The submission phase for the $100,000 Open AIM Developer Challenge is now closed!

I'd like to thank everyone who participated, I can honestly say we are all overwhelmed at the quality and quantity of great apps that have been submitted here over the last two months.

We received a total of 53 passing submissions, nine of which will be awarded a $10,000 first prize, another 20 will earn a $500 second prize, and everyone who submitted here (even non-passing submissions) will be sent a TopCoder/Open AIM T-Shirt.

We'll be crunching the numbers over the next week, and will announce the winners at the TCO (and on this blog) in Las Vegas on May 15th.

A reminder of the scoring breakdown:

• Usage (20%): Usage will be determined based on usage statistics. It is strictly prohibited to manufacture or attempt to manufacture usage in any way. Usage and activity shall be subject to audit by TopCoder and/or AOL.
• Innovation (20%): Determined by the Competition judges
• Best Use of APIs (20%): Best use of the functionality provided by the Specified Technology
• AOL favorite (20%): Popularity among AOL staff
• TopCoder Community Favorite (20%): Popularity among the TopCoder Community

Voting for the TopCoder Community Favorite will take place on the site, and will open later today. I'll update this post with the link when it's up.

VOTING IS OPEN HERE - CHOOSE YOUR TOP 5 FAVORITE APPS BEFORE MAY 13

Congratulations to all who participated, you've displayed once again that the level of talent and ingenuity in the TopCoder community is second to none!

Good luck!

dh

Joel Tulloch at AOL has written another feature on an Open AIM Submission, this time on the bot, "CodeRemote", submitted by velorien.

Aside from the fact that it provides useful functionality, CodeRemote jumped out at me for another reason: it is a great example of a bot which does more than simply send and receive messages. I mentioned this in an earlier post, but one of the key aspects of Open AIM that the Developer Challenge intends to highlight is that it is more than simply an instant messaging protocol. There is incredible potential within the Open AIM platform to power a wide variety of solutions.

You can read the full article here.

AOL has given us some figures on Key Usage for the submissions that have come in thus far. These figures are unofficial and subject to change....

IM Loud.............. 53251
infomess............. 1215
IM Whiteboard........ 55920
Retyper.............. 34373
IM Remote............ 38030
QuizBot3000.......... 72
FeedReader........... 2808
MathBot3500.......... 162
TriviaFrenzy......... 254
Insta-Sketch......... 1506
MathSolverBot........ 18
LinkPreview.......... 16419
eDatingBot........... 60
AIMSpellCheckBot..... 50
TypingTutorPlus...... 203
PopsChat............. 511
TheAnswersBot........ 31
CodeRemote........... 107
ASCIICheckers........ 111
Font Corrector....... 5563
PublishBot........... 16
AIMySQL.............. 212
NoaLIZA.............. 25
Share-a-Map.......... 3763
A2ZTradersSearch..... 129
Flaim................ 502
MYFriendsOnAIM....... 67
Buddy Personality.... 158
MrEnglishBot......... 49
FriendFeed........... 24710
TalkAbout............ 991

Remember, API Key usage is just 20% of the score for your app, so it's not the only factor and there's still time submit and have a chance at a cash prize.

• Usage (20%): Usage will be determined based on usage statistics. It is strictly prohibited to manufacture or attempt to manufacture usage in any way. Usage and activity shall be subject to audit by TopCoder and/or AOL.
• Innovation (20%): Determined by the Competition judges
• Best Use of APIs (20%): Best use of the functionality provided by the Specified Technology
• AOL favorite (20%): Popularity among AOL staff
• TopCoder Community Favorite (20%): Popularity among the TopCoder Community

If you have questions... post them in the forums.

Joel Tulloch at dev.aol.com today takes a look at jal278's submission, QuizBot 3000.

QuizBot 3000 sends you quiz questions and tallies your correct responses, adding up your score. To begin using the QuizBot 3000, simply add it as a buddy, then send it a message to begin a session. The bot will respond with a welcome message, displaying the menu and any relevant information (ie. "your buddy has beaten your highscore!"). Selecting a menu option is as simple as sending the corresponding number to the bot.

Click here to read the full article.

velorien has just released version 1.3 of his FeedReader app.

"It is now possible to configure a list of persons to notify every time a new item is found for a feed. This could be useful is one is managing a project and is assigning certain tasks to his team via a web interface with a syndication feed."

FeedReader 1.3 can be downloaded here.

For full information & instructions, check out the FeedReader submission page.

AOL has updated the AIM developer site to better answer many of the questions you've had about requirements and other aspects of this competition.

The updated page is here (http://dev.aol.com/aim/terms), you should it find it to be more logical, descriptive and helpful.

If there is anything specific you need answers to please don't hesitate to ask in the forums.

Good luck!

Joel Tulloch over at dev.aol.com will be writing regular highlight pieces based on the submissions to the Open AIM Developer Challenge. His first article spotlights IM Whiteboard.

While in some ways the idea is a fairly simple one, as I mentioned earlier this plug-in is a great example of thinking about Open AIM as a platform which enables communication, rather than just an IM protocol. Whether you're brainstorming rough design concepts, trying to describe the weird car you saw on the way to work, or taking a quick time-out to play tic-tac-toe with your son or daughter, the IM Whiteboard provides a quick and easy solution.

Read the full article.

Registration for the Open AIM Developer Challenge has surpassed the 150 mark, but it's not too late to get in on the action. With just two passing submissions so far, there's plenty of opportunity for you to submit an app for a shot at one of the nine $10,000 first prizes or one of the 20 $500 second prizes.

Remember, usage of your app is 20% of your total score, so the earlier you submit, the better chance you have to build up the numbers in that category. Plus, everyone who submits gets a free TopCoder/Open AIM t-shirt, so jump on board now!

Welcome to the $100,000 Open AIM Developer Challenge, powered by TopCoder.

Thousands of dollars (and hundreds of t-shirts) await the developers who can most creatively use the AOL Instant Messenger APIs in an original application. The contest runs until May 6, 2008, and the winners will be announced at the TopCoder Open in Las Vegas on May 15th.

Winning submissions will also be featured on the AOL Developer Network homepage and gallery.aim.com - we'll put your app within the reach of millions of AIM users!

Plus, there's more exciting news to come, and this page will be your source of information for all the latest information and developments with this contest, as well as the place to browse and download any of the submissions - so check back here often.

If you're not already a TopCoder member, become one now - then register for this contest.

I encourage you to click the "Learn More" link and read the full Contest Rules and Terms & Conditions document for important details such as the OpenAIM requirements, and how to submit to this contest.

And check out the AIM Gallery for some examples of what can be done with Open AIM 2.0.

Be creative, build something awesome - use TopCoder components if you want - and have fun!