TechCrunch’s hackathon turned into a wackathon, thanks to a pair of scandalous up-and-coming app makers.
The AOL-owned tech blog found itself apologizing after its high-profile conference for Silicon Valley turned into a real boobfest.
This weekend’s marathon hack session, where new appmakers show off their skills, showcased two sexually explicit presentations that prompted the apology from Tech Crunch editors.
One app that made it to the stage was called Titstare — billed as the “breast app ever” — featuring people looking at women’s chests.
Another presenter of an app called Circle Shake made orgasmic sounds and simulated self-pleasure in front of the crowd, according to Business Insider.
Business Insider said the demo of Circle Shake, which is a game to see how many phone shakes a user can do in 10 seconds, was offensive, particularly for parents who brought their young children to the event.
“TechCrunch didn’t have a good enough review system for screening presenting hacks,” Tech Crunch co-editor Eric Eldon told The Post. “The hackathon organizers immediately took a much more stringent approach once we saw what happened with the two offenders. We are going to keep this from happening again.”
Tech Crunch editors apologized and promised better screening of appmakers, who wouldn’t likely see such apps approved for the iPhone anyway.
“Normally our hackathons are a showcase for developers of all stripes to create and share something cool. But earlier today, the spirit of our event was marred by two misogynistic presentations,” according to the apology on its site.
The hackathon, partly fueled by beer and a sleepless night as teams work round the clock, is the prelude to the Disrupt conference, which starts Monday in San Francisco.
Tech heavyweights including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer are set to attend.
The tech world has been criticized for sexism and frat-boy antics, a concern sometimes shared in Tech Crunch blog posts.
“Sexism is a major problem in the tech industry, and we’ve worked hard to counteract it in our coverage and in our own hiring,” Tech Crunch wrote.