Information:

This application programming contest is sponsored by Detached Solutions and Texas Instruments and is meant to encourage the creation of Flash applications for the TI-83 Plus calculator. A panel of judges at Detached Solutions will be judging entries. Anyone can participate; the only requirement is ability to create an assembly program for the TI-83 Plus calculator. Entries need not be in the form of an application (though they may be). We will also accept entries as RAM programs that can be run from TI-OS, Ion, or MirageOS. We do not expect entries to be completly finished applications, but enough work must be done that we can see that the project is serious and has potential. You can submit entires in either the Educational or 'Other' category. Since we would like to see the creation of some more Educational applications, the prizes are slightly better for entries in the Educational category.

Contest began on:  December 1st, 2000
Entries are due on:  March 19th, 2001
We will announce the winners on:  April 9th, 2001

The Prizes:

The prizes are as follows...

Educational:
1st - Shirt, Educational SDK, TI-83 Plus Silver Edition
2nd - Shirt and Educational SDK
3rd - One application signing

Other Applications:
1st - Shirt and Educational SDK
2nd - Shirt and One application signing
3rd - One application signing

There will be up to 20 runner-up's in each category. Each runner up will recieve a colored TI calculator slide case with the Detached Solutions logo on the front.

Prize Details:
TI-83 Plus Silver Edition - Special Edition TI-83 Plus with 1.5 megabytes of Flash ROM, a 15 MHz CPU, and more.
Shirt - This is a denim shirt with TI's logo and the words "App Developer"
Educational SDK - This includes a development certificate, three application signings, and e-mail support from TI.
One application signing - This will allow you to sign one application for distribution.

How Entries Will Be Judged:

There will be a panel of five judges, which will rate entries on the following qualities:
Originality - We want new and interesting ideas
Potential - This project must be something that can be created into a full application
Functionality - It's gotta do something...something cool.
Appearance - Even if it creates world peace, it's got to look nice.

We will be judging based on what we see when running the program only. We will not be judging on source code. All our decisions are final.

The top 6 entries, 3 from each category, will have the option to have their application, once completed, listed on Detached Solutions Features page.

Rules:

To make sure that nothing gets messy later, we have a set of rules you must follow:

-The program must be original. That means no ports, no copies, and no periodic tables.
-The program must be for the TI-83 Plus calculator.
-The program must be in assembly. We'll accept just about any format (application, TI-OS, Ion, MirageOS).
-The program must be fairly complete. We don't expect you to have all of the application done (that's what you're supposed to be working on after the contest is finished!), but we need enough work so that we can judge your application.
-The program can not violate any of TI's conditions of signing. Basically this means no viruses, pornography, promotes violence, etc.
-Only one entry per author will be accepted. You are allowed to work on submissions as a group, but please do so with the understanding that the prizes can only be mailed to one person and multiple prizes will not be given out to group produced applications.

So, more or less, the rules boil down to: If you submit a BASIC version of DrugWars v0.01 for the TI-86, we're going to smack you over the head with a rubber ducky.

Educational vs. "Other":

There are two different categories that entries can be submitted under: Educational and "Other". Educational entries don't need to be just math programs, but they must have some teaching or "mind-expanding" value. "Other" is anything else, including: shells, games with no educational value, etc. When you submit your entry into the contest, you must tell us whether you are submitting it as Educational or "Other". If we disagree with your category assignment, we'll let you know.

How To Enter:

The zip file should include your program and a document describing your program. Although we will not be judging on source code, we reserve the right to ask for source code if we feel that there is a question of whether or not your work is original. The documentation should include a short description of your program, your contact information, a list of any special keys that are used by your programs, and instructions on the use of your programs. Feel free to tell us in your documentation how much you love our applications. It wont get you any extra points in the judging, but it will make us happy.

You don't have to do anything to get started. Just start programming your program! When you're ready to submit however, please use our Submission Form. There you will be able to list and upload your entry to us for our judges to review. You will also be required to input your personal information such as your mailing address, and this is important for us to know in order to ship the prizes and slide cases to the people entering. None of this information will be distributed but kept confidential among the Detached Solutions staff and TI for shipping purposes. If you have any questions about the contest, please E-Mail us at contest@detachedsolutions.com.