And the winners are.... ?

[Matt Kernal]

Not that I was eligible or anything, but the announcement date of winners of HP's Create-a-Calculator contest has come and gone (August 1, 2003, btw).

http://www.hp.com/calculators/contest/index.html

Matt (mildly curious)

[Harry (Germany)]

Why do they still have that "RPN?" link on that site?!?
I thought tey didn't care about RPN anymore.

Harry

[M.J.]

You need to be bitch-slapped for making such a blasphempous statement that HP doesn't care about RPN any more!!!

[Ben Salinas]

Well, I can narrow it down by 1. I have figured, since i havent been notified about anything, that i did not win. Other than that, I know nothing
-ben

[Les Bell]

Darn it, Ben - with the amount of good work you put in, I had you down as a sure-fire winner.

Commiserations . . .

Best,

--- Les [http://www.lesbell.com.au]

[Ben Salinas]

It's okay. I am figuring (AKA comforting myself) by saying it was probably judged by the marketing department. I can see it now:
Judge: Wow... Look this entry is shaped like a rocket ship, and when you press any button it makes a noise like a rocket taking off, and the LCD screen flashes. How cool... I bet it would sell millions.
Judge 2: Well, I think this one is better... I mean how can you beat the rose shaped calculator, which actually smells like a rose. I could see a whole line of calculators, all which have a different smell.

Oh well, I did it partially to occupy my time, and prove to myself that I could do something of that caliber
-ben

[db (martinez, ca.)]

All but two of HP's current calculators already smell, albeit not like a rose.

Edited: 11 Aug 2003, 12:21 a.m.

[bill platt]

I second Les' comments. And I keep my fingers' crossed. Maybe they're just late......really enjoyed Ben's posts!

regards,

Bill Platt

[Vieira, Luiz C. (Brazil)]

Hi, folks;

the winners are:

the HP Staff and
Kimpo Manufacture Co.

Now, let's hope that they have found a good amount of "what_should_a_calculator_do" so they will learn how to do that and find a way to produce them. And let us win, too... I mean, in a sense, good and acceptable calculators. Not as gifts from them to us, instead as buying options.

Luiz (Brazil)

[Ben Salinas]

Well, I walked into my electronics teacher's room this morning, and he told that he needed tot alk to me. He told me that he had recieved a call from HP, and they left a message on his answering machine saying that I won the contest, and he wanted to talk to him about working with my school on future science/calculator related stuff. He told me that he (the HP guy, last name was vignette or something), was extremely amazed by my entry.
I guess since HP said August 1st, I should have known I needed to wait another 2 weeks.:)
-Ben

[bill platt]

I kept my fingers crossed! That is really excellent!

[Jim C]

Ben, you are to be congratulated for not only your project, but the energy and enthusiasm you showed for the work and the professional presentation. Wow.

I don't know your age, but I will say that I can only hope that HP hires you. Old engineers like me are hoping that you can bring some technology and quality back to HP.

A challenge to HP: You hire Ben, give him free rein, unencumbered by marketing. Let him build you a calculator. I'll guarantee that you'll sell every calculator you make. I'll buy two!

[Vieira, Luiz C. (Brazil)]

Hi, Ben;

congratulations!

Hey, as HP is turning your design an actual project, you're surely be "A" beta tester. Please, as this happens, use a nickname and let us know whatever we can about it, will yah?

For what I saw, you deserved this.

Best regards.

Luiz (Brazil)

[Matt Kernal]

Hey, that's GREAT news! Ditto on the Congratulations! Sounds like you'll get some scholarship money, and at least a new calculator. Hold out for a 49G+, 48GII, or at least a couple 33S's! Don't settle for a 12C Platinum or 9G.

Concerning HP and prizes, in previous HHC's (HandHeld Conferences), and I'm thinking of the two held in Vancover Washington a few years ago, HP was very generous and donated some nice prizes for an on-site HP48G programming challenge. I believe the winner received an HP notebook PC AND a Jornada PDA. Everyone attending got a free 49G.

HP will be present for this year's HHC as well. See http://www.holyjoe.net/hhc2003/index.htm

Once again, good job Ben! Oh, one more thing... how about reposting your entry for us to see again?

Matt

[Tom (UK)]

"Everyone attending got a free 49G."

Ah - thats how they avoided the land fill tax.

[Matt Kernal]

Well, maybe you should just hold out for the scholarship money :)

[reversi]

www.series80.org/HP51S

[Ben Salinas]

To answer some of the questions that have been asked:
As far as I understand, the prize is a HP 9g, and $3000. I will be sure to ask to see if they will give me a nicer calculator, though I am not sure if they will. (Trust me, I would much rather have a HP 49g+ than a 9g:))
There is no guarantee (and probably very little chance) that they will make this calculator I designed. First off, a few of the features might be physically impossible(a few, mind you) but more importantly, remember they were expecting , and I quote,
"What if a calculator could measure the ocean's depth, transmit the temperature on Mars, and solve any complex math problem you could dream up? What if a calculator came in the shape of a rocket ship, butterfly, or snake, or was painted in patriotic stars and stripes?"
It said in the rules, that the calculator designs might be used for ideas in future calculators. I truly doubt they will make my calculators, but there is a strong possibility that they will use some of my ideas in future models (if they make future models)

My teacher called the HP person back (as he was instructed to do so). They want to interview me, via phone, on thursday, and would like to come down to south Texas to see the school. (http://scitech.stisd.net)Supposedly they were very amazed by my entry. They also said that they might want to donate some equipment/money to the school, if they like it (which I believe they will like it) (the school itself is a magnet school with emphasis on math, science, and engineering, and all the skills I used in creating my design I learned in the required technology classes)
I will hope for the best.
-ben

[Patrick]

Absolutely fabulous story, Ben. Hearty congratulations!

If I were you, I'd take the 9s, smile and say thank you. They're giving you $3000, after all, so you can now afford to buy a mint version of anything you want on eBay!

What you should ask for, IMO, is a co-op/summer job at their calculator division (if it still exists)! There's something worth leveraging into this opportunity!

Good luck!

[Les Bell]

That's great news, Ben - congratulations!

Best,

--- Les [http://www.lesbell.com.au]

[Michael F. Coyle]

Glad to hear you won!!!

It seems like they were looking for fun, casual, "blue sky" stuff and you gave a complete serious design proposal, just like they'd get from their own engineers. No wonder they were blown away!

(I must admit that I was impressed by your entry -- what I read of it. It was so large I was rather intimidated by it!)

Hopefully, given the amount of work you did, HP will upgrade your prize to the new 49. And hopefully they will do right by your school. When they visit, send us a report -- we'd like to know what they're up to.

Again, congratulations!

- Michael

[Ron Ross]

To me, your design may have had more thought and sense than what Hp delivered! Perhaps the prize committee conversation went like this.

"Would you LOOK AT THIS!!!"

"Did one of our previous engineers enter??"

"Well!! IT DOESN'T look like the butterfly we were looking for! (contemputous tone)"

"Yeah, but if we ever need to get back into the calculator business, we can't have this kid submitting this design to Ti."

"Ok, so its the best (again contemputous resignation). I wanted the designs to look like colorful crayon markups that I could scan over to my powerpoint presentations to show to Carly. She won't want to look at this (snear and snival)."

"Well, I guess we'll award to this kid, but we wanted more imagination and less research and work. I just can't understand these techie types."

Sadly, the above conversation probably didn't take place, becuase the above would be to intellectual for the present Hp management. Kingpo probably does most of Hp's real design and a look at the new 33s (which is larger than some graphics) pocket?? calculator gives me an idea of their skill.

However, Again my congratulations to a well deserved award. Use the scholarship money well and Who knows, Maybe you can design the next Hp calculator.

[Paul Brogger]

Ben, regardless of the happy outcome, in the process of creating your fine entry you exhibited traits and talent that will take you places. You should take some confidence that, whatever direction you choose in life, you are certainly capable of most any achievement you may desire. What a way to start out in life!

Congratulations!

[eclectic_echidna]

Dumb question: Can you show us the calculator that won the design contest?

Where is the info?

--
ee

[eclectic_echidna]

Nevermind, I have found it.

Quoted from Ben's design document:

The first, and most impressive, is the Pseudo-Graphing function. This function allows the scientific calculator to graph in a way more accurate than a graphing calculator. This function was put in this calculator to increase the market to high school students, most of whom depend on their graphing calculator. This function creates a table of value of only important points. This will greatly decrease graphing time and allow students to be weaned from their graphing calculator. Important points are those which are directly adjacent to curves in a graph, or at a vertex, as well as a point ½ to 1/3 of the way through a curve (which will make sure the line drawn on paper is accurate). Important points also include the x and y-intercept, and any other number which happen to be “nice” whole numbers. The table will display 2 lines at a time, and be scrolled through using the Up and Down “Program Navigation” keys (keys 18 and 23).