Developer Contests...opinions?

just curious...
anyone ever participate in one of these?
i never used to notice these before, but with the proliferation of contests for MIDP, Javacard, etc, i'm hoping that more developers will participate to show off their stuff (and maybe get some big attention from the heavyweights).

If you are into PersonalJava, here is a contest for you.
Back in the pre-MIDP days, a Amazon catalog search application can win grand prices. But those days have long gone ...

Hi,
I have an idea.
Why don't the people at the JavaRanch come up with some ideas? If it really is great, you Gurus could send it in. Otherwise, at least we will be thinking in terms of original applications.
What do you all think?
-Deb

Hi all
Yes i agree with Debbie Argulkar. I am also looking for some ideas for developing realtime applications..I'll develop it and ofcourse test them in the emulators

Why don't the JavaRanch Team come up with a contest ??? For example..Contest of the Week..
Here the JavaRanch can give a topic like 'SMS '.
All guys interested can build j2me applications on the given topic and upload it..
JavaRanch Gurus can rate it and possibly give the winner a gift..That will be better..Because i haven't got a book till now from participating in the Discussion.

Let the guys like me try for a gift thru contest.

Mahesh

Originally posted by mahesh sr:
Why don't the JavaRanch Team come up with a contest ??? For example..Contest of the Week..

Probably because this is an all volunteer site and we don't have time for it. Running a contest is a lot of work!
As for contests in general.... know the source. If Sun or Motorola, or another well known company runs a contest I'd generally take it at face value. If it's some no-name fly-by-night company, I'd be suspicious.
In the crypto world, there are all sorts of snake oil pedlers who run "contests" to "prove" how unbreakable their software is. As a rule, respected cryptographers ignore them.
--Mark

i'll just urge developers to keep track of the different opportunities available whenever one of the large companies or industry consortiums holds a developer's contest.
here's a list:
http://www.blueboard.com/j2me/contests.htm
if there are any others, please post 'em...