Meta Gear Solid 4 Sighted!
According to this post, Metal Gear Solid 4 is now out in Rihab’s shop in Kuwait since yesterday. That means it is out 3 days before the official release date which is suppose to be in June 12, 2008. I’m confirming the availability of the game. I bought it 2 hours ago and now I’m going to get drunk in this game.
Adobe Dreamweaver CS4
For all fancy web developers in the globe, Adobe has announced Dreamweaver CS4 beta which is now available for public testing. If you are a Dreamweaver fan or you are a programmer geek race then you might want to grab this software.
Lesson Learned From Imagine Cup 2008
I watched this video on Channel8 and I figured out to write what I have learned from Imagine Cup 2008 Gulf region contest which was held in Jebel Ali resort, Dubai. I might even wind up being glad that I have failed! Failure is the first step to success.
For those who does know what is Imagine Cup, it is an annual competition from Microsoft aimed to solve world’s toughest challenges by using technology. Software Design is one of the categories in this competition. We have to use .NET technologies for this year’s theme, which is the environment.
Lessons learned from Imagine Cup 2008:
1- Don’t wait until the last 2 nights!
That’s my first mistake. We haven’t done the video nor practiced well for the presentation. Never ever delay anything until the last two days before the presentation. You will not have time to do anything because you’ll be totally booked for all the trips and events happening the day before the contest.
2- Eat well! But not much…
I was shocked when I woke up just 1:30 hour before the presentation. I had to jump off the bed and rush to get ready. There was no time at all to eat breakfast. But I could at least eat a 1 minute snack!
3- Bring business card
We met lots of people there from different countries and different universities. We also met a lot of people from the press and Microsoft. I think if we brought a business card it would make life easier to keep in touch with some of those individuals.
4- Be prepared
Always be prepared and have a backup plan! I had everything prepared before the presentation and I even hibernated my laptop rather than totally shutting it down just to make sure it will directly open with my slides ready on the screen. But after going on the stage my laptop’s touch pad suddenly – and for the first time – stop responding. I was like "Hell no! It never happened to me before… why now?!". Damn it was a funny situation in front the camera and a hall full of audience.
5- More practice
The more practice you do the less mistakes you’ll make. I was shitty nervous in the stage. I was even shaking and I felt totally blocked out. It was like I can’t see anything, my vision was blocked… saying wrong words and grammar because I was extremely nervous. However, after the presentation my friend told me that I did very well and it was like one of the best presentations in the contest and he told me that I didn’t look nervous at all. To be honest, we did our practice just the night before the presentation from 12:30am to like 2:30am. I’m sure if we had practiced days before the contest, we would do much better in the contest’s presentation.
6- Video!
Every team has used videos in their presentation. We were the only team started the presentation without any video clips. You asking why? It’s because we didn’t have the time to do it and we ended up deciding to do it the day before the contest which again was a big mistake. Video is an essential part of the presentation to deliver your idea in another way and to convince judges. After all, we are marketing our idea and there is no limitation on what you should do when marketing your product.
7- Demo!
Believe it or not, we didn’t have a running program for the contest. Even though it is not required to have a running program in the regional contest, but it would be a big plus for our team. A program demonstration will show judges how far you’ve reached in developing the program and it is really a proof that your idea is implement and your software is working.
8- Sleep well…
Oh this is the thing which I’m not really good at. I rarely sleep well and I occasionally don’t care if I slept well or not. Guess what! I slept only 4 hours before the presentation… and maybe it is one of the factors that affected my mood in the presentation.
9- It’s not how good your project as much as how to deliver it to judges
We had a great and easy to implement idea. But the problem – in my opinion – was we weren’t able to convince the judges. I think they didn’t totally understand the concept behind our project and how easy it is to implement. After all, they did told us that their main focus was on selecting the idea which is good and easy to implement. Convincing is the keyword in this regional contest.
10- Marketing skills is much more important than a working application
I also learned that the presentation and communication is much important than showing them a working demo of the project. The regional Imagine Cup contest wasn’t aimed to show a demonstration of your project, it is aimed to communicate with judges and to convince them that you have the best idea and the easiest to implement. If you convinced them and won the regional, then you’ll move a step ahead and start implementing your project for the finals.
I think we, Super Coders team, did pretty well in the competition even though it was the first time for a team from Kuwait University and Kuwait to participate in this contest. Winning an XBox 360 Arcade at least it won’t let me feel I left Dubai empty handed.
My goal for Imagine Cup 2009 is to win the regional and win the final. Microsoft told us that next year (2009) will have a local competition rather than regional Gulf competition. The winner in Kuwait for Imagine Cup 2009 will go directly to the final contest.
I’d like to thank Dr. Thalaya Al-Fozan – our team coach, Kuwait University – Dr. Mohammad Ilyas – Gulf University for Science and Technology – for his effort and precious time he gave us on our project. Thanks to Microsoft and Lana Khalaf for their effort on making this great event. I really had fun there in Dubai.
Free Photoshop Book
Sitepoint and 99designs are offering a free complete book, The Photoshop Anthology: 101 Web Design Tips, Tricks & Techniques. This book is aimed for web developers looking forward to add Photoshop in their technique basket. It is available for a limited time. Hurry and grab it now!
As for me, I have a week off between summer and fall semester. I’m going to get my hands dirty with books and programming! This book should be a good start. Long live fall break…