Participate in Chrome Challenge Contest and win assured prizes

[jalaj]

Feeling too bad... I restlessly waited for over a month. Still cannot figure what was the reason behind extending the contest by a month... it would have been better it the result was declared earlier. I had submitted my app Sudoku Tutor 4Cr... Do check it.. If you like it, my efforts will be successful...

*chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hgldfigfikokgplkjlnjgekehehfjfkl?hl=en-US

 

[Power-Inside]

Who else feels bad..

WTF? How silent is the winner announcement!? Can't they email all the participants with the winner list? At least give us a chance to try their apps..

and I agree with quite a few people here,.. apps for chrome means it should integrate well into chrome.. and not just redirection ( like my app "Euphonic Soundscapes" that plays the selected combination of loops even when the app is closed ). It should be simple, and do the job. Why are apps of bad quality selected? And what is "consolation prize"? I thought we all will get the assured prize of digit subscription and nothing more.

The only app I see worthy of is the MindMapr app and at least Rupee tracker should have been into the main winner's list compared to the other apps.

Btw, did anyone get some sort of acknowledgement email after submitting their app? Did anyone get their promised reimbursement of the Google's fee? Did anyone else get notification of winners by email?

I hope we all can get our assured prizes anyway.

 

[Harivel]

Mindmapr is truely a winner app... "Hindu Calendar" that is finding place above it is not a true chrome app but just a redirection to url Astro-Vision Hindu Calendar which has nothing to do with chrome and shows and functions similar even on firefox... none of chrome web app features is used in making of this app... Were websites like this counted as Chrome web app?

Gully cricket is also just a redirection to url Gully Cricket - Cricket is tougher on the street - Qveda Interactive Design .... runs on firefox as well...

Wonders of India Puzzle was a good app if the developer's name was Christian Effenberger which isn't... the entire app revolves around jigsaw puzzle which is developed over snapfit.js 1.5 (25-Jul-2011) (c) by Christian Effenberger... the person who claims to develop Wonders of India Puzzle has done nothing but use this library and added photographs of prominent places of india...

TellMeFilms... seems to be just static offline site pages and will update when the app owner updates his app with next month's film releases... nothing magical in it...

Can't a tech magazine like digit find this all out before declaring results...

Feeling sad for people who were left out due to these...

WTF?? Digit ur needed to answer many of these questions...

 

[hari1]

I want to know when shall we get our 6 month Digit subscription and
also I am very much confused about the galaxy tab . Is it the old 7 inch model or the new 10.1 inch Honeycomb model. When will they dispatch it?

 

[shauvik]

Hi Guys,

This is not a decision taken by Digit, but by Google. Decisions were taken holistically keeping the overall look, feel, interface and user experience in mind. I have been travelling and hence unable to reply in case you thought otherwise.

For the results of the guaranteed prizes, we will roll out the winners list by tomorrow and every participant who has submitted valid Apps will receive an email as well.

 

[hari1]

But digit wrote that the 6 month subscription is an "assured prize", but they are giving this to only the other people who did not win the galaxy tab.
Also please someone tell me what galaxy tab is given to the winners?
The picture is of the 7 inch model but they have written that it is 10.1 inch model. Is this a typo error or it is really a 10.1 inch model.

 

[cormar]

oopsss... atlast my name is listed in consolation prize winners... 6 months of digit not bad..

BUT, i thought earlier digit announced assured prizes to ALL PARTICIPANTS who submits a valid app.

Now it is cut down to just 40 applicants?? Shauvik, can you clarify?

 

[KDroid]

But digit wrote that the 6 month subscription is an "assured prize", but they are giving this to only the other people who did not win the galaxy tab.
I contacted their customer care and they told me that the winners of galaxy tab will not get the subscription. HOW can they break their promise?
Also please someone tell me what galaxy tab is given to the winners?
The picture is of the 7 inch model but they have written that it is 10.1 inch model. Is this a typo error or it is really a 10.1 inch model.

And they have not refunded our $5 sign up fee!!! What about that??

You're receiving a Galaxy Tab & then too you're being fussy about mere 5$ sign up fee! hah!

 

[iamp4prathamesh]

Woohoo , I won the consolation price !
But how I will get it ?

 

[shauvik]

Friends,

We have updated the winners list again at Chrome-challenge Contest. Congratulations to all the winners. Their prizes are mentioned corresponding to each of their names.

Also, for the reimbursement of the $5 sign up fee, we will contact each of the participants who had submitted one or more confirmed Apps and will send them a cheque, after receiving the postal address and the proof for the payment that they had paid for this contest. Hope this clears everyone's concerns now!

Cheers!
Shauvik

 

[obhumika]

Can't believe it... the only winner app MindMapr that I appreciated is also not developer's own and was blindly copied for competition without any due credits to original author (original at url: mindmaps)... now after winning the tablet the winner has disclosed this fact... the other app wonders of india still does not credit the author of the javascript library that powers the entire app...

Was this competition a joke or what? Did all the winners really get the tablets? for doing nothing but joking?? Digit should not bring such competitions that wastes the time of genuine developers and ends up with frustration...

 

[abhishek.130490]

Well, that's how it goes....

Now, the winner decision scheme is clear,
either make some really crappy app like Tell me films (which I think, any developer worth his salt would thought even he could do the same, but that would not be a true app.)

Or pretend to be real genius (but in truth you are just a cheat and douche to disclose it too.)

Or you could use some brains and not copy whole thing but only 90% of it and slap some made in India tag.

Or you could be an organization and can't handle only 1 tab

Even if you succeed in making a good app. you would only receive a consolation prize atmost.

I think Digit should revisit it's own disclaimer page.
Funnily disclaimer stated that apps would be evaluated on originality and technical implementation which there was none.
I would like to spit out some Indian slangs but I still like the DIGIT family, besides judges too are humans, and more importantly they reserve the right to choose any $%&# guy as the worthy developer.

More or less it was fool DIGIT contest.
Sorry, for harsh words, but that's how I feel. Administrator feel free to DELETE it.

 

[cormar]

yeah obhumika, you are really right. So rightly, this has been a 'fool Digit Contest'.

okay, Digit or Google (as Digit puts it were the real judges of apps) were not too keen to search for copies of the apps. I like to share 2 things.

1. Yeah, even a average judge with common sense wouldn't have selected 'Tell Me Film' as best 5 apps. It doesn't have anything by which a developer can be proud of. Shame on you Digit or Google.

2. Ok, apart from that, in Digit Contest page, Digit has specifically written as apps should be "packaged and in the categories lifestyle or entertainment." packaged apps means, judges will have somewhat notion that the developer knows html/javascript technology and he can atleast copy other scripts. Hosted apps simply redirects to any webpage in the internet. These apps(Hosted) works well in any browser like IE, Mozilla. So, I thought Digit did well to use only Packaged apps for the contest.

But to my surprise, they have given prizes to apps like 'Hindu Calendar' and 'Gully Cricket' which does nothing but redirecting to a webpage. These apps do well in other browsers too.

That makes me wonder, whether Google or Digit really wanted to find top 5 apps or they have used it for their own benefits.

To me, there has been two real winners in this Contest. Google & Digit. Google has successfully introduced Chrome Webstore to indian developers (a country known for its programming skills) They paid the $5 fee themselves and must be seeing some real improvements in the number of apps in webstore from indian developers)

Second Winner is Digit. In a blink of eye Digit has increased the number of circulation to 40 (i think) and other benefits.

P.S.: On a personal note, iam not complaining too much. Because of this $5 fee and me not owning a Credit Card, i would have never entered Chrome Webstore. Thanks to Digit for that. Secondly, apps in Chrome webstore is a real way of generating traffic to your site (Hosted apps). Couple of my apps have been real HIT and it has 14k and 10k users as of now and is growing. So I do get about 30k pageviews on my site. This means $1000 earnings from adsense during the month of november. I may not have won an TAB. But i think you got the point.

 

[Power-Inside]

yeah obhumika, you are really right. So rightly, this has been a 'fool Digit Contest'.

okay, Digit or Google (as Digit puts it were the real judges of apps) were not too keen to search for copies of the apps. I like to share 2 things.

1. Yeah, even a average judge with common sense wouldn't have selected 'Tell Me Film' as best 5 apps. It doesn't have anything by which a developer can be proud of. Shame on you Digit or Google.

2. Ok, apart from that, in Digit Contest page, Digit has specifically written as apps should be "packaged and in the categories lifestyle or entertainment." packaged apps means, judges will have somewhat notion that the developer knows html/javascript technology and he can atleast copy other scripts. Hosted apps simply redirects to any webpage in the internet. These apps(Hosted) works well in any browser like IE, Mozilla. So, I thought Digit did well to use only Packaged apps for the contest.

But to my surprise, they have given prizes to apps like 'Hindu Calendar' and 'Gully Cricket' which does nothing but redirecting to a webpage. These apps do well in other browsers too.

That makes me wonder, whether Google or Digit really wanted to find top 5 apps or they have used it for their own benefits.

To me, there has been two real winners in this Contest. Google & Digit. Google has successfully introduced Chrome Webstore to indian developers (a country known for its programming skills) They paid the $5 fee themselves and must be seeing some real improvements in the number of apps in webstore from indian developers)

Second Winner is Digit. In a blink of eye Digit has increased the number of circulation to 40 (i think) and other benefits.

P.S.: On a personal note, iam not complaining too much. Because of this $5 fee and me not owning a Credit Card, i would have never entered Chrome Webstore. Thanks to Digit for that. Secondly, apps in Chrome webstore is a real way of generating traffic to your site (Hosted apps). Couple of my apps have been real HIT and it has 14k and 10k users as of now and is growing. So I do get about 30k pageviews on my site. This means $1000 earnings from adsense during the month of november. I may not have won an TAB. But i think you got the point.

Well said! I felt exactly the same.
and btw, 30k visitors from your app?! Do you mind if you can share the link? must be genuinely cool.

 

[cormar]

and btw, 30k visitors from your app?! Do you mind if you can share the link?

looks like you are not an adsense pro and you dont know the #1 rule in adsense secrets.

must be genuinely cool.

I had a notion that unless i make a next-gen game, it is never gonna be a hit. I thought about app stores like this, whether it is apple, android or chrome. I believed I have to make at least the next 'Prince of Persia' clone to get consistent users. Otherwise, its going to be a waste of time.

But, Chrome Webstore proved me wrong. Couple of apps i mentioned is nothing more than simple puzzle games. Most of the visitors are from US. In adsense, it helps a lot if visitors are from US. A single click on black friday fetched me $5.78.

Also, in December issue of digit, they reviewed that puzzle games has a niche of its own in the world market. People do play puzzle games and they can spend hours on playing them.

Digit encouraged me to post more apps to get 'more chance of winning'. So I uploaded many simple javascripts games (some of them had genuine graphics and ultra cool). Even from the uploaded games, I thought, people gonna play games which had heavy graphics and all.

But I was completely wrong. User base of couple of games rocketed up. After Digit contest, they gave me sure prize to an app which had heavy graphics on it.

There after I thought about putting the userbase into profit. I simply converted those packaged apps to hosted apps and redirected them to my site. I get 800-1000 visits from a single app per day. 80% of them are from US. My app's users increase at a rate of 400-500 per day.

One thing, I love about this model is that, I have NO WORK at all. I simply watch the users come and go. I mean, lot of people say, you need to be a SEO guru, to make profit from adsense. Even doing SEO take lot of times a day like 1-2 hours a day. Then you have to be afraid of threats like PANDA UPDATE.

Now, I simply watch my earnings grow. The only thing i had to install was statcounter. It tells me if some visitor is trying to clickbomb me. Couple of times, it happened, and i just reported it to Google.

Another important thing about this model is that, you can move your page/site to another domain with ease and in a matter of seconds. You never have to be worried about losing visitors. Moving a domain is costly in SEO model. you risk of losing visitors.

That concludes my story.

 

[shauvik]

Some Digit Forum members have voiced concerns about the decisions of the Apps and the winners, particularly the apps that got selected for the grand prizes. Though, I'd written a post on 10th October, I repeat what I had written then --- The winners were decided by Google and not Digit. The decision taken by them was based on the overall look, feel, interface and user experience in mind. Hope this addresses your concerns.

We take your feedback very seriously and want to make sure Digit and Thinkdigit.com is the best place to prove what you know and get recognized for your skills. If you have any further feedback, please continue to voice your thoughts. We're listening.

Best,
Shauvik

 

[Power-Inside]

Some Digit Forum members have voiced concerns about the decisions of the Apps and the winners, particularly the apps that got selected for the grand prizes. Though, I'd written a post on 10th October, I repeat what I had written then --- The winners were decided by Google and not Digit. The decision taken by them was based on the overall look, feel, interface and user experience in mind. Hope this addresses your concerns.

We take your feedback very seriously and want to make sure Digit and Thinkdigit.com is the best place to prove what you know and get recognized for your skills. If you have any further feedback, please continue to voice your thoughts. We're listening.

Best,
Shauvik

Well, google was so mean if they had to choose Manish as the winner because they themselves suspended his webstore listing just recently when the original developer of the mindmapping script complained to google as Manish guy was parading it as his own app without any credits. (it STILL doesn't make it an original app even if he gave the credits..)

I won't rest until he donates his galaxy tab to charity!! lol

looks like you are not an adsense pro and you dont know the #1 rule in adsense secrets.

...yada yada yada yada....

That concludes my story.

Thanks a lot for those tips buuuut you still haven't shared your app(s).

 

[cormar]

Well, google was so mean if they had to choose Manish as the winner because they themselves suspended his webstore listing just recently when the original developer of the mindmapping script complained to google as Manish guy was parading it as his own app without any credits. (it STILL doesn't make it an original app even if he gave the credits..)

Google must be regretting their decision now. I see, he has now given credits to the original author. !!Yeppee!! i gonna make another clone of this app giving credits to the original author. people simply love this app.

I won't rest until he donates his galaxy tab to charity!! lol

hahaha... has he changed his mobile number so that we cannot even contact him??

i'm a bit baffled Digit has few tablets with them which they dont care giving out to people by means of lucky draw contest and all. I got a IBM Cap once...not bad..

Thanks a lot for those tips buuuut you still haven't shared your app(s).

sorry..i cannot publish my apps (which inturn means my adsense websites) in a public forum like this. friendly people may not be friendly alwayzzz.. i'm saying this out of my own experience..trust me

 

[shauvik]

Closing this thread for inactivity