Hackathons are all the rage. Lots of companies run them as a way of engaging staff, kickstarting innovation and breaking the monotony of every day routines. Seek has now run a number of internal hackathons, scheduling one every six months as a way of kickstarting innovation in system design, business process improvement and finding new ways to work with customers.

I spoke with Seek's managing director Michael Ilczynski and Glen Cameron, the company's head of delivery about business hackathones. Here are some of his tips.

Hackathons are all the rage. Lock a bunch of smart people together with a problem to solve and enough food and drink to keep them fuelled and reap the whirlwind of creativity. But not all hackathons deliver instant value

Every year, global cloud accounting company Xero runs a hackathon called Global Xplore. Hackathons aren't new -- you’ve no doubt heard about many of them over the years. But Xero did things a little differently this time and it has some wise words to share about what it takes to host a successful global hackathon and why it's such an important part of the company's culture.

Hackathons are about gathering groups of like-minded people together and giving them a limited amount of time to either solve problems or find better ways of doing things with the use of technology. There are a number of hackathons hosted by larger companies that are open to external participants but there's no reason why your company can't host its own event that may end up being more beneficial.

Content delivery giant Netflix has been hosting Hack Day events for some time, giving its product development staff a break from their daily routine to experiment with new technologies and get creative. Design and engineering staff get together to find alternative ways to do things better at Netflix. From a retro VR viewing experience to a 3D software debugging solution, here are some of the creations that came out of Netflix's most recent Hackathon.

With hackathons proving their worth as a way to nurture creativity and spur innovation, CSIRO is getting in on the action, inviting potential clean energy innovators to #hackthesun for $10k in prize money. This will be Australia's first solar hackathon, with the same model internationally already having produced a number of successful solar startups.

The word "hackathon" conjures up images of computer programmers and software congregating at a venue to work on cool and interesting project. But it's not just fun and games. We take look at how hackathons can shape the future of innovation for this country.

Stock image company Shutterstock has released a Chrome browser extension that brings up a randomised photo from its collection of 65 million images every time you open a new tab. Here's how the Shutterstock Tab works.

John Lunn has participated in hundreds of hackathons in his time and is also the global director of BattleHack, one of the biggest hacking events on the map. This makes him a pretty good authority on what works and what doesn't. Earlier in the week, we asked John to share his expertise on what makes a great hackathon. Here are his top tips.

Brief news items of note for Lifehacker readers, including: Team GearBox takes out BattleHack Sydney, get $1 cheeseburgers from Hungry Jack's, watch the first footage from Simpsons/Family Guy crossover.

Working in development can be a pressure-cooker at times, but usually you don't get to experience this unique joy until you've left study and found employment. However, those currently engaged in IT-related TAFE and uni courses in Melbourne can get a taste for crunch this August by competing in UNIHACK, a hackathon being organised by students at the University of Melbourne and Monash uni's Clayton campus.