Microsoft NZ Student and Academic Blog

Microsoft On Campus

RyanDE — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 09:32:29 GMT

After exams, Microsoft New Zealand is kicking off a roadshow to visit tertiary students across the country. With Windows 8 being released on October 26th, our recent Microsoft Surface announcement, new phones running Windows Phone 8 coming soon, Microsoft is the most exciting company in tech. And we are coming to a campus near you!

Join students from every tertiary institute in New Zealand, as Microsoft New Zealand presents two sessions at the venue near you - an evening session for all students , and an afternoon hands on technical session. For Auckland students we are running a special 14 hour, Windows 8 Weekend Bootcamp on November 24th & 25th! So register your seat today.

#1: An evening session for ALL STUDENTS, to hear about exciting opportunities from Microsoft! Hear the latest from Microsoft, then stay for pizza, drinks, and instant prizes!

We are currently recruiting Microsoft Student Partners to lead technology conversations on campus. If you have a passion for the latest and greatest, this programme gives you the resources and the opportunity to develop the skills necessary for a successful career.
We recently launched the new-and-improved Microsoft Imagine Cup technology competition. Work individually or in teams to build software over the summer break - win cash, prizes, and maybe even a trip to Russia to represent NZ at the world's premier "software olympics"!
And finally, we'll tell you why you should consider building a Windows 8 app. And with simple templates, building apps is easier than you think...

Whether you're finishing university soon, or staying a student for a while longer, this session will be based around improving employability - and will discuss careers both at Microsoft and at our many partner organisations. Register your seat today:

#2: An afternoon session for TECHNICAL STUDENTS, to learn how to build Windows 8 apps!

That's right - the entire app building process, from start to finish. It doesn't matter if you are an experienced programmer, or completely new to building apps. We will start with an introduction to Visual Studio 2012, show off the built-in templates for Windows Store apps in Windows 8, and work with you to customise the templates to create your very own app.
With over a billion PCs in use, Windows represents the largest platform in the world. This unprecedented reach, combined with the fact that any PC running Windows 7 can run Windows 8, presents you with a tremendous revenue opportunity.

For the full hands-on experience, please bring your own laptop with Windows 8 and Visual Studio 2012 installed, or just come along to watch. Register now:

#3: A weekend bootcamp for TECHNICAL STUDENTS, to learn how to build Windows 8 apps!

Give us a 14 hours over two days and we will give your first Windows 8 application.

Pre-requisites for the bootcamp:

Please bring your own laptop with Windows 8 and Visual Studio 2012 installed
You must attend 80% of the event across the two days
Be prepared to develop and submit your first app
You must be a tertiary student in 2012
Be prepared to build and develop and app, no spectators please :)

Prizes:

Every student that attends the entire two days will receive a snazzy Windows 8 Polo shirt
Every student that completes an app over the weekend and gets it published to the store will receive a Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse.

What do we promise:

To provide an interactive and hands on workshop over the 14 hour period
To provide you with copious amounts of food and drinks and keep you energised for the 14 hour marathon.
There will also be three slates up for grabs for the best Windows 8 apps

Register now:

For a quick snapshot of upcoming events check out the below table

Windows 8 Student Boot Camp

RyanDE — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 10:40:57 GMT

Join us this Sunday at the Windows 8 Boot Camp, where we will eat, drink, code and publish.

With the announcement of Windows 8 General Availability imminent. We are going to extraordinary lengths to help kick start your Windows 8 app portfolio.

The boot camp is designed to help attendees build their first app and get it published on the store.

That's right, at the end of this event, you will have successfully submitted your first Windows 8 app to the Windows Store.

The event is designed to help you work through a template project where you can add your own content and get it ready for the store.

To prepare for this workshop you must meet the following requirements:

Have a machine with Windows 8 RTM and the Developer Tools installed

By attending the event you commit to completing the application and submitting it to the store

Be able to attend at least 80% of the boot camp on the Sunday from 9am-9pm

Be a current student
Have a current credit card so you can activate your free store account

Where: Microsoft Building, Level 5, 22 Viaduct Harbour Ave, Viaduct Harbour, Auckland CBD.

When: 23rd September, 9am -9pm

Cost: Free

Food and Drinks provided as well as spot prizes.

Agenda will be provided on the day.

Questions - post questions on our Facebook page.

Windows 8 Student Workshops

RyanDE — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 23:28:22 GMT

When – 3 options - 28th, 29th or 30th August

Where – University of Auckland, Business School, OGGB Building, Lab 6 and 7

When – 10 – 3pm

Free Event

Register at - https://win8.msregistration.com/EventList.aspx – Create an account on https://win8.msregistration.com/ and the register for one of the Auckland Student Camps.

Windows 8 Student Workshops

With the announcement of Windows 8 General Availability in late October of this year there is no better time to build your Windows 8 Metro App and make it available on the store.

As part of the lead up to the launch we are running several Windows 8 Camps to help you get connected with the local MS team as well as the local Windows 8 developer community.

Join us at the camp and learn how to get started, see some of our local apps in progress and find out the process to get your app on the store.

What’s a Windows Workshop?

Windows Camps are free, fun, no-fluff events for developers, by developers. You learn from experts in a low-key, interactive way and then you’ll get to apply what you’ve learned.

The camps are designed to be short as most of the actual development will take place in your own time, this is a great opportunity to network with others, meet your local MS reps and also kick start your Windows 8 development.

What am I going to learn?

At this Windows Camp, you’ll learn how to develop for the Windows 8 Platform. Topics include how to build Windows 8 apps, tooling, UI and Controls, and more.

What do you need to bring?

The labs are designed to be hands on so bring your own machine with the Windows 8 RP installed and the developer tools required to build Windows 8 Applications. Check out the resources on the Windows 8 site to get started on your app now.

You can also register for the Win a Slate competition by building a Windows 8 app which finishes on the 9th of September.

Time	Session	Duration
10.00am	Overview of Windows 8 Consumer Experience	20min
10.20am	Understand the Windows Store	20min
10.40am	Overview of Development Tools	40min
11.20am	Showcase of Apps in Progress	40min
12.00pm	Lunch	60min
1.00pm	Hands on Labs - Demo 1	40min
1.40pm	Hands on Labs - Demo 2	40min
2.20pm	Hands on Labs - Demo 3	40min

(Agenda subject to change)

What does it cost and how do I register?

Windows Camps are free. We appreciate your time, so we take care of the rest. Registration is free, but it’s also limited to keep things interactive and fun. We recommend you register right away to make sure you get a seat. Registration links below.

Any Questions?

If you have any questions, please email nzedu@microsoft.com. If you can no longer attend this event, please cancel your registration so we can reassign the place to another person.

The First 40 Students to Publish 3 Windows Phone Apps Between 1-Aug and 30-Sept Will Each WIN a NOKIA LUMIA 710 WINDOWS PHONE!

msdnnz — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 06:07:00 GMT

That's right, the first 40 students

to publish 3 Windows Phone Apps

between 1-Aug and 30-September

will each WIN a NOKIA LUMIA 710!

40x Nokia Lumia 710 Windows Phones up for grabs.

Don't miss out.

All you need to do is take the leap.

Start building great apps for the Windows Phone Marketplace.

So if you have the time (and can come up with three ideas) there is no reason to put it off any longer! For those new to the platform, Windows Phone development is completed using easy tools, Visual Studio 2010 and Expression Blend, both available as free versions to develop for the phone. Use Silverlight and XNA to build rich, immersive experiences in the languages you know, C#, VB.Net. And with exposure to a global market there is a huge opportunity to be the next Angry Birds.

If you're stuck and looking for resources, just do a quick search and you will find a plethora of training material - but to get you started, check out:

Stay tuned to our Student Facebook page where you can post questions and stay up to date with the latest technology announcements.

So what do I have to do?

Email us at nzedu@microsoft.com and let us know you are taking part. Just send us your full name, email address, cellphone number, and a brief description of the apps you plan on building.

Following this, we will send regular updates on the status of the competition until all 40 phones have been given away.

Then get started on your 3 applications, and publish them to the Windows Phone Marketplace before 30 September 2012.

The winners will be the first 40 competitors to email three links (to their three applications on the Marketplace) to nzedu@microsoft.com. If the link is not yet active, it will not count until the application is live on the Marketplace.

For further specifications, read all the knitty gritty in the terms and conditions below.

This competition is very much a race.

On your marks, get set, GO...

Windows Phone Competition - Terms and Conditions:

Eligibility

1. To be eligible - you must be a New Zealand Resident using a New Zealand Market Place Account

2. To be eligible for the Nokia Lumia 710, you must have 3 new published Windows Phone application anytime between the 1st of August 2012 to 30th September 2012

3. Entries must be emailed to nzedu@microsoft.com with a link to all three applications on the Market Place and a short one line sentence describing the application

4. Valid applications must be published under the same Windows Marketplace account, and must be submitted from the same email address.

5. Each application submitted cannot be a follow-my-feed, app-maker, or other online-tool-created applications.

6. Each application must be different from each other and follow a different theme.

7. The judges reserve the right not to select a winner if entries are judged not to be of the required standard.

8. Restrictions on Applications: Applications must be free for Marketplace users to download

9. Competitors can win a maximum of one phone

10. Microsoft is not responsible for entries not received and incomplete, illegible, 'hacked' or otherwise fraudulent entries are not valid.

11. By entering this prize draw you agree to be bound by these terms & conditions.

12. Each emailed entry up to the first 40 competitors with three new published apps will receive 1 Nokia Lumia 710

13. Winners will be notified no later then the 5th of October 2012 via the email or contact phone number provided.

14. Prizes will be delivered to each winner at a New Zealand address (as advised by the winner) at Microsoft's expense.

15. Only people living in New Zealand are eligible to win. Employees and independent contractors (and each of their immediate family members) of Microsoft are not eligible to enter.

16. Prizes are not transferable or redeemable for cash. If you are unable or unwilling to accept your prize, Microsoft may award it to an alternate winner.

17. If you accept a prize you will be solely responsible for all applicable taxes related to accepting the prize.

18. If for any reason an advertised prize is unavailable, Microsoft may substitute the advertised prized for another prize which has approximately the same recommended retail price.

19. If there is a dispute as to who submitted the winning entry, the winner will be the authorized account holder of the market place account used to publish the Windows Phone Application. Applications submitted in to the draw must be by the actual owner of the Market Place Account.

20. Microsoft New Zealand Limited is the promoter of this prize draw and may modify these terms & conditions without notice. The judge's decision in relation to the winners or any other aspect of this prize draw is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

21. Microsoft may disqualify, from participating in this prize draw, any person who tampers with the entry process, or submits an entry not in accordance with these terms and conditions.

22. Microsoft is committed to complying with the Government gift and ethics policies. Employees and independent contracts of the Government must adhere to gift and ethics policies applicable to them when entering this prize draw or accepting any prize.

23. Microsoft is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, servers or providers, or any combination thereof. Nor is it responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information caused by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in this prize draw, or by any technical or human error that may occur in the course of the administration of this prize draw.

24. To the extent permitted by law, Microsoft, its retailers, suppliers, associated companies and agencies will not be liable to you for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage whatsoever, including personal injury, which is suffered as a result of, or arising from, your participation in the prize draw or winning (or not winning) any prize.

25. At Microsoft, we are committed to protecting your privacy. Microsoft will collect and use your details for the purposes of running this prize draw. You can access or request correction of your details by emailing uptodate@microsoft.com.

Metro8 User Group On Campus!

RyanDE — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 03:49:40 GMT

facebook.com/groups/Metro8

Join us at our inaugural Metro8 User Group where we will talk about everything metro. This student group will focus on the development of apps on the new Windows 8 Platform and also developing apps for the Windows Phone platform. If you have a great app idea, or just a great designer or love to code this group is designed for you.

Find out more about the Windows Ecosystem and how you can be the next AngryBirds™ on Windows 8. Our first event is being held on the 1st of August (Wednesday night) from 6pm to 8.30pm in OGGB3, at the Business School of the University of Auckland.

The event will include networking with other students, guest speakers, training, pizza/drinks, hardware devices to play with and, of course, heaps of prizes! So join us, bring your friends, and start thinking about your first app idea!

Windows Phone Community Competition–Results

RyanDE — Tue, 08 May 2012 01:53:30 GMT

Thanks to everyone for entering the Windows Phone Community Competition – 98 entries of which only 82 were actual free apps and were eligible for the competition.

It was a difficult task assessing each and every entry, so we unfortunately had to extend the judging process by two weeks. The winners were notified on the 5th of May – so congratulations to the 9 winners.

THE FINAL RESULTS:

Be Creative ::
Win 1 of 3 Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phones!

The be Creative category was drawn first – 11 developers submitted more then 5 apps, 58 in total and were put into this draw, the category was draw randomly – the following are the winners:

Amit Chand – Publisher Name – Zapi
Daniel Ballinger – Publisher Name – FishOfPrey
Gordana Zivkovic – Publisher Name – nz bee

Be Great ::
Win 1 of 3 Samsung Focus S Windows Phones!

The remaining 65 entries were then assessed on the quality of their applications. The main criteria here was that the application was functional, easy to use. Extra brownie points for local NZ apps. The short list below:

…And the winners are:

Animal Splits
NZ Bach Finder
Neon Starfighter

Be Lucky ::

Win 1 of 3 Samsung Omnia W (Focus Flash) Windows Phones!

The final remaining 62 entries were then all put in the random lucky draw to win one of three Samsung Omnia Phones – and the winners are:

Postcode Finder
Crying Elf
Track Me

Again – thanks to everyone for the interest in this competition – we will be running another competition details will be posted in the next week so stay tuned!

Windows 8 Training Camp–Register Your Seat

RyanDE — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 03:35:18 GMT

Microsoft is delighted to bring Windows Camps to New Zealand. Catered for developers, Windows Camps will provide first hand training to start developing on the Windows 8 platform. Join us in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland from the 20 to 23 March 2012.

What’s a Windows Camp?
Windows Camps are free, fun, no-fluff events for developers, by developers. You learn from experts in a low-key, interactive way and then you’ll get to apply what you’ve learned.

What am I going to learn?
At this Windows Camp, you’ll learn about:

The Windows 8 Platform
Metro Style apps
Tools
UI and Controls
Integrating with the OS
Managing states
Notification and PLM
Hardware: Media, Camera, Sensors
Windows Store APIs

(Agenda subject to change)

What happens at these camps?
The first part of the camp will be lecture style presentations by expert trainers to give you an overview of the Windows 8 platform. The second part is a Hands-on-Labs workshop where you will have access to a Windows 8 Computer to complete hands on training. Attend one, or both. For the lab part of the event, space is very limited and we will be prioritising slots to those developers who commit to building a Metro Style App for Windows 8 to put into practice what they learn in the lab. Don’t worry we won’t be getting you to sign a contract or anything like that but we will follow up with you after the lab to see how things are progressing and what you have chosen to build.

What does it cost and how do I register?
Windows Camps are free. We appreciate your time, so we take care of the rest. Registration is free, but it’s also limited to keep things interactive and fun. We recommend you register right away to make sure you get a seat. To keep things simple, just you, some ID and maybe something to take notes on.

Any Questions?
If you have any questions, please email msdnnz@microsoft.com. If you can no longer attend this event, please cancel your registration so we can reassign the place to another person.

Christchurch 20 March	Wellington 21 March	Auckland 22/23 March
Lecture: 9 –1pm Addington Events Centre Twigger Street, Addington, Tower Junction, Christchurch	Lecture: 9 –1pm Mac’s BrewBar Function Centre, Taranaki Street Entrance, Wellington	Lecture: 9 - 5pm (day 1) Event Cinemas Metro Building, C1, Level 3, 291-297 Queen St, Auckland
Lab: 2 – 6pm Addington Events Centre Twigger Street, Addington, Tower Junction, Christchurch	Lab: 2 – 6pm Cliftons Wellington, Level 28, Majestic Centre, 100 Willis St, Wellington	Lab: 9 – 1pm (day 2) Cliftons Auckland Level 2, 45 Queen St Auckland

Terms and Conditions

Windows Phone Student Camp

RyanDE — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 03:29:17 GMT

Windows Phone Student Competition extended to 18th May – with grace period ending 1st June.

To enter -

- submit your phone application to http://create.msdn.com

- email nzedu@microsoft.com before 18th May with

- link to your phone application

- details of your phone application

- your contact details

Go in the draw to win one of 8 Windows Phones.

8 Windows Phones up for grabs – including 3 Nokia Lumia 800’s T&C’s apply.

Join Microsoft for a Windows Phone Student Camp!
The event is designed to be hands-on, so bring your laptops with the Windows Phone Tools installed, and start building your own Windows Phone apps. The team will run through hands-on demonstrations, showing you some of the features within Visual Studio and Expression Blend you can use to deliver great-looking fully-functional applications.

And of course, this being Microsoft, we have loads of prizes to give away.

There are five sessions that you can attend, so book in the time that suits you. Each session is 3.5 hours long and runs from 5-8.30pm everyday from 19th – 23rd March. Read below to find out what topics each session covers and then book in the slot that you favour the most.

If you have your own machine you are welcome to bring it with the latest tools installed. We will also have several desktop machines also available.

Register Below

19th March – aka.ms/nzcamp1

Agenda

XNA Overview
Build Your Own Game

20th March - aka.ms/nzcamp2

Agenda

XNA Overview
Build Your Own Game

21st March - aka.ms/nzcamp3

Agenda

XNA Overview
Build Your Own Game

22nd March - aka.ms/nzcamp4

Agenda

Silverlight Overview
Build Your Own Silverlight Application

23rd March - aka.ms/nzcamp5

Agenda

Silverlight Overview
Build Your Own Silverlight Application

See you there!

Windows Phone 2012 Competition - Terms and Conditions:

Eligibility

1. By entering this competition you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.

2. To be eligible for the competition, you must be a New Zealand Resident using a New Zealand Windows Phone Marketplace Account.

How to enter

3. To enter you must:

(a) email nzedu@microsoft.com with your contact email, mobile phone number, a link to your new Windows Phone Application on the Windows Phone Marketplace, and a few sentences describing the application’s functionality; and

(b) have your new Windows Phone application published to the Windows Phone Marketplace between 15 March 2012 and 18 May 2012. The only allowable exception to this time constraint is the grace period specified in clause 4. Publication of applications on the Windows Phone Marketplace is subject to the terms of the Application Provider Agreement (updated June 2011) for Windows Phone Marketplace.

4. Grace period: If your application is in the process of being certified for publication at the end of this promotion period (that is, at 11:59pm on 18 May2012) Microsoft will still accept your entry provided you email a screenshot of your application and a screenshot of the pending certification to nzedu@microsoft.com by 11.59pm on 18 May 2012. You will still be eligible for the competition if your application is published by 1 June 2012.

5. Restrictions on Applications: Applications must be free for Marketplace users to download.

6. Prizes and award criteria:

(a) Be Great: The three best submitted applications (as judged by Microsoft) and published on the Windows Phone Marketplace will win 1 of 3 Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phones.

(b) Be Lucky: Each and every valid entry submitted for an application published on the Windows Phone Marketplace will go in the draw to win 1 of 5 HTC Trophy Windows Phones – note: you are not included in this pool if you have been chosen as a winner in the Be Great category.

7. Prizes will be awarded in the following order. You can only receive one prize. Each entrant who receives a prize is ineligible to receive an additional prize in a later prize award category.

(a) Be Great: the 3 winners of the Be Great prize will be awarded first

(b) Be Lucky: the 5 winners of the Be Lucky prize will be awarded last.

General

8. Prizes will be allocated on the 5th of June 2012, and winners will be notified by the 10th of June 2012, via the email and/or contact phone number provided when the application link/description was emailed to nzedu@microsoft.com as specified in clause 3.

9. Microsoft is not responsible for entries not received and incomplete, illegible, 'hacked' or otherwise fraudulent entries are not valid.

10. Prizes will be delivered to the New Zealand address the winner nominates, at Microsoft's expense.

11. It is a condition of accepting any prize that the prize winner agrees to participant in publicity generated by Microsoft (or Microsoft’s marketing partners), and agrees to the use of their name, photo, application name, and application link for promotional purposes.

12. Employees of Microsoft (and each of their immediate family members) and independent contractors of Microsoft (and each of their immediate family members) are not eligible to enter.

13. Prizes are not transferable or redeemable for cash. If you are unable or unwilling to accept your prize, Microsoft may award it to an alternate winner.

14. If you accept a prize you will be solely responsible for all applicable taxes related to accepting the prize.

15. If for any reason an advertised prize is unavailable, Microsoft may substitute the advertised prize for another prize which has approximately the same recommended retail price.

16. If there is a dispute as to who submitted the winning entry, the winner will be the authorized account holder of the Marketplace Account used to publish the Windows Phone Application. Applications submitted in to the draw must be submitted by the actual owner of the Marketplace Account.

17. Microsoft New Zealand Limited is the promoter of this prize draw and may modify these terms and conditions without notice.

18. Microsoft reserves the right to cancel, suspend or change the competition or any element of the competition for any reason, including any cancellation, suspension or change necessitated by any event outside Microsoft’s control.

19. The judge's decision in relation to the winners or any other aspect of this prize draw is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

20. Microsoft may disqualify, from participating in this prize draw, any person who tampers with the entry process, or submits an entry not in accordance with these terms and conditions.

21. Microsoft is committed to complying with the Government gift and ethics policies. Employees and independent contractors of the Government must adhere to gift and ethics policies applicable to them when entering this prize draw or accepting any prize.

22. Microsoft is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, servers or providers, or any combination thereof. Nor is it responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information caused by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilised in this prize draw, or by any technical or human error that may occur in the course of the administration of this prize draw.

23. To the extent permitted by law, Microsoft, its retailers, suppliers, associated companies and agencies will not be liable to you for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage whatsoever, including personal injury, which is suffered as a result of, or arising from, your participation in the prize draw or winning (or not winning) any prize.

24. At Microsoft, we are committed to protecting your privacy. Microsoft will collect and use your details for the purposes of running this prize draw and to send you promotional material that may be of interest to you, as set out in clause 26 below. You can access or request correction of your details by emailing uptodate@microsoft.com.

25. By entering this competition, you consent to Microsoft New Zealand Limited sending you marketing and promotional material by email or using any of your other contact details Microsoft may have.

26. Microsoft reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to withhold the award of any or all prizes if entries do not meet the criteria set out in these terms and conditions.

NZ SharePoint Conference–Discount for Academics and Students

RyanDE — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:45:53 GMT

LIMITED NUMBER OF STUDENT PASSES AVAILABLE - GET IN QUICK!

Special Offer for Students

If you are looking for a career specialising in a technology that has a massive skills shortage worldwide, then SharePoint may well be for you. The SharePoint platform is growing rapidly, but the lack of skilled personnel is hindering many organisations from making the most of their investment.

To help you understand the roles and career opportunities available right now, we are offering students an extra special rate of $75 +GST for the full two day conference. You must be able to prove that you are an enrolled student by bringing your student ID along to the conference.

Join the SharePoint Community

Join the exciting and vibrant community of people with a diverse range of roles across a multitude of industries.

Come along to find out what SharePoint is all about and connect with potential employers.
See world-renowned presenters: SPC 2012 has the greatest concentration of SharePoint knowledge outside Microsoft HQ. Come and learn from the best in the business.
Learn about the hot topics in SharePoint and related technologies.

Use the discount code: STUDENT

Limited places available at this special rate

$NZD75.00 +GST for two full days

Please note: You will need to bring along your student ID

on the day to be admitted to the conference.
www.sharepointconference.co.nz

STAY INFORMED LEADING UP TO THE EVENT!

Read the EVENT BLOG
HERE!

Events managed by Spevents, a division of envisionIT.(NZ) Ltd
www.spevents.co.nz

New Zealand SharePoint Conference 2012

March 28 & 29
Langham Hotel
83 Symonds St
Auckland

Learn about the Top 20 Finalist Teams in the 2012 Microsoft Imagine Cup

RyanDE — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:08:27 GMT

Top 20 Finalist Teams in the 2012 Microsoft Imagine Cup provide a brief description on their idea. Support your favourite team at the Microsoft Imagine Cup Finals on the 30th of April from 7-9pm – Save the Date!

InTspiration -AUT

Our project is to create some software to aid in the evaluation of land for potential sustainability. Our hope is to create a bit of software that, given certain data readily available on the internet, would be able to help realise energy potential with a certain area of land.

Team United - AUT

Project Silver Bullet aims to reduce unemployment in developing countries by creating accessibility to the job market for the impoverished and providing support throughout the process of securing a job and holding onto it.
Project Silver Bullet aims to indirectly reduce poverty by tackling unemployment through streamlining current governmental and loan or microcredit initiatives using a single software product. It also aims to support and foster a sense of empowerment among employment hunters to ensure that the work cycle is sustainable and eventually evolves into a self driven machine. We are also working on a unique algorithm that predicts if a person would be successful in any chosen business.

Team YouMark - AUT

Team YouMark seek to revolutionize the current education system by bringing the classroom experience into the home of millions, focusing on self paced learning. The tools being developed by Team YouMark will enable creation off next generation interactive content with teacher collaboration.

Mobile Eye - AUT

Visual impairment is a significant health problem across the globe. Every 5 seconds one person in the world goes blind. Although 80% of visual impairment is preventable, for the 45 million blind people across the globe, prevention is no longer the cure
.
New Zealand is no stranger to this growing health issue. The number of blind people in New Zealand is projected to grow from 12,000 today, to as much as 18,000 in 2020. Vision loss robs people of their well-being and presents a significant economic cost.
In taking these factors into consideration, team Iris has developed a software designed to provide assistance to blind New Zealanders. In recognizing the extensive efforts tailored at the prevention of blindness by leading organisations like the World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Agency for the Prevention of Blindnes (IAPD), team Iris made the decision to focus our attention on the wellbeing of those who are already blind.
The application MobileEye is designed to provide the user with an added richness of information. It can take on a multitude of uses simply based on the needs of the user. It is the team’s intention that this technology will assist the individual in the areas of navigation, shopping and even simple day to day activities that can benefit from a greater awareness of surroundings.
The concept is simple – take a photo of your surroundings and hear your phone describe it to you. The technology however is a little more extensive.

Team MATx – Lincoln Uni

Using Microsoft Kinect technology by medical centers/physiotherapist or individuals for aid in post-stroke rehabilitation can help save more lives and drastically help drive down the rate of deaths each year by keeping people more fit and making them active and feel lively. This will have benefits such as reduction of rehab session cost, educational benefits, better privacy, flexibility, less likely extra injuries due to transportation, live chat access to medical assistant anytime, monitor of patient progress, interesting and much more fun than the normal boring sessions. And it could be used for other purposes as well such as networking among people suffering from stroke sharing their experiences, ideas, etc.

Dawn Phenomena - Unitec

We are creating an educational diabetes system that is targeted at children aged 7-14(and those young at heart), in particular, those that have type 1 or 2 diabetes.
The system will be used to educate children, particularly newly diagnosed children, about all things related to the diabetes condition and how one can go about living a long and fruitful life with the condition. All the components of our solution will be based on exploiting interactive features of computer games to deliver education knowledge through immersive and situational learning.
The system consists of three major components, a video game, a mobile phone application and a web application. All of which will be made available on a website we will be creating.

Decarbonators - Unitec

We are developing a creative technology solution that addresses a real-world challenge that will help alleviate climate change and pollution problems caused by carbon emission due to the apathetic attitude displayed by all levels of society from individuals to giant corporations.
CFI can be installed on an individual’s mobile phone with a pre-set profiles to choose from, enables every individual to get an estimate of their Carbon Footprint while they commute to uni, work etc by different means of transport. We provide each user with an up-to-date CF as an indicator on their screen or will be running in the background. Our system will award users with DeCarbon Points eg: earn more snapper points every X times they make use of a public transport instead of driving or while they do carpooling etc. DeCarbon points can be used to claim discounts on food or at any other commercial organizations that are tied up with CFI. Once they use up their DeCarbon points their account will be debited with the points they used up and will have to earn more as they go.

BackUp – UOA

Back pain affects at least 80% of all people at some point in their lives and is easily preventable with good posture. However, a sedentary lifestyle coupled with increasing computer use for work and entertainment and little motivation to maintain posture means that this problem can become severely debilitating for chronic sufferers. National back pain payout costs are over $500 million p.a. Our idea is a simple, lightweight vest/singlet to be worn by all-aged members of the population. This senses the spine's alignment in 3D and relays this to a smartphone, which then signals an alert if poor posture is maintained for some time. This is also used to update pain specialists' medical records electronically and as a research tool to give insight into common postural problems across particular subsets of the population.

Team Connect – UOA

Christchurch earthquake, Japan tsunami, Thailand flooding. 2011 was known as the year of disasters – what do they have in common? Immediate communication failure.
If you’re in a disaster zone, the first thing you’ll want to do is connect with loved ones; and that goes for everyone else around you. High traffic causes massive congestion to any remaining cell towers and telcos often struggle to keep communication up and running for days, or even weeks. As the first 72 hours are crucial, any downtime can be catastrophic.
We are developing a communication system that, unlike traditional solutions, will respond immediately in the critical hours following a disaster. We are Team Connect, and our solution will keep you connected to loved ones when you need them the most.

Get Lost – UOA

Our 'find me' smartphone application communicates with a wireless transmitter that can be worn by a child to allow parents to monitor where they are at all times. This application makes it easy for parents to find lost children and can be also used as a tool to prevent loosing children.

Silver Pass – UOA

Our idea is a solution to deal with a wide spread issue that is common at primary school level. Traditionally in schools the only mechanisms in place for information transfer are the report cards and infrequent parent-teacher interviews. For a relationship as important as the one between student, parent and teacher, this is simply insufficient, and good education is being compromised. Our solution replaces the traditional report with much more frequent, shorter updates throughout the year, both keeping parents involved and spreading out teacher workload. This would be done through a cloud based computer system that also facilitates parental discussion and learning suggestions. We hope this will improve the quality of both education and life of primary school children.

Team 2RTF – UOA

Our idea is concerned with the optimisation of aid distribution in disaster stricken areas. Our program is supplied with information on aid distribution, supplies, infrastructure and population density levels and will compute where aid needs to be and where it isn’t needed. In addition, it can also be used to deploy aid on a case by case basis.

Aura – UOA

Team Aura is set to revolutionize the diagnosis of Obstructive Sleep Apnea. OSA affects 1.2 billion people worldwide, and an Aura module consists of an advanced algorithm that detects breathing patterns of a patient through innovative monitoring technology. This information can then be easily accessed by medical professionals and patients alike through the Microsoft Azure Cloud Platform, allowing the improved efficient diagnosis of OSA .

Dunyati – UOA

We are dedicated to getting farmers in third world countries a fair price for their coffee. Our idea utilizes cheap technology that is both effective and easily deployed. We aim to partner with fair-trade as well as a few other NPO's and utilize pre-built infrastructure to help us attain our goals. Phase two of our plan is to setup micro-lending to african farmers that will be paid back once they harvest their crops, ensuring a higher quality crop and a higher quality of life for the farmers.

Thought-Wired – UOA

Thought-Wired NOUS is an integrated solution designed to restore abilities to those who lack them. Its primary function is to empower individuals with severe physical disabilities in communication and interaction capacities. It allows people, who are unable to speak, to communicate with anybody using the mind alone. Using NOUS individuals with disabilities can communicate with their family and friends offline in their place of residence or anywhere else as well as online over the Internet.
Besides communication NOUS opens unlimited possibilities for our users via extensible platform. Additional capabilities can be anything from controlling simple devices at home to education, mobility and entertainment applications.

Team Zooks – Otago Uni

Charities do great things, but the sad fact is the majority of these need to raise funds to allow them to carry on doing what they do. ‘Change for Charity’ is service that provides revenue gathering for charities that distributes collected donations and allows acharities to provide feedback to users where their donations are spent. The way the revenue is collected is by a piece of software that is installed on store payment systems that with the users agreement rounds their purchase up to the nearest 10cents and then donates the rounding to a charity. Particular charities could be chosen depending on the individual choices or charities could apply to be displayed for a certain period and proceeds gathered from transactions would be donated to them. Feed back to contributors could be sent back to them to their mobiles letting them know what difference their contribution has provided.

Team Doctor Pepper – Otago Uni

Originally our idea was focused on testing water in New Zealand conditions to see if it had been polluted. After seeing the aid agencies presentations and consulting with our mentors we have changed our idea to being a tool for aid agencies to allocate resources to provide quality water all over the world where it is most needed. We will do this by creating a phone app which allows agencies to input information about water quality and ask for resources at their current location. This Information will be stored in a database and accessible by a website.

Vcom – VUOW

Replacing the traditional way of communication between the UNICEF authorities and the victims, by a translator who translates the vocal English to the respective local language. The project will aim on a hand held device for translating language verbally.

Cloud Solutions – VUOW

Tsunami's are one of the world's biggest natural disasters and killers and one that cannot be averted. Over the last few years prediction systems have been built to predict tsunamis but due to lack of processing power they have been unable to really make a difference. It takes about 5 to 7 minutes to get a prediction of a tsunami's details like direction, height, etc. This time can be reduced to staggering 20 to 30 seconds which could save thousands of lives. This can be achieved by offloading this compute intensive workload to the Windows Azure Cloud. By using the GreenButton SDK and Windows Azure Cloud Technology we can enable this tusnami prediction software to use the benifits of the cloud and put the cloud to a great use which can save lives.

Win 1 of 2 XBOX360’s - Just by registering your interest in the Imagine Cup!

RyanDE — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:50:00 GMT

Register on the Imagine Cup Global website and go in the draw to win one of two XBOX 360 Consoles + Kinect Sensor

What is the Imagine Cup? It is the world’s largest student technology competition. The Imagine Cup provides an opportunity for brilliant minds to use technology to solve some of the world’s toughest problems. Each year, the Imagine Cup features competition categories and a unique altruistic theme. For Imagine Cup 2012, we have asked students to use the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals to create innovative solutions that will inspire change all over the world.

Who Competes in the Imagine Cup? Students who are 16 years or older and who are actively enrolled in an accredited educational institution are encouraged to compete in the Imagine Cup. Last year, 350,000 elite student innovators from 120 countries registered to compete in the competitions and award categories.

This is your time to register and stay up to date with latest news of the 2012 competition – you can also still take part in some of the online categories including:

Imagine Cup 2012 - Still time to take part in global categories!

Windows Azure Challenge

Leverage the Windows Azure platform features to build a web application in the cloud. Be a contributor to the "next big thing" in the technology industry and solve one of the world's toughest problems at the same time. More details are here.
Round 1 ends on 13th March 2012

Windows Phone Challenge

Great apps start with strong functionality, add device-focused utility, and finish with an outstanding Windows Phone user experience. More details are here.
Round 1 ends on 13th March 2012

Windows Metro Style App Challenge

This challenge will test your team's ability to design and build a Metro style app that takes advantage of Windows 8 features and design principles.More details are here.
Round 1 ends on 6th March 2012

Kinect Fun Labs Challenge

Entertainment with a social conscience: A unique opportunity for you to develop apps that change the world with the Fun Labs area of Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE, by leveraging natural user interface (NUI) features. More details are here.
Round 1 ends on 6th March 2012

Register as a New Zealand competitor before March 13th and go in the draw to win one of two XBOX360 Consoles + Kinect Sensor.

That’s right, you don’t need to take part to win - you just need to register!

So what are you waiting for!?

Terms and Conditions:

· To enter the draw, you must register at www.imaginecup.com before 11.59pm 12^th March 2012. Only one entry per person will be accepted.

· The individual must register as a New Zealand Competitor to be eligible.

· Microsoft is not responsible for entries not received and incomplete, illegible, ‘hacked’ or otherwise fraudulent entries are not valid.

· By entering this prize draw you agree to be bound by these terms & conditions.

· The prize winners will be drawn at random on 15^th March 2012. Each winner will receive an XBOX 360 Console + Kinect Sensor.

· Winners will be notified on 20^th March 2012 via the email or contact phone number used in the registration details.

· Prizes will be delivered to each winner at a New Zealand address (as advised by the winner) at Microsoft's expense.

· Only people living in New Zealand are eligible to win. Employees and independent contractors (and each of their immediate family members) of Microsoft are not eligible to enter.

· Prizes are not transferable or redeemable for cash. If you are unable or unwilling to accept your prize, Microsoft may award it to an alternate winner.

· If you accept a prize you will be solely responsible for all applicable taxes related to accepting the prize.

· If for any reason an advertised prize is unavailable, Microsoft may substitute the advertised prized for another prize which has approximately the same recommended retail price.

· If there is a dispute as to who submitted the winning entry, the winner will be the authorized account holder of the email address used to enter the prize draw.

· Microsoft New Zealand Limited is the promoter of this prize draw and may modify these terms & conditions without notice. The judge’s decision in relation to the winners or any other aspect of this prize draw is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

· Microsoft may disqualify, from participating in this prize draw, any person who tampers with the entry process, or submits an entry not in accordance with these terms and conditions.

· Microsoft is committed to complying with the Government gift and ethics policies. Employees and independent contracts of the Government must adhere to gift and ethics policies applicable to them when entering this prize draw or accepting any prize.

· Microsoft is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, servers or providers, or any combination thereof. Nor is it responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information caused by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in this prize draw, or by any technical or human error that may occur in the course of the administration of this prize draw.

· To the extent permitted by law, Microsoft, its retailers, suppliers, associated companies and agencies will not be liable to you for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage whatsoever, including personal injury, which is suffered as a result of, or arising from, your participation in the prize draw or winning (or not winning) any prize.

· At Microsoft, we are committed to protecting your privacy. Microsoft will collect and use your details for the purposes of running this prize draw. You can access or request correction of your details by emailing uptodate@microsoft.com.

Windows Phone Community Roadshow 2012

RyanDE — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:52:00 GMT

There is less then 10 days to go before the deadline of the Windows Phone Community Competition – get your application submitted by 31st of March to be in the draw to win one of 9 phones

Current # of entries = 23 (as at 21/03/2012)

Key things to note:

Applications must be free – but you can change this later
Details must be emailed to msdnnz@microsoft.com by 31st March – Publisher Name, Title, Deep Link, 2 Line Summary
You have 14 days grace period to get your application published – 13th April is final deadline
There are three main categories

Be Lucky – 3 Samsung phones drawn randomly
Be Great – The 3 best apps receive a 1 of 3 Samsung Phones
Be Creative – Anybody that submits 5 or more applications will go in the draw to win one of 3 Nokia Lumia 800’s

Please post questions to www.facebook.com/msdnnz

Good luck !!!

Join Microsoft for the 2012 Windows Phone Community Roadshow.

Microsoft’s Developer & Platform Evangelism Group will be running this 3-hour hands-on workshop across eleven towns and cities in New Zealand. Event timing varies by location, but workshops will run from 4/5pm until 7/8pm – select your city using the tiles below to find out.

The event is designed to be hands-on, so bring your laptops with the Windows Phone Tools installed, and start building your own Windows Phone apps. The team will run through hands-on demonstrations, showing you some of the features within Visual Studio and Expression Blend you can use to deliver great-looking fully-functional applications.

And of course, this being Microsoft, we have loads of prizes to give away.

We have a competition with three prize categories. Although you don't have to attend one of the roadshow events to be eligible to win, our demos will provide you with inspiration and ideas to build apps, as well as the required know-how! You can submit your app by emailing msdnnz@microsoft.com with a brief description and a link to your app on the Windows Phone Marketplace, by 31st March 2012. You must have a New Zealand Windows Phone Marketplace Account to enter.* Terms and conditions are available here.

Be Lucky ::
Win 1 of 3 Samsung Omnia W (Focus Flash) Windows Phones!
Each and every app submitted will go in the draw to win 1 of 3 Samsung Omnia W (Focus Flash) Windows Phones. This is purely a game of chance so, as long as your app is published (passes through the certification process to become available on the Windows Phone Marketplace) then you have as good a chance as any.

Be Great ::
Win 1 of 3 Samsung Focus S Windows Phones!
The three best apps submitted to the competition (as judged by Microsoft) can each win a Samsung Focus S Windows Phone. So if you're not happy with the random draw described above, make sure to spend some time on your app to create something that will really impress the panel of judges!

Be Creative ::
Win 1 of 3 Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phones!
If you want to win Nokia's highly-anticipated first Windows Phone, simply submit FIVE apps to the competition, and you're in the draw to win one of three Nokia Lumia 800s. Given how amazing this prize is, not just any app will make the cut, your five apps can't include follow-my-feed, app-maker or other online-tool-created apps. Don't worry, we won't be asking the impossible but put your thinking caps on!

*And as if you needed another reason to start developing for Windows Phone, be one of the first 100 people to email a screenshot of your ready-to-publish app to msdnnz@microsoft.com and receive a complimentary one-year Windows Phone Marketplace Developer Account valued at NZD$149!* This one-year Marketplace subscription lets you publish free, paid, or ad-funded apps and games. You can submit unlimited paid apps to Windows Phone Marketplace, and up to 100 free apps. Note that Windows Phone Marketplace Developer Accounts will be issued in the form of activation tokens only to the first 100 people to email a screenshot of your ready-to-publish app to msdnnz@microsoft.com.

There you have it.

The 2012 Windows Phone Community Roadshow.

Hands-on demos at the event, and three prize categories to inspire you.

So what are you waiting for? Register your seat today...

Windows Phone 2012 Competition - Terms and Conditions available to view here.

Windows Phone Samsung Competition–Winners

RyanDE — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:45:39 GMT

Thank you to those of you for submitting an entry for the Windows Phone Samsung Competition – over 58 entries in total were published within the required time line.

The four winners draw randomly are:

Shane S Anderson – Auckland Bus Stops
Donald Dingwall – Tap That
Brian Donovan-Smith – Ye Be Lame
Craig Moodie – Hip Hop Blog

But don’t worry if you were unlucky on this occasion we have another competition about to kick off through the MS Communities Group – stay tuned to this blog site- more details by the end of this week!

App Title	Deep Link
ASB BANK	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/932e2c6c-6a2a-460e-8cca-29d68ca8cebc
Auckland Bus Stops	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/016bb745-05a7-45ac-98b1-4750d43f4119
BAPS Satsang App	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/e5f3c4f4-3a65-4aee-9286-c5f9d2a933c6
Beer Rater	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/0182b963-6d4d-428c-8348-12c08730cb9d
Big Bang Fan Quiz	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/3c8831d1-3d4f-4549-93ea-5d82763be394
Bus Card Balance Auckland	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/e436118d-dd02-472a-a626-ccafd2322ec4
CCNet Monitor	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/645b160e-7434-451c-9d45-b99ab1df7c98
D&B Blogs	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/e7d0c00c-edd6-4f2a-8284-49c3f223df37
Dice Roller	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/5622e777-4902-46d8-86f1-28afec3e04e7
Discover Boston	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-nz/apps/cf190ba3-a061-4e12-886c-b5116c196b4c
Doodle Draw	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/65e74cf6-e65d-4a21-9289-de309d3a07ab
DubStep Blogs	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/b39f1a39-f0c1-4b4f-ad2b-dba398d840f7
EnaSolar	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/65ada622-38f3-4c02-b434-51b78bd7ae75
Follow Curiosity	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/a993a5ec-adb2-4dfd-b5b5-7e21469ee3a4
Game of Life	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/1b39ad88-4542-4a7a-b751-e2b271ffd6f5
HipHop Blog	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/ebe252a4-aca0-47c5-b585-a5ebd208bf25
Indoor Rowing Calc	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/ee878f20-88f2-4039-9da7-cde013fe9562
Learn NZSL	http://windowsphone.com/s?appid=55ac2141-05d7-42f9-bf8b-88c5a6129d05
Life Hacks	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/4080caf7-6086-4ff5-bac8-aacf98e6a9e9
Light Weight Free	http://windowsphone.com/s?appid=36c31c9b-e117-48be-8822-193f398827d1
Log Book	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/b698f5b6-5d59-4bcc-8981-40efd7493ae0
Magic 8 Ball	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/8c7a38c5-b004-4709-bda2-ca0d7c843012
Mood Finger Scanner	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/e086b6c3-9f80-43d1-b2a2-6ef8d127375f
Mugglenet News	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/1fd8fbce-8458-4e5a-b6d6-c937cd268797
My Deal USA	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/d96db393-931c-4577-9aef-8a0d0df72870
My Powershop	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/ec8d20b8-5276-4c67-a46e-12a98a133e4f
NekMinnit	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/8944ed59-c649-4be4-b2ba-7cd05f9ea5b3
Nigh and Day	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/857c6825-474a-42ab-9ab6-1ae6cc565ea1
Number Guess	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/7837b20b-0123-456d-bebb-37b97e8bed82
NZ Post	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-nz/apps/e01cda31-ff6f-4d77-9e12-8a6470ec36c2
NZ rain Radar	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/cdc642f3-9843-45cb-9346-ae10b67cb21d
NZ Soundboard	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/f85d65b8-f938-4139-92e1-8a3fc8549dc5
Office Calculator	http://windowsphone.com/s?appid=ea44711d-130b-4f07-9713-b2038368f844
Palmerston North City & Manawatu	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/ec12c150-41af-40f5-9c7d-6dccb15baa7e
Paris Movie Walks	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/26b86b67-98cf-4e1a-a8da-75cf1c522647
Polaphoto	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/3db18345-3254-46a9-a147-674ac3652c3b
Rainbow Calculator	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/1953d8df-7ba6-4f15-b88a-1ab73d8970f0
Resistor_Calculator	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/13d04274-766d-4e1e-86e9-6fcdd0c44ebc
Roadside Stories	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/1c2827e4-4f92-4830-9660-2c1688db2e6e
Rock Blogs	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/c26a4530-97e8-4e0c-8966-463855205f24
Rock Paper Sissors	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/dbb2877d-ce3d-41b6-9dcc-1f86d9e21ac6
Scarbbledictionary	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/f3f72408-1af0-4562-9f7b-96060c8cbf12
Simple Buzzer	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/74b4a93d-8e59-44b7-b4b6-b8cb9bf562c6
Simple Calculator	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/cc693d1e-f908-4523-ae3a-3012ff8c87c9
Simple Strobelight	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/aa408f4e-44ab-4ab2-9512-d7ba3ef3a41c
Sketcher	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/a938da81-3688-4304-bd3c-ea2177a9b22f
SlingShot Internet Usage	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/dc32f6e9-04ca-46c7-a8d7-f4150c55e6cc
SuperMarket Finder NZ	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/4af105c1-570a-45b9-9625-360333c589d6
Tap That	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/2828e57a-7988-47a5-9d19-3342711cf793
Team Connect	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/cb6f9c39-0088-4059-adc1-8b350ffe5acf
Team MCG RSS Feed	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/34c207f8-882a-4279-9b2d-b6af8ba7a1eb
The_Bro_On_The_Go	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/33701ea3-096e-421a-86b9-c9869770463e
Vodafone NZ SMS Service	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/bdedac03-ff8e-4ede-806d-d23f2ea3a20d
Walk Auckland	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/11c0e73f-fb44-4f83-9241-e4abc30f0a74
Word Rush	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/bd2a2c62-d668-4f0f-9d8e-8b9a90e87d10
Ye Be Lame	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/e9dded48-7395-4b8d-80b3-b2937f850db9
Zombie Madness	http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps/6bdd50fc-a3d9-4622-bc82-89886f4db299

Calling out–Otago, Victoria, Waikato and Canterbury Students–Join Our Team

RyanDE — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 08:55:59 GMT

Microsoft Student Partner Role - The best way to connect with the IT Industry

The Microsoft Student Partner programme encourages students who are interested in building a closer relationship with Microsoft, and those who are simply hooked on technology, to develop their skills further.

The programme is designed to help students learn more about our different technologies and also help them connect closely with our Partners in the IT industry to help prepare themselves and their peers for the IT industry. The programme is a 12month voluntary role with places across all the major tertiary institutes.

What do you do as a Student Partner?

To get the most out of being a Microsoft Student Partner, there are a lot of opportunities for you to contribute to the broad academic community. This ranges from blogging to setting up technical demonstrations.

We require Student Partners to undertake a range of voluntary activities throughout the year which are designed to give you not only real world experience but also to compliment your existing studies. Below are some of the specific goals for 2012:

- Help drive events on campus where you liaise with industry partners who speak at events

- Drive broad awanreness of Microsoft Student Programs across campus

- Support Microsoft activities on your campus including Orientation, Dreamspark, MSDNAA, Imagine Cup, Windows Phone Events.

What is in it for you?

We can promise you that being part of the Microsoft Student Partner programme will be a very rewarding and valuable experience. Being recognized as a Microsoft Student Partner is an amazing accolade to add to your CV/Resume to help you succeed and get ahead in your future career. In addition, you will:

· Develop your personal and technological skills further and allow you to gain some real-world, professional experience

· Have the opportunities to connect and network with Microsoft employees, Microsoft Partners and other industry experts and make valuable contacts for the future.

· Receive cool Microsoft software, access into some of our industry events, and plug into programs that not only let you show off what you know but also increase your chances of getting a great job when you graduate.

Who are we looking for?

An enthusiastic individual who is passionate about information technology and is interested in establishing a fantastic relationship with Microsoft, representing their students and department in New Zealand. He/She must be currently enrolled FULL TIME in an IT/IS/IM/CS/Software Eng degree.

What to do next?

We’d love to hear from you. So send your cover letter & CV to nzedu@microsoft.com and we will be in touch with you. This is a fantastic opportunity for all students. Show us your passion for technology and dedication towards becoming a great professional developer! .

NOTE: Terms & Conditions Apply.

Competition: be in to win one of four Samsung Focus Flash Windows Phone by developing a Windows Phone app

RyanDE — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 03:11:06 GMT

So you want to be a Phone Developer? Be in to win one of four Samsung Focus Flash Phones for developing a Windows Phone application. The first 50 entries also get a free Market Place account.

I happen to have one of the best jobs within Microsoft - managing the Windows Phone Developer Ecosystem in New Zealand. I work within the Developer Platform Evangelism team, alongside Thiago Almeida (Cloud Evangelist), Nathan Mercer (IT Pro Evangelist) and Nigel Parker (Windows 8 Evangelist).

As part of my role, I manage Microsoft New Zealand's Windows Phone training events and workshops, and work with developers to help them get their hands on Windows Phone devices for testing apps nearing completion. We have some exciting opportunities to ramp up developers on to our Windows Phone Ecosystem so keep reading.

Over the last 12 months we have seen the launch of the highly anticipated Windows Phone in New Zealand, launching with the LG Optimus and HTC Trophy on Telecom and Vodafone, respectively. Since the launch in NZ, developers in New Zealand have released over 250 apps to the Marketplace. Globally, over 40,000 apps have been released, with over 120,000 downloads/day. Three successful New Zealand apps have taken the world by storm, Alphajax, Metrotube, and RWC2011 have had hundreds of thousands of downloads.

The market has already begun to shift, and Windows Phone is quickly becoming a major player. We will be working heavily with our developer community to take advantage of this trend. There are also now several ways to market your application to your specified audience: public domain, targeted domain i.e. enterprise applications, and testing domain. These three options now give you all the flexibility you need to customise your applications, including the opportunity to test your application before submitting to the public market place.

There is no reason to put it off any longer! For those new to the platform - Windows Phone development is completed using familiar tools, Visual Studio 2010 and Expression Blend, both available as free versions to develop for the phone. Use Silverlight and XNA to build rich, immersive experiences in the languages you know, C#, VB.Net. And with exposure to over 35 markets there is a huge opportunity to be the next Angry Birds.

If you're stuck and looking for resources, just do a quick search and you will find a plethora of training material - but to get you started, check out:

.    Jump Start Training Sessions
.    Mini Training Videos
.    MSDN Resources
.    Absolute Beginner videos
.    App Hub Registration Walkthrough
.    App Hub FAQ

There are several interesting sites to keep you up-to-date with the latest on the Windows Phone Ecosystem - including WP Central, Windows Phone NZ, Windows Phone Developer blog, and our MSDN Facebook page. There is also the Auckland Metro Meetup and Linkedin Windows Phone group.

If you need a device to test your application, email us and let us know - we can help. One of best things about the submission process on the Marketplace is that you get a full report on why your app didn't pass certification, so that you can go back to rectify the errors, and feel confident that your application will give your users the best experience possible.

Finally, as part of our ongoing effort working with local developers to build some great local phone apps, we will be running free seminars and workshops throughout the country, and will be working with the local MS Communities group across the next six months.

Now it's time to step up and show us what you can do! We have four Samsung Focus Flash phones to give away at the end of January. How can you win - simply build an application and get it published on the Windows Phone Market Place by 30th Jan to be in to win. The more applications you publish, the more chances you have to win. Every app goes in a random draw to win one of four Samsung Focus Flash handsets.

But wait, there's more! The first 50 developers to email us a screenshot of their first application will get a Market Place account for free - that's waiving the $150 annual registration fee. So get started today!

Windows Phone Competition. Please read below specific Terms and Conditions:

To be eligible - you must be a New Zealand Resident using a New Zealand Market Place Account.
To be eligible for the competition, you must have a new published Windows Phone application anytime between the 1st of January 2012 to 30th January 2012
Entries must be emailed to nzeditor@microsoft.com with a link to the application on the Market Place and a short two/three line sentence describing the application
Microsoft is not responsible for entries not received and incomplete, illegible, 'hacked' or otherwise fraudulent entries are not valid.
By entering this prize draw you agree to be bound by these terms & conditions.
Each published entry will go in to the draw to win one for four Samsung Focus Flash Phone Handsets
Winners will be notified on 5th of February 2012 via the email or contact phone number provided.
Prizes will be delivered to each winner at a New Zealand address (as advised by the winner) at Microsoft's expense.
Only people living in New Zealand are eligible to win. Employees and independent contractors (and each of their immediate family members) of Microsoft are not eligible to enter.
Prizes are not transferable or redeemable for cash. If you are unable or unwilling to accept your prize, Microsoft may award it to an alternate winner.
If you accept a prize you will be solely responsible for all applicable taxes related to accepting the prize.
If for any reason an advertised prize is unavailable, Microsoft may substitute the advertised prized for another prize which has approximately the same recommended retail price.
If there is a dispute as to who submitted the winning entry, the winner will be the authorized account holder of the market place account used to publish the Windows Phone Application. Applications submitted in to the draw must be by the actual owner of the Market Place Account.
Microsoft New Zealand Limited is the promoter of this prize draw and may modify these terms & conditions without notice. The judge's decision in relation to the winners or any other aspect of this prize draw is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
Microsoft may disqualify, from participating in this prize draw, any person who tampers with the entry process, or submits an entry not in accordance with these terms and conditions.
Microsoft is committed to complying with the Government gift and ethics policies. Employees and independent contracts of the Government must adhere to gift and ethics policies applicable to them when entering this prize draw or accepting any prize.
Microsoft is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, servers or providers, or any combination thereof. Nor is it responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information caused by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in this prize draw, or by any technical or human error that may occur in the course of the administration of this prize draw.
To the extent permitted by law, Microsoft, its retailers, suppliers, associated companies and agencies will not be liable to you for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage whatsoever, including personal injury, which is suffered as a result of, or arising from, your participation in the prize draw or winning (or not winning) any prize.
At Microsoft, we are committed to protecting your privacy. Microsoft will collect and use your details for the purposes of running this prize draw. You can access or request correction of your details by emailing uptodate@microsoft.com.

Windows Phone Student Camp Competition T&C’s

RyanDE — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 01:24:53 GMT

Every student that attended or registered for the recent Windows Phone Student Camp – November Series can go in the draw to win one of 10 phones.

To stay up to date with the latest information regarding the competition – check out www.facebook.com/microsoftnzstudents

Please read below specific Terms and Conditions:

1. To be eligible – you must have either attended one of the Windows Phone Student Camp or Registered for one of the events.

2. To be eligible for the competition, you must have a new published Windows Phone application anytime between the 15th of November to the 15th of December 2011

3. Entries must be emailed to nzedu@microsoft.com with following information:

Link to Application on the Market Place - http://www.windowsphone.com/en-NZ/apps
A short two/three line sentence describing the application

4. Microsoft is not responsible for entries not received and incomplete, illegible, ‘hacked’ or otherwise fraudulent entries are not valid.

5 . By entering this prize draw you agree to be bound by these terms & conditions.

6 .The top 4 applications as decided by Intergen and Marker Studios will each receive a phone, the remaining 6 phones will be randomly drawn from the pool of entries in the above time frame.

7. Winners will be notified on 20 December 2011 via the email or contact phone number provided.

8 . Prizes will be delivered to each winner at a New Zealand address (as advised by the winner) at Microsoft's expense.

9. Only people living in New Zealand are eligible to win. Employees and independent contractors (and each of their immediate family members) of Microsoft are not eligible to enter.

10. Prizes are not transferable or redeemable for cash. If you are unable or unwilling to accept your prize, Microsoft may award it to an alternate winner.

11. If you accept a prize you will be solely responsible for all applicable taxes related to accepting the prize.

12. If for any reason an advertised prize is unavailable, Microsoft may substitute the advertised prized for another prize which has approximately the same recommended retail price.

13. If there is a dispute as to who submitted the winning entry, the winner will be the authorized account holder of the market place account used to publish the Windows Phone Application. Applications submitted in to the draw must be by the actual owner of the Market Place Account.

14. Microsoft New Zealand Limited is the promoter of this prize draw and may modify these terms & conditions without notice. The judge’s decision in relation to the winners or any other aspect of this prize draw is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

15. Microsoft may disqualify, from participating in this prize draw, any person who tampers with the entry process, or submits an entry not in accordance with these terms and conditions.

16. Microsoft is committed to complying with the Government gift and ethics policies. Employees and independent contracts of the Government must adhere to gift and ethics policies applicable to them when entering this prize draw or accepting any prize.

17. Microsoft is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, servers or providers, or any combination thereof. Nor is it responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information caused by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in this prize draw, or by any technical or human error that may occur in the course of the administration of this prize draw.

18. To the extent permitted by law, Microsoft, its retailers, suppliers, associated companies and agencies will not be liable to you for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage whatsoever, including personal injury, which is suffered as a result of, or arising from, your participation in the prize draw or winning (or not winning) any prize.

19. At Microsoft, we are committed to protecting your privacy. Microsoft will collect and use your details for the purposes of running this prize draw. You can access or request correction of your details by emailing uptodate@microsoft.com.

Windows Phone Camp Documentation

RyanDE — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:40:10 GMT

The information below is related to the Windows Phone Camp events currently running over the next two weeks.

You can still attend the events being hosted at the following locations.

Key Actions:

View content below and develop your own app
Publish your free app to the Windows Phone Market Place by mid-December to go in the draw to win one of 6 HTC Surround Windows Phones.
The best 4 apps will receive a HTC Surround Phone and will be invited to a job interview with either Marker Studio or Intergen
To be in the draw, apps must be free, an email must be sent to nzedu@microsoft.com with a link to the app and a short description explaining what it does.

Below is a list of links to demos and documentation.

Link to documentation folder - https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=aa89ee3e9403b4bd&resid=AA89EE3E9403B4BD!1677

Demo 1 – Pig’s Can’t Fly – No Code – A small physics based app

Angry Birds Clone Demo - http://studentguru.gr/b/dt008/archive/2011/10/16/tutorial-video-creating-a-small-angry-birds-clone-for-windows-phone-in-5-minutes.aspx
Physics Library for Expression Blend - http://physicshelper.codeplex.com/
Fix error 0x81030120 - deploying application to device - http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/85176/513172.aspx#513172
Fix error when uploading application to market place - The [NeutralResourceLangauge] attribute is missing on the entry assembly - http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/87638/525986.aspx
Pigs Can’t fly demo source code located in SkyDrive Folder – WindowsPhoneApplication17.zip
Go Deeper

Demo 2 – PunchIt

Applications and slides available at - https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=aa89ee3e9403b4bd&resid=AA89EE3E9403B4BD!1677
http://create.msdn.com/en-US/education/quickstarts/Detect_Movement_(Accelerometer)

Demo 3 – “Windows Phone + Windows Azure = ON SALE IN NZ”

Get the app – http://j.mp/OnSaleNZ (version 1 http://youtu.be/0krk2w8-cn0)
Basic Twitter Client – http://j.mp/wp7101
Hands On Lab using the pivot control – http://j.mp/WP7pivotlab
Services – http://j.mp/RESTwcf
Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows Phone – http://watwp.codeplex.com
http://microsoft.com/windowsazure/offers/
Windows Azure Free for 90 days - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/free-trial/
a .NET code library that allows you to parse "out of the web" HTML files - http://htmlagilitypack.codeplex.com/
My Slides - https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=f44e163aca292b27&resid=F44E163ACA292B27!474&parid=undefined
Outliers - Book - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_(book)
We Are All Weird - Book - http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/09/we-are-all-weird.html

Demo 4 – Lets Get Ready to Rumble – Leverage Live Tiles and Metro Themes

Adding Multitasking to your Application (includes Secondary Tiles) http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/hh220584
Background Agents for Windows Phone http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh202961(v=VS.92).aspx
Slide Deck available on Sky Drive - https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=aa89ee3e9403b4bd&resid=AA89EE3E9403B4BD!1677

Demo 5 – “Sexy Birds: Making a Fast, Simple, Good Looking Twitter App with Expression Blend”

Good 3-part demo on basics: http://expressioniq.com/?p=2653
Good video from MIX11: http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MIX/MIX11/DVC03
Video covering more general Blend stuff: http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Mango-Jump-Start/Mango-Jump-Start-04-Using-Expression-Blend-to-Build-Windows-Phone-Interfaces

Demo 6 – Make it Pretty With Expression

Download Expression Studio Design Suite – www.dreamspark.com
Icon Tool Image - http://wpiconmaker.codeplex.com/
Pool of images free to use for Windows Phone Development only - http://msdn.microsoft.com/ja-jp/windowsphone/hh544699

Demo 7 – Paint Me App

Application available at - https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=aa89ee3e9403b4bd&resid=AA89EE3E9403B4BD!1677
http://windowsphonegeek.com/tips/drawing-in-wp7-2-drawing-shapes-with-finger

Market Place & Bizspark

Get your free Market Place Account from www.dreamspark.com
Navigate to http://create.msdn.com to set up your Market Place Account
Content located in SkyDrive folder.

2012 Microsoft Imagine Cup–Top 25 Teams

RyanDE — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:34:16 GMT

Congratulations to the top 25 teams selected into the 2012 Microsoft Imagine Cup Competition. More then 400 submissions were submitted for this years competition from 9 institutions. These 400 submissions were then screened to the top 60 all of which under went a 10 minute interview with the Imagine Cup Crew.

A big thanks to everyone that took part, if you missed making it to the top 25, there is still time, several of the teams are looking for team mates, we will post information soon both on this blog and on Facebook after the 10th of November.

The next milestone of the competition is on the 24th of November 2011 – Microsoft Imagine Cup Induction for Top 25 Teams and Mentors

Team Name	Institution	Brief One Line Blurb
Alimentum	UOA	A solution to connect coffee growers in developing countries with retailers to eliminate issues of low wages
Aura	UOA	A device that measure sleep patterns and warns you if you have sleep apnea
Decarbonators	Unitec	A mobile app that measures the carbon emissions around you and warns you if you are releasing high levels
EcoWise	UOA	A solution that helps monitor your power consumption in real time, helps consumer save power and money
Group 212	UOA	Online education tool to help schools, students and parents be better connected
Group 243	UOA	A platform to connect recovering patients to industry - to help find suitable jobs
Group 255	UOA	Electricity real time monitoring - connect device to power sockets to measure power usage based on current prices
Group 460	UOA	Safe driver app - win points for driving safely, phone measures how well you drive
Group 575	UOA	A tool to that clips on a child and helps the parent know their exact location at all times through a phone application
InTspiration	AUT	A tool that takes in external information, & provides an answer on how to best use the environment for maximum energy efficiency
N n’ M Back	UOA	A device that measures back posture and warns a user to correct themselves to avoid back problems.
Otago Enthusiasts	UOO	Online solution for children who can't make it to classes consistently
Team 2RTF	UOA	A device to measure peoples food requirements in certain areas to help better distribution of food in developing countries
Team AUT	AUT	A WP application that guides the blind to a defined location avoiding potential obstacles along the way
Team Cloud Solutions	VUOW	A software solution to help improve the warning time on imminent disasters
Team Connect	UOA	A solution which uses nodes connected through a large network to help people stay connected in a disaster
Team Diabetech	Unitec	A game to help educate kids on how to cope with diabetes
Team Doctor Pepper	UOO	A solution to help reduce the pollution of our rivers by monitoring and collecting data
Team MATx	LU	A solution which uses Kinect as a method to help victims during their exercise healing process
Team Rakau	UOW	A solution to help keep our country green - focusing on tourism in how they use our environment
Team United	AUT	A portal that is setup to help people generate ideas to problems and make accessible to appropriate stakeholders
Team YouMark	AUT	Online based open classroom with a new concept of taking the learning home and bringing the homework to school
Team Zooks	UOO	A solution that will make it easy for users to donate money to charity by rounding their purchases up to 10 cents
Thought-Wired	UOA	Solution to empower people with severe physical disabilities in communication and interaction capacities.
Vcom	VUOW	WP application - Language Translator - translates language based on voice recognition

Microsoft Imagine Cup - Seeking Industry Mentors

RyanDE — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 03:34:27 GMT

MICROSOFT IMAGINE CUP 2012

The Microsoft Imagine Cup is the World’s Premier Student Technology Competition focused on finding solutions to real-world issues. The competition challenges the world’s most talented software design and programming students to tackle the world’s toughest problems- issues related to: hunger relief, poverty, education, disease control, healthcare, the environment and other crucial problems facing our world.

At the same time, we are challenging YOU as industry professionals to work with the top 25 student teams to further strengthen their innovative solution. This is your opportunity to mentor passionate and talented students and help them realise their potential to change the world!

KEY DATES

5th October 2011: Top 25 teams announced.
10th November 2011: Application deadline for Imagine Cup Mentors.
24th November 2011: Mentors allocated to teams.
24th November 2011 – April 2012: Teams to work with mentors on their project.
April 2012: Imagine Cup Festival, Auckland. Top 25 teams to present and demonstrate their project to judges. Winning team will get a chance to qualify for World Wide Finals.
July 2012: World Wide Finals, Australia.

THE ROLE OF THE MENTOR FOR MICROSOFT IMAGINE CUP NEW ZEALAND

A mentor can serve many roles including coach, guide, role model, advocate, and friend. In general, a mentor should help the students to work together efficiently as a team and act as a facilitator. A mentor can answer students' questions, discuss issues they raise, remind students of upcoming deadlines, and suggest resources for problem solving. A mentor should be a good listener and should have a breadth of experience in the area of focus so that he or she can effectively discuss technical as well as business issues with students and refer students to resources. However, the mentor cannot do the competitors’ work nor can the mentor solve the problems that confront the competitors.

WHAT IS EXPECTED FROM MENTORS?

Upon allocation of your team, we would like you as the mentor to connect with your team once a fortnight for 1 hour during the duration of the competition (Nov 2011 – Apr 2012). This may be through teleconferencing, Skype or in person meeting. The frequency of the meetings may vary at different stages of the competition. This is a guide, and actual connection is at the discretion of the team and mentors.

At the end of the competition, please fill out a referral/report card for each of the team members. This should outline their contribution to the project which can be used for a CV/reference.

TYPES OF MENTORS

There are 3 different types of mentors for the New Zealand Imagine Cup 2012 Software Design Competition.
Industry Mentor: A mentor with ICT Industry experience from a New Zealand company.
Microsoft Mentor: A mentor from Microsoft New Zealand.
Academic Mentor: A mentor with ICT Academic experience from a New Zealand institute.

ASSIGNMENT OF MENTORS

Mentors are assigned to Imagine Cup teams in Round 2 that begins in November 2011. These are the top 25 teams from Round 1. A team will be assigned one Industry Mentor and one Microsoft Mentor. Mentors will be assigned to teams based on availability and suitability by Microsoft New Zealand. A team will also be encouraged to find an Academic Mentor from their institute. Mentors can only mentor one team.

Team locations/Industry Mentor Positions available:

Location	Industry Mentors Positions Available
Auckland	18
Waikato	1
Wellington	2
Christchurch	1
Dunedin	3

APPLYING AS A MENTOR

Email nzedu@microsoft.com to apply for a mentor position and register at www.imaginecup.com/register. Applications close 10th November 2011. Questions can be emailed to nzedu@microsoft.com.

RESOURCES

Visit www.imaginecup.co.nz for more information on the Imagine Cup Competition.

Windows Phone Camp

RyanDE — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:51:20 GMT

Event Details

SOLD OUT ~~Option 1:~~ 15 Nov, 2011
9:00 AM-6:00 PM
Auckland

SOLD OUT ~~Option 2:~~ 16 Nov, 2011
9:00 AM-6:00 PM
Hamilton

SOLD OUT Option 3: 17 Nov, 2011
9:00 AM-6:00 PM
Wellington

SOLD OUT ~~Option 4~~: 18 Nov, 2011
9:00 AM-6:00 PM
Auckland

SOLD OUT ~~Option 5:~~ 28 Nov, 2011
9:00 AM-6:00 PM
Auckland

SOLD OUT~~Option 6~~: 29 Nov, 2011
9:00 AM-6:00 PM
Auckland

Event Speaker

Resource Links

Connect with us

We have had an overwhelming response to the Windows Phone Camps, most of which are now fully booked. However, if you are still interested in attending these events this is what you need to do. All machines have now been reserved, you can however bring your own machine and take part in the camp. Seats will be limited but you will be able to find a seat outside the lab and still be involved in the camp.

If you plan to come with your own machine we ask that you install the tools before the event and send an email to nzedu@microsoft.com and let us know which day you will be attending.

Join us at the Windows Phone Camp and ignite a career in mobile development. The Microsoft Academic Team is bringing a full day of training focused on turning students into the next Mobile Phone Champion. If you’ve been thinking about building applications for the Windows Phone this is an event for you. This camp is targeted at being hands on – less talk and more action.

Throughout the day long camp there is one main goal – give the students the know how to build an app and deploy it to the Market Place. We will cover the basics, food, food, energy drinks and killer demonstrations, all you need to do is come along, take in all the nuggets of knowledge from our demos, and start building some great applications.

Option 1 – Auckland - 15th November – SOLD OUT

Option 2 – Hamilton - 16th November – SOLD OUT

Option 3 – Wellington - 17th November – SOLD OUT

Option 4 – Auckland - 18th November – SOLD OUT

Option 5 – Auckland – 28th November – SOLD OUT

Option 6 – Auckland – 29th November – SOLD OUT

What’s the agenda?

9:00 AM	Introduction
9:15 AM	Windows Phone Tools – Deep Dive
10:00 AM	Build Windows Phone Application – Demo 1
10:30 AM	Morning Tea
10:45 AM	Building a Windows Phone Application – Demo 2
11:15 AM	Building a Windows Phone Application – Demo 3
11:45 AM	Market Place Account – Walk Through / Mobile Start Up – BizSpark
12:05 PM	Lunch
1:00 PM	Building a Windows Phone Application – Demo 4
1:45 PM	Building a Windows Phone Application – Demo 5
2:30 PM	Afternoon Tea
3:00 PM	Using Expression Studio to design Graphics for your phone application – Demo 6
3:30 PM 5:30 PM	Free Style Coding Close

What to do before you come?

We will be using machines available in the building, so there is no need to bring your own machines. However please feel free to bring your own machines if you are more comfortable working on them.

You can download the latest Windows Phone SDK to get setup and bring your machine on the day. In the meantime, don’t forget to check out App Hub where you can register to submit your app into the Windows Phone Marketplace, learn about application features, understand common tasks for Apps and much more.

Notes:

This event is brought to you by the Microsoft Developer Platform Evangelism group and is free of charge.

Special Guest Speaker–22nd August–UOA

RyanDE — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 23:53:32 GMT

22 August 2011
Computing and collaboration – the next wave
Presenter:	Norm Judah (Chief Technology Officer Worldwide Services Microsoft USA)
Date:	Monday 22 August 2011
Start time:	12pm Seminar (no registration required)
Finish time:	1pm
Venue:	The University of Auckland Business School, Case Room 3, Level 0, Owen G Glenn Building, 12 Grafton Road, Auckland
Abstract:
Each of us today has multiple online personas. Looking to the future there are several key areas that impact the way these personas work, collaborate and share experiences with others people around them, at home, at work and on the road. Natural User Interaction will change the way each of us experience computing. In order to ensure coherency, there has to be a system that stores and shares context with the appropriate authentication and authorisation. Cloud Computing will provide that shared context and a whole lot more.
Bio:
Norm Judah is Chief Technology Officer of Worldwide Services at Microsoft, focusing on technical strategy, innovation, technical communities and enterprise services strategy. Acting as the technical conscience for the services organisation, Norm insists on technical excellence and quality assurance across the business. His ability to reach into his global constituency is proven by frequent and measurable feedback with the appropriate product groups and development teams. Driving process focused on customer’s cross product solution scenarios and major design reviews, Norm champions tools and methods that result in reducing risk while also assuring high quality delivery. Norm is passionate about the growth and health of the worldwide technical communities and leverages his team to drive quality and build a strong community connection for the Microsoft customer-facing field. The Chief Technical Officer’s Office serves a vital role supporting Microsoft Worldwide Services both strategically and operationally. From a strategic perspective: the Chief Technical Officer’s Office determines the organisation’s technical strategy, setting product and technology direction, and operationally drives technical readiness, quality assurance and delivery excellence in the field. Norm is also the executive sponsor and host of TechReady, Microsoft’s internal vehicle for broad technical readiness for the field communities. Prior to his current role, Norm played a key part in the newly formed Platforms, Technology and Strategy Group, reporting into the Chief Technical Officer-Business Platforms. He held the title of Corporate Vice President of Business Development, responsible for the incubation, development and delivery of Web services such as UDDI, and the integration of the .NET platform through managing strategic partnerships with providers and consumers of business applications. This included managing the relationships with key partners, including SAP as well as strategic customer projects. As Vice President of Business Development, Norm also engaged in the establishment of the Business Applications Division and the acquisition of Great Plains Software. Previously he was Director of Enterprise Program Management in the Developer Division and General Manager of the Enterprise Connectivity Group, managing several product groups, including the Host Integration and Repository product units. When he joined Microsoft in 1990, Judah was part of the start-up team for Microsoft Consulting Services, and the first architect, where he later became Director of Technology. His group was responsible for providing architectural guidance, tools, methodologies, technical training and quality programs to the worldwide Microsoft consulting practices. Norm also worked closely with IT departments both internally and with customers. As Director of Core Technology for Microsoft's Information Technology Group he was responsible for the delivery of Microsoft's internal IT infrastructure and business applications. Prior to joining Microsoft in 1990, Judah worked for Imperial Oil Limited, the Canadian affiliate of Exxon Corporation, where he architected and developed leading edge transaction processing systems and real-time distributed systems. Collectively, Norm has more than 30 years of experience in the systems industry, most of which has been spent trying to simplify and streamline the way business applications are built through well defined application architectures. This is fuelled by a passion to drive scenario based product planning based on working closely with customers and their applications. Judah holds a Masters of Applied Science from the University of Toronto, Canada and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

2011 Code Camp!

RyanDE — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 02:34:13 GMT

Team OneBuzz Make It to Top 6

RyanDE — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:23:20 GMT

Team OneBuzz have had success at the 2011 Microsoft Imagine Cup, after 3 days of gruelling competition, the team have wiped out 67 teams to make it to the top 6. They now prepare to tackle the final round and compete against 5 of the best teams in the world. Good luck to Team OneBuzz, follow more details on www.facebook.com/nzimaginecup

More Media Stories:

http://www.news.com.au/technology/live-updates-microsoft-imagine-cup-2011/story-e6frfro0-1226089137907

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/07/08/exp.am.imagine.cup.microsoft.cnn?iref=allsearch

http://tvnz.co.nz/technology-news/kim-vinnell-value-being-nice-geeks-4296715

http://www.facebook.com/nzimaginecup

http://www.twitter.com/icnz

Release a New App for Windows Phone 7 by 6th June For The Chance to Win a New HTC 7 Trophy Phone

RyanDE — Mon, 23 May 2011 01:39:48 GMT

What is required: A quick check on the number of apps released by NZ developers and discovered that we currently have 92 applications in the marketplace. We want to break the magic 100 mark .

The Challenge: Finish, build and release your app in 7 days and be in to win a new HTC 7 Trophy Phone!

1. Contact Nigel Parker and if you convince me that you are based in New Zealand (e.g. give me a phone number for me to call you on) I’ll give you a token to get a free one year membership in the Windows Phone 7 marketplace. Do this first as it takes a number of business days to confirm your identity and access your account.

2. Download and install the phone tools (be prepared to have this process run in the background for up to an hour).

3. Build and/or finish that WP7 app that you’ve been working on or meaning to create!

4. Release it to the marketplace!

5. We will collect all the apps released into the marketplace by NZ developers (excluding Microsoft employees and their families) from today Monday 16th May until Monday the 6th June 2011 (the extra time is so you can get your account setup and activated and also enable you to fail certification a couple of times but still be able to enter the draw).

6. From the applications I get I will draw the phone winner at random and announce the winner here on the 7th June 2011. Good Luck!

If you are the sort of person that is short of ideas here are a few:

The Ian Randall – Because Ian told me he would build an app if he had a good idea.
- Title – Are the Warriors Playing?
- Launches a page with the word’s Yes or No in it.
- Check out Using Windows Azure for Windows Phone 7 Push Notification Support
- Push people a notification an hour before the warriors play their next game and the result of the game at the end.
The RSS App - Many NZ sites have RSS feeds available
- http://www.eventfinder.co.nz/feed/events/auckland/whatson/upcoming.rss
- http://rss.nzherald.co.nz/rss/xml/nzhrsscid_000000002.xml
- http://www.stuff.co.nz/rss/
- Check out the http://followmyfeed.net app generator

Check out Nigel Parkers 10 Hour Build of his WP7 Application: Group buy and daily deal sites are invading New Zealand in mass with every man and his dog is launching one. I figured it would be worthwhile building a simple REST service on an Azure Extra Small instance to act as an aggregator then build a WP7 mobile app to display all the deals together in one place.

The Process: The project took me under 10 hours from idea to delivery.

1. Earlier last year I built a couple of sample apps for Trade Me that used the REST based read only API that Trade Me created for the Windows Vista Launch Gadget back in 2007. I started with my source code from that WP7 project.
2. I built the .NET 4 WCF REST Service, and used BLOB storage serialization caching to speed things up.
3. I released my On Sale in Auckland application to the marketplace.

I got the Buzz:

After releasing the app (within my 10 hour self imposed timeframe) I was motivated to enhance the app and release another version that supports more cites in New Zealand and takes advantage of the panorama control. Enter On Sale in New Zealand, this app took 2 hours yesterday to build from my existing services and is currently being tested for marketplace release.

Getting Over the Line: I have noticed other kiwi WP7 apps getting close to shipping hopefully the chance of winning a new phone will push some developers to publish their apps. I’m looking at you @rushdigital.

Join the Revolution - Team One Buzz–2011 Imagine Cup Winners

RyanDE — Tue, 03 May 2011 23:32:37 GMT

2011 Microsoft Imagine Cup Festival - New Zealand

Now in our fifth year with the most successful competition thus far, the 2011 Microsoft Imagine Cup saw nearly 300 entries and over 1500 students engaged in a competition that has truly taken flight in New Zealand.

Each team gathered on the 12^th of April ready to deliver a presentation that would stun and excite the judges. Each team presented twice to a mix panel of 20 judges from industry, media, academia and Microsoft. Concluding the grueling presentations, each team had the opportunity to showcase their project to the public, to our customers, partners, supporters, family and friends.

Everyone was then invited to join us at the Finals Ceremony, where the top 4 teams were announced and presented again in front of a live audience and an elite group of judges whom then decided the ranking of the top 4 teams.

Team OneBuzz from the University of Auckland emerged as the victors following a series of 15-minute presentations before the six-judge panel. Focusing on tackling malaria with sophisticated technology that would identify areas of high risk and provide real time information to those concerned to act! Revolutionising The Fight Against Malaria !

A huge thank you to everyone who has helped make this a fantastic event! All the teams and mentors for making this an extremely outstanding event! The Microsoft Imagine Cup Crew of Student helpers on the day, 32 in total. Our key sponsors on the day, the ISOM Department and the Business School, University of Auckland. A big thank you to Red Bull for keeping the students on the go throughout the day!

Highlights from the Microsoft Imagine Cup NZ Festival below or check out our Facebook Page

Some Facts:

- 300 Software Design Submissions

- 1500+ Students competitors

- 800+ Attendees at the Festival

- 25 External judges

- 80 Student competitors, 60, Industry, Microsoft and Academic Mentors

- 32 Student Helpers volunteering on the day

- 150 Spot prizes including t-shirts and Movie Tickets

- Ben Hurley (NZ Comedian Hosting the event), DJ General Lee ( Hosting the after party)

- 200 Lunch Boxes, 500 Hot Dogs, 200 Pizzas and a whole lot of Red Bull (1000+)

- $20,000 In prize money won on the night.

- 8000+ Fans through the People’s Choice Award Campaign

- 550 Registered attendees for the Festival

- Top 4 Teams – 1^st Place – Team OneBuzz, 2^nd Place – Team MCG, 3^rd Place – Team SkyEye, 4^th Place – Team Kai



More than 800+ attendees packed the Auckland University Business School throughout the event	Each student was provided with a pair of ‘bang-bang’ sticks to show their support for their team

Celebrity MC Ben Hurley from TV3’s 7 Days	Our very own New Zealand Microsoft Imagine Cup

Panel of expert judges from industry, academia and local government	Microsoft Crew – The team of student helpers behind the event!

Around 800+ attendees rocked up to the event which kicked off with teams showcasing their idea.	Teams went all out decorating their booths including leaflets, giveaways and a full blown mascot!

Team OneBuzz Celebrate their win and take hold of the NZ Microsoft Imagine Cup.	20 Teams, Mentors, MS Crew – Class of 2011 – Microsoft Imagine Cup New Zealand

Everyone at the after party with DJ General Lee with HOT DOGS and Pizza provided getting ready for what to expect in New York	The Awesome New Zealand Imagine Cup Crew – Daryl Ooh, Melanie Barr, David Steele and Ryan Tarak

Check out some of the media releases on the top teams:

*Outlet*	*Date*	*Title*
TVNZ	13-Apr-11	Students buzzing over imagine cup win
National Business Review	13-Apr-11	Auckland uni students take out Microsoft Imagine Cup again
Breakfast	13-Apr-11	Imagine Cup winners
Computerworld	13-Apr-11	Anti-malaria app takes out Microsoft Imagine Cup
Business To Business	13-Apr-11	Auckland Uni Students Strike Gold again
Scoop	13-Apr-11	Auckland Uni Students Strike Gold again
Infonews	13-Apr-11	Auckland Uni students strike gold again at the 2011 Microsoft Imagine Cup
Waikato Times	13-Apr-11	Waikato pair make final
NZCS	15-Apr-11	http://www.nzcs.org.nz/newsletter/article/110
UOA	15-Apr-11	http://web.ece.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/news/template/news_item.jsp?cid=376741