Last night a bunch of us went to Boston Pizza (where else) for Dickson‘s birthday dinner. It was pretty good, and Michelle even brought Jello shooters so that was fun! The problem was that almost everyone at the table was Asian and didn’t have a clue how to do them properly. Megan and I just shook our heads 🙂

In another sign that we are all getting old, almost everyone went home right after the dinner, but Felicia, Kimmi, Dickson and I all went to see Hide and Seek. While not too bad, it wasn’t THAT scary. Certainly not as scary as Felicia’s incessant jumping would make it seem. I really like Dakota Fanning (as an actress you sickos) and I think she gave another excellent performance. Her star continues to rise! It was an interesting role for De Niro, not sure I really enjoyed him that much in this movie. Good twist in the movie too, so worth a watch.

Andrew has a post about Dickson’s birthday here, Kimmi posted here, and Michelle posted here. Check out some pictures from last night in my gallery.

Apparently Liberal Mark Holland and about 20 other MPs from all the political parties are trying to push through legislation that would drop the voting age to 16 from its current 18:

“I don’t think we give them enough credit. We’re asking them to be responsible, yet at the same time we’re sending a contradictory message, saying you’re too young to understand and you shouldn’t have a voice,” the 30-year-old MP for Ajax-Pickering said.

Deputy House Leader Mauril Belanger puts into words exactly what I thought (although perhaps more eloquently) upon reading this:

“No evidence suggests the voting age should be lowered. On the contrary, it may make youth voter turnout worse and only expand the pool of non-voters.”

I really hope this bill dies a quick death. There is absolutely no reason to lower the age of voters. Not only will it increase the pool of non-voters, but it will probably cost money to implement too. I’d rather see that money spent on getting our existing 80% of under 30 non-voters out to the polls. Heck, I’d rather see the money spent on making voting mandatory for anyone over the age of 18.

Read: CNEWS

People, including me, have been saying for a while now that its only a matter of time before computer games and movies become one. With the release of Halo 2, we saw that not only can games be just like movies in terms of content, but the dollar figures games can generate dwarf movies. The latest news helps to blur the lines between games and movies even further:

Marlon Brando may be dead, but his voice will live on, as Electronic Arts said it plans a video game version of the classic 1972 film “The Godfather” using the brooding actor’s voice and likeness.

Also lending their voices to the game are James Caan and Robert Duvall. Sounds like an interesting project!

Read: CNET News.com

Darren Barefoot posted yesterday that he isn’t going to drink any soft drinks for the month of February. According to his post, Darren is “serious[ly] smitten with Coke.” Sound like anyone you know? I don’t think I could do what Darren is doing. I am far too addicted.

It’s time to grow up and accept that drinking a can of Coke a day isn’t particularly healthy.

A single can of Coke a day? Man I’m screwed, let alone addicted! And hey Darren, I hope you finished that last half can, I don’t like Coke abuse!

There are reports that the next XBOX will debut at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in May. The company has confirmed that it will not debut at the Game Developers Conference in March, so E3 is the next logical choice. Five years ago, it was at GDC that Microsoft debuted the first XBOX.

According to Engadget, Microsoft has confirmed E3, but I can’t seem to find that anywhere. More likely they just interpreted the GDC-related confirmation as proof that E3 is the target launch vehicle now. Can’t wait to see what it looks like!

Today Microsoft launched their new search technology, replacing Yahoo’s technology:

As expected, MSN, a unit of the software giant, has taken its Web search technology out of the laboratory, and placed it on MSN’s newly redesigned home page in 25 countries. Two and a half years in the making, MSN Search will now be the focal point of the updated, lighter-weight site; and it is the subject of Microsoft’s newest ad campaign, which includes television, print, Internet and outdoor promotions.

There’s going to be TV ads during the Super Bowl, and much more. Whether or not the search technology is better than Google, it has clearly caught up. More importantly, its refreshing to see a company take something out of beta (*ahem* Google is addicted to the word ‘beta’ *ahem*).

The new search is clearly a big deal for the company, as even Bill Gates has written a letter to customers about the technology. You can check out the search at the MSN site.

Read: CNET News.com

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!