now it sorta looks like the app, but doesn't really do much to communicate the potential that a regular user can get from using ThinkUp. We'd love to see some work there!

[Snytkine]

Good deal. What feature do you want/need? I can code pretty much anything in php and YUI3 JS library. But I am not a big fan of Apple, honestly I would not work for Ipad. Would you consider offering an Android tablet of similar price instead? I really want to get the new Samsung Galaxy tab! The reason for this is that I know Java relatively well and tried my hand in Android app development.

[Anil Dash]

Snytkine, we love Android too! We'd be happy to substitute if that's what you prefer and your work is the winning entry.