Personally I thought that a 5.00pm technical session on the last day would be deserted, a very bad assumption on my part as it turns out. There are many more geeks that are space enthusisasts than i first believed
The session started well with the "Earth to Mars in Six Easy Steps" section:
I found the explanation of their use of Java3D and JAI really interesting in how they receive pictures and in real-time compose the scene into a flat cylindrical image that basically means if you were to look arounf at the horizon in 360 degrees you would get a picture of what rover would be seeing. They then convert the image into a polar image which essentially flattens the cylindrical image from top to give a view from above the surface. A lot of the work they did in making sure they could accurately record the images to put them together faithfully was also good.
Panaramic view made up of individual shots below:
There was a good description of the tools they used on the rover itself to investigate the rocks and minerals on Mars, which was process behind the discovery of the data that lead to the conclusion of water on Mars at some point in history.
If you were into rocks, this was the place for you, meet Humphrey - the rock:
Personally, i tried to think of how they could get that name applied to a rock:
OR 
???
Some additional info, VxWorks was the platform running on Rover itself. The final execution code was still being refined as Rover was on its way to Mars and could be update at even a later date. The database behind the Java code was MySql.
They also summarised the activity for JPL in the "near" future for Cassini going through Saturns rings at the moment, talks of going the moon with a rover-like mission was hinted, another mission in 2007 to be a re-try of the failed 1999 Mars Polar Lander. Talks of using nuclear power sources instead of the solar powered variety seems also up for discussion. There is a concern that until the Mars solstice in September the waning Sunlight until then introduces the risk that there may not be enough power to maintain the rover in an operational state. After September the increase in sunlight will greatly improve the chances of using the rover for "a while" after that.
The color shots were also composed by rotating different filters in front of the lens ( ie the three primary colors ) and taking the same shot three times and composing the aggregate image back on earth. The images were all captured in raw format and edited later.
The Phantom Bunny story went down well:
When the speakers announced that there was some collateral to pick up from JPL, there was a deep rumble as people were trampled on the way to the front of the room to grab a piece of nostalgia.
An interesting comment at the very end by an audience member, congratulating JPL for pushing the envelope on space, planets and other things that re-inforce the grander things about life than our own puny existence.
For more information, try the rover home page. Some really great detail can be found at the Cornell site