When one thinks about the first weeks of January, typically they think about their New Year’s resolutions. For me, however, it’s traveling to Las Vegas for CES. This year started out a little different for me, because instead of making my way to the Las Vegas Convention Center, I flew in a bit early to attend the 2017 AT&T Developer Summit.
Since this was my first time attending the AT&T Developer Summit, I was eager to find out what was in store. I knew going into it that it would be far more intimate than other conferences I’ve attended, but had no idea how hands-on I would be able to get. From January 3-4, I spent my time at the Palms Hotel, a short distance away from the Las Vegas Strip. Below you will find a quick recap of the 2017 AT&T Developer Summit:
First Ever AT&T VR/AR Challenge
Virtual and augmented reality are going to play a major role in our lives very soon, whether it be through film, gaming, health or learning. An enthusiastic few, who I would consider prosumers, are already enjoying the early stages of the technology in their homes right now. I know I am.
The AT&T developer team sought out VR/AR devs through a challenge they announced on September 12th, 2016. After ten weeks of VR/AR hackathons, and 67 submissions, they had their five finalists and one alternate. Here is Malia from VRScout.com interviewing Pippa’s Pan, one of the 6 VR/AR finalists, and my personal favorite.
VR/AR Challenge finalist Pippa’s Pan transforms story telling #ATTDevSummit https://t.co/1wlGoENtqn
— AT&T Dev Program (@attdeveloper) January 3, 2017
If you’re interested in seeing just why these finalists were chosen, take a look at this article: Meet the AT&T VR/AR Challenge Finalists.
Entertainment at the 2017 AT&T Developer Summit
With $43,000 in prizes on the line, it’s no surprise that the AT&T Entertainment Project was a major hit. The competition was seeking professional and student filmmakers to share their undiscovered shorts, with a chance of not only winning a shared portion of the prize money, but also a chance to be featured on the AUDIENCE Network.
And the winners are…
- 1st place – Dispatch
- 2nd place – Para Mi Mamá
- 3rd place – Bug Man
- Student Film Winner – Five Windows
Did I mention Blink 182 and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were there? Unfortunately, I didn’t have the pleasure of seeing Blink 182 live. High school Joe is pretty upset about that. However, I did get to see one of my favorite actors speak, and that was pretty great. He even liked my photo of him. Thanks, JGL!
Sweet shot! Definitely had a blast yesterday at #ATTDevSummit talking about creative collaboration on @hitRECord.. https://t.co/LatyI8xW4P
— Joseph Gordon-Levitt (@hitRECordJoe) January 6, 2017
If you aren’t familiar with Joseph Gordon-Levitt outside of his acting and directing, I highly recommend you check out this wonderful breakdown of his keynote. It’s always refreshing to hear someone you admire speak to you with such passion.
Want More #ATTDevSummit?
Below you will find the official recaps of the 2017 AT&T Developer Summit, courtesy of the AT&T Developer blog:
- 2017 Developer Summit Day 1 Recap: Virtual Reality makes a splash with amazing demos and a fascinating Futurecast featuring Nonny de la Peña
- 2017 Developer Summit Day 2 Recap: So much to see including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Challenge Winners, Keynote, a Kinkajou, and Blink-182
If you weren’t able to make it out to this year’s Developer Summit, I would highly recommend you follow AT&T on both Snapchat and Instagram. This year I brought along my Snapchat Spectacles and shared my first-person perspective.
This post is sponsored by AT&T. All opinions are my own.
