Published on 12:00 AM, July 15, 2011

Rapture wins Microsoft's People's Choice Award


Rapture, a 3-member team from Bangladesh's American International University of Bangladesh, won the Microsoft Imagine Cup People's Choice Award in New York on July 13.
This is the only Imagine Cup award that is determined by the public, and it includes a US $10,000 prize. Eva Longoria, American actress and CEO of the Startup America Partnership Scott Case presented the award to the team.
Team Rapture created Third Eye, a Windows Phone 7 device for the visually impaired that provides an assistive camera and a special user interface with vibration, speech feedback and voice command.
Earlier, the team also won Imagine Cup organised by Microsoft Bangladesh to qualify for the final Imagine Cup 2011 contest in New York.
The Imagine Cup 2011 competition winners were announced on July 13 at the Imagine Cup World Festival and Awards Ceremony at the David H Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York. The event was the culmination of a six-day celebration of technology, hard work and ingenuity.
Narrowed from more than 350,000 global registrants, more than 400 students from 70 countries traveled to New York to compete at the Worldwide Finals. The festivities included remarks from philanthropist, activist and actor Eva Longoria and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Team Hermes from Ireland, Team NTHUCS from Taiwan, Geekologic from France, team Cellardoor from Poland, Signum Games from Brazil, M.N.A. from Romania, HOMERUN from Korea, Alaniarides from Greece, Jean-Sébastien Duchene from France, Denmark's MP Brun, India Rose from France won the top positions in various categories of the contest.
Microsoft Imagine Cup is the world's premier student technology competition, honoring student innovations that address global problems such as improving road and fire safety, eradicating poverty and creating a more sustainable environment.