DrawPad Author: SimzzDev DrawPad is a simple drawing app. You can change brush height, width, and color. You can erase strokes easily. You can even choose your own background image, and then save your creation. Download now Screens

DrawPad is one of those entertainment apps that never gets old. It was created and put into the marketplace by a student. When I first downloaded this app I played around on it for almost twenty minutes because it was so entertaining. The premise of the app is simply drawing or writing with your finger. You can start off with the basic white background, or you can upload/ take pictures and draw on top of the photo. That’s where  the fun comes in. You can take pictures of your friends, draw funny things on the photo and then save or send the photo to someone. There is so much flexibility in what you can do with this app, and that is why I enjoy it so much. One can change the width and color of the pen stroke, change the background, and send the photos or drawings to anyone. This app is truly one of a kind, and as I said earlier, the work of a student.

Go to the Windows Phone app-a-thon site and  create an app for your favorite things. The first 1000 students to enter the competition will win an Xbox 360 game, and the student who publishes the most apps will win a Windows Phone 7.These prizes are cool and exciting, but you will be even more thrilled when you see that people from around the world are downloading the app you created. And you never know, maybe your app will be featured in the next  Windows Phone Student App of the week blog! Creating apps have never been easier then right now. Microsoft is giving you all of the tools to be able to do it, and all you have to do is utilize this opportunity. I believe all of you out there have the capability to create an app like this one. Take a few minutes to check out t http://wpstudentapp.com/. If nothing else, at least download this app and see how fun and easy a student app can be. Have a great week and remember to check back here next week for the latest edition of Student App of the Week.

-Devon

Toddler Animal Flash Cards Author: Metz Technologies This is an application for toddlers to learn about different animals, what sounds they make, how they look, and how to read their names. There are over 40 animals that display on the app and make fun noises. Use this app when you are waiting to be seated at a restaurant or at the doctor’s office, to keep your kids occupied. Download now Screens

Here we are at the final week of the Windows Phone App-a-thon blog series! Over these past seven weeks I have highlighted some of the best student apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace. I have shown you how easy and rewarding it can be to create apps. I have been amazed at all of the incredible apps that students are making right now and I hope seeing other students apps has inspired you to try making apps yourself. You students are the future of technology, and the next generation of app makers. Although this series is coming to an end, I encourage all of you to find and download student apps that are in the marketplace, and if you think of a new idea or one that hasn’t been executed well, don’t be afraid to create your own app.

This week I am highlighting a truly fantastic app. Not only is if fun and engaging for small children, but it can help keep children distracted and provide parents with the time to get things done. The idea is simple; This interactive application  allows a small child to learn what different animals look like, how to read and spell the animals name, the noise the animal makes, and more. Not only is this app entertaining for small children but at the same time it is also informative. Let’s just say for a moment that you are on a long car ride and your child keeps screaming and crying and you are very distracted by it. Instead of having to pull over and wait for the child to settle down, you can just hand your child the phone with this app on it, and more times then not the child will begin playing the app and will no longer be a distraction to you. This is just one out of many instances when this app could come in handy. If you have a kid under the age of 10, I would recommend that you get this app.

To learn more about app making and the contest rules check out http://wpstudentapp.com/. Thanks for checking out my blog every week and remember, you (the students) are the future of app making. Continue supporting students making apps and continue making apps yourself!

-Devon

Author: Studio Lyrica
You are a monster who loves cookies. There are cookies raining from the sky. Conclusion? Collect as many cookies a possible. Oh, but watch out for those falling bombs.
Download now

This is our first installment of the Windows Phone 7 Student App of the Week! Each week we’ll pick a Windows Phone 7 app created by a student to feature on the blog. This could be you! Submit to AppHub and let us know at the Windows Phone App-a-thon site.

This week we are highlighting a simple, but fun and addicting game, called Cookie Monsters. The gameplay is intuitive, only requiring you to tilt your phone to make the monster catch the cookies, while making sure to avoid the bombs. You gain points for catching cookies, but the game ends when you are hit by a bomb. Your goal is to rack up as many points as possible. The game is suitable for all ages, and will have you competing with your friends to get the highest score.

Although this app may appear to be made by professionals, it was actually made by a student. Anyone of any age or background can create an application for the Windows Phone 7 Market Place. We encourage all of you reading this blog to create and submit an app to the Windows Phone Student App-a-thon site where you will be entered to win prizes. Not only could you create an important application and make money in the process, but you could also win numerous prizes, ranging from an Xbox 360 game to a Windows Phone 7.

It’s easy to get involved! Just go to the Windows App-a-thon site for details or check out the 4 easy steps below to create an app and be entered in the running for prizes:

1. Register with App Hub

2. Download free tools

3. Build and Submit your app

4. Enter the student App-a-thon

Written by Megan Benjamin

So you’ve got an idea—a world changing, moneymaking, once-in-a-lifetime idea—and now you just need to figure out how to make the whole thing happen. Lucky for you, there have never been more resources for STEM majors looking to take a stab at entrepreneurship. Colleges across the nation have outstanding entrepreneurship programs (many specifically for engineers and technical folks), entrepreneurship resources, and of course, a network of successful alumni to help mentor you through the process.

If all your “entrepreneurial spirit” has you a bit lost, here’s a little roadmap to get you from initial inspiration to buzzing business.

Get inspired. Colleges across the nation are hot on the trail of engineering entrepreneurship, because they know just as well as Silicon Valley venture capitalists that big ideas are abundant among their student population (think Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, Mark Zuckerberg… and the list goes on and on). Most four-year universities have entrepreneurship programs; so if you’re at a loss on how to make your big idea reality or if you simply need inspiration coming up with your next big idea, try taking an entrepreneurship class or attend a few seminars to learn the ropes. If you don’t have a great idea yet, you will probably have one that can make you a pretty penny after investing some time in your college entrepreneurship program.

Compete in the Microsoft Imagine Cup. Ripe with resources and a hefty sum of prize money for its winners, the Imagine Cup is a great excuse to get spurred into entrepreneurial action while solving some of the world’s greatest problems. Get your hands dirty creating, business planning, and making thing happen without ever setting foot into a business school.

Plan it out. Great businesses stem from great planning, not just hopes and dreams. For all you need to know about organizing and writing a functional business plan, click here.  (You’ll probably also learn a fair deal about business planning if you take that entrepreneurship class or sign up for the Imagine Cup mentioned above. Just saying…)

Find a mentor. It’s always best to learn from the best, or at least from someone who’s been there, done that. Some colleges have an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR)—a successful, serial entrepreneur who hangs out at your college campus all semester. If you don’t have an EIR at your school, reach out to your alumni network to find an entrepreneur in your industry. Your mentor can help guide you through the intricate details of business and help you think through all your challenges and strategy questions related to your start-up.

Convince someone to pay for it. If you need money to get your idea off the ground, figure out exactly how much money you need to get started, then ask for it. Not everyone gets (or deserves) a cool million from VC funding, so be prepared to ask “angel” investors to help you out. For college kids, it’s not a bad idea to look to family and friends first. They are more likely to invest in an inexperienced entrepreneur, because, well, they love you. If it’s not a loan, be prepared to pony up part of your company, future revenue, or anything else within reason to make a deal.

Incubate it (and get some cheap space that’s not in your parents’ garage). Lots of colleges have local entrepreneurship communities, or incubators, to help get your idea off the ground. They provide services from cheap rent and administrative business support to networking activities, loan support, and Intellectual Property management, as well as the invaluable resource of being part of a community of startup entrepreneurs just like you.

Work for it. And try not to quit school while you’re at it. It won’t make mom very happy (even if she did invest in the idea).

And there you have it. It won’t be easy to start your own company, but it will almost certainly be worth it. Reach out, get help, get started, and good luck!

As the month of May comes to a close, it is time to profile our sixth Microsoft Tech Student of the Month. We have chosen Kevin Ballinas, a computer science student in his junior year at Neumont University. Kevin has had the unique opportunity of attending a school that is one hundred percent focused on computer science education. As a result, Kevin has worked on a number of innovative and original technology projects over the course of his student career. These include Windows apps, Web apps, and even software that work in the cloud and on mobile devices!

Kevin’s interest in computer science began at a very young age. As a fourth grader, he took it upon himself to fix the broken computers in his classroom. He played around with each of the components, learned their functions, and applied that knowledge back to the repair process. This process of trial and error allowed Kevin to learn very quickly while getting hands on experience. He was able to download games onto the computers and soon enough they were up and running and accessible to the other students. After elementary school, Kevin moved to the suburbs and was exposed to rich technology programs where he got started in basic web programming. His interest in computer science flourished when he heard about software engineering from a teacher. In his sophomore year, he took a class that introduced him to the Java programming language. He familiarized himself with java further by taking two more Java-related courses as well as a web development course for more general training. Although Kevin had other interests such as architecture and cooking, his passion for technology stuck and ultimately drove his decision for where he wanted to go to college.

Kevin is now attending Neumont University, a project-based Bachelor’s program fully focused in computer science. It’s here that Kevin has really been able to explore his passion for programming at a much higher level. One of the first major projects he worked on was to create a Battleship game with a team of three others. The project tested the team’s knowledge in data transfer using TCP in Java, XML parsing, and building graphical user interfaces (GUIs). Some other projects involved creating a Monopoly-based game and an E-commerce site, both using Java.

After some of these early Java projects, Kevin and his teammates decided to leverage Microsoft technologies to create a Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) music player. This is no ordinary music player in that it automatically rates each song according to how quickly the user skips through it and uses that information to play songs the user will want to hear in the future based on the highest ratings. The music player is named “THInK” which was inspired by the letters in each teammate’s name: Tyler Garland, Jesus Rodriguez, Israel Campos and Kevin Ballinas. The team created the GUI for THInK using Expression Blend which students can download for free through the Dreamspark Program.

The most recent project that Kevin completed at Neumont is a website called GradeMy<T> which is a take on Rate My Teacher. Kevin and his teammates Tyler Garland, Jorge Sanchez and Ruddy Arroliga built the web application using ASP.NET MVC. It is a completely user-driven website that users can use to rate anything they want. People create categories and specify any additional information that may be needed to identify each item in that category. For example, in the movie category there was a year and director tag associated with each film. The team took advantage of LINQ to select relevant items from such a large and complex database.

Currently, Kevin and some members of the original THInK team are getting back together to take their music player to the cloud. They have recruited some new teammates including Eben Korey Simon, Ruddy Arroliga, Jorge Sanchez, Nick Erickson and Claudio Salcido to help with the major revisions. The new music player will be called RETHINCK and will live in the cloud using Windows Azure so users can access their music anywhere while on the go. The plan is to create a Windows Phone 7 app and in-browser music player so users can access the software wherever they are. The team is going to create a WCF service that will be the connection between the applications and data. They are also implanting an achievement system through the IActionable API. The API makes it easy for developers to add a gamification component to their apps. It was founded by two Neumont alumni and they offered Kevin’s team the opportunity to use the technology for free. We’re hoping to see this really cool cloud music player released by the end of June!

Kevin is expecting to graduate and receive his Computer Science Bachelor’s degree in June 2012. He is still sorting out his career plans but his dream is to work for Microsoft as a software developer working on ground breaking technologies. From every one of the Microsoft Tech Student team, we wish Kevin and his colleagues best of luck in building the RETHINCK music player and having a successful final year at Neumont University. We appreciate all his hard work and encourage him to follow the successful path he has taken thus far. Keep up the awesome work!

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Read last month’s Tech Student Profile on Jake Poznanski and Sam Kaufmann