Events

[caption id=“attachment_11076” align=“aligncenter” width=“580” caption=“Register now for Fruit Ninja Developer Dojo (Cost: $50 for both sessions)”][/caption] Microsoft and E27 are proud to present Fruit Ninja Developer Dojo. When it comes to developing world famous games, no one knows better than the masters at Halfbrick. The senseis are here to show you the way of the ninja for casual game development in the exclusive networking session and workshop. ...

GeekcampSG - A gathering of developers who are passionate about their craft, coming together to share ideas and learn new technologies. [caption id=“attachment_10849” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] geekcampsg was sold out within weeks![/caption] When I first heard about the camp, I immediately signed-up for the event and waited eagerly for its arrival. The event was well-received by the developer community and it was sold out weeks in advance. I was impressed by the camp which was organized by developers, for developers. It was a Saturday morning but there are already tons of people waiting in line as early as 8:30am to get a chance at receiving one of the 100 limited edition GeekcampSG 2012 t-shirts. [caption id=“attachment_10851” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] More than 150 people came early to register for geekcampsg this year[/caption] Here’s shot of the awesome Geekcamp.SG 2012 t-shirt that is coveted by the camp attendees. [caption id=“attachment_10852” align=“alignnone” width=“439”] The geekcampsg tshirt was given to first 100 attendees and was snapped up in the first couple of minutes. Credit: GeekcampSG[/caption] For attendees that are not fortunate to receive one of the 100 coveted limited edition t-shirts, they are able to grab one of the awesome stickers for GeekcampSG 2012. [caption id=“attachment_10853” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] GeekcampSG Stickers were up for grabs as well[/caption] In total, more than 400 developers and enthusiasts attended the camp. The auditorium was filled to the brim, with eager attendees occupying all of the available floor space in the room. Here’s the opening address from the event’s Platinum Sponsor, Windows Azure. [caption id=“attachment_10855” align=“alignnone” width=“457”] Windows Azure[/caption] And off we go! The keynote was presented by U-Zyn Chua on Cryptography: Why Bitcoin is safer than your bank. It was a controversial currency concept and U-Zyn had a challenging and engaging session during Q&A. [caption id=“attachment_10856” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] The talk on Bitcoin was well received by developers[/caption] After a series of morning talks, it was lunch time! Everyone had a great lunch and it was simply awesome to see developers engaging each other in sharing sessions and lighting talks during the break. In my opinion, one of the most engaging and interesting speakers of the day was Yap Neng Ginn, who presented on Windows Azure. Here’s the best analogy that I’ve heard for the main categories of cloud offerings: On Premises – Your Car Infrastructure as a Service – Rented Car Platform as a Service – Taxi Software as a Service – SMRT I ended my day with an interesting talk by Michael Cheng on Continuous integration for PHP with Jenkins and Sonar. Thanks for all the great work put in by the Geekcamp.SG committee. I had a fantastic time mingling with fellow developers who are passionate about their craft. It was also great to see many student developers attending the event and eager to chip in to help for future events. I will definitely be back next year and hopefully I will have an interesting topic to present to all my fellow developers. Did you attend GeekCamp.SG? What do you think of the event? Do you have other great tech events to recommend for us to attend? Do share with us your recommendations in the comments below and we might just do a special report based on your recommendations!

We had a very special HackWeekend on National Day which saw several quality apps and the first meet up of the year for the Microsoft Student Partners team. It was definitely an amazing experience to have a chat with the mixture of developers and students with a flow of brilliant ideas, with everyone mingling with each other. The day started off with the Microsoft Student Partner Kick-off for FY13, where we were introduced to the responsibilities and perks of a MSP by Yizhe, our Academic Developer Evangelist. After the briefing, we had a short prize presentation to our Champ Programme Graduates who all received Xbox 360 consoles. We then had an amazing buffet lunch and time to talk with each other in preparation for Dream . Build . Launch. Terence also brought us all on a tour of the Microsoft Technology Center. [caption id=“attachment_10749” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Playing with the Microsoft Surface”][/caption] The demonstrated apps this HackWeekend were much more polished than the first and second. It’s definitely encouraging to see the hard work developers are putting into their apps, working towards the launch of Windows 8 this October. [caption id=“attachment_10753” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Video Draw - an app that helps you to annotate directly on e-learning resources such as videos.”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10741” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Best Health Care”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10743” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“eZ-MRT helps you to decide the quicker route to take on the MRT”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10742” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Drop Zone is a casual game by Tianyang from Tyler Projects!”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10752” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Photo Narrate helps you organized your photos and tell a clear story!”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10754” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Xin Videos lets you catch up on TV from XinMSN”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10751” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“My Little Pony Portal for all MLP fans out there!”][/caption] Once that was over, we had a Live Telecast of the National Day Parade where everyone gathered around the screens that were set up while we ate dinner. As the day drew to a close, we had a brilliant view of the National Day fireworks from our window. Our Hackweekends are coming to a close - but you can still work on your Windows 8 applications. Look out for our upcoming events!

[caption id=“attachment_10488” align=“alignnone” width=“530” caption=“Join us for the online launch of Visual Studio 2012”][/caption] The faster you can transform your big idea into software, the greater your chance for success. Be ready to rise to the challenge with Visual Studio 2012. Get a head start on your future by attending the Visual Studio 2012 Virtual Launch Event. See how Visual Studio 2012—supported by Team Foundation Server—can help turn your ideas into software. Save the date and register now to attend this free event! ...

We started Hackweekend as a way to get to know our developers, have fun, build the community and boy, it’s been an exhilarating experience. It’s great to see that there are so many developers working on interesting problems and tackling difficult technical issues. At our first Hackweekend, we had people coming up with some great ideas for their applications. At the second Hackweekend, we could see their fruits of labor, with many demoing almost complete Windows 8 applications! What’s especially encouraging is to see that people are helping each other with their own expertise and making new friends through the event. Here are some photos from the event: [caption id=“attachment_10448” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Chun Siong introducing Hackweekend #02”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10449” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Participants listening in to the introduction”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10450” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Our youngest developer - presenting his project about augmented reality.”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10451” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“The idea wall where every pitch went up!”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10452” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Getting ready for the demo after the fireworks!”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10453” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Our first presenter, Luther, did an app to help NS men and people going for re-service find the nearest locations to take their IPPT!”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10454” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Luther’s app presentation - Helps you find nearest IPPT locations”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10458” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“My Little Pony - Windows Phone to Windows 8 app”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10457” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Jason Chee - demoing his app”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10455” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Everyone who attended Hackweekend #02”][/caption] We’re looking forward to celebrating National Day with you - if you’ve got a Windows 8 app to show and tell, join us for the NDP special of Hackweekend! [caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Celebrate National Day, hack some code and enjoy the fireworks on 9 Aug”][/caption] Sign up here: http://bit.ly/ndpspecial Download the Windows 8 Release Preview ...

The 4th Infocomm Professional Development Forum 2012 was held on 27th July in Hotel Rendezvous. Through this half day session, industry leaders shared their insights on IT talent management and also the latest technical expertise for participants’ professional development. The theme of the event was “Staying current and empowering tomorrow”. Our guest-of-honor was Mr. Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer of Infocomm Development Authority Singapore. The event was kick-started by Mr. Chak Kong Soon, President Singapore Computer Society. Through his opening address, he highlighted the importance of training and also the commitment of SCS’s support through the certification programme, which include the Certification in IT Project Management and Certification in Business Continuity Management. Mr. Chak also took the opportunity to welcome Infopier, the 1st ICT professional registry in Singapore, as a co-organizer, and also to welcome IT professionals to join the network and exchange ideas. Our GOH, Mr. Tay, gave his address with an interesting analogy. As a Rear Admiral, he mentioned how the current is constantly against us IT professionals in the rapid changing IT industry. Hence, the challenge for IT professionals is the need to constantly ‘paddle’ in order to stay current. In his inspiring speech, he also highlighted that Singapore has experienced the strongest growth in Infocomm in 5 years, and there is a changing need in the skillsets in today’s IT industry. Ms. Janet Ang, Managing Director IBM Singapore, provided a keynote address on “Identifying and Nurturing Talents”, and how IBM recognizes talents in the company by identifying key success factors for employees. Leveraging on to what Mr. Tay mentioned earlier, she also highlighted that there is a need to integrate IT and domain expertise. A humorous speaker, Ms. Ang got the audience into laughter as she consistently insisted how she will stay 39 years old forever, and also how her first 2 daughters chose digital art courses over IT-related ones. She emphasized that technology is a key driver that can impact change, and her biggest takeaway for the audience is for everyone to think how we as IT professionals impact that change. The last keynote speaker of the day was Mr. Gerry Chng, Partner, Ernst & Young Advisory. In his presentation, he highlighted that today’s world brings about new opportunities in the technology scene. He brought up examples of how even a 3-year-old kid plays with an iPad, and how technology is used today to enable businesses in what they want to achieve. He gave many insights on how technology is used in leapfrogging, its ability to scale, and how it can be used to solve seasonal problems. The event quickly transited into a panel discussion on “Building a Vibrant Community of IT Talent”, facilitated by Mr. Swaran, Executive Sub-editor, The Business Times. Some issues discussed included foreign as talents as part of our vibrant community, to portraying the image that IT is a fun industry to be in. Participants were treated to an awesome tea reception, followed by 3 tracks of professional workshops, namely Networking & Infrastructure, Business Analytics and Industry-centric IT domains. The event is organized by Singapore Computer Society and Infopier and supported by Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. Partners include Cloud Security Alliance, Global Science & Technology Forum, Information Technology Standards Committee, IT Management Association, Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation and PMI Student Chapter.

How do you ensure code quality in your projects throughout the development lifecycle? Has your end user ever complained that the deliverables are not in line with the requirements provided? Have you ever found it impossible to reproduce a bug? Are you looking to target new platforms such as Windows 8? If the answer is yes for any of the above, do join us for the upcoming briefing on Visual Studio 2012, the next version of Visual Studio. AGENDA REGISTRATION 1.30 PM - 2.00 PM DEVELOPER COLLABORATION WITH TEAM FOUNDATION SERVER 2012 Want to work offline seamlessly? Wish merging happened less frequently and was simpler? How about finding work items faster? 2.00 PM - 2.45 PM AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT WITH VISUAL STUDIO 2012 Incorporate stakeholder feedback by using the new powerpoint storyboarding, feedback manager and agile dashboard features 2.45 PM - 3.30 PM FROM UNIT TESTING TO LOAD TESTING: VISUAL STUDIO -YOUR COMPLETE TESTING TOOL We cover Unit testing, Exploratory testing, unlimited load testing and more 3.30 PM - 4.10 PM BREAK 4.10 PM - 4.30 PM ENSURE CODE QUALITY IN YOUR PROJECTS Ensure and enable quality through better testing and profiling tools; session covers code coverage, code metrics, code clone, intellitrace and more 4.30 PM - 5.10 PM BUILDING METRO UI APPLICATIONS ON WINDOWS 8 USING VISUAL STUDIO 2012 See how Visual Studio 2012 enables Windows 8 application development 5.10 PM - 5.50 PM

[caption id=“attachment_10377” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Join us for our NDP Hackweekend Special! http://bit.ly/ndpspecial"][/caption] It’s that time of the year again! National Day is here and what better way to celebrate than with fellow geeks and some awesome fireworks! Dream.Build.Launch - NDP Special is an exclusive half-day event where we aim to: - Provide you with an opportunity to network, get together and meet the Microsoft Developer Platform Evangelist and Microsoft Student Partners team - Celebrate the festive season together with like-minded people - Provide you with an opportunity to build a Windows 8 Metro Style application. Start working on your Windows 8 App now, and show off your hard work to your fellow community on National Day. Participants will receive an exclusive (We ship not slide deck) t-shirt :) Registration process 1) Register at http://bit.ly/ndpspecial (you will be placed on a waitlist) 2) Submit a few screenshots of your app that you have developed with a short description (up to 150 words) to win8sg@microsoft.com (Subject: NDP Special Registration) by 6 August 2012 latest. 3) 50+ participants will be placed off the waitlist based on this submission (selection based on first come first serve and quality of idea and app) Note: Due to foreseen high responses and demand, security for the building has been increased on 9 August and you will not be allowed to enter the building without prior confirmation of your registration. Event details Start Date/Time: 9 August 2012 (Thurs), 1.30pm End Date/Time: 9 August 2012 (Thurs), 10.30pm Venue: Microsoft Singapore 1 Marina Boulevard, Level 21 Auditorium Singapore 018989 1.30pm - 2:30pm Registration 2:30pm - 3:00pm Welcome and Introduction 3:00pm onwards Networking + Finalizing Code + Preparation for Show n Tell 5:30pm onwards Live Telecast of NDP 6:30pm onwards Dinner 6:45pm - 7:15pm Live Fireworks :) 7:30pm - 10:30pm Show n Tell Register: http://bit.ly/ndpspecial

[caption id=“attachment_10057” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Windows 8 Cleared for Liftoff happens 25 and 26 July from 9am to 5pm!”][/caption] Now is time to get your App into store; and to help out, Microsoft Singapore is running the first in a series of “Cleared for Liftoff” Sessions here! Details Windows 8 is now in Release Preview, with a Store ready for Singapore developers to publish their apps to the world. This event will assist you in taking your App idea or code and make it ready for App submission. The event will be run in an informal consultative style, on two separate days. You can pop along on either day. We will provide hands on assistance and guidance to move your Windows 8 App go to the next level. Come in at any time during Wednesday 25th or Thursday 26th July to our office at One Marina Boulevard. If you missed one of our earlier Developer Camps – don’t worry, pop along. We’ll be happy to have a chat and take your through developing apps for Windows 8. Alternatively, you can also attend Hackweekend (where our developer evangelists will be there as well to help you along) to get started on your app as well. Pop along, have some lunch, coffee, morning or afternoon tea. Ask your Windows 8 App question. Get your app into store. Become famous! To arrange for a session, simply drop us an email at win8sg@microsoft.com and tell us the rough time that you’re coming in!

[caption id=“attachment_10030” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Hackweekend Begins”][/caption] Last Saturday marked our very first Hack Weekend, with 50 developers who came down to meet new friends and share their ideas. Hack Weekend is not a competition, but rather an opportunity for our developers to have a nice relaxed weekend to pursue their passion in programming in the nice Microsoft environment. [caption id=“attachment_10031” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Chun Siong, our Developer Evangelist, introducing Hackweekend”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10033” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Speaking about effectively prototyping your metro style apps”][/caption] Our developers were welcomed with a sumptuous breakfast, followed by an install fest by our helpful developer evangelists on site to get everyone quickly synced-up for development. Soon after, the event was kick-started by Chun Siong, our Developer Evangelist, who shared with the developers the nature of and what to expect from the event, as well as the growing market potential of our Windows 8 platform! Subsequently, Joyce, a member of our Developer and Platform Evangelism (DPE) Audience Marketing Team, gave an introduction to designing and prototyping apps, and also provided everyone with resources with their app design. [caption id=“attachment_10038” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Li Huan pitching his idea for a Windows 8 App, Facecard”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10036” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Pitching his idea for a sports application tracker”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10037” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Dennis pitching his idea for a video streaming app that allows you to annotate frames”][/caption] The exciting moment came when developers finally took the stage and shared with everyone their app idea. Many of their ideas were very fresh and unique, and some of these ideas included an alarm clock, a finance manager, a slot machine game, a message board etc. Developers who pitched their ideas were awarded with a t-shirt, and subsequently teamed up with members who were either interested in their ideas, or had similar ideas to them. A startup team from CloudyRec also shared about their platform, which serves as a Backend as a Service, and provides a database for apps. [caption id=“attachment_10040” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Nars, showing his prototype for the application”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10042” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Demoing - My Finance app that looked very metrolicious!”][/caption] As the event coincides with the National Day Parade Rehearsal, one of the highlights of the event included the fireworks show. Our Microsoft Office overlooks the Marina Bay Reservoir and the floating platform, which gives an awesome view of the fireworks. During dinner time, the developers packed the viewing gallery at Olio, which provided an awesome view. After the fireworks ended, 15 developers had the opportunity to showcase and demo their prototypes. Many of the ideas were brilliant, even though they may not be fully completed. [caption id=“attachment_10032” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“A fruitful weekend with awesome developers and fireworks!”][/caption] It’s great to see so many of our developers talking to each other, working with friends they have just met and having fun hacking. We’re looking forward to our next Hack Weekend, and having a great time together again! If you are interested to attend our next Hack Weekend on July 28th, please register at http://bit.ly/win8hacksg Find more photos from the event here. Here are some application ideas from this Hackweekend: CardWallet - an electronic organizer of business cards, offering screen captures and tags of the cards. You can search your cards based on categories such as groups or company. CC Messenger - A closed circuit message board is an easy-to-use metro style collaboration app that can be used among closed groups - perfect for friends, family and colleagues. Tiny Quests - A casual RPG game that uses slots game mechanics to complete the game so that users can play on the go (perfect for when you are eating lunch and don’t have too many free fingers. My Finance - A finance tracking application that allows you to keep track of your investment portfolio, CPF contribution, Gold and stock prices and many more. And many more! Download the Windows 8 Release Preview ...