However, I don’t agree that this is something that ‘real people’ would carry around at all, hence my earlier statement about hoping to see something ‘useful’ (aka: practical) come out of it.

@Bradley:
I am simultaneously glad to hear that there were judges who didn’t know about Project Runway or otherwise recognize her — and somewhat surprised that you haven’t heard of it It’s an extraordinarily popular show right now, and in it’s third season (yes, I do watch the show).

I am glad to know that there were other women Hackers who won in other categories. I couldn’t seem to find a listing of the other projects that had been competing, and I assume that either I missed the link to them or it was too soon after and they’d not been posted yet. Will look around more

As a Yahoo and a judge for the event, I can assure you that the fact that this team won was not a publicity stunt. I don’t know that any of the judges besides me (and maybe Chad and Gina) have ever heard of Project Runway. Moreover, most of the judges (Gina, Michael, Peter, Salim, David Hornik) don’t work at Yahoo… so much for conspiracy theories.

That team won because the Hack was simply cool… and worked. I can assure you there was no gender nor publicity bias. There were many other women Hackers who won in various categories you probably wouldn’t label as “gender specific hacks” BTW…

There were a lot of really awesome hacks presented, but honestly, I think the reason this one won *was* because their background (and yes, gender) allowed them to bring something new, refreshing, and (wait for it…) a cut above to Hack Day.