April 29, 2010 at 16:01Dmitry Ryzhkov and his My Little Artist won a solid prize in the competition for the best application for Intel Atom
April 28 in the United States summed up the next stage of the competition for the best application for Intel Atom, organized, as you might guess, by Intel. The fact that this contest is and why it is needed here has already been written more than once, moreover, by much more worthy and enlightened authors. If you have not heard of him, I recommend that you follow the secret link .
And here - about the main thing. In the category "Home and Style" the Russian Dmitry Ryzhkov won. His application My Little Artist won the hearts of the jury and brought the author a very significant prize - $ 10,000. Dmitry lives in Tolyatti, and as soon as the results became known, I contacted him by phone to ask several questions, including the most important one.
Dmitry, let's start from afar - how did you get to the contest?
I think everything worked out quite harmoniously here. I once began by participating in the "Five Weeks with Intel"which were spent on Habré. And this was my first experience of this kind, because I had never participated in any competitions before, I considered it a waste of time. I always thought that there would be someone smarter, luckier than me, and since victory does not shine, so why waste time in vain? He is already lacking. In general, he did not believe in either his strengths or luck. And then I decided to try it, fortunately, that Intel itself somehow properly organized the contest, making it very "conducive" to participate. All that was needed was to ask interesting questions, and this always worked out pretty well for me. The company employees answered them, and it’s very interesting that it was already a kind of reward! In general, I won that contest, and it became for me a kind of incentive that helped me to believe in myself.
And then?
And then, in the tenth of December last year, a message fell into my box as an ISN user. Like, a contest is being held among applications for devices on the Atom platform. Intrigued, I signed up for the Intel Atom Developer Program community and began to figure out what it was and what the SDK was eaten with ... At first, the SDK name “Intel Atom Developer Program Software Development Kit” was a little confused. I thought that there is something there that will help write applications optimized for Atom. But no - this is a set of libraries that allows you to integrate the check of the "wired" key into the program, tools for generating error reports, etc.
I already had one application that was quite suitable for mobile devices, and I decided that I would expose it. I did everything according to the instructions, downloaded the SDK, integrated it into my application and sent the application to the contest. Waited, hoped. The first completion date of the competition was set for January 4th, then it was moved to 20th. Finally, the winners were announced and ... I was not among them. However, I was not very upset, because among the first hundred developers who sent their applications, I received a consolation prize - a netbook. Plus they immediately announced that in March new contests will be waiting for us.
March came, Intel kept its promise, announced the terms of the competition. And for me the month of sleepless nights began. As it turned out, the most difficult thing is not to write, but to come up with an application that will be popular. I needed some kind of idea that distinguishes my programs from those of competitors. In total, I sent 7 programs in a month ... And one of them - My Little Artist - won.
I launched it yesterday and at first I was a little ... surprised. However, imagining himself in the role of a child, he understood the logic of the judges. Do I understand correctly that you did not write a program for yourself?
To be honest, I didn’t intend to send the program that won the competition from the outside of my family. I wrote it for my two-year-old son, a big lover of a finger on the touchpad. For its entertainment, the netbook won on Habré was allocated. This gave me a chance to get a little work done on my laptop while my son draws something.
At first, we “painted” in Paint, but then I decided to write, let's say, a program that was sharpened by a netbook, i.e. maximize the use of its screen, leaving only a minimal set of tools and colors for drawing.
Wrote. The tests were successful. The son, of course, did not start drawing something meaningful, but she obviously occupied him more than Pait, plus he had less chance to get on the menu or accidentally exit the program.
I repeat, I did not want to send My Litle Artist to the contest, arguing - "too simple, who might like this?" But, looking at how her son was messing with her, I thought something else: well, yes, simple, but full screen and without complex palettes with color choices. And without a bunch of rarely used drawing tools that are confusing and simply drive any child into a stupor. It’s quite childish, “netbook” in the full sense of the word, as I understand it. Apparently, the judges thought as I did, choosing it for its simplicity and efficient use of the small size of the netbook screen. They probably also have children of the same age :)
As you know, even better than me, Atom is used not only in computers with Microsoft operating systems. Any plans to make My Little Artist multi-platform?
Currently, there is only a version of the program created under Windows, but nothing prevents porting it to MeeGo. What I may do in the future.
And how difficult is it to enter the program? Does the “prelude” repel all desire, as often happens?
No, it seems to me that entering the program is quite easy. All you need to do is download the SDK, integrate it into your program and send it for verification ( I already wrote an article on this topic in Habré ). If everything is done according to the instructions, there are practically no questions.
If you have, then the answers to almost everything can be found in the forum. The main thing is not to be lazy to search. If you are interested in something unique that no one has asked about yet, you can ask your own question. The forum is attended by both program participants and representatives of Intel, and they are not just registered there, but are conducting very lively discussions. Representatives of the company themselves answer any questions, are ready to participate in discussions and welcome any suggestions and wishes.
According to a personal feeling, is this a program for amateurs, or for harsh professionals whose application development is a matter of life?
In my opinion, the Atom Developer program may be of interest to developers as such, it does not matter if you are a professional or an amateur. Although to lovers, it may seem more interesting or, more precisely, useful. Given that the store is just opening, you can manage to send an application that can not only, for example, win the competition, but will also be successfully sold in the future. The first one to get to the right place at the right time is always easier. It is important to understand which place is right. Competitions are contests, but Intel’s main goal is to create a store selling apps. Competitions are now needed only for intensive filling the store with interesting programs.
My experience shows that these may be programs that effectively use the capabilities of a netbook or Atom-based devices, creating new areas for the application of the latter. In my case, this is turning a computer into a good educational toy for a small child.
Between us, the idea of buying software with one click on a PC has not yet gained much popularity. And yet, seeing the seriousness of Intel’s intentions, we can understand that everything was thought over and invented there. But in your opinion, will AppUp prove itself on mobile platforms, or on relatively large computers too?
I think that AppUp, no matter on which device, is a fairly convenient way to purchase programs for users and, accordingly, a promising way to sell programs for developers.
For buyers, I see the convenience that there is no need to surf the Internet in search of the right program. It is enough to register once and buy the necessary programs in AppUp - with a normal description, with screenshots, with reviews of other users. Plus, if you had to, for example, reinstall the system, then newly purchased programs can be returned to your place directly from AppUp. You can also check for updates there. A centralized solution, which in my opinion looks quite promising.
For the developer, this is another "showcase" with which you can sell your programs. Given that this project belongs to Intel, I personally have no doubt that it has a great future.
Now Intel promotes the store mainly among developers, and there are not very many users, frankly,. But I already earned my first ten bucks. :)
The main question. Tell me honestly, how do you spend the prize $ 10,000?
You know, while sending programs, there were a lot of ideas on this subject, and after I won, I was a little confused. I would like to travel, go somewhere with my family, where - until we decided. Given this, I want to give advice to those who are just going to participate in Intel contests - be prepared for everything, especially for victory. :)
And here - about the main thing. In the category "Home and Style" the Russian Dmitry Ryzhkov won. His application My Little Artist won the hearts of the jury and brought the author a very significant prize - $ 10,000. Dmitry lives in Tolyatti, and as soon as the results became known, I contacted him by phone to ask several questions, including the most important one.
Dmitry, let's start from afar - how did you get to the contest?
I think everything worked out quite harmoniously here. I once began by participating in the "Five Weeks with Intel"which were spent on Habré. And this was my first experience of this kind, because I had never participated in any competitions before, I considered it a waste of time. I always thought that there would be someone smarter, luckier than me, and since victory does not shine, so why waste time in vain? He is already lacking. In general, he did not believe in either his strengths or luck. And then I decided to try it, fortunately, that Intel itself somehow properly organized the contest, making it very "conducive" to participate. All that was needed was to ask interesting questions, and this always worked out pretty well for me. The company employees answered them, and it’s very interesting that it was already a kind of reward! In general, I won that contest, and it became for me a kind of incentive that helped me to believe in myself.
And then?
And then, in the tenth of December last year, a message fell into my box as an ISN user. Like, a contest is being held among applications for devices on the Atom platform. Intrigued, I signed up for the Intel Atom Developer Program community and began to figure out what it was and what the SDK was eaten with ... At first, the SDK name “Intel Atom Developer Program Software Development Kit” was a little confused. I thought that there is something there that will help write applications optimized for Atom. But no - this is a set of libraries that allows you to integrate the check of the "wired" key into the program, tools for generating error reports, etc.
I already had one application that was quite suitable for mobile devices, and I decided that I would expose it. I did everything according to the instructions, downloaded the SDK, integrated it into my application and sent the application to the contest. Waited, hoped. The first completion date of the competition was set for January 4th, then it was moved to 20th. Finally, the winners were announced and ... I was not among them. However, I was not very upset, because among the first hundred developers who sent their applications, I received a consolation prize - a netbook. Plus they immediately announced that in March new contests will be waiting for us.
March came, Intel kept its promise, announced the terms of the competition. And for me the month of sleepless nights began. As it turned out, the most difficult thing is not to write, but to come up with an application that will be popular. I needed some kind of idea that distinguishes my programs from those of competitors. In total, I sent 7 programs in a month ... And one of them - My Little Artist - won.
I launched it yesterday and at first I was a little ... surprised. However, imagining himself in the role of a child, he understood the logic of the judges. Do I understand correctly that you did not write a program for yourself?
To be honest, I didn’t intend to send the program that won the competition from the outside of my family. I wrote it for my two-year-old son, a big lover of a finger on the touchpad. For its entertainment, the netbook won on Habré was allocated. This gave me a chance to get a little work done on my laptop while my son draws something.
At first, we “painted” in Paint, but then I decided to write, let's say, a program that was sharpened by a netbook, i.e. maximize the use of its screen, leaving only a minimal set of tools and colors for drawing.
Wrote. The tests were successful. The son, of course, did not start drawing something meaningful, but she obviously occupied him more than Pait, plus he had less chance to get on the menu or accidentally exit the program.
I repeat, I did not want to send My Litle Artist to the contest, arguing - "too simple, who might like this?" But, looking at how her son was messing with her, I thought something else: well, yes, simple, but full screen and without complex palettes with color choices. And without a bunch of rarely used drawing tools that are confusing and simply drive any child into a stupor. It’s quite childish, “netbook” in the full sense of the word, as I understand it. Apparently, the judges thought as I did, choosing it for its simplicity and efficient use of the small size of the netbook screen. They probably also have children of the same age :)
As you know, even better than me, Atom is used not only in computers with Microsoft operating systems. Any plans to make My Little Artist multi-platform?
Currently, there is only a version of the program created under Windows, but nothing prevents porting it to MeeGo. What I may do in the future.
And how difficult is it to enter the program? Does the “prelude” repel all desire, as often happens?
No, it seems to me that entering the program is quite easy. All you need to do is download the SDK, integrate it into your program and send it for verification ( I already wrote an article on this topic in Habré ). If everything is done according to the instructions, there are practically no questions.
If you have, then the answers to almost everything can be found in the forum. The main thing is not to be lazy to search. If you are interested in something unique that no one has asked about yet, you can ask your own question. The forum is attended by both program participants and representatives of Intel, and they are not just registered there, but are conducting very lively discussions. Representatives of the company themselves answer any questions, are ready to participate in discussions and welcome any suggestions and wishes.
According to a personal feeling, is this a program for amateurs, or for harsh professionals whose application development is a matter of life?
In my opinion, the Atom Developer program may be of interest to developers as such, it does not matter if you are a professional or an amateur. Although to lovers, it may seem more interesting or, more precisely, useful. Given that the store is just opening, you can manage to send an application that can not only, for example, win the competition, but will also be successfully sold in the future. The first one to get to the right place at the right time is always easier. It is important to understand which place is right. Competitions are contests, but Intel’s main goal is to create a store selling apps. Competitions are now needed only for intensive filling the store with interesting programs.
My experience shows that these may be programs that effectively use the capabilities of a netbook or Atom-based devices, creating new areas for the application of the latter. In my case, this is turning a computer into a good educational toy for a small child.
Between us, the idea of buying software with one click on a PC has not yet gained much popularity. And yet, seeing the seriousness of Intel’s intentions, we can understand that everything was thought over and invented there. But in your opinion, will AppUp prove itself on mobile platforms, or on relatively large computers too?
I think that AppUp, no matter on which device, is a fairly convenient way to purchase programs for users and, accordingly, a promising way to sell programs for developers.
For buyers, I see the convenience that there is no need to surf the Internet in search of the right program. It is enough to register once and buy the necessary programs in AppUp - with a normal description, with screenshots, with reviews of other users. Plus, if you had to, for example, reinstall the system, then newly purchased programs can be returned to your place directly from AppUp. You can also check for updates there. A centralized solution, which in my opinion looks quite promising.
For the developer, this is another "showcase" with which you can sell your programs. Given that this project belongs to Intel, I personally have no doubt that it has a great future.
Now Intel promotes the store mainly among developers, and there are not very many users, frankly,. But I already earned my first ten bucks. :)
The main question. Tell me honestly, how do you spend the prize $ 10,000?
You know, while sending programs, there were a lot of ideas on this subject, and after I won, I was a little confused. I would like to travel, go somewhere with my family, where - until we decided. Given this, I want to give advice to those who are just going to participate in Intel contests - be prepared for everything, especially for victory. :)