MyTeksi partners HITB with rebates, HackWEEKDAY initiative

• MyTeksi programmers to work with other participants to develop community service SOS app
• Any bookings made via MyTeksi get instant cash-back rebate of RM10 regardless of pick-up point

STARTUP MyTeksi is offering an RM10 taxi rebate for all attendees of the 11th annual HITB Security Conference (HITBSecConf) taking place at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur this week, and for all participants of the 24-hour HackWEEKDAY developer hackathon taking place onsite.
 
Attendees who book and travel to the HITBSecConf venue via the MyTeksi app over the two-day event can claim their fare rebates at the MyTeksi booth, located within the HITB CommSec village, an open-to-the-public exhibition area that runs alongside the main conference, MyTeksi and Hack In The Box (HITB) said in a statement.
 
Local and foreign developers will be coming to participate in workshops, talks and contests at HITBSecConf.
 
MyTeksi will be providing rebated taxi rides to the conference. Any bookings made via the MyTeksi app will get an instant cash-back rebate of RM10 regardless of the pick-up point.
 
As its commitment to encouraging homegrown innovation, MyTeksi will also be sending its in-house programming team to participate in the HackWEEKDAY competition.
 
Core programmers from MyTeksi will also be present to work in conjunction with other participants to develop a community service SOS application aimed at creating a crowd-sourced crime reporting system.
 
By integrating this application into its existing network, MyTeksi hopes the system would then have the ability to push these SOS alerts to taxi drivers operating within its network. This will give the SOS application another set of eyes and ears on-the-road, the company said.
 
"The main reason for starting MyTeksi was to provide safer rides for commuters. This collaboration extends our safety efforts to non-taxi passengers as well, to make Malaysia a safer place,” said MyTeksi regional head of products, Aaron Gill.
 
HackWEEKDAY is sponsored by Mozilla Corporation, Facebook and Microsoft with the aim of highlighting and discovering the next generation of software developers, HITB said.
 
Targeting 100 developers in total, registration for the 24-hour hackathon is completely free with prizes including US$1337 in cash for the 'most l33t coder' -- judged by a panel of experts from Mozilla, Facebook, Microsoft and HITB.
 
The CommSec exhibition area is open to the public from 9am-6pm so MyTeksi users and members of the public can come to meet with and engage the MyTeksi team which will be on hand both days to address any feedback or queries relating to its service and application.
 
“With MyTeksi onboard as our official ‘Ride Partner,’ we're hoping even more developers take advantage of the savings offered to come and support participants in the competition and of course to meet with the security and development teams from Facebook, Microsoft and Mozilla", said Hafez Kamal, lead organiser for HackWEEKDAY.
 
HITBSecConf kicked off with a two-day training workshop on Oct 14; while the main conference will take place from Oct 16-17, as will HackWEEKDAY.
 
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