PennApps Fall 2013: our favorites from the 200+ projects

Only one project can win PennApps, one of the world’s largest undergraduate hackathons. But with more than 200 projects, there were bound to be some hidden gems.

About a dozen judges from Philly’s tech scene — including this reporter — helped winnow down the 204 PennApps Fall 2013 projects to 20 finalists, based on originality, technical difficulty, polish and usefulness. We asked some of the judges to help us put together a list of favorites that may not make it to the number one spot. Check out their demo videos below.

We didn’t watch all 204 demo videos, so let us know in the comments if there’s a great one we missed.

• Dispeakable.me: From four students from Toronto, Dispeakable.me is a tool that encrypts messages on Chrome. We especially liked their demo video. 

• Weighly: Built by students from Switzerland, Weighly is an Android app that uses your phone’s camera to weigh things. Unfortunately, it’s not available for download right now, the team tells us.

• Screenshades: This app makes sure your friends don’t spoil TV shows for you on Twitter.

• GrooveTo: From Carnegie Mellon students, this app takes videos of people dancing and makes them dance to whatever song you want. Instant smile on your face, guaranteed. 

• Resizeasaurus: From Lehigh University students, this whimsical tool resizes with attitude. 

http://youtu.be/eOnGXDCfUkY

• Netfixxed: If you’re in the United States, you can’t watch The Matrix on Netflix. But students from the University of Texas at Austin realized that if you’re in Sweden, you can. This tool scrapes Netflix in different countries to let you watch whatever you want, regardless of your location.