Watch tertiary students pitch their hearts out at the Semis and Finals of Imagine Cup 2012: Singapore

Happening from 13– 14 Apr at *SCAPE, Imagine Cup 2012 : Singapore Finals will be open and free for public viewing this year. The annual Microsoft Imagine Cup is the world’s premier student technology competition. Talented students from the various institutions of higher learning will compete and pitch their hearts out in this national software design competition to represent Singapore in the Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals held in Sydney, Australia. Students all over the world are to use their imagination and passion to create a technology solution that addresses the Imagine Cup 2012 theme: Imagine a world where technology solves the world’s toughest problems. In ten years, the Imagine Cup has grown to be a 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 a platform for students to: ...

April 4, 2012 · 2 min ·  Spiffy

Campfire - Two days of cutting edge learning and inspiration

Campfire proudly presents two days of cutting edge learning and inspiration from April 13 - 14, 2012. Join us for an action-packed conference designed especially for developers, designers, UX experts and entrepreneurs in the web technology space. We’re flying in great speakers from across the globe specially to talk to you about trending topics like HTML5, The Kinect effect and so much more. If you’re looking to learn about the latest web development opportunities, then you’ve come to the right place. ...

March 29, 2012 · 1 min ·  Spiffy

Live Blogging from Build for Windows 8!

Build for Windows 8 is the first dev camp we are running here in Singapore and we’re really excited to share with you the opportunities that Windows 8 brings to you as a developer! We’re really happy to have around 200 developers join us in this session. If you couldn’t attend today, don’t worry, we’ll be live blogging and sharing with you resources from the dev camp! Slides will also be made available here so remember to check this page out. Tweet us @gospiffy and use the hashtag #BuildforWin8SG 930AM - We started the day with an introduction with Alex introducing the upcoming events for Windows 8, including Campfire. We’re flying in speakers who are experts in HTML 5 and other interesting subjects in the web tech space to talk to you from 13th - 14th April! Register here: campfire.weshipcode.com 945AM - Our awesome director, Ziriad Saibi talking about the opportunity for developers. Windows 7 numbers are at 500M. That’s not even including other Windows powered devices. 10.00AM - Hammad, architect evangelist, talking about the Metro UI and demonstrating the investments that went into Windows 8 to create a beautiful user experience for everyone (yes, even developers). 1030AM - Search is an interesting factor for developers, when a user is searching on Windows and if your app is relevant, it pops up immediately on the results screen without having to go into a browser! 1045AM - Are you a HTML5 / Javascript / .Net/ C++developer? Then you’re already equipped to be a Windows 8 developer. 11.00AM - Short break! Time for some tea. In meantime, meet Kim, our presenter for Metro UI later on! 1115AM - We are demoing a camera capture class. Its really easy to set up! Hammad just made the audience scream ‘Metro’ and we now have videographic evidence of your presence here - uploading to Facebook. (Just Kidding, you guys are great!) 1120AM - Tiles are a great mechanism for drawing users’ attention to your application! Make sure you take some time to customize it. 1130AM - Content before chrome. Interesting research shows that browser users are hardwired into thinking that our browser chromes are the main part of experience and not the content itself. The Metro UI allows content to come first. Immerse your users in the thing s they love instead of wasting space with the chrome. Let layout flow from edge to edge, pan only on a single axis to create a sense of stability. - more on that later during the UX session. 1140AM - Life is made a lot simpler when you use the templates from Visual Studio to create your first Metro style app. 1150AM - Introducing the App Bar: Most apps will have the app bar at the bottom that allow the user use common commands. 1157AM - Try Semantic Zooms to show richer, meta information on your groups. 1203PM - Design for touch first! Most people use the sides to navigate through the apps.. don’t expect them to use too many fingers at once! (Unless you want them to spill their Starbucks coffee all over their tablet.) 1215PM - Lunch! Did you guys enjoy it? 1.20PM - Full and ready to learn more about Windows 8 development! Kim is sharing about resources for developing on the Metro UI. He’s also giving great tips about the commanding surfaces that allows users to have greater interaction with the touch device. R. emember to check out our tutorial about Visual Blend, that will help you prototype UIs quickly. 1.35PM - Need design assests? Download them here. 1.45PM - Remembering to scale your graphics properly is important! Run it on the emulator to try how it looks like. 1.50PM - We love animations that make your app feel more alive. Built in controls are provided for free. You can also look for more in the Windows 8 Animation Library. Very useful. 2.00PM - 5 T-Shirts given to our awesome attendees! Great questions on the APIs, porting of apps. Keep the questions coming in! 2.05PM - Darren Sim, talking about integrating applications with web services. 2.13PM - Again, search is universally accessible and contextual. Darren is demo-ing it right now! 2.40PM - A really funny presentation from Darren who is sharing about how to call certain features using javascript. The tutorial is found on MSDN. 3.00PM - So many questions! And the IE T-shirts seem to be really popular. 3.15PM - Breaktime! We took some videos of the attendees, thanks for the feedback. Great to see Android and iOS developers here as well. Seem like the market share is an interesting factor when it come to deciding which platform to develop for. 3. 30PM - Hammad, our Win 8 champ, is on again. We’re learning about extension methods that bridge the gap between the new Windows Runtime and managed code. When you use Runtime, your apps are going to be super fast. 4.00PM - Ed Quek from Microsoft APAC is sharing about the Windows Store right now. 4.05PM - demoing the Windows Store, did you know that 70% of apps get buried in the app store? Windows is going to help you overcome that! Check out how to sell your apps and the descriptions you’ll need here. 4.30PM - As a developer you get 70% of whatever you sell on the store. If you get over US$25,000 you get 80%! It’s a tiered model. 4.38PM - Trials matter. You get a 70% better chance of converting users into paying ones by offering trials! Keep that in mind when you’re deciding the price and sales model. 4.40PM - Singapore is one of the countries with that will have the Windows Store supported. Go little red dot! 4.45PM - The cost to register for a Windows Store developer account in the United States is 49 USD for an individual and 99 USD for a company. For the price in your local currency, see Developer countries and regions.

Build for Windows 8 Comes to Singapore

Apps are going to be at the center of the new Windows 8 experience. As a developer, you will be given unprecedented access to millions of Windows users worldwide. Microsoft is proud to bring Build for Windows 8 to Singapore, a free, fun, no-fluff event for developers, by developers. This full day event will let you experience developing on the new Windows 8 platform. You will learn from experts in a low-key, interactive way and then you’ll get to apply what you’ve learned. Spaces are limited, register at bit.ly/buildforwin8 now! Time and Date - 9am to 5pm, 30th March 2012 Location - Level 22, Microsoft Singapore,1 Marina Boulevard, One Marina Boulevard, Singapore 018989 ...

March 22, 2012 · 4 min ·  Spiffy

Thank You And A Preview Of Apps From #WhereIsMyLumia Campaign

The Lumia series represents a significant milestone of Microsoft & Nokia’s partnership in bringing a new experience to Windows Phone users. Developers play a big role in shaping this experience with us. To allow more developers in Singapore the experience of developing on the Windows Phone platform, we announced the #WhereIsMyLumia campaign a little over two months ago. So far we have been overwhelmed by the response, with more than 100 developers applying with their wonderful app ideas. Although we couldn’t give everyone theirs this time, we are still committed to supporting you with the resources needed in the development process. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION AND SUPPORT! Look out for our upcoming campaigns and training sessions for the Windows Phone and Windows 8 platforms as well! We sincerely thank you for you support and feel free to drop us an email, a tweet or facebook message if we could help you with anything else. In meantime, here’s a sneak peak of the first few apps developed from #WhereIsMyLumia: 1. SG Promotions by Steve Teo - sg.promotions is a locator that allows bargain-hunters to find promotions in Singapore For the lite version. 2. Gradulator by Tan Jianhao Steve - Gradulator is a one-of-a-kind application that allows users to aim for the grades that they want, by calculating how much they need for their final exam! (Definitely a handy app for all students out there.) 3. Pics on Geo by Lim Hong Wei Kelvin - Pics on Geo automatically geo tags the users photos when taken. At the same time, users can see photos geo-tagged and recommended by other friends. 4. SP Render by Tan Eik Chor Christopher - This app is particularly useful for those thinking of taking a course in Digital Media. It showcases the best works by the graduating cohort of 2012, School of Digital Media and Infocomm Technology (DMIT), Singapore Polytechnic (SP), with award-winning spectra of projects. Congratulations again to all the developers who took part in #WhereIsMyLumia and got their Lumia 800! We’re looking forward to your apps and hope you have a fun time developing them. Look out for our upcoming campaigns for Windows 8 and Windows Phones as well!

March 20, 2012 · 2 min ·  Spiffy

Preview Screening of Ctrl-Alt-Compete @Blk71 And Why Startups Need To Watch It

You won’t find a more relevant discussion about the current state of startups in the United States than in Clt-Alt-Compete. The documentary, which is screening privately at the moment, follows the lives of 5 startup founders and their teams. While shot in the US, I think many of the issues raised, mindsets showcased, also reflect the attitudes of startups here in Singapore - minus the flamboyance and with a little less ego. I refuse to spoil the movie for you, because I’m insisting that everyone interested in the startup scene should watch it. The show is peppered with tonnes of great quotes from superstar entrepreneurs like Tony Hsieh of Zappos, Micah Baldwin of Graphic.ly, Ben Huh of Cheezburger and venture capitalist Mark Suster of GRP Partners (who is somewhat a demi-god VC author at Both Sides of the Table). Some of these scenes from Clt-Alt-Compete left a lasting impression on me, particularly: ...

How to Develop Apps for Windows 8 Consumer Preview in 5 Easy Steps

Welcome to developing for Windows 8 Consumer Preview! You’ve witnessed the brand new Windows 8 experience from the Consumer Preview. Why not start developing for it now? This start-up kit will help you create exciting new experiences for Windows users globally. Let’s get started! Step 1. Check for recommended system requirements to ensure optimal development performance. If you’re all revved up to start developing apps for Windows 8, check for the list of recommended system requirements. ...

Imagine Cup 2012 : Round 1 Result Announcement

The result for the Imagine Cup 2012 - Round 1 will be announced here progressively in the next few hours as we complete the paperwork for each team. The order of the team announcement is in random order (1st to be announced != highest score). Typhoon [NYP] AlphaWaves [NYP] Health Angle [NTU] Eynteract [SP/TP] Team Social Cops [NTU] Kinecteract [NYP] Kinect4Sleep [NYP] Oceanic [NUS] BabyGuardian [TP] The Avengers [NYP] PainNix [SP] ShadowHolic [SP] Puff Legacy II [NUS/NYP] Super Mario [NYP] Dyslexic Mediators [TP] TechConnect [SUTD] The results are all out. Thank you! For those who did not qualify into Round 2, we will like to thank you for your participation and hope to see you in our future events!

February 12, 2012 · 1 min ·  Yizhe

Live Streaming now on for the Kinect + Developer Conference

Due to over whelming response for the Kinect + Developer conference held in National University of Singapore, we have decided to host a “Live” Streaming of the event. This is once in a lifetime chance for you to directly interact and hear first-hand from them with Kinect experts from Microsoft Research. The conference will be stream from 2.15pm – 4pm, with a short 10 minutes break in between them. Flow of event ...

60 Developers, 15 Hours of coding for 16 Great Windows Phone Application

We had many developers coming down to the Microsoft Singapore venue to compete in the Nokia X-Calibre Hackathon conducted by Nokia Singapore on 19 November 2011. Everyone is busy coding and polishing our their best Windows Phone 7 Application for the competition within a short period of 15 hours. They were all working on application for the Windows Phone 7.5 (code-named “Mango”) using the 7.1 SDK. In the Microsoft Singapore venue, we had 4 Windows Phone 7 Champs assisting the competitors to answer technical and design issues during the competition. 3 of those Windows Phone 7 Champs are also Microsoft Student Partners - Kin Seng, Kim and myself. Lots of awesome applications were completed during the competition, I shall update on the screenshots and results later as judging is still going on. ...

November 22, 2011 · 1 min ·  Cheng Lei