UK Academic Team Blog : Web

Windows Embedded Seminars

ukacademia — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:58:02 GMT

Last week I posted news about the Windows XP Professional for Embedded Systems Event at TVP on 21st October.

Following on from that post, I’d also like to tell you about a series of online seminars relating to specific aspects of Windows Embedded technology. While not perhaps for those of you already teaching embedded technologies, the seminars may prove useful if you are considering future curriculum developments.

Windows Embedded and Gaming
16th September 2008
9:00 - 10:00

Windows Embedded and Kiosk Solutions
13th November 2008
9:00 - 10:00

Windows Embedded and Industrial Automation
19th February 2009
9:00 - 10:00

Windows Embedded and Medical Solutions
30th April 2009
9:00 - 10:00

If any of the above are of interest, you can get further information by clicking here.

Best,

Allison

remix UK – a 48 hour conversation

ukacademia — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:51:25 GMT

Hi Everyone

If you have been wondering 'where next for the web?' this event might just be for you and there is an early bird saving for the first three hundred people to book. Click here to reserve a place.

And if you have any ideas for a topic you would like to see presented at remix UK and have a good idea of just who you’d like to present it, there is a chance you can get it added to the mash up.

Best for the weekend,

Allison

Mix it up!

ukacademia — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:29:00 GMT

Hi! I'm Alfred Biehler, working with Microsoft UK alongside Claire in Microsoft's Developer platform group. My focus is on all our UK developers, and I've been given the opportunity to attend the MIX conference at Las Vegas. My expectations of the event was high, and I'm not disappointed!

For starters: You can join in this amazing event by going to http://www.visitmix.com. You can see the sessions on http://sessions.visitmix.com, and/or you can even attend a UK re-run later this year in the UK... more details to come.

Let me briefly share with you the biggest wow moments for me during the first keynote, that just finished:

IE 8 beta is available for download now. (This beta is intended for developers). Amongst the new capabilities shown in IE8, was the ability for web apps to detect and act on losing a network connection, and a back button that really goes back - even on AJAX pages!
SQL Server as a service has been announced. This is huge! I've been talking about this since the end of 1999, and it's fantastic to see this now becoming available. This would allow developers to build applications that draw data from "the cloud", without the need to manage and run the database yourself.
Silverlight 2 beta 1 has been announced, with awesome demos, including how we'll experience the Olympics in a few weeks, how HardRock Cafe has a memorabilia site utilizing DeepZoom (seeing a 2bn pixel photo, zooming into any area very quickly), Aston Martin's virtual showroom experience and more.
I really enjoyed seeing also some of Microsoft's partners (that also competes with us) on stage, e.g. AOL email using Silverlight, and DoubleClick (Google) for building Silverlight Adverts.
And lastly - we saw demos of how Silverlight apps just worked on Nokia phones after the agreement that has been reached yesterday with Nokia to support Silverlight on their phones.

One statistic that blew me away, was that we're getting about 1.5 million downloads and installs of Silverlight per day.

If you do have a moment - go and have a look at the sessions @ Mix online!

Alfred

Free ASP.NET hosting for UK Students from WebFusion

ukacademia — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:51:00 GMT

Many of you will have met or be about to meet Ed Dunhill as he tours the country with Ben Coley delivering the Inspiration Tour. When not on the road, Ed has been working on a great deal for students - Free ASP.NET hosting for all UK Students provided by WebFusion. To get this the students need a unique code and an academic email address (one that ends in .ac.uk). I have a pile of codes on my desk and am happy to send them out but the more effective distribution method is to point your students to Ed's blog post. Here they can:

read all about the deal,
request their code
and activate their code.

Please let all students know about this; it really is free, there really are no strings attached.

Claire

Technorati Tags: ASP.NET, Students

Films for Learning

ukacademia — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:53:52 GMT

One of the exciting new projects being demonstrated at the BETT show this year is the Films for Learning Project. I know that many of you work with your feeder schools to establish links, provide extra curricular activities and to foster enthusiasm for Computer Science and Engineering subjects and I think this resource could help you. I see potential for you to help your feeder schools make videos that other schools can benefit from, either in your area or across the country. I see students demonstrating their programming, electronics, robotics projects to their peers. What do you think?

Claire

The details of the project are:

Films for Learning (FFL) is a project that has been inspiring schools for two years now to create their own video resources and share them with others online as part of core curriculum. FFL is organised out of Thomas Hardye School in Dorset with the first year of funding from NESTA.

· Audience for FFL is youth 6-18 years of age and teaching professionals.

· All submitted videos are moderated by UK teaching professionals before publication to ensure the site content is safe and appropriate for education use.

· Microsoft is a sponsor of FFL and helped to re-launch www.filmsforlearning.org. This collaborative site and online community will serve as an educational resource that inspires and helps teachers and students to make their own video productions.

· Approximately 50 schools in the UK take part today (note that most school/classrooms are already undertaking video projects but haven’t had a place to interact around them more broadly.

· School participation costs – a DV video camera, a PC running Windows XP or Windows Vista for access to Windows MovieMaker, Internet connectivity to publish the video to filmsforlearning.org

· The Films for Learning community members provide student and teacher activity/training days, using a travelling film lab with equipment funded by Microsoft, to help schools start media enhanced, personal learning activities.

The introductory FFL video (provided as a WMV) is available here – please watch if you wanted to see and hear more about FFL by the teachers and pupils doing FFL today! http://community.filmsforlearning.org.ultimahosts.eu/video/FfL-Film-2008.wmv

Inspiration Tour Update

ukacademia — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 18:12:52 GMT

With 17 dates behind them and another 37 yet to come, Ed and Ben are having a great impact on the students that they present to as part of the Inspiration Tour. We love to get feedback, both good and bad but our favourite so far is:

The talk you gave today was absolutely awesome, as were the demos. Loved every minute of it from the front row. You even had me crying when you were talking about the opportunities - everything I dreamed about. Thanks to both of you.

All dates are now booked but if your university has missed out then please get in touch and we will see if we can fit you into an additional slot.

Claire

The Imagine Cup 2008

ukacademia — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:02:00 GMT

Those of you who have already hosted the Inspiration Tour will know that the Imagine Cup is a really exciting opportunity for students this year and includes some great new categories. In the UK we are even adding extra value. The key points are:

1. There are 9 competitions for all interests and skill levels and in the UK we are providing life-changing prizes for each UK category winner in addition to them winning a trip to the global finals. See prize table below.

2. It is really easy to register this year and fun too! Have your students take the online quiz and get your university at the top of the leader-board. Each registration is automatically entered into a monthly prize draw where the prize is an Xbox 360 Elite. As last year, registration is not a commitment to enter so EVERYONE should have a go.

3. Software Design has been split up into 3 sections –

The Idea; spend the time between now and Christmas on the this
The Innovation Accelerator; A unique opportunity for the students to learn entrepreneurship and higher level technology skills while developing their idea in the form of a 3 day event at our offices in Reading lead by business partners and key Microsoft staff . Think ‘Dragons Den’ meets ‘The Restaurant’ meets Silicon Valley!
The Code Submission

4. The UK Imagine Cup culminates in a celebration day in London in June for the top competitors in all 9 competitions to meet and hear from leading industry speakers and employers to talk jobs. There will be a prize giving ceremony and maybe even a party at a club in London.

We know that students aren't always easy to motivate so here are some ways to help get them engaged:

Point them to these URLs http://www.microsoft.co.uk/uk/academia/imaginecup/2008/quiz/default.mspx and www.imaginecup.co.uk
Order a box or two of glossy guides which explain all of the 'invitationals' (an invitational = a competition category)
Download the guide
Use our sample emails and other resources including graphics

Software Design Challenge	2 week work placement in Seattle with the Popfly team	Prizes of Xbox 360 Elites, MP3 players for 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place teams
Embedded	2 week UK work placement with specialist Microsoft embedded partner
XNA	2 week work placement with UK Microsoft Game Studio	Xbox 360 Elite pack
Project Hoshimi	2 week placement at UK MGS	Xbox 360 Elite pack
Algorithm		Developer PC (top spec, e.g. Quad core, 24” LCD monitors)
IT Challenge		Windows Home Server
Photography		Digital SLR camera, lens, bag and tripod
Short Film		HD video camera, accessories and tripod
Interface Design	2 week work placement with major UK creative agency	Designer PC (top spec, e.g. Quad core, 24” LCD monitors)

(Note: Prize list was changed from the published list above. Please refer to the About section of the Imagine Cup UK website)

As always, if you have any questions then please get in touch

Claire

Inspiration Tour

ukacademia — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:28:00 GMT

We’re very excited in the Academic team, we’re just about to launch the “Inspiration Tour” and we can’t wait to go out and meet you all.

Ed Dunhill

Ed and Ben will be out on the road during the next six months, so why not take a look at our Inspiration Tour web page to find out more and beat the rush to reserve your tour date now!

Ben Coley

The aim of the inspiration tour is to bring technology to you and your students, everything from the . NET platform to some of the really cool stuff that’s around at the moment like Silverlight, XNA and Microsoft Embedded technologies.

Spaces will fill up fast so please email us if you are interested in securing a date.

How to save €300 atTechEd 2007

ukacademia — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 11:00:00 GMT

Are you planning to go to TechEd 2007, 5th - 9th November in Barcelona? If so you can save €300 by registering byTuesday 31st July (tomorrow).

Designed to provide developers with deep dive technical training, information and community resources, this conference focuses on building software solutions with Microsoft development tools for current and soon-to-release products and technologies. This event is ideal for:

Developers

Software Engineers

Solution Architects

Development Managers

Web Developers

Database Developers

If your aim is to architect and build secure, scalable applications, to migrate applications to Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 and Windows Vista, or to address complex technical issues and accelerate development, then TechEd Developers will help you unlock your potential.

Claire

Get registered for Mix:UK 07 11th & 12th September 2007

ukacademia — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 13:50:00 GMT

Mix:UK 07 is the premier event for web designers and web developers to

Get creative inspiration from design and development gurus, web agencies and innovators
Discover how technologies like Silverlight, Expression and Live Services are already being used to create a new generation of rich media experiences and RIAs (Rich Interactive Applications)
Connect with others in the industry who, like yourself, have a passion for innovation and creativity and have built personal and business success on that passion.

Claire

UK Academic Team Blog : Web

Windows Embedded Seminars

remix UK – a 48 hour conversation

Mix it up!

Free ASP.NET hosting for UK Students from WebFusion

Films for Learning

Inspiration Tour Update

The Imagine Cup 2008

Point them to these URLs http://www.microsoft.co.uk/uk/academia/imaginecup/2008/quiz/default.mspx and www.imaginecup.co.uk

Order a box or two of glossy guides which explain all of the 'invitationals' (an invitational = a competition category)

Download the guide

Use our sample emails and other resources including graphics

Inspiration Tour

How to save €300 atTechEd 2007

Get registered for Mix:UK 07 11th & 12th September 2007