Coming to America

This is the view from the hotel window. Not too shabby eh?

The 2011 Imagine Cup World Finals are in the USA this year. New York City to be exact. I remember the excitement when this was announced last year in Poland, and I remember really wanting to go. And here I am. Thanks to Microsoft for inviting me. Planet Imagine Cup in New York. Great stuff. The hotel is right next to Times Square. We had a bus ride from the airport.

This is a dodgy panorama of the bus ride. I think that dodgy panoramas might be a trademark of my imagery for this year.

 

This was our first view of the New York skyline.

Once we had checked in I went over to see Lisa and the rest of the Microsoft team in the crew room.

Behind the scenes in the Microsoft crew room. Lisa says hi!

We start the briefing and preparation for the competition tomorrow. Can’t wait.

Packing for New York

Stretching a bus with a Panoramic Camera in Hull. Going to try this in NYC

I’m packing for New York at the moment. I’m taking a bunch of cameras, computers and loads of power supplies. Mustn't forget the adapter plug too.

Hull University in 3D

I’ve been playing around with a 3D camera and I think it sort of works. these are the left and right pairs that I took on the way into the office. I’ve found this really useful program that can convert the stereo MPO files produced by the camera into twin jpegs. If you want to see exactly what I saw as I walked past the library you just need to print these out and stick them on the inside of your 3D glasses. 

Radio Cube

The scene, a boardroom in Tokyo. The chairman surveys the ranks of executives ranged down each side of the long walnut desk and speaks.

Chairman: “So, we have nearly concluded the business for today. We have decided to build a new factory in Osaka to make a new electric sports car, agreed to an investment of 3 Trillion Yen in battery technology, and to sponsor the 2012 Olympics. Just one vital item remains for discussion.”

An expectant hush fills the room.

Chairman: “Can Rob have a replacement radio for his Nissan Cube?”

First Executive: “Sounds fair enough to me. After all, it is not his fault that it broke, and the car is under warranty”

Second Executive: “I agree. I’ve always enjoyed reading his blog”

Chairman (picking up a quill pen and signing a scroll): “Then it shall be so.”

Actually, I’m not convinced that this is how it turned out, but I’m jolly pleased that Nissan did agree to a replacement. Driving home without Radio 4 has been a bit lonely, although I have figured out that I can use the TuneIn Radio on the Windows Phone via Bluetooth to get reasonable coverage.

Special shout out to Trenton Nissan in Hull who negotiated with Nissan on my behalf and did the job very quickly and efficiently. They gave me a courtesy car while they diagnosed the problem and insisted on washing mine before they gave it back to me. And the hadn’t even sold me the Cube, they were providing warranty support on behalf of another dealer.

Imagine Cup Video Round Judges Comments now Available

I’ve just finished spending a few hours in the Imagine Cup Judging tool. I’ve been going through the judges comments on the Video Presentations that we’ve been reviewing. The idea is that we can get some feedback to the teams in advance of the finals in New York next week. This will allow them to add some detail to their presentations and make sure they can give their best.

With over 60 teams it has been quite a challenge to summarize all the comments and get them distributed but I hope the teams find the information useful. I was very impressed with the videos that I saw, and it was good to see comments from other judges saying how much they enjoyed seeing theirs as well.

Remember that these comments are there to make good things even better. If we have mentioned that you could add some coverage to particular aspects of your presentation this means that we liked what we saw, and we want to see more.

I’m really looking forward to New York next week. It is going to be super great. Come and say hello if you see me. I’m the tall bloke wearing the Lego watch….