Skypher » Imagine Cup

Imagine Cup ends.

Cipher — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 05:40:49 +0000

Yesterday we had an amazing party in some catacombs under a bridge (RHCP hurray). It was a lovely scene with the old games we all know, donkey kong, space invaders and good ol’ pacman. If only I could convince my girlfriend to buy this version of the ‘surface’ table!

[will re-add picture later]

But I also had some drinks and made some crazy pictures again, here is me with Joe Wilson, who is think is scared:

I also met Martin, Jukka and a really crazy Norwegian girl named Trude:

So much for yesterday, today is going to be a long one, first we have to wait for the train and then the ‘whopping’ 3½ hours ride home. 1st class thou.

Oh and i have to show you this one, a picture of Edwin’s Socrates face:

So this leaves me to closing up this blogpost, but not without thanking Paris and Microsoft for the lovely time here. It was quite an experience!

Imagine Cup Day ??

Cipher — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:07:35 +0000

I lost count, I think day 6. The finalists were announced today and the fact that next years’ competition is in Egypt! That promises some amazing settings.

Just had a nap and in about 45 minutes its off to the undisclosed location, but rumour has it that it is in catacombs beneath the Champs d’elysees. We’ll see. It’s been an amazing journey and the team met a lot of people, got contact info and learned a lot!

Imagine Cup Day 5 (and 4)

Cipher — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:46:09 +0000

So yesterday was a day of leisure. I took the team on a cultural day, which brought us to the Eiffel Tower. We got tickets from Microsoft to go all the way to the top, which is quite an experience. The tickets also allowed us to skip the queueing, which was rather nice.

Ricardo insisted on eating his breakfast ON the Eiffel Tower, which he did. Then we took our day pass for the Metro and headed for the Sacre Coeur, which gave us an excellent lunch setting:

Then we went in the Sacre Coeur and even up to the dome which is a whopping 220 steps up. But it’s a must-go! You walk on the roof and through small openings to get to the dome and then get a spectacular panoramic view of Paris:
This is me thinking it’s excellent.

After about 30 minutes gazing at Paris we had to go down again, and meet some journalists which came from Holland aswell. We sat down in the sun and the team had a nice session. Time to get back to the hotel and off to the arranged ‘dinner’ cruise.

The boat left at 2030 for a trip on the Seine, we quickly found our way to some beers and started mingling. I took some excellent shots:

Day 5

So now it’s day five and I was just in time for breakfast. Some more R&R and then off to the Louvre to set up the showcase and watch the top teams’ presentations. The bus leaves in 40 minutes…

Noooooooooooooooooooooooo

Cipher — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:07:23 +0000

Warning: preg_split() [function.preg-split]: Compilation failed: lookbehind assertion is not fixed length at offset 14 in /home/c3682jgn/domains/skypher.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/braille/options/plugins.php on line 77

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /home/c3682jgn/domains/skypher.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/braille/options/plugins.php on line 78

Imagine Cup Day 3

Cipher — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:17:45 +0000

So, day three started early for us. Like yesterday, the team was first on the schedule to present. Which ment 8am. Alarm clocks, phones and even the TV were set early to assure the needed, early awake. I personally still had some troubles getting up, but fortunately the team did not and Michiel managed to get me out of bed.

We met in the hall at half past seven, went for a quick breakfast and afterwards went straight to the judging rooms. Setup was swift, for a minor error of Nick, who spilled his water on the table (I was just quick enough to pick up his laptop to prevent damage!). But this was not a great problem and was solved quickly. I think the judges were impressed with the concept and asked the right questions! We actually had foreseen 3 of them and could back up the story with some extra slides and a small demo. So to round up, a great kick-off of day 2!

[update @1400]

Still waiting for the ‘booth round’. Which is set to kick off at 1530. In the meanwhile the team is at the booth speaking to press from around the world. Yesterday Mexican television, today Brazil, Japan, South America in general, and some other countries. They all seemed impressed, which I think is good. I’ve uploaded some more pictures, check them out at the album. Next update will be after the semi final announcements which are scheduled at 1630, keep those fingers crossed!

Imagine Cup Day 2

Cipher — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:27:54 +0000

So day 2 just started. We had a nice breakfast together and afterwards the team was briefed over the comming days.

Our team of the Hogeschool Rotterdam has 2 students of Grafimediatechnologie (Graphicmediatechnology) and one from the Avans Hogeschool. We are first on the list of presentations, which gives an excellent opportunity to make a stunning impression.

I’ll keep you updated during the day when I have a chance.

[update]

So, the team just had their presentation. After setting up for ~10 minutes we had to wait for the official kick-off time. Nick started the presentation like expected. Cool and totally relaxed he explained the principles of the concept. After a mere 19 minutes there was time for some questions. Actually we got 2 compliments! That’s one job well done for the team! Now some relaxing and tomorrow at 800 the second (same) presentation for some more judges. As I said, time for some R&R and maybe even a beer

[update2]

Just had dinner. The team talked to some competitors during their ‘time off’. There are some interesting concepts out there which might spice up the competition… Our bellies full of warm food really took the energy out of us. Right now we’re sitting and chilling in the lounge area..

I call it a night, as far as blogging is concerned!

Cheers from Paris!

Imagine Cup Day 1

Cipher — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:08:27 +0000

It’s already day 2 which means that yesterday was day 1. And I must say, it was an impressive day.
The opening was in Paris’ City Hall which is beautifully decorated in Louis XIV style. Roelof, if you are reading this, you should arrange to make some of your photo’s here! I can only do so much… Every country made a big entrance and then there was french ‘haute cuisine’ which meant we went for pizzas afterward, under a beautiful blue Eiffel Tower.

Stay tuned for more.