embeddedSPARK 2011 Winners

I’ve  just come back from Seattle, where me and the other finalists had a wonderful week. First of all… the results!

• 1st place: Sebastian Londoño, Colombia – ArS8VER
• 2nd place: Gianni Rosa Gallina, Italy - KitchenPal
• 3rd place: Marco Bodoira, Italy - Digital Blackboard

Congratulations to everybody and special thanks to Microsoft (great organizational work by Gitte-Lena, aka Steel) and the judges, Olivier Bloch, Samuel Phung and Mike Hall, for the great experience we had!

It has been a cloudy and cold week (in respect to Italian weather in this season), but no rain and, in addition, a few days we had a warm and pleasant sun! We could visit Seattle and Microsoft Campus in Redmond all the way round, we met some Microsoft people and talked to them about Windows, Windows Embedded and the future. Great things will come, just have patience for some more months…

embeddedSPARK Challenge 2011 Finalist!

Yesterday evening contest finalists have been announced. I’m very glad to be one of them: KitchenPal entered the final round! Many thanks to the people who helped me to obtain this result: Anna, Alice, Antony.

Congratulations to the other two finalists and… see you soon in Redmond, Seattle.

embeddedSPARK Challenge 2011 – Round 2

Here we are! Finally, after more than three months of hard work, KitchenPal prototype and its Mobile companion apps are ready.

You can see them at the official challenge entry page.

This time I made it. It's been hard but really fun and interesting. Results will come soon…

Embedded Sparks 2011 - First round winners

Embedded Sparks 2011 Challenge first round winners have been announced last week. I’m very happy that my KitchenPal idea is one of them also this year! I’ve already started to work on it in my spare time, I hope this year to be able to compete to the second round. Congratulations to all the other participants!

embeddedSPARK 2011 Challenge

Microsoft organizes the third edition of its international hobbyist competition for Embedded enthusiasts. The embeddedSPARK 2011 Challenge challenges you to “Experience Embedded” and to share your experience with the rest of the world. Think new, or reinvent, the way people interact with embedded devices. Create an embedded solution that seamlessly connects with PCs, media, online content, and data. Use the tools and technologies provided by the upcoming Windows Embedded Compact 7 to you make your vision a reality through rich, animated device user interfaces and connected experiences to productivity applications and the world of Windows.

Also this year I proposed an idea: KitchenPal.

How do YOU experience embedded?

First round ends on January 30th. You still have some time to submit you 3-pages summary and get a chance to win:

1. an Embedded device equipped with Windows Embedded Compact 7 (75 round-one winners)
2. a trip to Microsoft (Redmond) for a Major Embedded Event in June (top 3 finalists)
3. The 1st prize winner will receive a cash prize of $15,000; second prize winner will receive a cash prize of $5,000; third prize winner will receive a cash prize of $1,000.

Good luck!

Embedded Sparks 2010 Summer update

Also for this contest edition I had not enough free time during the summer to develop the second round device. I just started to build and test some software module prototypes, in order to validate the designed architecture and verify that the Spark Kit performances were enough to support my idea. Sadly and unfortunately, the hardware seemed not enough powerful to handle both DVB-T TV decoding (via an external Avermedia USB DVB-T receiver) and rich WPF graphics, so I decided to stop the development.

Here there are some photos I took while assembling the device:

 

Now the contest has entered its final round and the three finalists have been announced earlier this week. Good luck to everyone!

Embedded Spark Contest news

Finally Embedded Sparks 2010 Summer Challenge first round winners have been announced yesterday night: I was very happy to discover that my eMMEC idea is one of them again! Stay tuned for updates on prototype development progress during next weeks (this time, I hope I will have enough free-time this period in order to come up to the end of Round 2).

New contest: embeddedSPARK 2010 SUMMER Challenge

For the first year a new challenge unfolds over the summer, starts when the original embeddedSPARK Challenge ends (Microsoft announced the embeddedSPARK SUMMER Challenge at the end of April, during the ESC Silicon-Valley event), and concludes with the finalists presenting live on stage at ESC Boston, in September.

For those of you that don’t know Microsoft EmbeddedSpark initiative, it is a collection of Windows Embedded software for hobbyists which consists of full versions of Microsoft development tools and a SPARK-selected board from one of Microsoft’s hardware partners. Usually, participating to the program means that you get the software and the hardware for the price of the board.

Among many initiatives (blogs, documentation, classrooms, community forum, etc.) Microsoft organizes also a contest for embedded hobbyists and gives an EmbeddedSpark kit for free to those who pass the first round selection in the contest.

The contest is a skill-based and chance plays no part in the determination of the winner(s). The object of the contest is to provide a forum for Windows Embedded enthusiasts to showcase their skills, help build the Windows Embedded community and drive awareness of the embeddedSpark program.

This brand new summer challenge is based on Windows Embedded Standard 7, whereas the original embeddedSPARK Challenge (now renamed to embeddedSPARK WINTER Challenge) is based on Windows Embedded CE. 

Not being able to continue the winter challenge edition, early this year, I decided to try participating to the summer contest with a new proposal. Based on the new Microsoft Embedded platform, the contest represents the optimal workbench to consolidate my knowledge and learn new things  in view of the Microsoft Certification Exam.

The theme for the first edition is "Media Explosion". My proposed idea is an evolution of my last year embedded device, which tries to surpass many of the limitations and usability problems I found while developing the prototype for my master degree thesis. For further information and details, check official submission entry page: eMMEC.

Within ten days, the first round winners will be announced…

Congratulations, Marco!

I’m pleased to announce that yesterday my friend and colleague Marco has been awarded the first prize in Microsoft Embedded Sparks 2010 contest. His proposed solution, submitted in January to Microsoft, should represent what the dream of every guitarist is: the chance to try all available sound effects, typically built into footswitches that cost 100-200$ apiece, at an affordable price. His "Guitar Multi Effect" project is designed to emulate all effects digitally, saving money and giving a musician less to carry from gig to gig. Marco’s proposal also offers a karaoke mode that accompanies a guitarist with previously recorded audio tracks. When fitted with an optional touch screen it also enables playback of video lessons and allows to download new effects from the web.

Find out more on the contest web site, on Marco’s blog or watch the official video:

Embedded contest update and Microsoft certification exams

Some weeks ago I announced that I would have written some posts about my work for Microsoft Embedded Sparks 2010 contest. Sadly and unfortunately, due to little free time in the last period and to some hardware/software issues while preparing the contest prototype, I had to stop the development. Maybe I will retry next year…

Meanwhile, I also studied to take two Microsoft Certification exams. I took the first one in mid-December: it was the beta version of Windows Mobile 6.5 - Application Developer exam. I received the communication that I passed it just ten days ago. On last Wednesday, then, I took and passed the Windows Embedded CE 6.0 - Development exam. Now I’m a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist in embedded field… but that’s just the beginning: I already started to study for a new Embedded exam, Windows Embedded Standard 7 for Developers (previously known as Windows Embedded Standard 2011), which I’ll take as soon as it become available (maybe in mid-June).