Boston Museum of Fine Arts is huge. All the attendants were suits. Very posh and with art to match. I could happily have spent the entire week here, the art is fantastic.
This glass is by Chihuly. Get to see it if you can.
This is our third day on the water. Today it is a boat trip around the harbour.
This is how you get to the Aquarium stop. The final stop for this train is “Wonderland. I’d love to go there.
This is the USS Constitution, or “Old Ironsides” as she is known. Apparently in the seventies she went around in a wheelchair solving murders..
Boston harbour looking really nice.
After the whale watching we went off to Harvard to look at their museum.
This is “Harvard Yard”. Like Hull University campus, but not quite as nice looking.
These flowers are made of glass. Amazing.
If you go to Boston you really should go whale watching. They don’t guarantee that you will see a whale, but they will give you another trip if you don’t. You sail out of Boston for an hour or so and then spend some time searching for tell-tale spouts on the horizon. Then the boat accelerates like mad towards them, until the whales go back down again. This was great fun, and we were really lucky to see several whales while we were out there.
Watching for whales.
A humpback comes up for air.
…and then goes down again.
Boston Aquarium today. Very nice, but very hot. this is a dragon fish.
In the afternoon we went on a cruise on a “Liberty Clipper”, which was great.
Under sail
During the cruise we had a “Boston Tea Party Re-enactment” which was great fun. At the end we threw some tea in the river, and then had to get it back. We also fired the ship’s gun, along with a pistol..
Not a lot of narrative for the next few days, but a few choice pictures from our holidays. Today we went to Boston Science Museum.
They have this amazing clock in the lobby
They also have a really impressive lightning display, including sparks to music.
I’m not sure they should call it a Science Museum, in that science is not something that exists in the past, but it sure is a great place to visit.
Boston has a very nice waterfront.
We went for a wader round Boston today. Very nice. Went down to the waterfront and had a hot dog.
This is what the waterfront looks like when it gets a bit darker.
In the evening we went to see an open air movie, “Megamind”, which was a good piece of CGI with a nice plot and a happy ending.
Movie Crowd.
Science Museum tomorrow…
After the excitement of the Imagine Cup we are today heading of for a few days in Boston. Heard nice things about the place, so it should be fun.
These are the top three for the Imagine Cup Software Development Challenge this year. We have OaSys (Jordan) in third, NoteTaker (USA) in second and Hermes (Ireland) first. Very warm congratulations to you all.
More winners take to the stage.
The awards ceremony was a great event, with appearances from the Mayor of New York, and Eva Longoria, to name a few. The students had a great time, which got even greater when they were told that along with the Kinect they will be taking home with them, they have also been awarded a brand new “Mango” release Windows Phone device as soon as they become available. Lucky people.
Imagine Cup Final Judges, from the left: Kulbir Arora -Technology Director Goldman Sachs, Edward G. Happ - Global CIO and Head of ISD; International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Sandra Regina Boccia -Editor PEGN Magazine, David Tisch - Director TechStars NYC, Dr. Fiona Wood -Director McComb Research Foundation, me, David Connor - Managing Director, Europe; 3BL Media.
Well, that was fun. Six and a half hours of deliberation, including six team presentations and a lot of discussion. I thought when we started that we wouldn’t need all the discussion time. But we did. It was not so much that we couldn’t decide the results, but more that we all wanted to be certain that we had done right by the six finalists. Eventually we handed over the winners and then I staggered off to bed. For me the judging is now complete. 67 teams have been taken down to a top three.
I want to thank all the judges who helped us get where we are. This kind of competition is as good as the judging process. If that is broken the whole thing becomes pointless. I’ve been so proud of the way that the judges have done their jobs over the last few days. The Imagine Cup can be justly proud of them too.
Today was a cultural day. This is when the Imagine Cup delegates get to do their own thing, or take part in some activities specially set up for them. However, in the morning we had our own agenda, and set off to go up the Empire State Building. The good news is that if you go first thing you can pretty much walk straight in. It was rather nice to walk through all the areas that would normally be fully of queuing people. Once at the top I took quite a few pictures, which will doubtless surface on these pages over time.
Then we went over to Macys store and had a look round, before returning to the hotel to join a “walking tour” around Manhattan. When we arrived the advice from folks who had been here before was to just walk around the city. I completely agree. Each neighbourhood has its own character and it is very interesting to see each one change into another. You can walk a single block and find all the shop signs complete change from one language to another.
In the evening we joined the trip to Ellis Island for a barbeque.
On the way we went past a New York icon. and even managed to get onto the island and see here up close and personal.
There are all the teams, with a rather nice backdrop.
The skyline looks even nicer when the sun goes down a bit.
Once we’d had enough to eat and drink we had a quick look around the Ellis Island museum and then it was time to get back on the boat and head home. Just a fantastic evening, thanks Microsoft.
This is me taking to the stage to announce the teams that are going forward to the finals on Tuesday. Fortunately there are no pictures of me nearly falling off the stage at the end.
Anyhoo, the six teams that have made it to the final round are:
Awesome work folks. Very impressive stuff. Now these teams have got to take their presentations onto the big stage on Tuesday.
Not a bad place for breakfast.
Imagine that you spent a day doing something which was great fun. And then you got to spend another day doing the same thing, only better. Well, that’s how today is going. Yesterday we judged the Imagine Cup Round One teams, who were excellent. Today we get to do the same thing for Round 2, with the 18 teams that are left. I’ve done my marking and I’ve even had time to stitch together some pictures that I took at breakfast, which is nice. The other judges are still working away at their score sheets, and later today we will be announcing the six teams that will be going forward to the finals on Tuesday.
At least the camera seems to be working again now…
Well, that was fun. Six presentations, six teams of passionate and enthusiastic students. Six good ideas well implemented. Now we have to put all the scores together and find the 18 best ones. We also have to assemble 18 feedback reports. And all before the end of the day. And we just about made it.
These are the 18 teams who are moving forward to the next round:
I was up on the stage reading out the names Lisa pulled from a hat. We do this to set the order for the presentation tomorrow.
I was very aware that as well as making 18 teams very happy I was also making 49 teams a bit sad. We say “you are all winners” a lot at the World Finals. Mainly because it is true. For those that didn’t make the cut I can tell you that the competition was very fierce, with the standard going up again. (as it seems to every year). And you have all gained more from this competition than you know. It really will change your life. When you go for a job, make sure that you tell them about the time you had in New York, and what you built. It will be the making of you. Remember that your Imagine Cup entry is not the only great thing you will do. It is just one of the first.
And a final tip if you didn’t quite make it. Go to the eating area on the 8th floor of the hotel. Grab something nice to eat and drink and find a window seat looking out onto the lights of Times Square. Then say to yourself. “I’m in New York on an all expenses paid trip. Last night I saw Steve Balmer turn up and give a speech just to us. Tomorrow we have a BBQ at Ellis Island. I’ve got nothing to do but play with cool tech, hang out with folks like me and explore New York”. And then tell me again how unfortunate you are….
Turns out I’m wearing Mr. Burns socks today. I hope I don’t start behaving like him during the judging.
Today is the judging for the round one presentations. The judges are all ready and assigned rooms, but first we have to brief the students on how it is all going to work. Which apparently involved me going up on the stage and telling some bad jokes. I think most aspects of my life involve me doing this at some point.
This is the left hand side of the audience. When I tried to take a picture of the other part of the room (which is enormous by the way) for some reason my camera let me down. Sorry about that, and you were definitely the better looking half of the room too….
Each judge has been assigned up to six teams to score and provide feedback to. The presentation sessions each last 20 minutes, with 15 minutes for questions afterwards. We give out the top 18, who are going to progress to the next round, at 10:00 tonight. I hope the camera is working again by then….
Today the competition proper got under way. This is Jon Perera getting the competition started.
Steve Balmer, CEO of Microsoft, was in his element surrounded by a bunch of tech-enthusiasts.
At the start of every contest they cut a ribbon in half. I’m not sure why, but it makes for a good picture. Actually, perhaps that’s way. Anyhoo, this is Jeffery D. Sachs, Steve Balmer and Jon Perera doing the business in New York. We start the judging tomorrow. This is going to be great fun.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rob Miles is technology author and educator who spent many years as a lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Hull. He is also a Microsoft Developer Technologies MVP. He is into technology, teaching and photography. He is the author of the World Famous C# Yellow Book and almost as handsome as he thinks he is.
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