Microsoft KINECT

:-)

While there is lot of research going on to the way we react with the computers we see very little getting their way into the consumer market.

When it comes to the Kinect for Xbox 360 it is more than a simple gimmick. With this device all the commands carried out by gestures and your whole body can be used for the game.

This is a really good feature and sometimes very intuitive way to play specially considering games like athletic sports. You have to really run and jump! (More fun way to burn few kg of body weight rather than a boring run on a treadmill) All in all you really have to play!

It’s sad that it seems only be for the Xbox and not for the PCs.

More details:http://www.xbox.com/en-US/kinect

[Posted using Windows Live Writer on Windows 7]

Microsoft Announces Windows Embedded Compact 7 and Windows Embedded Handheld 7.

:-)

Microsoft has announced the Windows Embedded Compact 7 next generation of Windows Embedded CE platform, the Microsoft developed operating system for embedded systems. The new version is expected to add rich User experience functionalities, Connected experience, Dual Core CPU supports as well as many other facilities. A CTP is already available to download from Microsoft.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/products/windowsce/compact7.mspx

Windows Embedded Handheld, a new software platform specially catered for ruggedized enterprise handheld devices. According to the roadmap published by Microsoft during the 2010 Q2, Windows Embedded Handheld will be based on Windows Mobile 6.5. It is expected to release the next generation, Windows Embedded Handheld 7 which will be based on Windows Embedded Compact 7 to be release during 2011 Q2.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/products/handheld/future-version.mspx

[Published using Windows Live Writer on Windows 7]

Day 4,5 – Visit to pyramids and World festival

:-)
On day 4 of the Imagine Cup 2009 an excursion to pyramids and Sphincs were arranged. it was a great opportunity to visit and see the giant ancient structures.
On the way we could see the suburban of Cairo. In our terms the houses are really funny shaped. And you may noticed that most of the houses are left uncompleted. We got to learn that if you completely buit the house you have to pay extra tax. Very funny.

Great Pyramids of Giza.
Day 5 was the memorable day. The world festival. The event was organized as a truly amazing way on the panorama of the great pyramids. It was really a memorable day.

For more details on winners please refer to Imagine Cup blog at,
Official Press Release- 2009 Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals Winners
[Posted using Windows Live Writer on Windows Vista]

Day 3 – Fat and Greasy battles…

:-)

Today is the day 3 of the Imagine Cup 2009 world finals. The Big big battle day.

All the competitors had completed their coding. (And by the we learned that Gauna, the fellow competitor who was sick and had been working from his room had to fly back to his country. Anyway his robot will play on behalf of him)

There were battles organized between each player. (So altogether 15 battles) Each battle would consists of 3 matches which each consists of 3 rounds of 60 seconds in length. If you beat the opponent in more number of rounds you win the match. If you beat the opponent in more number of matches you win the battle. A win in a battle give 3 points,  tie is given 1 point for each and loose is 0 points.

Apart from that each participant were given a bonus mark of up to 3 depending on their achievement with the real robots. Byron and Gauna were awarded 3 points each and all the other were given 1 point for this task.

So at the end the leader board was as follows.      

Competitor Name	Country	Battles	Wins	Ties	Defeats	Score
Pablo Gauna (Gauna)	Argentina	5	1	0	4	+6
Byron Knoll (Yokozuna)	Caneda	5	4	0	1	+15
Fuming Lin (ZeroLin)	China	5	3	0	2	+10
Imrich Zivcak (Goldie)	Czech Republic	5	1	0	4	+4
Lukas Perutka (Srotbot)	Czech Republic	5	4	0	1	+13
Pramuditha Aravinda (QUT0268)	Sri Lanka	5	2	0	3	+7

We also had a fun session with the robots after the end of the competition.

Hmm so that’s it. But anyway I was presented with the robot that I was playing with considering my achievements so far. Wow… I like you Robbie…

Competition Update:

Our embedded team and Software design team has been ended up in top 12. Here I have been to 4th place. Now we are keeping our faith regarding the Mash Up team to have a big big prize whose results will be released on world festival on 7th.

[Note: This post will be updated with photos and videos once processed)

[Posted using Windows Live writer on Windows 7 RC]

Day 2 – 24 Hours hectic programming…

:-)
Today is the start of the competition day. Hmm 24 hours of continuous time to compete. Had to rush trough competition check in before repeat competitor briefing since it was really late when we arrived yesterday.
We were given a new version of the Sumo challenger to code. And were explained that the competition will be hosted in simulation environment for the fairness for all the competitors and in addition we were given real physical robots to play with and to create a robot that can do a particular action to a vision stimulus. That would be a mandatory challenge that would give few more bonus points.
Real robots ready to play.

I’m coding and playing with the real robots.

Even this is a 24 ours continuous competition, competitors were allowed to have their time. It was even allowed to go out of the competition hall and have a rest at your hotel room or even work from there.

The most apparent change in the new challenge kit is that it mimics the real robots behavior. now robots do rarely go over other.

So Let’s see back on next day. Big Big battle day!

Imagine Cup 2009. Day 1 - Beginning of a 26 1/2 hours day

:-)
Today is the day 1 of Imagine Cup world finals 2009. This time it will be held in the birthplace of the civilization - Cairo, Egypt. Here we are all set to fly to Egypt.
Now since the Cairo is at GMT +3 and we are flying there today will be a 26 1/2 hour day. How many times had we wished that we have more than 24 hours a day? But unfortunately we had to waste about 8 hours in the air (not to forget the additional time spend on damn security clearances etc etc. Ah and of course flights changing the terminal and being delayed)
Ah did I mentioned wasting time in air? Well it's not a total loss since flying with emirates. We really enjoyed few movies while on the sky. And two heartiest meals.
See you again at the big day of the battle. Brrr I need to have a sleep now. :-P
N.B. I’ll update this post again with images later when I collect the photos of our team on the way.
[Posted using windows live writer on Windows 7 RC]

Netflix Challenge enters “last call” for the grand prize.

:-)

As of the submission by team "BellKor's Pragmatic Chaos" on June 26, 2009 18:42:37 UTC, the Netflix Prize competition entered the "last call" period for the Grand Prize. Netflix is a data mining/Collaborative filtering optimization challenge where participants are challenged to device a recommendation system which can beat the Netflix owned world-class movie recommendation system: Cinematch^SM by an accuracy of 10% improvement.

In accord with the Rules, teams have thirty (30) days, until July 26, 2009 18:42:37 UTC, to make submissions that will be considered for this Prize. After this time period the submissions will be considered for the grand prize and the winning team will be awarded a cash prize of 1,000,000 US$.

References:

http://www.netflixprize.com/

[Posted Using Windows Live Writer on Windows Vista]