Evangelism Rythms....

New Products on DreamSpark.com

Pratibha — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 02:11:54 GMT

Hi Everyone,

Quick Update – new products including Expression Studio 3, XNA Games Studio 3.1, and Robotics Studio 2008 R2 are added to Dreamspark website.

Do check them out!

-Pratibha

Code7 Contest – Code to the Power of Windows 7

Pratibha — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:43:53 GMT

Another exciting opportunity to show off your skills, this time on Windows 7 https://www.code7contest.com/default.aspx?section=page4.

The prize is super grand, you get to fly to LA and be part of the Professional Developers Conference of Microsoft and not just that you also get to show case your winning app in front of millions of viewers. Check out Yochay kiriaty’s blog for more information on the contest - http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/developers/default.aspx

Imagine Cup 2009 World Finals in Deep Zoom

Pratibha — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:53:56 GMT

Uploaded pictures from IC world finals at DeepZoomPix, check them out - http://deepzoompix.com/Album.aspx?alias=pratibha&album=1

Imagine Cup 2009 Yearbook – Summary of all competitors from across the globe

Pratibha — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 05:49:47 GMT

For all those who couldn’t make it to the world finals at Cairo, not to worry, we have summaries of all the projects done by all the competitors from across the globe here. Check these out guys, you may find your inspiration for Imagine Cup 2010.

Project Tuva

Pratibha — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 05:41:10 GMT

MSR launched this new project called Project Tuva – an absolutely amazing lecture series by this renowned lecturer – Dr. Richard Feyman at Cornell university on concepts of science. What makes me feel proud is that Microsoft is taking such steps to bring not just our products and technologies to people but actually going beyond and bringing these great assets to people using the power of technology. To me, getting access to these materials so easily is completely amazing, check out the content guys, you too will be amazed.

Imagine Cup 2009 World Finals at Cairo – A memorable experience!

Pratibha — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:52:32 GMT

Imagine Cup – like I always said is a journey, but after attending the world finals at Cairo, I can easily say it is a journey with a fantastic end! It is an end that everyone of you readers would love to experience. The world finals event that has been heavily blogged and talked about all over the internet so I thought instead of just telling you what happened there, let me give you my take on the key highlights of this great event -

Amazing experience of meeting more than 400 students from over 70 countries, students with similar passion for technology and similar zeal to win. I personally feel honored to be there amongst the best of the world and was totally fascinated to see some of the most interesting applications of technology
Awesome opportunity to be sitting in the audience and listening to some of the most senior and accomplished leaders at Microsoft including Mr. Ray Ozzie, who is the successor to Bill Gates at Microsoft and has created some of the finest software himself including Lotus Notes and Groove.
Sight seeing around Egypt was also a stunning experience, cannot still believe we were at the awards ceremony which was held right in front of the pyramids, a monument that stands 5000 yrs old, was truly a fascinating experience.
Last but not the least, the fact that amongst the 450 odd students sitting in the audience at the awards function holding their national flag in anticipation of the results, two student teams from Singapore had the honor of running up the stage to flash their national flag high! Great work guys, you did all of us proud:) We won the second prize in both Photography and mashup categories.

Here are some of the pictures of the world finals at Cairo-

http://cid-eaf0d90c19dfe00c.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Imagine%20Cup%202009%20World%20Finals%20-%20Cairo

Event official photographer pics -

http://cid-04d83a7402aba8be.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/.Public/Imagine%20Cup%2009%20Images?wa=wsignin1.0&sa=530592131

I am in awe of this competition, completely! And I am already looking forward to the next stop of Imagine Cup, which would be Imagine Cup 2010 at Poland! I hope many more amongst the Singapore students grab this opportunity, guys believe me you don’t want to miss this!

Imagine Cup 2009 Awards Ceremony

Pratibha — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:22:00 GMT

Its been a while since I posted on this blog, had been completely focused on completing the local Imagine Cup Software Design rounds. Finally the event came to a close with the awards ceremony happening last Friday. Very please to share with you that this year we have four teams in all representing Singapore at the world finals at Cairo. Some pictures of the awards ceremony can be found here - http://cid-7ba81038ca3db0e7.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/20090605%20Imagine%20Cup%2009%20Awards%20Ceremony

The journey of Imagine Cup that we started early this year saw many of you guys come forward with some of the coolest ideas, I know that many of you have also been disappointed on realising that you are not amongst the finalists. But honestly this has been a tougher journey for all of us here at Microsoft organizing this competition and for the judges in making those difficult decisions.

You all were great and we are totally in awe of your work, keep doing the good work and no amount of good work ever goes waste.

There were several stages of the local Imagine Cup competition which we tried to capture in this short video. I hope you guys like it and that this video inspires some of you to join us in the journey of Imagine Cup to Poland in 2010!

Register for Imagine Cup and Win an XBOX 360!

Pratibha — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:46:40 GMT

We have an exciting offer for all Singapore students above the age of 16 years, just sign up for Imagine Cup and be part of a lucky draw!

Lucky Draw Prizes includes the grand prize of XBOX 360 and the following up for grabs as well -

· Windows Vista Ultimate

· Windows Vista Home Premium

· Office 2007 Ultimate

· Halo 3 XBOX Game

· Microsoft Press Books worth of $100 each

Imagine Cup Competitors - Here is a great learning Opportunity!

Pratibha — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 07:57:05 GMT

Hi All,
Recently in our events on campuses where we have been trying to promote Imagine Cup awareness, one question that i often get asked is where do I get started ? I have no .NET knowledge? I have some questions specific to a category in Imagine Cup? Here is your opportunity to get the answers to these questions..

This is the first time that Microsoft(or in my knowledge any company on this planet) is taking this step to have live meeting sessions for the world wide student audience providing guidance and answering questions from competitors. I would strongly urge each one of you even if you are not competing in Imagine Cup, to leverage this learning opportunity from Microsoft. Guys, this is genuinely extremely useful. Below is the information on the live meeting sessions that have already happened and there are more to come as well.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If you were unable to attend the previous sessions, you can access recordings of the sessions using the links below. The recordings can be viewed in Windows Media Player. In addition, the PowerPoint files for the Live Sessions are posted here. Each file name includes the competition title and the date of the Live Session.

Access Live Session recordings:

· Robotics & Algorithm, 11/13/08

· Software Design, 11/19/08

· Embedded Development, 11/20/08

· Game Development, 1/14/09

· IT Challenge:

o Infrastructure Technologies, 11/24/08
o Application Technologies, 12/1/08
o Management Technologies, 1/7/09

Stay tuned on the Imaginecup.com website for more such sessions to come on..

Good Luck,

Pratibha

It's the dawn of a new Imagine Cup!

Pratibha — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 04:58:48 GMT

Hello everyone,

Its that time of the year when students around the globe gear up for the largest software competition in the world. Its the time for you all to grab the opportunity of a lifetime. I cannot express in words how passionate I am about this competition, having started my very own career by competing in this coveted contest and representing my home country at an international stage:) So without wasting any more time, let me bring you all the info that you may need to take this next step towards greater success and greater glory! There are two key resources for Imagine Cup that you should look out for - one is the global website - www.imaginecup.com and another is our very own Singapore website for Imagine Cup - www.imaginecup.com.sg.

Below is a snapshot from the website of some of the important dates that you may want to take note of for the Software Design Competition which will be run locally in Singapore.

If you have any questions on Imagine cup or any of its categories or anything that may help you better prepare for this competition, write to us at sgacad@microsoft.com.

All the best to all of you! Let us try and bring the cup back to Singapore one more time:)

Happy New Year!

Pratibha — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:55:18 GMT

Wishing all the readers a very Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Hope the world recovers from all the misery that we see around us today, I know things look tough at this point but lets not give up and always look for the brighter side of things.

As for the academic programs in Singapore, stay tuned for a lot more from our side. Microsoft is coming to your campus soon..

Student Partner Aprecionite 13th Dec 2008

Pratibha — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:51:17 GMT

Hi there,

We did our Singapore Student Partner Aprecionite event on the 13th of December which was an occasion where we thank our Student Partners for all the good work they have done in the last year.

Its also an opportunity to welcome all the new students who recently joined our program. I personally think the event met its objective of giving the students their due recognition, bringing them closer to the Microsoft leadership community and also bring them recognition in the eyes of their teaching community.

We were honored to have our Managing Director, Ms Jessica Tan grace the occasion, who along with our director, Mr John Fernandes gave away the certificates and the prizes. What an honor for these young students to be able to not just receive their awards from the Singapore leadership team but also to be able to have a chat with them.

Lup Peng from Temasek Polytechnic walked away with the Student Partner Of the Year award for 07/08. Congrats Luppy! It was good to have my predecessor Stanley Tan, a popular figure amongst the student community, also present at the event. A large part of mentoring this vibrant community is attributed to Stanley , so thank you Stanley!

I am honored to be amongst such as smart cohort of students:) its more learning for me than for these kids. It also keeps me feeling younger all the time:)

Kudos to the Singapore Student Partner community for all that they do!

Dr Tony Hoare at MSR event

Pratibha — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 05:56:27 GMT

It was an opportunity of a lifetime for me to be with Dr Tony Hoare in the same camera frame. One of the biggest advantages of working in a company like Microsoft - you are always amongst the smartest people in the industry and once in a while you also get to meet legendary personalities like Dr Tony Hoare who gave us quick sort:). Sharing with you a pic which I am sure to frame soon.

Mash-it-Up Popfly Competition Video

Pratibha — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 08:28:55 GMT

This has been a long overdue posting. Here is the video of our Popfly competition which we ran in Singapore on the 20th and 21st of September. The energy and enthusiasm shown by the students in this 24hours competition is infectious :)

Microsoft Research Event - 21st Century Computing

Pratibha — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 06:51:16 GMT

Last week on the 7th of November, Microsoft Research brought a great event to Singapore for the first time. A unique opportunity for us to be amongst legendary researchers like Tony Hoare, Raj Reddy, Butler Lampson and Rick Rashid. I felt truly lucky to be listening to these great people. I had the opportunity to be the first speaker on the same stage, but minus the VIPS:). Here are some pictures from the event from one of my colleague's flickr account. Enjoy!