A team of Carnegie Mellon University undergraduates createda prototype file-sharing tool in just 24 hours at the Yahoo! Open HackAll-Stars event Sept. 13-14 in New York City, winning the inaugural HackAll-Stars competition and $10,000.

Members of the D1W team, which won the 2009 HackU atCarnegie Mellon, are Amos Yuen and Chong Xie, both computer sciencemajors;Arjuna Hayes, an electrical andcomputer engineering major, and Ethan Gladding, an art major. All are juniors.

The four CMU students were among 40 winning hackers from 15previous Yahoo! Open Hack Day and University Hack Day competitions across Northand South America, Europe and Asia to attend the invitation-only event. Thehack finalists were given 24 hours to produce and present a prototype thataddressed a challenge faced by the digital media industry.

D1W's file-sharing prototype, Ruum, enables users tocollaborate in an interactive space, where they can share content, chat withothers and leave comments.

"Hack Days are the perfect venue to create cool andinnovative apps," Yuen said. "The opportunity to focus on a singularproblem and bring a solution to life is what hacking is all about."

Ruum was selected as the winner by a prestigious panel ofjudges, including: Mike Smith, Chief Digital Officer forForbes; Shana Fisher from Highline Capital; Raymie Stata,Yahoo!'s Chief Technology Officer; Kevin Doerr, Yahoo!'s Vice President ofInnovation; and Steve Douty, Yahoo!'s Vice President of Applications andmobile product development. In addition to winning $10,000, the team may alsoqualify for a year of incubation at Yahoo!, including office space andtechnical support to help bring Ruum to market.

"Yahoo!'s dedication to creative third-party developersaround the world like D1W who build applications using Yahoo!'s powerfultechnologies, reflects our belief that by embracing today's thriving ecosystemof developers and publishers, together we can bring more personal meaning tothe web for millions of people all over the world," Doerr said.