If you didn’t hear the news, SBC Communications has agreed to pay about $16 billion dollars U.S. to purchase AT&T. As if there won’t be enough problems with synergizing the two companies and cutting costs and the like, SBC has a bit of a problem. One of the most valuable items to come as a result of the deal is the AT&T brand name.

What should it call the combined company? SBC-AT&T? Drop the SBC? Drop the AT&T? Its something that they are going to need to figure out sooner rather than later. Personally, I’d call the company AT&T and just drop SBC. It would be a poor decision to buy a brand name that is so well known among consumers and then not take full advantage of it.

Read: New York Times

This is pretty cool so I had to post it. Do you remember the movie Gattaca? Apparently a zoologist (???) is trying to build a handheld DNA scanning device similar to the ones used in that movie:

The scanner analyzes DNA bar codes, which are basically species-specifc sequences found in a single gene known as CO1 which just happens be common to all plants and animals (though CO1 doesn’t work quite as well for differentiating plant species). Researchers are building a database of DNA bar codes right now, and have so far catalogued about 2 million of the ten million species of plants and animals that are estimated to live on earth.

Makes me wonder how much it will cost…

Read: Engadget

Turns out we had reason to be overly confident – but it was close! We found out at the awards presentation today that we did in fact place first in the competition, so we were pretty stoked about that! It was a great birthday present for Dickson too – Happy Birthday! As we placed second in the test part of the competition, we got 40 points (where first got 50). The judges told us today that we also placed second in the creative part of the competition, but only 4 points separated first and third, so it was tight. Either way, we placed very well in both so combined, we were first overall.

The drive back from Calgary was again uneventful, though it was nice and sunny today so it was a much easier drive than in the fog. So easy in fact that we once again worked in the vehicle! We were going to stop at Pete’s Drive Thru for lunch on the way out, but it was so packed, and neither of us had cash, so we went to Mr. Sub instead.

I just updated the photo gallery with some pictures from the competition and the presentation today, so check it out. Now that we are back home, we once again return to work. Our sights are now set on Imagine Cup 2005 and the trip to Japan!

The Edmonton .NET Wizards have done it again!

We just got back from the competiton – a full day of hardcore coding, not to mention the week of hardcore working! I think we’re both ready to take a break. In any case, what you want to know is how we did right? Well, we don’t want to count our chickens before they are hatched, but we feel very confident. And if you know Dickson and I, you’ll know we are always very confident. So I guess we’re extremely confident! We find out for sure at the presentation ceremonies tomorrow.

Of the three problems, we were the only team that ended up doing the Planner (the hardest problem). And the judges seemed to be very impressed with our solution and even interested enough to chat with us about it after. The second part of the competition was coding the AI for a tank wars game, and we finished second, very close behind the first placed team (they outscored us 6-2 over the three games we played against them). All in all, we felt that the competition went very well for us, unlike last year!

Tomorrow is the awards presentation, and we also go on a tour of the company and stuff like that, so it should be pretty laid back. Anyway, I think we’re gonna go eat soon, so check back later!

We’re off to the competition for today, I’ll tell you all about it later tonight. Wish us luck!

So we made it to Calgary without any major issues or problems. There was lots of fog on the way down, so visibility was dismal at best, but other than that, the drive was the same as always – straight and boring. Dickson drove the first half while I worked, and I drove the second half while he worked. We’re so efficient! Next time we shall bring a generator.

We are staying at the Holiday Inn downtown, and it’s a pretty nice hotel so far. Dickson brought a wireless router, so we’ve got that all hooked up nicely. When we walked into the room, it was quite warm, so we set about trying to open the sliding door to the porch to let in some cool air (okay, its also because there is no fridge and we want to keep the Coke cold). There is a sticker on the door that says locking mechanism at the bottom, and we checked, it was unlocked. However, the door wouldn’t open! So we figured it was just frozen, and I pulled and pulled. Eventually it started to give way, and we thought we had succeeded.

Turns out there is a latch behind the handle that we didn’t see. The door wasn’t frozen – when it started to give way, it was because I had bent the metal latch! We couldn’t stop laughing! Anyway, we got it all sorted out now. Check out the gallery I have started for this trip for pictures of the door and hotel room.

I will post again later but for now, back to work!

In a couple of hours, Dickson and I are leaving for Calgary to compete in the CTC Programming Competition. We participated last year as well, and while we didn’t win, we didn’t finish last either! This year we are feeling much more prepared, so we think we’ll fare quite well.

If you look at the competition page, you’ll see three different problems for the Creative part. We chose to do the planner, and I think that was a wise choice. Although, we haven’t been sleeping much this week! The second part is the same for everyone – tank wars! Hopefully we can work on it when we get to Calgary.

Alright have a great weekend! I’ll be blogging from the competition and over the weekend so stay tuned!

If you’re like me, you tend to press snooze one too many times. Well, it seems some students at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea (never head of it either) have developed an alarm clock, dubbed the Sfera, that solves this problem:

The clock itself actually hangs from a string, and automatically raises itself a little bit higher off the ground every time you hit snooze, in turn forcing you to actually get up out of bed if you want to turn it off.

Interesting idea, though I can see myself whacking it with a pillow after a while. Maybe it would be better if instead of raising itself up, it shot you with water. That would definitely wake you up!

Read: Engadget

Microsoft just released their latest financial information, and revealed that the division containing Xbox has reported a profit:

Buoyed by strong Xbox sales, The Home and Entertainment unit posted an $84 million profit on revenue of $1.41 billion. A year ago, the unit saw losses of $397 million on sales of $1.27 billion.

Looks good for Xbox2 now!

Read: CNET News.com

I have not met Murphy. I don’t know anyone who has met Murphy. I doubt I’ll ever meet Murphy. But I do know something about Murphy. He’s one aggravating son of a bitch! And if I ever meet him, I’m gonna tell him exactly where to stick his law.