7/2/2008

A Top 100 Product

“Audacity,” an open source audio editor, originally designed and implemented by Carnegie Mellon Associate Research Professor Roger Dannenberg and former computer science doctoral student Dominic Mazzoni — now at Google — has earned a spot on PC World’s list of 100 best products of 2008.

“We introduced a new data structure to audio editing that’s often far faster than commercial editors,” said Dannenberg. “Audacity is popular mainly because it’s simple, free and reliable. It’s probably used by over one million people. It remains an open source project with quite a few active developers.”

You can download Audacity here.

Anne Watzman

6/30/2008

Boss Ready for Primetime

Carnegie Mellon’s Tartan Racing team and its autonomous vehicle, Boss, will be featured in the new TV series “Robocars,” which premieres at 10 p.m., July 14 on the Discovery Science Channel. Last year’s DARPA Urban Challenge robot race is the subject of the six-part series. Boss finished the race 19 minutes ahead of its nearest competitor, winning the $2 million grand prize.

Byron Spice

6/26/2008

Let the Games Begin

Carnegie Mellon will play host to athletic competitions in swimming, racquetball and track and field for the 2008 U.S. Transplant Games, July 11 – 14. More than 2,000 athletes who have received a life-saving organ transplant of some type, will compete in 12 Olympic-style athletic competitions at 11 venues in the Pittsburgh area, July 11 - 16. Participants range in age from two to 85. Presented by the National Kidney Foundation since 1990, the games draw participants from all over the country who are organized into 50 state teams.

Carnegie Mellon is the venue for three of the 12 competitions. Swimming will be held in the University Center pool from noon to 4 p.m., Friday, July 11, 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, July 12 and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, July 13. Racquetball will be held at the University Center courts from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, July 13. Track and field competition is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday, July 14.

Conference and Event Services is the site coordinator for the events at Carnegie Mellon. 

Bruce Gerson

6/19/2008

Here Scotty

Carnegie Mellon’s first official live mascot arrived on campus earlier this month from a Canadian breeder in Calgary. The Scottish Terrier, named “Scotty” by the university community in a campus-wide poll, is a gift from comedian Bill Cosby, who spoke at Carnegie Mellon’s 2007 commencement. Cosby said he was inspired to present the university with a live mascot after walking Carnegie Mellon Professor Larry Cartwright’s Scottish Terrier into Gesling Stadium before giving his commencement address.

Cartwright will serve as its owner and manager, and will train the puppy until its first on-campus appearance this fall.

Bruce Gerson