This sponsored post is produced in conjunction with Ford. Ford Motor Co. sponsored the Makeathon, a hardware- and software-focused hackathon that we held at our recent developer conference, DevBeat. Part of the challenge to the assembled makers was using Ford's AppLink API, which lets iOS and Android developers integrate their mobile apps with Ford vehicles. In fact, this was the first time any developers outside Ford had been able to play with AppLink 2.0, the second major version of the API, which contains a bunch of new features — such as the ability to get vehicle data like location, vehicle speed, gear status, and more. Julius Marchwicki, the global project manager for SYNC AppLink at Ford, spoke with us about some of the projects that makers were undertaking during the makeathon. One project integrated a simulated taxi dispatch system with the car via AppLink.