Hello Seattle (again)

Nice view from the plane

The lady at US Immigration looked at the stamps in my passport and said “You come here a lot, don’t you”. I suppose I do, wouldn’t have it any other way.

Anyhoo, we had a very smooth couple of flights thanks to Continental airlines (although the airline food version of a cheeseburger is something I only want to experience once in my life) and finally arrived in Bellevue in time for a walk around. During which I broke my shoes in half. Fortunately they had a huge mall just around the corner which had loads of shoe shops and so I was able to get something I’ve always wanted, a pair of Converse All Stars. Excellent.

Downtown Bellevue looking good.

Then Sharon arrived at the hotel with a Windows Phone each for Andy and me. Truly, the day could have got any perfecter.

Mostly Writing, and then a Drive

Spent today feverishly writing Windows Phone 7 content and then driving down the motorway to Bristol to hook up with number one son ready for the flight out tomorrow.

I’m taking an entourage to Seattle with me, they are going to have fun going round and seeing the sites, and I’m going to have fun teaching.

Windows Phone 7 Training Mayhem

Who? Me?

I got an email a couple of weeks ago asking if I would like to do some Windows Phone 7 training. Thinking that this might be a useful stepping stone to getting my hands on a device, and it might be fun to do I said why not? Actually, it was a bit more complicated than that

I fly out to Seattle on Saturday. I started off thinking that I would be doing this using Live Meeting in a little room in our house, it turns out that I will be using Live Meeting out of a studio in Bellevue, Washington State, USA. 

At the moment I’m working on the content. We have 12 hours to fill…

Omar Sharif Graduates from Hull

Omar Sharif came to see us today and collect an honorary degree. He gave a superb speech, explaining his friendship with Hull born actor Tom Courtenay and his ups and downs as a long standing Hull City fan.

Great guy.

Windows Phone 7 Jump Start

As announced earlier today in The Guardian among other places Microsoft is running a Windows Phone 7 Jump Start course next week to get developers started writing applications and games for Windows Phone 7. Andy and I are doing it, live from Bellevue Seattle on Tuesday and Thursday.  Using the magic of Live Meeting anyone can take part and it is free to sign up.

Should be fun.

Graduation Day

Did the warmup for two graduation day ceremonies today. One of them was for students from Computer Science. I took the tiny camera and it seems to have done a pretty good job in difficult circumstances. If you were there you should be able to find yourself in this picture or the other one on Flickr.

A couple of great audiences, thanks for that folks.

Flamingo Land

Just to prove we went there…

Took number one daughter to Flamingo Land today, as a birthday treat.  It is a theme park near Malton in Yorkshire and it is great. Some big scary rides and a really nice zoo. If you’ve not been it is well worth the trip. Much closer than Alton Tours and just as much fun.

Saturday Open Day

Some of the audience. There is another picture on my Flickr site.

Many thanks to everyone who came along yesterday to our open day. It was great fun and you were a lovely audience. I’m sorry I had to zoom of after my talk. I would have loved to stay around and chat, but I’ve been away for a week and I had to go home and sort a few things out. If you have any questions about the department please get in touch.

Free Windows Phone for Imagine Cup Students

We found this phone in our dressing room at the Warsaw Opera house. The design and style are fantastic. But I think on balance I’d rather have a Windows Phone.

One statement by Jon Perera on Thursday got the biggest cheer of the night. All the students who attended the competition, in all the teams, are getting free Windows Phone 7 developer devices as soon as they become available. Bearing in mind he had just given two real devices to the winners of the Imagine Cup Windows Phone RockStar competition I reckon this will be quite soon. Must find out how I can get hold of a device myself….

Flying Back from Poland

Flew back from Poland today. Very sorry to leave, but at least I don’t have much jetlag when I get home. Thanks Microsoft for setting up such an amazing competition.

Everybody liked my Lego watch. Get yours from the Lego store.

Whenever I go through Schipol airport I always take a picture of the Seafood bar. I love the organisation and colours. There was someone buying stuff this time.

Imagine Cup Awards Night

Opening the ceremony with some Polish Traditional Dancers.

Imagine Cup awards night tonight. Great fun. The evening started with some dancing and then we got down to business.

Jon Perera opening the evening. There were lots of awards, and loads of happy teams crowding the stage with their flags.

Jas Sandu with the Interoperability Award winners. I helped to judge this one. Excellent entries, with a worthy winner from Jamaica.

Then it was time to announce the Software Development winners. These were the names all the judges have worked so hard to find.

Here are the top three. Well done Thailand, Serbia and New Zealand. For a full list of all the winners and links to their project details you can go here.

Then it was time to announce where the competition was going to be based in 2011.

I’ve hidden a clue to the venue for next competition somewhere in this picture. See if you can find it.

Yep, it’s USA, New York to be exact. And we had a very familiar face give us all a welcome to Imagine Cup 2011.

Michelle Obama, First Lady of the United States of America, reckons it is a good idea for you all to take part next year. And so do I. You can sign up and look at the shiny new Imagine Cup website here.

I’d like to thank Microsoft for setting up and running this fantastic competition that brings so much to competitors and judges alike. People ask me why Microsoft spend so much effort on this competition. I have to answer that I don’t really know. But I’m really glad that they do.

Imagine Cup Judging

prof. dr hab. Maria E. Orlowska Secretary of State, Ministry of Science and Higher Education. And really nice person.

We did our judging today. I had what can only be described as a “Rob moment” right at the start. We were standing in the lobby of the Warsaw Opera house and someone said “Right, let’s head up to the backstage dinner”. “Hang on” I replied, with my usual attention to detail". “We’re missing the Polish Secretary of State.”

Who was of course standing right in front of me.

Oh well. Fortunately the lady in question dismissed this massive gaffe with a wave of a hand and a smile. One way to break the ice I suppose.

We had dinner on the actual stage of the Opera House, behind the backdrop, with the final going on all around us. Then, at around 6:30 we were ushered to our seats at the front of the hall and the judging began.

And it was great.

Jon Perera opening the judging.

All the teams brought their best game. They were fantastic. The judges came in at the end of each presentation with excellent questions and Roger kept the affair rolling along with style and panache. I’ve never known three hours go by so fast.

After that we retired to the judges room for our deliberations. At this point I’d like to thank the teams for making our lives so difficult. The standard was so uniformly high that we had to work really hard to determine the winners.

The judging team, from left to right:

Tom Keller, Gwendolyn Tan,  Rob Miles, Maria Orlowska, Dennis Anderson, Roger Lawrence and Rand Morimoto.

Great job guys.

Stepping up to the Imagine Cup Final

They have a chandelier collection at the back, just in case they ever need, well, a chandelier, in a hurry.

We went down to the Warsaw Opera House today to take a look and rehearse our bits for the Finals tomorrow. Blimey. (that is actually the most appropriate word I can find right now). Blimey. The stage is huge. You could fit all of Hull New Theatre (and I think I mean the building) behind the stage. The wings are so large I’m surprised the whole thing hasn’t flown away by now…

Anyhoo, all of the finalists will present from a platform that is moved into position and slotted into the stage itself. The are down here today setting everything up on their platform at which time the systems will be left that way until they are needed tomorrow night. I’m one of the finalist judges and I’m going to be on stage at the front viewing the presentations great fun.

Imagine Cup Tips

When you get back to your hotel room, hang your badge on the door handle. Then you will remember to put the badge back on when you leave. I’ve already gone down to the lobby twice without my badge, so I’m hoping this will help.

Warsaw Night Pictures

The sun setting behind the Palace of Culture

Warsaw station

Junction

I was hoping to go the the Institute of Industrial Design for a presentation this evening, but unfortunately I got back to the hotel with a list of things to do, and no time to get there before the event started. So, once I’d done all the bits and bobs I balanced my tripod on two chairs and a table in the hotel room and took some night shots. They seem to have come out quite well.

Imagine Cup Finalists Announced

There was something of a crush down at the front of the announcements.

 
These are the Game Development Finalists

These are the Embedded Development Finalists. Yes, that is a British flag. Well done “Team of One”.

This is the view from the stage as Roger prepares to read out the name of another finalist for Software Development.

These are the finalists of the Software Development Challenge

For the record, the finalists are as follows:

Game Design Finalists

· Belgium, NomNom Productions – Shift
· France, Green Gears Studio – Island of Nazeth
· Philippines, By Implication – Wildfire

Embedded Development Finalists

· France, GERAS
· Korea, RU Gentle
· Romania, EcoSynthesis
· Russia, MCPU
· Taiwan, SmarterME
· UK, eyesight

Software Design Finalists
· Finland, Signbook
· Malaysia, Team HDC
· New Zealand, OneBeep
· Serbia, TFZR
· Singapore, Mama-Bear
· Thailand, Skeek

The finals are on Wednesday, should be great.

First Round Imagine Cup Judging Fun

The teams at the Competitor Briefing. Can you find yourself there?

We had an early start today, what with over 60 teams to view. The judges were placed into teams of 4 and worked their way through 8 or so presentations each. And it was great. I really enjoy this part of the competition, and I love seeing the ideas that the teams have, and they way they present them.

After each presentation we returned to the judges room to write up scores and feedback. Each team will get the handwritten feedback on their entry and presentation at the end of the competition.

Imagine Cup 2010 Poland Opens

Cutting the ribbon at the start of the competition

We had fantastic weather for the opening ceremony, which was good news for everyone except Jon Perera of Microsoft who’s eyes needed protection against the glare when he gave his opening speech.

I’ve spent the day working with the judges and getting things set up. If you think the competitors are passionate about the competition, you haven’t met the judges.. There is a total commitment from them to make sure that everything is done transparently and fairly, they really are a pleasure to work with.  Judging starts tomorrow, best part of the competition for me. That’s when I get to find out what the teams have been up to this year.

Imagine Cup Setup

Rob in Warsaw. Very large building included to give sense of scale. Note that it is not smoke coming out of my head, it is a cloud (or perhaps an empty thought bubble).

Today we got a chance to look at the venue for the Imagine Cup. Astonishing. Again. Every year we go somewhere amazing. Behind me you can see the Palace of Culture, where we are holding just part of the event.

The even have “Imagine Cup” stairs.

Palace of Culture, Culture

Intercontinental Hotel, where the students are giving their presentations.

It all starts tomorrow. Can’t wait.

Imagine Cup Poland

I got a window seat

Flew out to Poland today for the 2010 Imagine Cup Final. I’m helping with the judging, which means I get to go to Warsaw, which is great. Of course, I took a camera (yet another one) and it does take nice pictures.

Sunlight at 24,000 feet makes nice shadows through your cola.

 
Downtown Warsaw

The judging starts on Sunday, tomorrow we are going to get everything ready for the judging. This evening we went out and I had groats for tea. Great stuff.