Ready to dive in and learn more about Windows 8 and the developer opportunity it represents?  Then get ready for the series of Windows Developer Camps!  These are free, full-day, developer-focused events featuring a combination of sessions and hands-on labs, and we’ll have 10 of them right here in the east:

Windows 8 changes everything.

Combining the broad reach of Windows, best-in-class developer tools, a reimagined user experience, support for new chipsets, and a built-in Store with industry-leading business terms — Windows 8 is the largest developer opportunity, ever.

Join us for this free, full-day event designed to share all the knowledge you need to start building Metro-style applications for Windows 8 – today. We’ll begin by showing you how to use Visual Studio to code fast, fluid, immersive and beautiful Metro-style applications in HTML5/JavaScript, XAML/C# and C/C++. Your existing investments in these languages carry forward, making Windows a no-compromise platform for developers.

Whatever language you choose, your app gets deep integration with the Windows shell, including notifications, live tiles, deep links, and contracts with other apps. And now you can build once and support all Windows customers, no matter what type of PC they have – from tablets to laptops to convertibles to desktops.

We’ll cap the day off with an open, hands-on lab session. It’s the perfect opportunity to get your dream application underway, or finish that app you’ve already started – with Windows 8 experts available to guide you through every step. Bring your laptop to join in the fun and show off your killer app.

Get started now!

The Schedule

Join us in one of these cities:

Register today and start thinking about the possibilities and what you’ll create!

This year has been exciting to be a Developer Evangelist covering the Academic space.  It’s been fun for me working with Student developers across the Greater Southeast.  Developer Evangelists all over the world have been engaging with students to inspire the next generation of developers to create unique experiences for Windows Phone.

A few months ago we announced a promotion called Big App On Campus targeting US student developers:

• The Idea: students create great apps
• The Reward: the developers of the top 10 apps all get flown to SXSW in Austin for a once-in-a-lifetime experience: passes to the music festival, a special concert with The Gracious Few and Candlebox, a VIP dinner with the bands, and an interview on national radio about their apps and experience
• The Big Payoff: the top overall paid and free app will each win $15k!

Microsoft Windows Phone focused teams have spent the past week judging all the submitted apps and have chosen the top 20 as semi-finalists (10 paid apps, 10 free apps). Now it’s up to YOU the public voting to determine who will get to join us at SXSW and who will return home $15k richer with the title “Big App on Campus”. 

I must say I am personally excited that some of the 20 semi-finalists are from the Universities/Colleges in the Southeast area, but I am very proud of all the student semi-finalists.

HERE IS THE ASK:

Please take 10 minutes to check out the student apps on our dedicated Facebook page. Download any apps that catch your eye and/or “Like” them on Facebook.

We will be using the downloads and “Likes” to determine the finalists and overall winners.

Check the apps out here: http://www.facebook.com/MicrosoftTechStudent

Please be kind and give all of the apps a fair look and consideration!

Feel free to share this great news! Thanks @BenLower for spearheading the voting initiative.

Today I read a commentary out of the San Francisco Bay Area, that discussed the fact that in the Bay Area they are not feeling the effects of the 8.9% Unemployment rate due to the overwhelming need for technologists and the growth of technology companies.   In fact, the article from Market Watch (that can be read here), noted that in the technology industry in the Bay area it seems to be the opposite of most industries which “there are far more employees than employers.” In the Bay Area, home of Silicon Valley, the article notes it is “quite the reverse.”

Well that translates to me that it is also a GREAT time to be a Student Developer studying Computer Science, Computer/Software Engineering, and Technology related majors.  What is so fun is that I have the unique opportunity to expose them to all the great development technologies we have at Microsoft.

Kinect for Windows just was released on February 2nd ( http://www.kinectforwindows.org ) and the Developer Preview of Windows 8 is available from the BUILD conference at (http://dev.windows.com/ ) and, of course, Windows Phone (http://create.msdn.com/ ) is available which means it’s a very FUN time to be a Developer especially a Student Developer with creative ideas that could be the next BIG thing.

To help get students started with their own applications, we have Hands-On Coding labs on University Campuses called appLabs. 

The Upcoming appLabs in the Southeast Area are:

Feb. 22: Georgia State University – Kinect for Windows appLab

Feb. 29: Georgia Institute of Technology (GA Tech) – Kinect for Windows appLab

March 10: Georgia Institute of Technology (GA Tech) – Kinect for Windows Hackathon

More  Development Sessions are on the way!!

Take advantage of the Coding Camps/appLabs on your Campus and get prepared for the job market that is ripe for “coders”.

Hopefully by now if you are a student at any College or University, You have heard about the Big Apps on Campus contest and the upcoming Hackathons being held on various campuses across the US.

Big App on Campus (BAOC) is open to US College and University students who build apps for Windows Phone. Each app created from August 1st, 2011 until February 14th, 2012 can be entered and students can submit multiple entries.

Win big cash (15k) or a trip to South by Southwest.  More Details: http://on.fb.me/wT7vSm

So, How do you start?

- First register and verify as a student with DreamSpark: https://www.dreamspark.com/Account/CreateAccount.aspx

- Second, get Visual Studio Professional from DreamSpark and Windows Phone SDK for free: VS Pro - https://www.dreamspark.com/Product/Product.aspx?productid=4 Windows Phone 7.1 SDK: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=27570

- Register for a FREE App Hub Student account in the Windows Phone Marketplace at  http://create.msdn.com  Need Help registering? http://create.msdn.com/en-US/home/about/developer_registration_walkthrough

All Set to Code? How about Some Help.

Take some tips from the BAOC rollout at Georgia Tech and University of Florida, and grab these cool coding samples to get started:

On Georgia Tech’s campus, Thomas Fennel, MS Program Manager for Windows Phone Development Tools demoed his Windows Phone TankBot application which controls the movement of his automated TankBot by playing sounds and tilting his Windows Phone.

Cool Huh! ..And Thomas is even willing to share; Get the full code for his TankBot Windows Phone app here: http://bit.ly/w9jox2

At University of Florida, I showed students how to build quick a Windows Phone Twitter client going against the Twitter API, Get the code files for this quick app here: http://bit.ly/w9jox2

Find more samples are at the links above or on my previous blog posts to assist you with building your BIG App on Campus and go for the Big prizes. 

Good LUCK on your Big App Journey!!

Many of you have attended a HTML5 and JavaScript Web/Game Camps we’ve conducted in the East Region and/or are very interested in HTML5, JavaScript and the associated tools.   In addition, many of you may have attended one of the Windows Phone 7 Camps we’ve conducted up and down the East Coast as well.  Well this Post is for you!

As a presenter at some of these camps, most of you that have been in attendance noted to me that you were very interested in getting the Resources, PowerPoints, and/or Code Samples that we’ve presented.   Therefore, I collected many of the presentations and resources from the presenters and provided them below. 

Windows Phone Camp Resources:

SkyDrive with Presentation Resources:   
Windows Phone SkyDrive folder share

More Windows Phone Code Samples from my Blog:    
My Blog with Windows Phone Code Sample Links

MSDN Windows Phone Code Samples:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff431744(v=VS.92).aspx

 

HTML5 Camp Resources:

SkyDrive with Presentation Resources:
HTML5 SkyDrive folder share

More HTML5/JavaScript Samples from teammate, Rachel Appel: http://www.rachelappel.com/html5-web-camps-content-downloads

HTML5/JavaScript links from teammate, Chris Bowen: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/cbowen/archive/2011/07/13/list-of-html5-presentation-resources.aspx

What about you guys that missed the camps all together?  Well have no fear, if you are interested in HTML5 and JavaScript, Lindsay Lindstrom (http://blogs.msdn.com/lindsay) and I are doing a Webcast Series on HTML5 that you can attend live or view the recordings on-demand.  See schedule below:

MSDN Webcast: A Lap Around HTML5: Meet the Players (Level 200) – December 13th

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032501451&Culture=en-US

http://aka.ms/hvxrnw

MSDN Webcast: A Lap Around HTML5: Adding Fun(ctionality) and Style with JavaScript and CSS3 (Level 200) – December 15th

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032501453&Culture=en-US

http://aka.ms/fojcaz

MSDN Webcast:A Lap Around HTML5: HTML5 Graphics (Level 200) – December 20th

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032501477&Culture=en-US

http://aka.ms/ydz3f1

MSDN Webcast: A Lap Around HTML5: Bringing it Together - Creating an HTML5 Game (Level 200) – December 22nd

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032501480&Culture=en-US

http://aka.ms/jcidyl

I hope you all enjoy getting deeper into HTML5 and Windows Phone 7, and as much as we as speakers enjoyed participating in the Camps, as well as, checking out the cool apps created at the Hackathons conducted at each camp.