Imagine Cup: Two Steps Away from the Podium!

It has been two days since students from all over the world got to Paris to participate in the Imagine Cup 2008 finals and we just got the first intermediate results:

From 50 teams, the list of competitors in the Software Design category has been brought down to only 12 and our Well’k Home team, of Régis Hanol, Gauthier Chanliau and Sébastien Warin (SUPINFO) and Jean Noël Gauthier (Gobelins) is among them!

There's still plenty of work to do before the final results are revealed on Tuesday, so I wish plenty of luck to the Well’k Home team as well as ECOThink (Game Development) for the rest of the competition. I'll keep you updated on how our teams move forward and will post pictures from the podium as soon as I have them.

Imagine Cup 2008, here I come!

It's July 3rd and the Imagine Cup World Finals start today!

I'm not a finalist this year—but only because I didn't participate at all ;) Still, after being at last year's finals in Korea, I just couldn't stay away. I needed a plan.

So here I am in Paris, the competition is taking place in my own back yard and, even though some Microsoft Student Partners are invited to come visit for a couple of hours, I needed to be there all week. Well, it seems that if you want something strong enough (and work hard to get it) the universe helps: I'll be present from July 3rd through 8th at the Imagine Cup 2008 finals!

What am I going to be doing there?

Well, first, there are two teams I've been kind of coaching for the last few months, SmartCooking and ECOThink. I'll be supporting them the best I can. Even though, at this stage, everything is mostly up to them.

Second, I'll be covering the event with Channel 8! That's right, for a whole week you'll be getting exclusive insider information both on the Channel 8 site and, of course, right here. Did I show you my badge?

Come back soon and often for more information about the teams, the competition, the venues, the city, etc. ;)

6 - 54

No, these are not lottery or horse numbers, it's the order in which the teams from SUPINFO that are going to the Imagine Cup finals next week in Paris!

There are two kinds of competitions going on next week:

• Software design, embedded design and game development, in which teams must basically sell a finished product to judges from different countries and backgrounds;
• The rest, in which teams have 24-36 hours to create something new from scratch (that's what I had to do last year).

6 will be the position of ECOThink, our Game Development team.

54 will be the position of Smart Cooking, our Software Design team.

Watch Max, Rogerio and Tim as they draw the teams and they explain what's going to happen.

Imagine Cup 2008 Worldwide Finals Drawing

Oh, by the way, did I already mention I'll be covering the finals? More on that soon ;)

Care to join Hamilton and Raikkonen for a couple of laps?

If you're slightly into racing, you'll know that I'm talking about some of the top Formula One drivers of the moment. Actually racing with them in real life is next to impossible, but doing it virtually won't have to be if the Dutch company iOpener Media has it its way.

No, I'm not talking about an artificial intelligence (AI) called Lewis or Kimi. The technology that iOpener Media is developing will allow video games to retrieve precise live data from real-life races that can then be used in simulation games so that you can race "live" with your favourite drivers. This is done using high-tech positioning such as differential GPS (DGPS) and inertial measurement units (IMUs) on the cars that that place them with a precision of 30cm on the track.

The company will provide software to game developers that will allow better integration of the real-life data into the virtual world. Advanced AI will be needed for Hamilton to overtake you properly to reclaim his first place if he cannot see your car at all. And let's not forget crashes, which, the company says, will not really affect real drivers, but may not end that well for the player.

Although I have no idea how well all this real-life data will integrate into video games—after all, if I ever raced a real-life Raikkonen, I probably wouldn't be able to see him for long, not until he laps me, that is—I really do look forward to testing this. I can already imagine myself logging into Xbox Live and qualifying for a grid that goes: Hamilton, Diaz and 20 of my closest friends.

(Source: BBC News)

(Photo credit: Yann Lautrédou)

Play, Program and Win with Robo Champs

I love robotics, but I'm more of a software person in the end because all the hardware involved turns out to be pretty expensive. But what if you could get the hardware for free?

OK, nothing's really free in life, so you'll have to work for your robots. Still interested? Read ahead.

Microsoft just launched RoboChamps, a simulated robotics league based on Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio. MSRDS is a simulation environment that provides an advanced physics engine and XNA-powered 3D environments in which you can test the programs that you write for your virtual robots on Visual Studio. Additionally, RoboChamps provides compelling challenges, ranging from mazes to the surface of Mars.

So, what's in it for you? Well, the fact that it's extremely fun and that you might just end up learning a lot, you can actually win the robot you're programming in every challenge, and, if you're really good, you might even get flown to PDC!

What if you don't program or if you're only a beginner? Honestly, you will probably not win any prizes, but it will still be a lot of fun. And if you're not comfortable writing code, the studio includes tools for non-developers to produce working code using a Visual Programming Language (VPL). 

A community and forums are being built around the robotics league, too, so this promises to be a lot of fun.

Get started here today!

And if you're still not convinced, taking a look at this Channel 8 video should do the trick.

Channel 8 changes looks, now comes with more features!

I've blogged about it before: Channel 8 is Microsoft's "channel" (i.e. online community) for students.

On Friday, Channel 8 changed its looks, adding a splash of color, but most importantly a much better layout that makes reading the blog and watching the videos a lot easier.

A new feature of the "new Channel 8" is the forums we'd been asking for for a while now. They're called the Student Union and it's basically a place for students to share their interests and their projects in and out of school.

So, once again, I invite you to have a look, participate in the conversation and share your knowledge with other students on Channel 8.

Oh, and don't forget Max is still building the monster PC that could very well be yours. Currently being discussed: Optical Drives.

Your dream PC, for free?

I have no idea of what part of my readership are actually students, but if you're one of them (or know any), this post is for you.

Do want a new, top of the line PC that will satisfy your academic and leisure needs?

You have plenty of ideas of what the perfect hardware looks like, but don't have the time or money to build it yourself?

Well, Max, from Channel 8, is building a PC and is looking for student input by writing about the hardware he is considering and starting a discussion.

Now, why would you care? Well, for starters, if you know something about hardware, you might want to share your knowledge with the student community that is forming around Channel 8. And in any case, if you let us pick your brain, the PC can be yours!

Max is going to give away the PC once it's built by selecting a random person who contributed to the discussion.

I'm sure you have something to say, so you take a look at Channel 8 and share your ideas. We are currently discussing the following parts:

• Part I: The Case
• Part II: The CPU

Next stop: Korea

I left some IE7 tabs open before I took the plane to Costa Rica and, while closing them today, I stumbled upon Channel 8 again, where a new video is already online. This video, that presents Bill Gates and Craig Mundie talking about Imagine Cup, reminded me that I forgot to make a very important announcement because it happened right when my blog died:

I qualified for the Imagine Cup finals in Korea!

Well, when I say I, I mean my team of course, Time Cube. So I leave for Korea with the rest of the French finalists on the 4th of August to participate in the final event of the Interface Design category. We'll see how it goes.

Wish me luck!

Nothing on TV? Switch to Channel 8!

I don't know when this went online because I've been mostly disconnected lately, with the moving and all, so I haven't been able to keep up with the blogosphere, but still I would like to present you a new Microsoft site.

First, do you know about Channel 9 and Channel 10?

Channel 9 was one of Microsoft's first initiatives to open up to the general public. Today it's a website where developers, IT pros and other geeks can learn everything about past, present and future Microsoft technologies via videos, forums, blogs, etc.

Given Channel 9's success, another website of the same kind was created: Channel 10. Channel 10 follows the same principles, but it isn't necessarily as technical. It's branded for "technology enthusiasts."

And now, after 9 and 10, Microsoft has created a new website: I'm talking about Channel 8.

Channel 8 is for students.

The site will obviously concern technology, as do the other two channels (this is Microsoft after all), but all content will be created with students in mind: what students need, what students want, etc. Given the community-oriented nature of the site, it should be easy to stay on target.

You can take a look at the video presentation by Joe Wilson, Director of Academic Initiatives at Microsoft, and then start talking about it to your friends. Hopefully, content will be flowing soon and this site will be as much a success as its two predecessors.

So enjoy the site's cool looks for now and go back often to see how it gets better and better.