Announcing the Imagine Cup Singapore 2015 Top 16 Semi-Finalist

Hello fellow students, Thank you for your proposal submission. Here are the top 16 teams (in team name order) who have been short listed for the Round 1 Proposal Submission, and will be moving on to the Semi-Finals Team Name 3DiMS 3DiMS Blue Monocle Blue Monocle Concept Crew Easy Bus Trips DevelopToServe Constellation Tele-care System eSpeech Therapists Electronic Speech Therapist Fay Huang Smart Walking Stick Follow Me Follow Me ...

Why is the world in love with Docker?

There is a feeding frenzy when it comes to buzzwords and “Docker” has now become THAT GUY. If you’ve been subscribing to technology blogs, there’s been an active trend with this new buzzword: docker. The cool kids on the block now seem to revolve around anything “Docker” related. There’s even a local Meet-up Group popping up with event #2 under their belt. The momentum is growing and in fact, even large tech giants like Azure and Amazon Web Services just announced their support behind it not too long ago. Not to be outdone by their industrious cousins, startups that are flocking to Docker are making the VC’s fall in love with them, bringing their founders million dollar valuations seemingly overnight!. So what the heck is Docker and why should I care? Background: Docker is actually an open-source project, written in GO (developed by the G-men of Google, born out of their hate of C++) to do one simple thing: ship applications faster. And the cool part is that this drastically changes all the ways we did things in the past. The problem: There is an inherent issue with how we work with the hardware and software. Applications are tied to an Operating System, and because of this, you can’t simply just move an app from one place to another without a whole lot of stuff that happens by the tech guys. Think back to moving your application icons from the desktop of a computer to a new computer…never worked for you did it? And for good reason! & solution: So what Docker did was they created a portable “container” to do just that! Move your applications without having to worry about where it’s running. What this means for the engineers & developers out there, is that they can use any language they prefer and push, pull, move back and forth to any server in be it cloud or virtual/physical machines. Translation: Engineers can focus on developing applications and can get it to your business or users faster because they no longer have to worry about the “back room” stuff. The future: The current eco-system that supports Docker as of today lists some of the big giants like Google and our friends at Microsoft. But not to be outdone, there are some recent startups focused on this as well, even here in Singapore. Specifically… us, Apvera! Stay tuned as we share our process on integrating new tech to solve old problems on our blog. In the mean time, check out a local startup event in the area on docker and try to run into us. For more info go to apvera.com Connect with Paul on 

December 22, 2014 · 3 min ·  Paul Kim

.NET Developers Community Singapore

Hi there, We would like to invite you all to join the .NET Developers Community Singapore.The community is for anyone who are passionate/interested in developing software application in .NET ecosystem and its related technologies. If you happen to be a C#, WPF, ASP.NET, WebAPI 2.1, SignalR, Roslyn, Microsoft Azure, server-side, .NET enthusiast, etc. the community is certainly for you and you should join in. Development using .NET is very exciting, easy and it’s open-source now. We welcome to all developers for the new era of .NET related development and for non .NET developers as well. Try .NET. .NET Core in Linux and Mac The .NET Core project is under the stewardship of the .NET Foundation. We believe that to be a critical part in promoting and advancing the .NET Core stack. You can create all of back-end codes and client side using C# and .NET for cross-platform and multi-platform (Xamarin, Unity 3D, Mono, etc.). One framework, one language that works for all platform and devices. ...

Techology & Education: Bett Asia Leadership Summit 2014

Bett has been the global meeting place for the education technology community, as seen by many of its world-class events. This time, Bett has brought its mission to promote the discovery of technology and knowledge to enhance lifelong learning, to Singapore - Asia’s meeting place for education decision makers. Nonetheless, it was exciting to see some big names up there such as Intel, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, who were dishing out their takes on how technology can be used, adapted and even innovated to better help the learners of today and the future. Along them, many other technology companies and organisations were also putting their take into the mindshare that is technology-aided education. [caption id=“attachment_18933” align=“aligncenter” width=“2048”] Microsoft asks conference attendees to write down: What’s The Future of Education To You?[/caption] Many quotes were passed around, including bold statements such as: ...

Learning Javascript API for Office

Did you know you could build apps for Office? Microsoft already created a JavaScript API tutorial for Office in the form of an app, a long while ago. Really, what the app teaches you are the basic development tasks by letting you interactively run and edit JavaScript code directly in Microsoft Excel! You can start running the tutorial online, but make sure that you’re running at least Internet Explorer 9, Safari 5.0.6, Firefox 5, Chrome 13, or a later version of one of these browsers. If not, you can also download a Windows App version of the tutorial, that will run Microsoft Excel directly, from the Windows Store. [caption id=“attachment_18920” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] Javascript API Napa Tutorial[/caption] Now when we mean basic, the tutorial itself covers: reading and writing text, ranges, tables (including updating data in a table), getting and setting coordinates, and most importantly, making persistent settings. As a bonus, the app allows online access to all tutorials using the “Napa” Office 365 Development Tools too. Also if you didn’t know, because the API Tutorial app references the jQuery library (version 1.7.1), you can also use jQuery in your script! When you run the app from the Excel Web App (and because script is running in the context of the browser you opened it with), most JavaScript supported by that browser should run as well. Neat, huh? If you want a total walkthrough on learning the Javascript API tutorial, you can find out more on the Microsoft Apps for Office and SharePoint blog.

Intel's Future Showcase

Today’s inventions and innovations can change the world of tomorrow, and Intel’s no stranger to that ideal. Having significantly contributed to these changes through their own innovation and research in various areas of technology, Intel’s labs and research locations around the globe have been their driving force. This brings us to the Intel Future Showcase exhibition, which made its way to Singapore last Friday. Partners, influencers and media were given the opportunity to embark on a once-in-a-lifetime journey into the future. Having been exposed to the interesting insights into the technologies of today, it’s been breathtaking to first-handily experience the technology that will change how we live, work and play in the land of tomorrow. [caption id=“attachment_18910” align=“aligncenter” width=“1368”] Intel’s Concepts of The Future, being demonstrated to partners and media alike.[/caption] Starting with “Today”, Intel showcases its fodder of typical tablets powered by their technology, and more interestingly, their take on devices meant for education. These tables are lightweight, made of kid-proof tough plastic (though honestly, kids will find a way) and bundled with a myriad of other built-in peripherals - this including, a back-facing camera with the ability to turn into a fairly sharp microscope, via the attachment of a purposefully made, cheap plastic lens. The essential factor that Intel is playing here, is that the price tag on many of these devices, make them highly accessible for people to pick up. [caption id=“attachment_18909” align=“aligncenter” width=“1368”] Here, Intel Engineers show off some of Intel’s line of tablets for consumers.[/caption] We then move to “Tomorrow”, where we see Intel’s acquisition of Basis Science, come to light with their strategy to shoot into the wearables market by learning how people would interact with the technology, and how well onboard sensors do. Other than the typical pulse, gyroscope and pedometer sensors, additional sensors that check sweat and temperature have also been included, definitely being an ode to Intel’s thirst for gathering data to find better ways to analyze them. Alongside it, Intel RealSense was another notable showcase on its own, where normal built-in camera hardware for laptops and tablets, have been revolutionised to understand depth to become 3D scanners and on-the-fly, gesture-controlled MIDI interpreters. [caption id=“attachment_18908” align=“aligncenter” width=“1368”] Here, an Intel Engineer is explaining the concepts behind this Maker Project.[/caption] Finally, we enter the “Future”, where Intel puts its focus on an interactive environment, where Intel Engineers explain the assortment of physically hacked together contraptions and maker projects. One engineer explains the concept behind a curiously shaped food-net, that has been converted into a proximity musical synthesizer, producing music based on the distance of a group of five’s hands from a series of ultrasonic sensors. Another explains the genius behind a color-sensitive, imaging sensor with potential applications to help the colorblind and construction workers through the color zones. Behind all of these amazing maker projects, is the Intel Galileo development board - the computational brain powering them. [caption id=“attachment_18907” align=“aligncenter” width=“1368”] A picture of an Intel Galileo Board on display, at the Intel Future Showcase.[/caption] The highlights of the showcase culminate in a fully-built smart-city, smart-car demonstration, where Intel tells its story of how the Internet-of-things and smart technology can be put into the dashboard of a smart car, to give a new perspective on car sharing, personal recommendations, emotional sensing and dynamic environmental awareness. Wireless technologies too have never been better, with Intel demoing its wireless charging principles and prototype technologies in a world, where electricity is as free-moving as information itself. What a world to be living in where all you need to do, is look inside.

Startup Feature: BridgingMinds Founder, Nicholas

In the next installment of our Startup and Developer feature series, Spiffy talks to Nicholas Yong, the founder of BridgingMinds, a BizSpark startup. BridgingMinds is a Singapore startup with a recent unique take on online learning systems for companies called LeanersHive. I’ll leave it to Nicholas to tell you more! Describe yourself in three words. Why? Never say DIE! As an entrepreneur and startup, we are constantly finding way to gain acceptance of our new products and services to our clients. It is an up hill battle and many may fall due to the many factors. Strength of character and never say die attitude is what keeps us going strong and listening to our clients on what’s need to be done. ...

Join us for a day of Azure Discovery in November and December 2014

Join us, De-Mystify Azure and the Cloud Microsoft would like to invite you to a one-day Azure Discovery seminar. At this event, you will experience the versatility of the Azure platform, and observe practical benefits that could rapidly transform your own IT projects. Leading cloud experts from Microsoft will show you a platform that is equally valuable to open source and .NET developers and IT professionals—in fact, most components are already available via GitHub. You will discover how to build hybrid on-premise and third-party cloud services, so you can quickly create powerful and compelling new capabilities. ...

Community Technology Update 2014

The Singapore Windows User Group, Singapore DotNet User Group and Singapore PowerShell User Group have come together to organize the 11th Community Technology Update. This will take place on the 15th of November, 2014, from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm at Microsoft Singapore’s Auditorium. See below and this link for more information and to sign up. Date 15th November 2014 Time 0900 – 1730 hrs (Registration opens 08:30) (Networking Event starts at 18:00) ...

Microsoft Startup Partner of the Year Awards 2014

[caption id=“attachment_18832” align=“aligncenter” width=“960”] Clearly the coolest table at the awards ceremony[/caption] The annual Microsoft Partner Awards were held on the evening of 29 October, at the grand ballroom of One Farrer Hotel & Spa - a hotel so spanking new that the taxi uncle didn’t know it existed and got a bit lost trying to get there. Spiffy location aside, it was a night of honouring the many diverse partners Microsoft works with, from resellers to retailers, customers to vendors. Of course, my obvious bias was towards the gathering of BizSpark startup partners. Clearly we were one of the tables with a much (ahem) younger demographic, and though the fried rice I was waiting for on the dinner menu was slightly dry in the end - it was a good opportunity to catch up with the goings-on of some of our brightest Singapore BizSpark stars. Here goes my shameless plug for all four of them. ...