UK StudentZine Blog : Imagine Cup WW Online Invitationals

Imagine Cup 2008 - Paris by Ed Dunhill, Academic Developer Evangelist - http://blogs.msdn.com/edunhill

ukstudentzine — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:45:00 GMT

Last week I was in Paris at the Worldwide Finals of the Imagine Cup, in this months article I'll introduce you to the competition, some of the best entries and the overall experience in Paris.

So what's it all about?

The Imagine Cup is the world's largest student technology competition and is open to anyone over the age of 16 in full time education. The competition has 8 categories each with a different format but all culminating in a grand final which next year will be held in Cairo, Egypt. The competitions are Software Design, Embedded Development, Game Development, Robotics and Algorithms, IT Challenge, Mashup, Photo Story and Short film. More information on each individual competition can be found on the Imagine Cup Website.

Each year the Imagine Cup is based around a particular theme, this year it was the Environment. From next year the theme will be based around the eight UN Millennium Development Goals which will give competitors more flexibility in the issues their entry addresses. If you want to find out more about next years theme check out my blog post.

So why would you want to get involved? Well first off there are some great prizes for both competing locally and globally. This year the UK finalists in Software Design won a trip to Seattle to work with the Popfly team at our corporate head office and the Games Dev finalists won a work placement with a Microsoft Game Studio. The Prizes for Software Design and Games Dev fro the overall international winners were in excess of $15,000 plus the chance to turn their idea into a viable business at the Innovation Accelerator. More than the material prizes the Imagine Cup gives you a great springboard for your career, many of the competitors from the UK now work for Microsoft or one of our partners. Plus it's a great experience as I'm sure the UK competitors we took to Paris will agree!

How do I get involved?

Registrations are now open for next years competition so head over to imaginecup.com. Registering doesn't commit you to taking part but gives you the opportunity to find out more about each individual competition and keep updated by email. I will be producing several blog posts to help you get started when the competition itself opens.

What's the final like?

Each year the final is held at a different destination, this year it was Paris, next year it's going to be Cairo and in the past it's also been in Korea, Japan and India. The great thing about the final is that not only will you be competing to be crowned international champion but you will also get the opportunity to experience the culture of the host country. This year the agenda included a welcome reception at the Town Hall, a dinner cruise up the Seine (past the Eiffel Tower), a cultural days with tours around Paris, a trip up the Eiffel tower and the grand final at the Louvre all of which gave the competitors a real sense of the city.

In terms of the competition itself it ranges from presentations to judges to IT simulations to 48 hour photo journals. I was lucky enough to sit in on a bunch of the round one software design presentations and I was blown away by the quality of the entries. From a system using embedded technology to monitor the electrical performance of appliances in the home and improving energy efficiency to an automated irrigation system which takes crops types and weather forecasts into consideration to save water whilst maximising yield. In the embedded category the Irish team built a system to convert diesel engines to use vegetable oil and then built their system into a car and drove it from Ireland to Paris!

What next?

From September I'll be back on the road with the Inspiration Tour but this year we're going to do Imagine Cup lab sessions while we're on campus so watch my blog and hopefully I'll see you in person next academic year!

Imagine Cup on The Register

ukstudentzine — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 13:17:00 GMT

As you may or may not know, the winners of the UK Imagine Cup are blogging about their trials and tribulation on The Register-Developer (http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/imagine_cup/). It’s been interesting so far to see what the boys have been up-to and we have got a lot out of it.

So waht about the other imagine cup teams from around the world? Have you guys got blogs/websites? If so, what are they?! Post Answers in the comments if you know of any.

Ian

UK Imagine Cup Boy Discovered!

ukstudentzine — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 12:33:00 GMT

Ever heard of Jo Hemmerlein? Neither had we, until the other day he dropped the UK academic team a hello.

Quote from Jo’s e-mail:
“… obviously someone came up with the idea to give the Imagine Cup UK a face (http://www.microsoft.com/uk/academia/imaginecup/2006/default.mspx)... so I couldn't resist sharing the following with you now

Can you imagine that I got informed by colleagues in the UK when you launched the website?
Can you imagine that I have been forwarded the the promo mail with the coffee voucher even though I am not based in the UK?
Can you imagine that I am believed to have posed for the imagine cup comic picture by a few people?”

Seems like our good friend Jo was a near carbon copy of our imagine cup boy (shouldn’t that be the other way around? – ed). And since we launch our little head has received a constant flurry on UK Imagine Cup goodness! Conspiracy theory? Fluke? Deliberate attempt to bestow fame onto Jo?! You be the judge =)

Ian – (Currently wondering where his long lost identical twin is)

Jo!

Have I got news for you!

ukstudentzine — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 13:59:00 GMT

Imagine Cup UK Finals 06, first hand review and results!

Arriving at St. Anne’s Manor, after what can only be described as the most tedious taxi journey of my life, I was looking forward to meet the teams who would be fighting it out to be this years UK Imagine Cup Finalists. Fame, fortune, X-Box 360s and a trip to Delhi awaited the winners. Walking into the reception sublime wafts of curry flavoured air tickled my already hungry body. For the next 3 hours I got to walk, talk and eat my way through the different ideas that had excited us enough to get them this far. Dietary trackers, pill monitors and a number of medical problems were addressed. Every team had a great proposition, and these enterprising, excited students were here to do battle!

Act 2, Scene 1. Microsoft Campus, Thames Valley Park, Reading

After a good night’s sleep, hearty breakfast and the early morning jitters the 10 finalists descended on TVP and made their way to their posters which had been erected the night before. For many this was the first chance to see the Microsoft campus and in a short while they would need to pull together their practice, ideas and team spirit to ‘sell’ their idea to the Judges.

In the vein of a venture capital pitch or as some put it, our very own mini Pop-Idol Competition the contestants had 5 minutes or so to pitch their ideas, and answer a Q+A session. After this nerve racking round, all under the steady gaze of a film crew and camera, 3 final teams were selected to present to the large crowd (no easy feat in itself) and from these final three a winner would be selected!

Act 2, Scene Pi. Chicago 1 and 2, Building 3

The first team to present was team Three Pair. The idea being pitched was a system for patients in Intensive Care Units to have contact with the outside world and their family. Often patients recovering form surgery spend a long time lying in their bed waiting for healing to finish. Unfortunately while their physical attributes may heal, often the patients are left with mental scars. The solution to this was a simple application and user interface that allowed the patients to read blogs, connect to family members and at least try keep some idea of what was happening in the world around them. The idea was well explained with lots of good technical and medical information to backup their claims

The second team to present was Team Ariel. The idea being pitched was for a hospital wide solution to the problem of infections being spread inadvertently by hospital employees or visitors. The figures floated by the team showed that this was a huge problem, and cost the NHS dearly, both in financial loss but also, in the loss of human life. The solution was a system that tracked where everyone had been in the hospital and warned if a mistake had been made that could lead to an infection. The idea was well thought out with market research and statistical information.

The final team to present was team Med-Aware. The idea being pitched was for a system that tracked the intake of prescription medicine. A large proportion of people fail to complete their courses of antibiotics and this can lead to mutations of viruses or bacteria. The waste of this medicine also costs the NHS dearly every year and is a problem that needs to be addressed. The solution was a connected application that allowed members of the NHS to track, monitor and contact individuals who were currently taking prescription medicine. The team pitched their idea well and made a great case for not only its financial implications but also the impact it would have on the spread of disease.

And the winners?

Team three Pair! The judges decided that the team had the best idea which could impact the world in a profound way. It is now up to Team Three Pair to prepare for Delhi, and hopefully bring the cup back to England!

The competition was followed by The Register Developer (which is going to have the winners blogging regularly on their progress)
http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2006/03/13/imagine_cup_final/

Winners!

A Fibonacci Solution in Monad!

ukstudentzine — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 16:39:00 GMT

Little did I know, but one of my compatriots cracked my mini-challenge to re-implement the fib. sequence in MSH using recurssion! If you are interested, jump over to his blog and check out the solution :

Warning: Solution!

The results are in!

ukstudentzine — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 14:26:00 GMT

Just dropping a quick reminder to anyone who entered the 'Win a X-Box 360' student newsletter competittion, (it only took an e-mail to enter!) that the results are in. The results will be in the next studentzine which will be out sometime today (it's in the oven, getting hard baked). So make sure you are signed up and have your eye on the prize :)

If you aren't signed up to the newsletter you are missing some great stuff ;)
The newsletter is bumper fill on great articles this month: Sign up here!

A review (by yours truly) and tutorial on MSH / MONAD (Microsoft's very own BASH like command shell)
Dr. Andrew Sithers introduction to CIDER (not the drinking sort) and Expression
And a mystery article by one of our Microsoft Campus Clubs!

And the next newsletter is already being backed. Expect more Microsoft Student Partners than opinions in the house of Lords, more Imagine Cup than goals from 'insert football*' and something to do with the CLR, Python, Functional programming languages, and Lambda Calculus^

Ian ( Currently undefined )

* Beckham? Rooney? Mark Bosnich (on second thoughts maybe not)
^ In no way related to Half-Life (2) || (( Lambda ( x ) ( x x ) ) ( Lambda ( x ) ( x x ) ) )

Imagine Cup Email - 9 Days To Go

ukstudentzine — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 11:50:00 GMT

Only 9 days to go to the Round One deadline!

If you have already completed & submitted your Round One entry for the Software Design Challenge - well done!

Remember to take a look at the previous two communications (listed below on from Mint Source) for things you should now be preparing for around Poster submissions and finalist information:

9^th February Communication: http://blogs.msdn.com/ukstudentzine/archive/2006/02/12/530603.aspx

14^th February Communication: http://blogs.msdn.com/ukstudentzine/archive/2006/02/16/More_Hints_And_Tips.aspx

We have also added some information for you on presentation formats and techniques – for if you are chosen as a finalist and selected as one of the top 3 you will need to present to the judging panel!

http://blogs.msdn.com/ukstudentzine/archive/2006/02/21/536010.aspx

As always, if you have any questions please email us at uksdc06@microsoft.com

Wishing you continued good luck!

The UK Academic Team

Presenting at the UK Imagine Cup finals - oh my....

ukstudentzine — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 16:14:00 GMT

Nearly every Computing degree in the UK requires, at some point, students to get up in front of their peers and lecturers and talk about a piece of work or project they have completed towards their degree mark. Having been one of those students and had the opportunity at Microsoft to sit on some of those presentations I know how daunting that can be!

If you are one of the teams who have already submitted your Round 1 entry or are working towards that submission date (1st March - 9 days to go!!) then you should start thinking about the next step in the competition. On the 10th March we will be holding a UK final with a top 10 Poster round and final 3 Presentation round. I wanted to expand on what the Presentation round will entail and how you can best prepare for it.

The presentation will be to an audience including the judges and will be the teams opportunity to 'sell' their entry and concept to the judges (and audience). By 'sell' I mean take the audience on a journey through your entry telling them about the problem chosen, the solution proposed, how you would design a system, what benefits that system will deliver its users and a demo of the sample code (if appropriate).

The format will be roughly as follows:

- 10 minutes presentation
- 10 minutes for Q&A from the judges.
- Roughly 10 minutes overflow for run-overs.

10 minutes for a presentation isn't very long and i've intentionally left that as 10 minutes with room for error as any presenter will know it is very easy to run over. So this gives the best format structure for the team to deliver a great presentation and have enough room to answer questions and get on/off stage.

The presentation should cover the following sections (this is a very rough outline and great teams will tailor their content and style to suit their entry):

- Introduction (introduction team; university background; what the audience is going to see today)
- Problem outline: what problem is your IC entry fixing (diet, healthcare, medicine, fitness). One of the best things people can do is to demonstrate this with a casestudy or story about a real person.
- Solution outline: what is your solution in a single slide summary
- Benefits and Features
- Design and Architecture
- Futures: what you will do next to make it a reality and how it could be turned into a commercial business
- Conclusion: summarise the complete presentation, thank the audience and open up the floor to the judges for questions.

This is not easy to do in 10 minutes but I'm sure with some careful planning and a little practice you can pull off a professional presentation.

Finally, I wanted to leave you with some tips that I would apply to my presentations if in the same shoes as the lucky final 3.

1. Take your time! Don't rush a presentation as the information will get muddled and forgotten about
2. Less is more. The 80/20 rule applies here - a lot of information can be put across in a very succinct manner
3. Apply structure to your presentation. I use a GRID layout with key sections and reminder prompt words to ensure I have structure to follow and won't get lost (and when you deliver lots of 1hr+ technical presentations it is easy to lose your way).
4. Have a lead presenter with supporting work. Everyone presentation could be difficult to manage and listen to. By having a single lead presenter who can do the majority of talking and supporting team members for particular sections works well.
5. Use PowerPoint carefully. Many presenters, including a lot of Microsofties, use PowerPoint as a safety net and do a brain dump of their presentation onto the slides. And they proceed to read the slides - very dull and un-inspiring for the audience. That is not what PowerPoint is for - use slides as aids for the presentation and talk about them, not to them!
6. Images and Diagrams can provide a lot of information in an easy to digest format and will prevent point 5 above from happening.
7. Cliched but RELAX! The audience are hear to listen to you and are not out to get you. So enjoy the experience!
8. Keep an eye on the clock - it doesn't help to runover as it pushes the judges for questions in less time and they are the ones who have the power to send you to Delhi

Some links to real presentation guidance:

- http://www.presentationzen.com/

- http://blogs.technet.com/jesper_johansson/archive/2006/02/09/419154.aspx

More Hints, Tips & Info for Imagine Cup

ukstudentzine — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 14:17:00 GMT

Hello,

Hope things are going well! :-) Here is some more important information for you around the Software Design Challenge - let us know if you have any questions at uksdc06@microsoft.com

Many of you will be already thinking about what you need to do if you are deemed a UK Top 10 Finalist... If so, then here is the information you need.

There will be a Poster Display of the Top 10 and Highly Commended entries at the UK final. Each team will be required to supply a soft copy of this to us by no later than Tuesday 7th March (after notification of a finalist position on 3rd March). The outline for this poster is simple and can be found here. We have also placed a poster review from our sample idea at the team blog here.

To help stream line the finalists’ entries we have created a simple document to provide some additional details that, once collected, will enable more time for you to concentrate your presentation if you are chosen as a finalist or highly commended entry….. The document is avaliable online with details of where to send this to just click here.

Finally – don’t forget that you need to have an Academic Mentor supporting your team to be able to compete this year. They will need to be nominated on your Round One Submission form & if you are selected as a finalist they will also be invited to attend – diary permitting! See more details here

Did you miss the email update last week? Don’t worry – you can view this at our team blog here

Hope all is going well - wishing you continued good luck!

The UK Academic Team

All hyperlinks noted above are listed here:

Email for Round One Submissions and questions: uksdc06@microsoft.com

Poster Display Outline: http://download.microsoft.com/documents/uk/education/IC_Poster_Presentation.ppt

Sample Poster Outline: http://blogs.msdn.com/ukstudentzine/archive/2006/02/13/530910.aspx

Academic Mentor nomination: http://www.microsoft.com/uk/academia/imaginecup/2006/sdc.mspx#delhi

Finalist Information
http://download.microsoft.com/documents/uk/academia/imaginecup/Finalist_Information_for_UK_SDC_Event_06.doc

UK Imagine Cup Email Reminder to student competitors

ukstudentzine — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 01:38:00 GMT

Thanks for signing up to the Imagine Cup Software Design Challenge (SDC) - here is some important information you should be aware of & action as soon as possible. If you have any questions then please email uksdc06@microsoft.com Wishing you the very best of luck in the competition!

1st March 2006 - this is your Round One Submission Deadline. Please ensure that you complete the required document and have emailed this to uksdc06@microsoft.cpom no later than 23:59 on Wednesday 1st March.

The Round One Submission document is your opportunity to define and talk about your entry from problem definition, proposed solution, architecture & design and application code sample. This information will be used to determine the top 10 finalists for the UK final - so do the "hard sell" to show the judges why your team and idea deserve to get through to the final 10. The document you need to complete can be found here and further information on Getting Started can be found here

Concerned on the amount of work required to enter the SDC? Then take a look at our team blog (Mint Source) where there is a sample entry which demonstrates the absolute minimum amount required to enter the competition this year. Ok, so its not award winning, but with some focused effort and clever thinking it shows how easily you can demonstrate your entry to the judges.

And finally..... don’t forget to enable your team to submit your entry you must register ALL your team members individually here. That means you will also be helping your university to win some great prizes in our University Incentive Scheme around the Imagine Cup - see more details on what it’s about for you and your university.(they must sign up to be in the running!)

Good Luck!

The UK Academic Team

All hyperlinks noted above are listed here:

Round One Submission document: http://download.microsoft.com/documents/UK/academia/imaginecup/Imagine_Cup_2006_-_Round_One_UK_SDC_Submission.doc

Getting Started Information: http://www.microsoft.com/uk/academia/imaginecup/2006/sdc.mspx#started

UK Academia Team Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/ukstudentzine/

SDC Sample Entry blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/ukstudentzine/archive/2006/01/26/517825.aspx

Imagine Cup Registration link: http://thespoke.net/icreg/createicuser.aspx?categ=6

University Scheme information for students: http://www.microsoft.com/uk/academia/imaginecup/2006/default.mspx#win

University Scheme information for faculty: http://www.microsoft.com/uk/academia/incentive/default.mspx

Want to meet the UK finalists for the Imagine Cup 2006?

ukstudentzine — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 19:06:00 GMT

Your invitation to The Imagine Cup UK Final Event

The UK Software Design Challenge (SDC) is the most high profile challenge of the Imagine Cup 2006 and, for the fourth successive year, is set to pitch some of the UK’s most talented teams of young technologists against each other in a bid to create the most innovative and elegant solution to help people live healthier lives. The Imagine Cup is a worldwide competition run by Microsoft to the student population mostly within IT & Computing Science universities.

The UK SDC Final event will highlight the top 10 finalists ideas for the Software Design Challenge competition who are vying to create the best solution to become the UK winner.

Alongside these finalists will be a showcase of offerings from Microsoft and our Partners from recruitment details, to programme assistance, latest technologies and best practices. All this culminating in the top 3 finalists presenting to the judging panel and delegates in the final stage of the local competition.

We would like to extend an invitation to you to attend this UK Final event, learn about key offering for Academics and Students and discover first hand the team that will be representing the UK for the Software Design Challenge in Delhi, India later this year.

To register your attendance at the event then please Click Here

Or Telephone the Registration Hotline on 0870 166 6680 (Quoting Reference: 8463)

If you have any questions on the competition, event or other Academic query then please email ukacinfo@microsoft.com

For more details on the Imagine Cup visit: www.imaginecup.co.uk

Get your electric beaters out!

ukstudentzine — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 13:40:00 GMT

MIX 06 is upon us, and what better way to celebrate the rise of Web 2.0.0.1, AJAX, Atlas with a competition. Turn the oven onto pre-heat; and I will get you clued-up.

What is MIX 06?
The web is evolving and new versions of Internet Explorer and Firefox just around the corner there is a lot of new technology to stay up-to-date with. MIX 06 is a three day conference hosted by Microsoft. With Bill Gates presenting the keynote and over 50 sessions of offer, how can you afford not to go? What would be better than paying to go? Going for free! And here is your change. Below are two competitions to try bag yourself a ticket and hotel to MIX 06. Good luck, and let me know if you win!

Time to get cooking:

For Design Types:
Re-design the MIX 06 website and win a trip or a bespoke X-box 360:
http://www.mix06.com/Contest.aspx

For Coding Types:
Create a gadget for Live.com. Use the power of JavaScript and stuff to create a cool new gadget for live.com by mixing together two existing data sources!
http://microsoftgadgets.com/Blogs/gadgetnews/archive/2006/01/29/2559.aspx

Microsoft Designer Tools now available as a CTP

ukstudentzine — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 19:17:00 GMT

Microsoft WinFX technology is going to provide a framework on which to build the next generation of Windows applications with exciting, revolutionary user interfaces that will elevate user experience (UX) to the next level. One key to that is enabling designers and developers to work closer together to ensure these applications look great and function well.

At 2005’s Professional Developer’s Conference, Microsoft announced the range of Expression design tools and today, another of these applications is available for download as a Community Technology Preview. Microsoft Interactive Designer (formerly codenamed “Sparkle”) is a user interface design tool that creates application UIs in the new language of WinFX called XAML. WinFX controls can be assembled on the design surface combined with media elements, 2D and 3D graphics and then animated to create rich, compelling interfaces of the future. Projects can then be opened in Visual Studio to add code for application functionality.

Get a head start on learning these cutting edge technologies by downloading Microsoft Interactive Designer and its complementary product, Microsoft Graphic Designer today along with tutorials to allow you to dive in at the deep end!"

Link to: www.microsoft.com/expression

Leading the search for the next Bill Gates!

ukstudentzine — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 19:54:00 GMT

Demonstrating what can be achieved with .NET and its use in large enterprise systems or as a platform for new technology start-ups is something that can be done with whitepapers, evidence, demonstrations, testing but what isn’t always shown is how much innovation can be achieved in a short period of time! The recipe is simple. Take a bunch of students from around the world (UK, Greece, Brasil, Russia, Serbia and Slovenia), add a large telecommunication company in the form of BT, spice with an innovative technology company like Ubiquity and cook with the latest developer tools and platform from Microsoft and you get an exciting 2 week event called the BT/Microsoft Accelerator program - http://www.microsoft.com/uk/press/content/presscentre/releases/2006/01/PR03567.asp

Over the past two weeks each of these teams and some developer teams from BT have worked day and night to take new ideas or their Imagine Cup entries from 2005 and with some guidance from Ubiquity and BT developed a proof of concept to show executives from the 3 companies, international press and even venture capitalists who are interested in making this a reality. These teams are living proof of what the Software as a Service era can bring – all applications demonstrate the vision by harnessing software services provided over the web either as XML and rich client apps or traditional web sites and provide very rich experiences to users.

The runners:

OmniMusic (Russians) – the guitar wielding Russians showed a real-time music collaboration service which enables musicians to ‘jam’ together at real-time (orchestra level time delays - <50ms). These guys are talking to VCs and working with big music labels to make this a reality. For all you karaoke and rock’n’roll fans there is a future on the Web for you!!

Inova Gaming (Slovenia) – Inova is a solution which is designed to target the ever increasing investment that telcos are making for the next generation mobile and land based infrastructure. Inova provides a server and client based SDK so that budding Electronic Arts types can develop games which can be distributed to millions of users easily on the telecoms network. This is very neat and if that very frustrating ring tone can become a big success out of a stupid tune (Da,da,da,da,da) then games makers could be as big! Gaming marketplaces, an SDK and the infrastructure to support a community mean they are well placed to launch onto the web.

SignToTalk (Greece). A very moving application which enables the world of sign-language speakers to communicate with verbal speaking people and vice versa. Through the use of electromyography and some clever software interpretation the hand movements and gestures are converted into spoken word and speech can be converted to signed through animation on a PocketPC device. The team from Greece have been on the BBC news discussing this and are working with the Greek national organisation for the deaf.

Insomniacs (Serbia Montenegro)– the entertaining Serbian team demonstrated their real-time multi-media collaboration platform for emergency services showing how multiple elements in an emergency situation from police, fire, ambulance and patients coordinate and deal with the situation effectively using their technology. A very complete application which has far reaching uses outside of emergency services such as fleet management.

TravelReach (UK and Brazil…or the Brazenglish). This application was the most impressive for me, even though I have worked with the UK team on their entry for a while, as it took a great idea and applied the most new technology. Robert Scoble talks about Microsoft acquiring Web 2.0 companies, well, I think TravelReach is a company we should acquire before it even gets going – it takes the best of http://del.icio.us social networking and applies it to a massive worldwide travel industry and enables users to pick the best places to visit in a foreign country. Add on top of that the super rich mobile, Vista, Media Center and Windows Live experience it demonstrates the essence of what I believe the Web 2.0/SaaS experience on the Microsoft platform is all about.

Congratulations to all particpants in this workshop and I can’t wait to see what the Imagine Cup 06 brings. And if you think it was all fun and games check this photo out of two anonymous particpants sleeping in the presentation theatre an hour before team preps to the ‘Dragons Den’ panel of judges - Here

Mark

SHEEP INVADES Microsoft UK! & Win a 360

ukstudentzine — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 14:50:00 GMT

It was a typical morning in Thames Valley Park, the UK Headquarters of Microsoft. Business men talked margins, developers talked Hex and all was peaceful. An overwhelming smell of fresh grass and drops of sunlight sprinkled the air. No one realized what would happen next…

The following is a photographic record of the events as they unfolded, un-edited, un-cut.

09:00 - Mint Source Enters Microsoft Buildings:

09:32 - Mint Source finds Johanna Dark, Gets way-laid

10:11 - Mint Source Decides to play Foozball

Has a sheep invaded you lately?! Get on the dial, and drop us an e-mail with photo/photos. We are looking for great examples of how Mint Source is making his way around the country and need your help! To be in the running to win a cool new Xbox 360 pack with 2 games all you need to do is take a photograph of Mint Source to show us the places he is visiting! You can download a picture of him (links at the bottom of blog entry) follow the instructions to "cut him out", take him to your chosen location and then email us your best picture or two, or three, or five, or eight, or thirteen!

To submit a valid entry your picture should incorporate at least 3 of the following elements: Mint Source (the sheep!), you (the human), form of technology (PC, screen, phones etc), landmark or your university/signage/logo (so we know where you are!)…

And best of all, there is an X-Box 360 up for grabs with two games!!! Is it just me, or is this the easiest competition ever!?

Budding photographers, amateur film makers, and any body who has the ability to take a photo or two should get involved. E-mail your photos to: ukacinfo@microsoft.com

And if you were wondering, yes, those photos were taken with a Phone Camera and Windows Mobile 5.

And as always some T&Cs apply – to read the legal stuff jump onto: Mint Source Home page

Different Mint Source Flavors:
PUNK!!!
Resistance Leader Mint Source VIII
BLING BLING!

17:00 - Mint Source Spotted Leaving Building