Quizmasters

After a very smooth journey down the Reading the Hull team bus arrived at the hotel. There is a tradition that on the eve of the Imagine Cup finals Microsoft run a quiz for all the teams as part of the entertainments. So, after a Korean-themed meal we all sat down and had our brains stretched.

We had to draw pictures of each other. I think he caught my best side.

I think Tom knows the answer. But is it the right question?

One of the tables we beat...

One of the other tables we beat....

Branded Chocolate....

As last year, I had taken the rather cunning precaution of choosing the table with all the clever people on, and so we just managed to run out joint winners. The prize, a couple of Cube People, will keep me amused for a while.

Tomorrow the fun really starts, when the gloves come off and we all compete to find the UK Imagine Cup winners.

Cheese Cam

David has just sent me this. Yum.

The Apprentice and bad hearing

"The Apprentice" has started again. This is a gameshow/reality TV thing where a bunch of people pretend to be interested in working for Sir Alan Sugar whilst playing to the camera as much as possible and preparing for a career in daytime TV. But it is quite compulsive viewing.

I had a weird moment where I thought I heard the announcer say "..all the contestants are competing for a single bacon seat...". I had just conjured up this a very strange vision of what they were after when I realised I had misheard.

Twitterified

Interesting. On the day that the papers are talking about how people are stopping blogging I find a new thing which takes the art of blogging to a new level.

The new thing is Twitter. This is kind of "blogging on speed". You post on Twitter what you are doing at regular intervals, short sharp messages that keep all your Twitter friends informed of where you are. I've not yet seen a Twitter post that says "going to the toilet" but I'm sure there is one somewhere.

I can see this as being great for students, and those with more than one friend. You could be continually in touch, a kind of message based digital herd. I'm not convinced that it will be much use for me.  Thinking of something pseudo-witty to say once a day is hard enough. Doing it every twelve minutes would probably cause my brain to melt.

Having said that, TwitterVision, a mashup where you can see posts from people appearing on a map of the world, is compulsive viewing. And I will be posting live reports from the Imagine Cup finals tomorrow and Friday on my Twitter account, it should be perfect for that.

Tennis with Zombies

Tonight we finally got around to playing Sega Virtua Tennis on the PS3. It is really fun. We started off playing singles, but after number one son had beaten me a couple of times I figured it was time to move on. So we had a go at doubles. We squared off against a couple of computer controlled players who wiped the floor with us. So, in an attempt to make our game easier, we turned one of the computer players into a girl and tried again. And they wiped the floor with us once more.

The game is tough. Getting the ball back over the net is not that hard. Getting it back in such a way that your computer controlled (or otherwise) opponent can't then immediately smash it past you is a bit more tricky.

I was especially interested in the graphics of the game. It is one of the few that runs in the highest resolution mode that the PS3 supports. And it looks jolly good. The various locations are rendered with loving care, and the crowd looks amazing, with hundreds of individually animated people watching intently as you blast the ball out of the back of the court.

The only real problem I've noticed is that the players, although wonderfully rendered and with fantastic motion capture, have a strange, unearthly pallor which makes them look to me a bit like the undead. Not that I've seen many undead up close you understand, but I've watched a lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, if that counts.

I know that drawing people is really hard, and that this is state of the art. I've noticed a similar effect in other computer generated content that tries to depict real people and I'm not sure what can be done about it. To my mind the simple cartoon graphic faces of the players in the Tennis game in Wii Sports look more "human" than the beautifully drawn players in this game.

What I really want I suppose is a game with the depth and visuals that Sega has, but with the warmth, character and easy controls that Wii Tennis gives you.  But in the meantime, I think that Sega Tennis is going to provide quite a bit of fun.

Update on 2007-03-28 20:25 by Rob

I've been asked to make it clear that when we made our game "easier" by adding a lady player to the opposition, we lost by an even wider margin.Go girls.

Back on the 'phone...

I'm moved to wonder if people really care that I'm now using a Smartphone instead of a Pocket PC. Then again, I do see myself as a beacon of light, shining upon the path to gadget heaven and true enlightenment.

And anyway, it's my blog, so there.

Anyhoo, I've given up on the Pocket PC as a phone. I've gone back to my good old Imate SP5 Smartphone. This gives me pretty much everything that I had on the old machine, including the wonderful push email support via Exchange. What the Smartphone doesn't give me, and the reason I've gone back, is a need to use two hands, and frequently a stylus, to do something tricky like, say, phone someone from the address book or find out who called me last. It also makes a much smaller lump in my pocket. I've tried to love Pocket PC phones many times, from the Jasjar daddy of them all down to the neat little Vario that I used to use. But I always end up back on the Smartphone trail.

I've really no idea precisely why, but I think that it has to do with my austere upbringing, where putting fingermarks on things like glass tables and the TV screen was severely dealt with. I think this has left me with an aversion to touch displays that makes using a Pocket PC too hard for me.

I was worried that the constantly connected GPRS connection that Exchange needs might sap the battery of my little phone, but so far it is holding up very well.

Open Day

We had our final big Admissions Open Day today. We had a monster turnout. That is not that a load of monsters turned out, but that a large number of people, who were definitely not monsters, turned out. If you see what I mean.

Wide angle audience arriving....

Thanks for coming folks. Some of you had traveled a very long way to see us, I hope you found the journey worthwhile. As is usual, we had a draw for a Playstation Portable.

The holder of ticket 17 gets his dues from Dr. Rayner

We have some university open days later in the year, and then in September it all starts again....

An Email from Rob

To: care@sendit.com

Subject: Order Number: xxxx (19th Mar 2007) The Lake House (Blu-Ray)

Hi. I've just received a package from you which is supposed to contain
"The Lake House" on Blu Ray. Instead I've got "Rowan Atkinson in Mr.
Bean - 3 of the original classic episodes: DVD 8247380". It has to be
said that I won't be able to tell much difference, but I'm afraid that
my wife might.......

The order reference on the shipping note was xxxx batch xxxxx

I look forward to hearing from you

Rob Miles

PS3 Purchaser

Hull at 8:00 am this morning

I don't think that we needed to get up early and dash up town. But we did anyway. At 8:00 am there were around 10 people outside the Game shop, but in Virgin, where number one son had placed his order, things were very quiet. So number one son got his machine, and then I got mine. Hint: If you are a student you can get 10% of the machine and any games at the moment at Virgin, if you can find one in stock...

Actually, finding a Playstation 3 in stock does not look like too much of a stretch at the moment. Everywhere we went we saw signs advertising the fact that there are plenty to go around. Whether this is gamer apathy, good production by Sony or the high price of the console remains to be seen, but it does look like anyone who wants a Playstation 3 can just go and buy one.

Then again, the "sold out" phenomenon is not how it has always been, I remember buying a PS1 when it came out and that was certainly not an all night queuing job, I seem to recall getting that a week or so after launch. I guess it all started with the PS2, and everyone now expects demand to outstrip supply or the launch is deemed a failure..

Anyhoo, we got the machines home and fired them up. Mine is plumbed into the big telly and the decent sound system and fits very nicely. It was a bit of a pain to have to endure a twenty minute firmware upgrade before I could play with the games, but the results on MotorStorm were worth the wait. I got three game titles (I've been saving up for a while), the other two being Sega Virtua Tennis (so realistic that in my first game Tim Henman lost) and Resistance: Fall of Man (not played it yet but it has Grimsby in it so it must be great).

I must admit that MotorStorm is so good I've not played anything else much yet. It shows the console off for what it is, a very powerful beast. There are lots of different vehicles on the screen at any one time and they all bounce off the scenery and each other in a very realistic way. If I have one criticism it is that it shares with many other race games the "First to Twelfth" behaviour where slightly misjudging the final corner can take you from a winning position to last in the field as they all tear past you. But then again, this might actually be quite realistic.

The console itself is an impressive piece of kit. It runs very quietly, is immaculately presented and has one or two really neat touches. I loaded a bunch of pictures onto it and it has this very groovy viewer where your shots are dropped onto a tabletop as if they were real prints. I'm pretty much going to get my entire record collection onto the thing, and a goodly number of my photos too. I downloaded the demo of Gran Turismo and things look very pretty. Tonight we watched the Blu-Ray version of Casino Royale and it was awesome, with genuinely jaw dropping quality.

This must be around the best time to get a video game console. There are no bad ones out there. Each of the three has something to commend it. Hard core gamers moving into the next generation can go for the XBOX 360, where its maturity and good range of software pay dividends. Those after a quick fix of sociable good-times can go for the Wii. And those who want something to put under the telly which will serve as a media hub, get them into HD video and with the promise of some genuine innovation in the future can dig deep into their pockets and splash out on a PS3.

Game Fest

Yesterday we had our little games fest. The folks from Hull ComSoc set it up and we had XBOXes, a Wii and a PS3 all getting some hammer. Apparently, although I'm not an expert, 8 player Gears of War is a blast. And you can chop people up with chain saws as well. Of course, I'm too mature to do that kind of thing. That, and I'm pretty sure that I'd be the one in pieces on the floor. I took the camera along and grabbed some snaps.

Everyone seems far too relaxed at the moment. Must be loading...

Making my way home

I made my way back today. I started bright and early. Again.
There's a bloke at Portugal airport who takes his cappuccinos very seriously. Even at 5 in the morning.

Airport sunrise

Later today we had an XBOX 360 multi-player Gears of War fest which was fun. I'll dig out the pictures tomorrow.

Anonymous Food

So, I'm sitting in my hotel room feeling peckish. Lacking the energy to go downstairs and actually find some food, I turn to the room service menu. It is very decadent, but the prices are reasonable and the menu inviting, so I ring up and order a sandwich and some chips. "Fifteen minutes" says the man. "Fine" I reply.

Fifteen minutes go by. then another fifteen minutes. No food. We english have a problem with complaining. We hardly ever do. Anyhoo, after 45 minutes hunger gets the better of me and I ring back.

The chap on the other end of the phone assures me that the food is on its way even as we speak. At the end of the call, almost as an aside, he asks "What room are you in?".

The penny drops. When I called the first time I assumed the hotel had one of those fangled things where the phone system tells the receptionist who is calling. The first time I experienced this it was really scary. I was jetlagged in a hotel and at 3:00 am I rang up to ask for a network cable so that I could connect to some people who were as awake as I seemed to be. "Good morning Mr. Miles" said the person at the other end. "Have we met?" I blurted out, before I figured out what was going on. This caused much confusion at the other end, as the poor desk porter tried to figure out why someone would ring them up at 3:00 to find out if they had met them. Anyhoo, I digress.

The first time I called for my food it did not occur to me to tell the chap at the other end where I was. Which gave them a problem.  They had a beef sandwich and a plate of chips and no idea of where to send them. All the could do was wait until I rang back and complained, which with me being english, took a while.

The good news is that the food was excellent.

Tech Days 07

car-airport-plane-airport-plane-airport-taxi-conference centre-hotel

Well, that was my day. How about yours?

Some time back I got an email offering me a chance to speak at a student conference in Portugal. The date was a long way away, and I was pretty sure it was out of term time, my boss said it was OK,  so I agreed to go. What with the Imagine Cup effort at Hull, and my term dates being messed up, I very nearly didn't make it. But I'm glad I did. Even if it meant getting up at 4:00 am and a couple of flights to get here, Lisbon is worth the effort. I was expecting to speak to a room full of students.

Well, there was a room, and it was pretty full, but it was a bit more than I expected. Tech Days is essentially TechEd for Portugal only. I'm rather jealous. I wish there was something like this in the UK.

TechDays has everything that TechEd does, speakers shirts, timetable of interesting sessions, plush venue. And loads of keen delegates, including several hundred students who are given a day pass to the most interesting sessions. One of which was mine....

I was talking about XNA, the way that you can write games in C# for your XBOX 360. It is a subject that I like talking about, and the audience seemed happy to hear about it too. Even putting up with the jokes... I was a bit worried whether or not my particular brand of humour would go OK with a Portuguese audience. But in the end everyone seemed to have a good time, and a bunch of students even stayed behind at the end to hear the famous "Orange for a Head" joke. And then promptly wished they hadn't.

I would very much have liked to stay longer. I only managed to get to one session, about the Microsoft Robotics Studio. This is something I'd love to have more time to get to grips with. It is a fantastic way to start programming robots, with a proper simulated physics environment and an interface to lots of robot platforms, including the new Lego Mindstorms. Maybe when I get back I'll set aside an afternoon as robot playtime and see what we can make.

At the end of the day I staggered back to my room in a very nice hotel, and just flaked out.

Anyway, thanks very much to Microsoft Portugal for inviting me and making me so welcome, for the audience for making the trip worthwhile, and to KLM for actually finding me some seats on the plane with legroom. I've only been in Portugal for around 16 hours, I can promise that I will be back, and that next time it will be for a proper look round.

Portugal Pictures

I'm only in Portugal for around 16 hours. I took loads of pictures from the taxi on the way from the airport to the conference centre. The taxi driver thought I was mad at first, but after a while he was pointing things out for me. Great stuff.

View from the Taxi

Nice Stadium

Love the colours

Aqueduct

Lisbon has a nice bridge too

The TechDays in a break

At the end of the bill. Or is that top billing?

The audience. What a great bunch

..until I told the Orange for a Head joke.....

A great bunch of MSPs

Some more students. That chap in the middle needs a haircut...

Nice bridge by night

Portugal here I come.......

Portugal here I come.......
Originally uploaded by RobMiles.

Traveling At Speed

I'm away again tomorrow for a whistle stop trip to Portugal. I've been invited to give a talk at TechDays07 there, but I don't really have time. So tomorrow I get up at 4:15 and fly to Lisbon. Then on Wed. morning I'm going to get up at 4:15 and fly back. I reckon that my average speed over the next day will be around 100 miles an hour....

Widening my Angles

I've been playing with my wide angle lens attachment that I got in the 'states. This is the thing that I can put on the front of the camera which halves the focal length of the lens, making it into a wide angle so that it can see more. I was wondering what would happen if I got ten or so and put them all on together.

Would I be able to see behind me?

Overheard Conversations

I hate it when I overhear the end of a conversation without hearing the start. Today, in Wilkinson's, I heard someone saying (loudly in case you think I was eavesdropping) "...of course, if you turn it upside down so that it drains out all the water and then let it dry out it should work fine.." I'm just baffled as to what they were taking about.

No Rhyme or Reason

Today is Comic Relief day. This is a bi-annual charity event where people do silly things, like sitting in a bath tub full of beans, for money. I'm not convinced that beans would be good for my complexion, and so I usually give a lecture in rhyme instead. These are great fun, earn a bit of cash, and take ages to write. An therein lies the rub this year. I've simply not had time to put on my poets hat and crank out the verse.  So, for the first time for a while, there is no lecture this year. Very sorry people, maybe next time.

Hull Wins Again

What is it with Hull and winning? Only a few days after we got four teams into the UK finals of the Microsoft Imagine Cup Software Design Challenge (something not achieved by any other university, ever - and something we did last year as well) I find that a team of ours has aced the British Computer Society (BCS) Computer Challenge, which took place yesterday in Leeds.

This was a fast paced quiz affair, all "fingers on the buzzers" and "your starter for ten" kind of stuff.

And we won. Congratulations to the team, Mat Steeples, Jamie Ashton, Sam Denison and Jon Stirling. This is the tenth time that we've won the competition in the 21 years that it has been running.

Go Hull.