Finalists for National Imagine Cup Announced

AndrewParsons — Mon, 18 May 2009 02:36:44 GMT

I love my job. Sorry if you’ve heard me say that before, but I do. And it’s for moments like these. I got to tell the five teams who made it to the Australian Finals of the Imagine Cup that they had indeed succeeded in Round 1 and would be presenting their solutions to a judging panel and general public with a chance to win the opportunity to represent Australia in Cairo, Egypt at the world finals of Imagine Cup.

Team One – deCarbonate

Team deCarbonate decided to address environmental sustainability by helping people see the impact of their personal lives and actions through a carbon footprint calculator with mitigation suggestions and additional information aimed at highlighting actions that everyone can do to minimise their impact on the environment in a very real sense.

Team Two – eGreen

A comprehensive and potentially revolutionary system, eGreen seeks to help monitor all parts of the item production supply chain so that consumers know what impact they have on the environment when they buy particular goods. Using RFID tags, a special rating system developed by the eGreen team and web servers and other real world technologies, the system makes people aware of the full extent of the environmental impact of the products they plan to purchase.

Team Three – IWork

IWork is short for Instant Work, and is a system developed by this Canberra-based team to help job seekers find work easily and quickly with very little expenditure, addressing the need around the world of low income people who often need work in very short timeframes. This innovative solution integrates multiple technologies to help people take advantage of new access to things like internet access.

Team Four – Xtreme

Team Xtreme have developed the Fire Location and Managing Environment (FLAME) as a web-driven application that tackles a local issue that extends to the global scape where, worldwide, bushland hazard reduction management needs to be improved. Their solution uses a number of technologies to ease management of bushfires and other bushland issues and used real world situations and collaboration with local fire departments to ensure they met the actual needs found in today’s society.

Team Five – Firefighters

Our second Sydney team, and our second bushfire management system is perhaps unsurprising given the huge risks faced each year in bushfire season in Sydney’s surrounds and particularly in light of the tragedies that occurred earlier this year, it’s actually a great outcome that Imagine Cup enables students to tackle real issues that face can us quite personally.

As I have previously posted, the finals will be held at the North Ryde office of Microsoft Australia and are open to the public to attend – but it’s essential you register so we can make sure you fit in. Also, by registering, you’ll go into the draw to win lucky door prizes (like a Xbox 360 console), so don’t miss out on your own chance to win.

This is your last chance to come along – seats are running out so act now. Send an email to ausic@microsoft.com with your name, phone number and how many people you’re registering for if you’re intending to bring others with you.

The event starts at 6pm, Wednesday 27 May at:

1 Epping Road

North Ryde NSW 2113

I hope to see you there!

Are you the DEVSTA for 2008?

AndrewParsons — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 08:20:06 GMT

Microsoft Australia are looking for the ultimate software gun – think you’ve got what it takes? Prove it.

On October 8th, at 8.08am, the DEVSTA competition launches to find Australia’s brightest coder (you don’t have to be a professional – you just need to be able to work under pressure and get the project done).

That’s 8:08, 8/8/08… see the pattern? If you do, you’ll understand why the comp runs for 200 hours and 8 minutes.

Don’t mess around – at 8:08 the project brief is announced and you need to get started – so make sure you sign up now so you don’t let the others get a headstart.

The prize pool is awesome – over 30 grand worth of stuff, including a trip to Vegas to attend MIX09, an Xbox 360 Elite and a MSDN Premium subscription.

Best mobile implementation can also win a couple of Samsung Omnias and a 40” LCD TV – w00t! I just wish I could enter! :)

Anyhow – head right over to http://devsta.microsoft.com.au/ for more info. And to sign up, of course.

The odd ramblings of a geek pretending to not be "all grown up" : Competition

Finalists for National Imagine Cup Announced

Are you the DEVSTA for 2008?