Today we are making a guest appearance back in Hull, before we zoom off again to a wedding anniversary. We got back first thing this morning and watched the boat dock.
"Well I don't care about that. I'm wearing blue tomorrow because it matches my eyes."
Busy week this week. Just back from London and now we're in Bruges for my birthday.
Looks good from the river
The Belgian take on strawberry flavoured milk. Very nice.
Lots of controls. But what for?
View from the top.
Bruges is a great place for a visit. Lots of shops selling chocolate, which is always a good thing. Although I enjoyed the boat trip just as much as the city, even though I didn't get the top bunk.
Today we set sail for Bruges. You can get there really easily from Hull on the ferry that leaves from here. It should be great trip, because the boats are great fun and I've heard good things about the city itself.
We were lucky enough to be leaving in great weather, travelling almost exactly east for a while, with the sunset behind us. I was on the back of the boat taking pictures of the light on the water when the pilot launch appeared and did a little turn in the wake of the ship. And, having the big camera and fat lens I took a few photographs. Like this.
Sometimes you just can't beat being in the right place at the right time.
In spite of the dodgy weather forecasts we decided to spend the first day of our holiday walking round the Dalby Forest. And we were very lucky.
Nice Colours
Flowers
We just managed to find a space to eat our picnic.
Today we left the hotel, walked across the Millennium Bridge and then on to the Tate Modern. Wonderful gallery. I love going there, they usually have some very good free exhibits. Not sure what they all mean, but I always find them interesting.
View from the bridge
View from the Tate
Pop Art
Heading Back
Then it was onto the train for home. Great stuff.
Today we all headed for London and the birthday bash for number on daughter. Lots of treats to come. Including a trip to the Apple store (which was for me).
Racing to London. We beat the car to the next junction.
We arrived in London bang on time, got to the Apple store before it opened and I got myself a docking station or two (the shiny new iPhone doesn't have a docking station supplied like the old one did).
Then we went for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe (excellent food and a thunder storm every twenty minutes) and on to Spamalot. Very well done, and very funny. For it to work it had to have proper music and dancing. And it did. Along with funny jokes and some tunes to sing along to. Heartily recommended.
Then the final treat of the day, a trip on the London Eye. With the big camera and fat lens.
Base of the eye
Looking towards the Telecom Tower
Our seat of "government"
Back on terra firma
Then we wandered out in search of food and taxis.
This is my favourite picture of the whole trip.
Although this runs it close. There are more on Flickr.
Then back to the hotel for a rest. Excellent day. More tomorrow. Can't wait.
Lots of Wall-e is wrong. The premise (the human race renders the earth uninhabitable by rampant consumerism) is rather strange coming from a movie which will be accompanied by the inevitable welter of disposable artifacts that you get with a big budget Hollywood release (actually, I really wanted one of the Wall-e wrist watches they were giving away but didn't get one). The lead character hardly has a line of dialogue, and nobody speaks for the first quarter of the film. Some aspects of the plot are a bit loopy and the people who designed the spaceship had obviously watched '2001 a Space Odyssey' rather a lot.
But the film is brilliant. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. We have reached the point where the fact that the whole thing was computer generated is completely incidental (although getting images of this quality and wonder would be impossible any other way). It is all about character and story and that is there in spades, along with a love story thrown in. But don't listen to me any more. Just go and see it.
If you have an iPhone (or other device with web access) you might like to take a look at Schmap guides. There are guides for lots of cities around the world and they provide useful information behind a nicely designed interface.
And I'm not just saying this because they've used one of my pictures. Oh no.
Well, I've gone from no power to two power, thanks to the combined magic of Applecare support and ebay. When my notebook PSU failed on Monday it occurred to me that I didn't want to be in this position again (number one son might not be around to save my bacon next time) and so after I rang in the fault I went onto the ebay and chased down a spare. And it arrived today. Along with the one from Apple.
Of course the next thing to break will be the Macbook itself.....
Ha. One of my power supplies has failed already. Good thing I got two....
Some bits of my job I love. One of them is helping with degree congregations. I do the warm up talk at the start and then get the graduands down from the hall for their moments of glory. Today it was my turn to help run the science and medical ceremonies. I took the big camera.
The flowers on the stage were looking good.
These were the science graduands. Sorry if it is a bit blurred, the lighting was not good. But you might be able to find yourself in there....
These were the medics. Again, hard to take pictures but I did my best.
After the ceremony they took a special picture of all the graduates from the Hull-York Medical School, which has just graduated its first cohort of doctors. This was a truly momentous moment for the university, which we are all very proud of. Hearing them all state their oaths during the ceremony was just fantastic.
It was a great day, but boy was it hot in all my suit and robes.
In the midst of hardware despair it is always nice to reflect on the good things in life. Like what Mike Smith has been doing down at the Prospect School in Reading. He has got some of his Year 10 writing XNA. That's 14 year old students writing and running C# games. Wonderful. By all accounts he has been having great fun, and even made the papers. You can find out even more from Paolo here. The students are even blogging about their experiences here and here.
When we were in Paris we saw some high school students who had entered the embedded challenge and made it to the world finals. I think those folks were 16 or so, which means that you've got a couple of years start......
I'm all cheered up now. I think I'll go to bed.
When everything seems to just work it usually means that the universe is just toying with you, and lining you up for some kind of unpleasantness. My iPhone 3G is still lovely, but a bit less lovely now that I have discovered that I can't get my university Exchange account to work over the O2 3G network. I'm kind of impressed that that the system can actually manage to tell the difference between the two different network connections, but this is not a good kind of impressed since it means my main reason for having the thing is now not there. As I write this the phone is in the middle of a complete reset (when they say "It may take a couple of hours" they seem to be right on the money) as a prelude to seeing if I can make it work by re-activating it. This is bound to be the thing they would tell me to do if I rang up, so I'm getting my retaliation in early.
And the power supply for the Macbook has just gone "pop" and eaten a couple of fuses, which means half an hour on the phone to the Apple support guy (who was actually very helpful) and the prospect of a replacement one in the post at some time in the future. In the meantime I hope I get this typed and sent before the battery gives out. And of course I need the laptop to re-enable the phone.....
I've gone from everything apparently working at 09:00 am this morning to lots of things broken at 3:00 pm. Wah.
Thanks to number one son (who is a "two power supply" kind of guy) I am now back on the air with the Mac. But the iPhone is still resetting....
At the risk of taking myself of Microsoft's Christmas Card list for ever I must confess that I’ve got myself an iPhone 3G. I really had to, the combination of 3G, GPS, Exchange integration and that lovely touch interface were really hard to resist.
Even for someone with the respect I have for Windows Mobile I still had to make the investment. Of course I’ll also get myself a Windows Mobile 7 device when they become available (I don’t drink, smoke or chase women and so I feel justified in spending money on gadgets - although the aforementioned may actually be a bit cheaper...) because from what I've seen I'll really, really want one of those when they come out.
Of course I've had to suffer for my sins. I had to get up at an ungodly hour on Friday, and suffer the torment of acing out Zoe to get the last 16G machine in the store (sorry about that), not to mention the way that the O2 registration process collapsed and so for the first two days of ownership I had a 3G paperweight. Fortunately things are settling down now and I can actually make and receive phone calls and use the O2 network. Now it works I feel qualified to say a few things about this device.
Physically it is slightly thicker and wider than the original, but not in a bad way.
It looks good, but not quite as good as the original in my opinion. However, the good news about the shiny and finger mark prone plastic case is that it lets through a lot more radio signals, meaning that the phone should be more sensitive and useable in marginal signal areas. Like my house. Not sure if it is as good as my Smartphone, but it is certainly a step in the right direction. And now I can make and receive calls in my living room again.
The 3G connection seems to move data around a lot more quickly than my previous device, and it falls back to the reasonably speedy Edge protocol in marginal areas.
The Microsoft Exchange integration is wonderful and just works with my university account, which is fantastic and pretty much worth the price of the upgrade on its own.
Having extra memory means that I've put nearly all my music on the device, which is really nice.
Using the phone is nearly as smooth as the original iPhone, although I have noticed a bit more stuttering in applications and lack of response to the Home button on occasion. I think that the new firmware is starting to load up the processor more and this is beginning to show.
The much vaunted Apps store is a bit of a damp squib to be honest. There are some stand out titles which are free, the New York Times and the FaceBook application are impressive. But amongst the rest is a whole bunch of dross, including at least three torch applications. Later I might invest in Super Monkey ball, which is supposed to be ace, but then again I didn't much like it on the Nintendo DS, so I might not bother.
I hope this improves in the future, at the moment I feel a bit under-whelmed on this aspect of iPhone ownership. Number one son has had a look at writing code for the device and the environment looks quite sweet, although Objective C seems to be something of a head-scratcher when you first start and I'd have to run OS-X to be able to create code. It costs 100 dollars to allow you to deploy your app to your iPhone and that of 100 close friends, I think this also allows you to put programs into the Apps store, but I'm not sure.
So, I think the iPhone is presently the best pure touch screen mobile device you can get. I agonised for a while over the HTC Diamond, but they rather neatly made that decision for me by only putting 4Gb of memory in the device and leaving out the memory card slot. The Sony XPERIA X1 looks tempting, but to get the iPhone I don't have to lay out as much money and you can't get the X1 yet.
Sainsburys were doing strawberry flavoured milk on offer at 2 litres for 2 pounds. This represents a saving of 36 pence and means that I now have two bottles in the fridge.
Life is good.
A lot of the teams I spoke to over the week at the Imagine Cup wanted to know what makes a great entry. I told them all most of this, but I thought it might be useful to put it all down in a blog post for all to see.
Make sure that the purpose of your entry is clear. The categories by which the entries are judged in the competition are available for everyone to see, and some of the most important ones are concerned with the purpose of your system. It needs to be very clear who your entry is aimed at, the problem that it solves, and the way that it solves it. Just wanting to "make things better" is all very well, but you need to have clear focus on motivation (why you are doing this) and deliverables (what your project produces). All the entries that I saw in the world final had good, clear, focus, but I've seen ones in earlier rounds which have been very vague about what they do and who would use them.
Don't add too much. Some of the entries suffered because they contained too many functions. The power of modern development tools makes it very easy to add a forum, a mobile client, an expert system or a map to a solution. But before you put these in, consider how much they improve it. Do the features add value, or are they distractions from the core purpose of the solution? The judges are looking for a good solution to a problem, and too many bells and whistles might confuse. However, one thing that does impress is attention to detail around the core idea. If you can show how you have considered what happens if parts of the system fail or are abused by users this adds greatly to your credibility and that of your approach to the problem.
Don't re-invent the wheel. Always try to find ways you can make use of existing systems or software to make your entry better. If users of your solution need a username and password to get access to it, don't create your own user database. People hate being given new usernames and passwords to remember. Instead see if you can use existing login systems such as Windows Live logins or FaceBook accounts to identify users.
Make your hardware viable. Lots of teams are now adding hardware to their project, which is absolutely great. But if you have a hardware element you really have to add sufficient detail to your presentation to give everyone confidence that you can deliver on that part. Simply adding up the cost of the components you have used to build the device and then saying that is how much they will be priced at is not enough. And saying that you expect the cost of the device to be half the price of the parts "because bulk buying will make them cheaper" is also dangerous. If you want to sell hardware you usually have to pay someone to design the circuit board, someone to build it, someone to write the instructions, someone to put it in a box, someone to ship it, someone to put it in their shop and someone to provide warranty support. And you might want to make some profit.This might mean that your device will have to sell for five times the cost of the parts to be viable. We are not looking for detailed business plans and cost projections on this, but you do need to make sure that you have given proper consideration to this issue. You could see if your local electronics department can give you some help on pricing hardware, a good story here can be very useful to your project.
Have a way forward lined up. It is really nice if you can show a clear path forward with your entry. Rather than saying "After this presentation we plan to show this to a few people and see if we can get started. " it is much better to be able to say "We have ACME Manufacturing or the local Board of Health on board to take this project further". Best of all you can get letters of support and engagement from such people and get them into the presentation somehow. Don't be afraid to start small and then build up, this is actually a really good idea.
Don't fall in love with your project. Passion and enthusiasm are great. You should have belief in what you are doing. But if someone comes up with a solid objection or an idea which is better than yours then make it your business to use what they have said to make your solution better. And don't assume that everyone will flock to use your system just because it is there and it is yours. You need to show that there are compelling reasons why your system should be used. People are motivated to do things out of good will, but there is a limit to this, and beyond that they will go for things that either make their lives easier or save them money. Showing that your system does either (or both) of these things will make it much more compelling.
Make your presentation tell a story. If you look at the finalist presentations you will find that all of them told a story with a definite beginning (set up the problem) middle (say what we have done) and end (say where we are going with this). There are a number of ways you can do this. Scenarios are good, as is a bit of role play. Look for things that engage the audience and don't be afraid to add things to keep the audience interested during the talk. And then rehearse until everyone is happy with their parts and you have got lots of feedback about how you can make it better.
Look like a team. This is very important, and pretty much everyone this week did this really well. Even so, in some presentations I saw members of the team looking into space or staring at the floor when their team presenter was talking. Even if you have heard the words a hundred times or more (and with rehearsals you probably have) you should still look at the person talking and appear to agree with them. It all helps to build confidence that everyone really knows what they are talking about, and you are all in agreement with it. It is best if the presentation can be spread around the team members, with everyone playing a part. Matching dress, even if it is just the same colour trousers and shirt, does play a huge part in making a team look like they mean business, and that is the message that you want to send out.
Enjoy yourself. And remember that this is just the start. Your Imagine Cup entry is not the only great thing you will ever do. It is just one of the first. Whatever you do, whether you make it to the final or not, taking part in the competition will make you better. Potential employers are always looking for people who do stuff. The Imagine Cup is some of the best stuff you can do. The competition is great fun, win or lose. Entry into competitions like this all help build up the brand that is you. So go to it.
I don't know how they do it, but Microsoft now have the site for the Imagine Cup 2009 competition all ready. They have made some neat changes to the way that things are set up, with the themes for the entries being set for the next three years. This means that you can work on your application for a bit longer before you submit, and it makes it easier to make your entries part of the taught curriculum.
And just to properly put you off, and give you an insight into what you might be up against, here is a picture of me in full on "Judge Mode"....
I took this picture sitting on the Hull Train. The girl in the seat next to me must have thought I'd gone mad....
I've said before that you can regard the Imagine Cup as a kind of alternative reality where you are surrounded by people passionate about technology, the food and drink is free and you are in some amazing location. I think the time also moves faster too, since I can't believe that we have already been here nearly a week. Anyway, today everything is rounded off with all the students showing the projects for everyone to see, business leaders and high powered politicians dropping by to take a look and the announcement of all the winners.
The whole setting was amazing and it was really nice to get a chance to look at some of the projects that I hadn't had a chance to see during the judging process. I also had some good chats with teams that I had seen, who were very keen to know what I thought. The best thing for me was that everyone I spoke to was determined to come back next year and do it all again. And these were people that had been without sleep for the best part of a day and a half and sweated and strained to get the best possible project and presentation into the competition.
The festival itself was hosted by Joe Wilson, who seemed as surprised to be wearing a suit as we were to see him in one. I've put loads of photos up on Flickr, I'm sure the Imagine Cup website will have some better ones.
Finally the results of our deliberations were announced and Project Soak was revealed as the winner. This entry from the Australian is an innovative watering system with the ability to make sure that plants get precisely the right amount of water and no more. It considers all the angles, from the current soil moisture, the needs of the crop and even the current weather forecast, to make sure that no water is wasted.
The team already have a farming estate signed up to prove that their idea holds water, so to speak. With a good looking and functional interface and a realistic development plan it is a very strong winner, and we look forward to seeing it achieve great things in the future.
After the presentation we all went back to the hotel to get ready for the final night party. At this point there was nothing left to play for, and everyone was keen to relax and have a good time. So we did.
The party itself was held at an amazing place just under one of the bridges of Paris. With a DJ specially flown in from the 'states, lots (and I mean lots) of really good food and drink. I only managed to last until 11:00 (my excuse is that I have to be up early tomorrow) but it was great just to meet up with the team members and chat about life, the universe and everything.
This afternoon finds me as one of the distinguished judges at the Imagine Cup Software Development Challenge finals. This is being next to the Louvre in the centre of Paris. A good place to make an exhibition of myself methinks.
The setting was fantastic. The whole hall had been decked out with moving Imagine Cup logos and video screens, plus this really cool little camera on a boom, which gives all an excellent view of the hardware projects. In the middle of this we have the student teams who now step up from presenting to a handful of judges in a little room to performing in front of an audience of many hundreds.
First up were the embedded challenge finalists. These presenters not only had to deal with an unfamiliar stage with camera crews milling around but also the scary prospect of giving live demonstrations of their systems. They were all excellent. The subjects varied from remote robotic environmental sensors to systems to protect animals crossing highways, preventing them from becoming road-kill.
My personal favourite was the Irish entry, which uses a cunning combination of hardware and software to allow a standard diesel engine to run on ordinary cooking oil. This system was so effective they had even managed to drive all the way to the venue on fuel they picked up at the local supermarket.
Then it was on to the Software Development finals, and my turn to shine, quite literally as we had to sit in the glare of the TV lights when we posed our questions to the presenting students. It is quite un-nerving when you are trying to think of something sensible to say and you glance up to see a huge image of yourself, looking sweaty and harassed, on the video screen above the stage.
Anyway, I managed to get to the end without asking anything too obviously stupid, and then we were ushered out to complete our deliberations. The judging is based on categories set down in the competition rules, and so we all filled in our numbers, passed them on to the organisers and then were pleasantly surprised to find that we were in broad agreement about the winners.
I said in the final that I love watching presentations and I hate deciding who has won. Every project had its own merit, and all of them were presented with spirit and style. One of the judges, a battle hardened venture capitalist who has seen many pitches from aspiring entrepreneurs, commented that several of the presentations were better than ones he has seen in the course of his job. And these were delivered by students on technical subjects, who are not expected to be good at this kind of thing. So, fantastic job everyone.
I'm sworn to secrecy over the results, which will be revealed tomorrow at the grand presentation.
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.
