The Microsoft Imagine Cup is the world’s premier student technology competition. We invite all students to use their imagination and passion to create a technology solution that addresses the Imagine Cup 2012 theme: Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems.

In ten years, the Imagine Cup has grown to be a truly global competition focused on finding solutions to real-world problems. Since 2003, over 1.4 million students have participated in the Imagine Cup with 358,000 students representing 183 countries and regions registering for the Imagine Cup 2011 competition.

The Imagine Cup 2012 competition is your chance to:

• Solve tough problems facing the world today, and maybe even turn your ideas into a business.
• Learn new technological skills.
• Test yourself against the brightest students around the world.
• Make new friends.
• Win cash, grants , and prizes – plus, a chance for a free trip to Sydney, Australia, next July to compete at the Imagine Cup 2012 Worldwide Finals!

The New Zealand 2012 Competition had over 400 entries, and these have now been short listed to the top 25 teams spread across New Zealand. These teams will now take on the competition, work with both an Industry and Microsoft Mentor to develop and present their idea. There is still an opportunity for you to take part. We have two finalist teams looking for team members. If you are interested in stepping up and taking on the challenge reach out to either of the two team captains, more information on their idea is posted below.

Title: Tsunami in the cloud

• Institute:  Victoria University
• Team Name: Team cloud solutions
• Short Blurb explaining idea – Take the Tsunami algorithms, instead of running the algorithm locally, send it to the cloud and get it done in a fraction of the time by using the GreenButton Technology.
• How many team members- Looking for 3 team members
•  Type of Team members - Mostly members who will be writing code (preferably in C# & .Net), one team member with business relations & marketing experience to deliver our business strategy and also help with the presentation
• Vision – Our final goal is to have two computers side by side demonstrating what the cloud can really do. One side you have the pc running the algorithm locally and one sent off to the cloud. This will show the real power of the cloud and what it can really do.
• Please contact Team Captain directly - karanbatta.kbstudios@gmail.com

Team Name: vCOM

• Institute: Victoria University
• Short Blurb explaining idea – A communication between two people speaking two different languages using a mobile device to translate the spoken language and bridging the gap between people of different native languages.
• How many team members- Looking for three members
• Type of Team members - Help with the video presentation and marketing, business strategy.
• Vision – Bridge the gap between the different native languages for simple communication.
• Please contact Team Captain directly - Puneeth_pun1@yahoo.co.in

Any questions related to the Imagine Cup email us at –nzedu@microsoft.com or join our Facebook Student Page – www.facebook.com/microsoftnzstudents

As the post-PC era marches forward, it’s increasingly challenging to design sites and software for the growing variety of devices on the market. Join New Zealand’s top designers as they demo mobile apps & touch interfaces while discussing the challenges, opportunities and strategies of designing for touch.

Panel includes:

Philip Fierlinger (@skyrize) – Xero, designer of Xero Touch
Karl von Randow (@avon) – Cactuslab, lead developer of Camera+
Toby Vincent (@TobyVincent) – Smudge Apps, designer of Flicks and Stuff NZ apps
Amnon Ben-Or (@NonnyNZ) – Southgate Labs, designer of Radio NZ app
Andy Hovey – (@AndyHovey) Springload, designer of Kiwibank app
Toby Cox (@@CarnivalLabs) – Carnival Labs, creators of applications for DreamWorks, Kraft Foods, Air New Zealand and more…

More speakers to be confirmed

This is our marque design seminar this year, seats are limited. Don’t miss out RSVP at Lil Regie now.

When: Friday 20th Jan 12pm -> 2pm
Where: Deloitte 16th Floor – 10 Brandon Street Wellington 6011
Map: 10 Brandon Street
RSVP: Lilregie (Seats are limited, First come, first serve.)

Light refreshments will be provided

XSSS#4 – Dec 16th : “Why Testing Matters!”

Mike Talks (@TestSheepNZ ) from Kiwibank, Brian Osman (@bjosman) and Steve Wilsher both from QualIT will be talking you through the testing minefield. With each and every release of software and web update, the products companies ship carry their reputation. As computer solutions become increasingly complex, testing is a vital part of software development which everyone will encounter. 

But the action doesn’t stop there! Coming up in the Xero Summer Seminar Series in 2012?

XSSS#5 – Jan 13th: ”An Introduction to IT Automation using Puppet”

XSSS#2 – Dec 2nd : “Life at the biggest website in New Zealand”

Ever wondered what life is really like at New Zealand’s biggest web company? Jay Nielsen ( @TradeMe_Jay ) (lead developer at FindSomeone) will be leading a panel of colleagues about what it’s really like working at TradeMe. Joining Jay are Daniel McCleland (a testing superstar), David Curlewis (Head of Database) and Richard Rowley (an Awesome API Developer).

XSSS#3 – Dec 9th: Introducing “Sass”

Terrence Wood (@Terrencewood )of Xero is going to introduce Sass, which is an extension to CSS3 that makes CSS easier to manage.

From the Sass website

Sass makes CSS fun again. Sass is an extension of CSS3, adding nested rules, variables, mixins,selector inheritance, and more. It’s translated to well-formatted, standard CSS using the command line tool or a web-framework plugin.

XSSS#4 – Dec 16th: “Introduction to IT Automation using Puppet”

Jeremy Olliver (@static_storm) of AbleTech (And SoT Alumni) will talk about using Puppet to manage deployment of servers and infrastructure. Managing the deployment of servers is always a pain in the ass. Puppet helps make that a thing of the past.

Once again, thanks to Xero for sponsoring this awesome series and to Kiwibank for providing us with a venue!

Xero presents the Summer of Tech summer series of IT seminars. Running every Friday from November to the end of February. We have selected some of the best local and international speakers to provide a variety of talks including inspirational, career, technical and design topics. All of the seminars are free and open to the public. RSVP’s are essential to help us provide food .

We’re in the process of finalising this summer’s line-up of talks. (We’ll be announcing soon.) Here is the first seminar.

#1 Owen Evans

Owen Evans (Chief Architect at Xero) will provide the Summer of Tech 2011 commencement speech. He will talk about life in IT and offer some career advice for Wellington IT professionals.  This is the first in a series of Tech Talks for the Summer of Tech community,  it’s open to the public, and a light lunch will be provided.

Owen Evan’s Bio:

Owen Evans is a software developer currently employed by Xero to be a Chief Architect, according to his wife and 19month old daughter that means he goes ‘type type type’.
Hailing from the UK or more specifically a small place called Wales, he’s always had a passion for technology and believes we can change the world, together.
Recently Owen lead a team, including a Summer of Tech Alumni, to victory at Wellington’s first Startup Weekend, and is investigating how to take business further.

When… 11:30pm-1:00pm, Friday 18 November 2011

Where… Kiwbank Level 3 , NZ Post House, 7 Waterloo Quay, Wellington (here’s a map) (Thanks to Kiwibank for providing a venue)

We’ve had a few requests for notes from the presentation, but Emily says her slides are probably hopeless without explanation and the stories, sorry.

But she CAN share some links, here goes:

The Google job ad experiment – how a bit of clever thinking can get you a job:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FRwCs99DWg

Marc McHardy presenting his final year major project on “The Ad Show”

http://www.vimeo.com/23983821

(which got him his job at Click Suite)
AND, here are some links to good on-line portfolios.

You can use a free website like http://cargocollective.com

(Here’s one made using a bought template on cargo http://skellywag.org/ ) or Behance.

Others are:

http://www.ryanovereem.com/

http://www.kelly-stubbs.com/

http://www.timdenee.com/

Again, HUGE thanks to Emily Loughnan from Clicksuite for taking the time out of her busy life to share tips, tricks and experience with aspiring design students.

(especially the explanatory footnotes )

This is definitely a US example, but the messages hold true for Summer of Tech candidates in NZ: show some passion, put yourself out there, be clear that you can fill a real need in a company.

The gathering was not for the faint of heart, or extreme novices.  We were stoked to see students, graduates and indie game devs taking part, AND great support from experienced developers who popped in to mentor & offer moral support over the weekend.

Here’s a choice quote from one of the students:

“I learned more in the last 48 hours than I have in the last 3 months of uni!!”

The grand finale involved pizza and beer, and participants demo-ed their creations in front of a panel of industry judges (Stu and Chris from Sidhe, and David from MajicJungle).

PixelJam was modelled on Game Jams that have been held around the world.  The mover & shaker and make-it-happen-guy behind the event was Keaton (SoC09 alumni), and support and sponsorship from Sidhe, Toi Poneke HUB and Studio was fantastic.

We’d love to see PixelJam become a regular feature in the buid-up to Summer of Tech.

Check out the photos here

Adam Bramley and Brendan Vercoelen spent Summer of 2010/11 working on a wide range of Open Source projects at Catalyst IT.

Here’s the video of their talk:

Intern Lightning Talk: Catalyst IT from SummerOfTech on Vimeo.

Here’s a video of the seminar. Part 1 is Richard & Dan:

Unleashing APIs – Part 1 from SummerOfTech on Vimeo.

Part 2 is Owen plus QandAs with our live studio audience:

Unleashing APIs – Part 2 from SummerOfTech on Vimeo.

First up: Cameron Fowler spent Summer of 2010 working as a code intern for Able Technology.  His projects included streetsalive.org.nz and a customisable store locator tool. 

Here’s the video of Cameron’s talk:

Intern Lightning Talk – Able Technology from SummerOfTech on Vimeo.

Who would have thought accounting would be fun? The thing about Xero is somehow they actually make accounting enjoyable, addictive and visually delightful. They are an awe-inspiring hardworking team who live and breathe their product and never fail to impress, even as the company rapidly expands.

Read more about her work experience on Xero’s blog.

We’re totally committed to opening up more opportunities for design graduates to become part of the creative workforce… thanks Amber-Jean for your hard work, and great tips to help make SoT work for designers!