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With the cloud revolution in full swing, there’s never been a greater need for live migration and responsive virtualization, dynamic and cost efficient storage, multi-tenant network virtualization, tight access control and data protection. Get to know how Microsoft Technologies deliver all these and more! Revolutionize your business and your career in IT. Join Tech Elite today! Virtualization, Live Migration, and Multi-Hypervisor Support Provides an integrated and high-performance virtualization platform with a host of new capabilities including live migration compression and live migration with RDMA as well as integrated virtualization management across different hypervisors. ...

[caption id=“attachment_17241” align=“aligncenter” width=“650”] Image from vulcanpost.com[/caption] At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Nokia has announced that the global food delivery app foodpanda app will launch across the Nokia Asha, Lumia and X family of devices. Many partners such as Facebook, BBM, Twitter, LINE, Viber, Electronic Arts, Gameloft and Rovio are also making their key apps available across Nokia’s device portfolio of feature phones, Asha, Nokia X and Lumia. Nokia also unveiled new affordable handsets including a new family of smartphones debuting on the Nokia X software platform. ...

We’re back folks! Thanks for waiting. We are refreshing Windows Phone Challenge #5 with #5.1, and the theme is still “Bridging the GAP” on Windows Phone. Here are the ideas, we will be judging these ideas heavily on UX/UI. Please note that there is a limit of 1 prize per developer. The competition timeline is from 3rd March to 31st March 2014. The deadline for submission is 31st March 2014 2359hrs. Do drop me an email at win8sg@microsoft.com if you are participating in any of the below idea. We would swap out non-popular ideas in near future. Approved Challenge Ideas ...

Do you want to deploy Windows 8.1 the “right way”? Find out how to avoid deployment pitfalls and how to streamline the process with a team of experts, including a key Developer of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT). Benefit from their real-life experience with early adopters, in this recorded session with live Q&A. They start with the basics and then dive deep to teach you how to plan, configure, and manage client deployment to Windows-based computers in Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager and the MDT. Get tips on saving time and money by automating some (if not all) of the process. Why learn the hard way? Join us here on Microsoft Virtual Academy to find out more. Course Outline: ...

Looking for a guide to get the OpenVPN Community Version on Azure? Follow the guide below. So first up, What do we need? 1. 30-Day Trial Azure Subscription [link] 2. A little bit of knowledge of Linux shell commands 3. PuTTY [link] 4. OpenVPN GUI [link] Right. Now that we’ve gone through the pre-requisites, let’s move on to the fun part. First up, we gotta head into Azure and create a virtual machine. Let’s quick create a machine as seen below. A shared core and 768MB of RAM is more than enough for just an OpenVPN server as the overhead isn’t too large. If you want to change the region to another region, go ahead but leave the rest as defaults. Note down the password you use and the username. Once you press the create button, give it a little bit for Azure to set-up everything and then proceed to the next step once you see it’s Status in Azure has been updated to “Running” with a green tick at the left. Now we have to configure some endpoints on the virtual machine itself as to make sure that your internet traffic is able to reach the virtual machine. Go to the Endpoints Tab in your Virtual Machine once it’s been created and hit the add button at the bottom. Both buttons have been highlighted in the image below. Once you select add, you will be presented with a small pop-up wizard. Configure it according to the two images below If it is done correctly, you should have an Endpoints tab looking like the one below. If all is good, it’s time to move on to configuring the virtual machine you just set-up! Now’s the time to fire up PuTTY that you downloaded just a moment ago. Fill up the relevant details in this format: username@dnsname Example: azureuser@spiffyrocks.cloudapp.net Hit Open to start connecting to the virtual machine. You will most likely get a warning like the one below but just hit yes. Next up you’ll have to key your password into the black box, don’t worry if you do not see your password being typed and just continue typing it and hit the Enter key when you’re done. You should be logged into your Azure Virtual machine now and should see something similar to the image below. Now, let’s proceed onto this by just typing commands into the box above. Each line means a new command. ...

This Chinese New Year, go ahead and indulge and binge! That’s because Nokia has got it all sorted to help you get your fitness back on track once the feasting is over. Check out the fab fitness apps listed below which can help you stay motivated and keep you focused on your goals! Plus, you can now get Chinese New Year Greetings at your fingertips! This Windows Phone app allows you to browse various auspicious greetings in Mandarin, with the English “han yu pin yin” provided and a voice prompt indicating how to say the Mandarin greeting with accuracy - very handy while visiting relatives and friends! ...

EVENT AGENDA 9:00 - 10:00am // Registration and Coffee Welcome to the first ever BizSpark Summit in Singapore! Registration begins at 9am and we’ll be serving you free flow of coffee and tea throughout the event - it’s time to start networking with fellow founders and investors. 10:00 - 10:10am // Opening remarks, Microsoft Singapore Nobuhiro Ito, Director, Developer and Platform Evangelism Group, Microsoft Singapore As Director for the DPE group, Nobuhiro leads efforts to build a vibrant solutions ecosystem through evangelism, community engagement and technology marketing. Hailing from Japan, Nobuhiro is a Microsoft veteran who has experienced the huge wave of growth in both the Consumer and Commercial business. 10:10 - 10:30am // Microsoft Ventures Keynote Vanessa Gao, CEO-in-Residence, Microsoft Ventures, Greater China Region Vanessa Gao is the CEO-in-residence of Microsoft Ventures Accelerator in Greater China. The Microsoft Ventures Accelerator program was launched in Beijing in 2012, providing start-ups with free cloud services, workspace and direct market exposure. During this session, Vanessa will share about the programs under Microsoft Ventures and how your startup can benefit from it. Vanessa was previously Industry Director of the Health Solutions Group in Microsoft’s Greater China Region and led all health-related government affairs, partnerships and strategy. 10:30 - 11:00am // What investors are looking for in 2014 [Panel Session] From new innovations in wearable tech and the rise of Bitcoin and big data, which markets interest investors the most? Join the panel discussion to find out what investors are looking out for in 2014. Frances Du, Director, Microsoft Ventures, Greater China Region Ms. Du has over 10 years of work experience in private equity and venture capital in China, with additional strong experience in corporate finance, investment banking, industry and equity research. Tan Ying Lan, Venture Partner, Sequioa Capital India Yinglan is a Venture Partner with Sequoia Capital India. Prior to joining the firm, Yinglan headed the National Framework for Innovation and Enterprise, investing in high-tech growth ventures in the Prime Minister’s Office in Singapore. Earlier, Yinglan had been the founding Director of 3i Venturelab China and an entrepreneur in the digital media industry. Yinglan was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and is a Kauffman Fellow. 11:00am - 12:00pm // Getting to Series A - Fundraising for your startup Dinesh Bhatia, CEO, MyHero Capital is the financial power essential for every potential entrepreneur to scale their product and establish a foothold in the market. Tradehero, developed by MyHero, is a app that allows people to stimulate trades on the stock market without forking hard cash. This BizSpark Plus startup has raised a remarkable US$10 million funding round- one of the largest Series A rounds for a consumer startup in the region and is expanding aggresively. Participating Investors includes Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers and IPV Capital. Dinesh will share about the process of funding raising and how you can overcome the challenges. 12:00 - 1:00pm // Lunch & Lunchtime Concert by Nick Tan We have a special treat for you! Sit back and enjoy local singer-song writer Nick Tan’s performance while enjoying lunch. Nick is no stranger to the local music scene and in the spirit of sharing about entrepreneurial endaveours, he will be also be sharing about how he launched his music career with $0. Sit back, relax and enjoy as he performs for the audience during lunch break. 1:00pm - 1:30pm // The talent crunch - Hiring, training and retaining a great technical team in Singapore [Panel Session] A great technical team can make or break a startup’s product development and speed to go-to-market. A recurring problem we hear from founders is the lack of technical talent and the challenges in hiring the right technical people. In this session, discover what motivates a great technical team and how to go about building it from two companies who have succeeded in doing so. Carl Coryell-Martin, Principal, Neo Neo is a global product innovation company. Neo designs and builds mobile and Web products, creates corporation innovation programs, and transforms internal talent by pairing and teaching. Carl Coryell-Martin has worked with agile software methods since 2000 when he implemented the practices in Kent Beck’s Extreme Programming Explained in his first startup. He was previously the Practice Manager for Pivotal Lab’s Singapore development office. Among his many projects, he built the successful BirdsEye iphone app for North American bird watchers. Mark Glikson, Founder & CEO, Gumbuya Inc Mark Glikson, is the CEO & Founder of Gumbuya Inc. Gumbuya is building a contextual semantic platform = “a way to make things work together, as they were intended”.Prior to Gumbuya, Mark spent 9 years at Microsoft Corporation, most recently as the General Manager of the Developer and Platform Group for Asia Pacific. In his life previous to Microsoft, Mark worked as a Chief Technology Officer, Architect and Founder always centred by how technology can transform the way people live. Shen Qiang, CTO-in-Residence, Microsoft Ventures, Greater China Region Shen Qiang is an accomplished leader with 20 years of engineering development and management experiences. He is the CTO in residence for Microsoft Ventures, focus on building a strong portofolio of startup companies and accelerating their growth. In the past years, he focused on telecom and internet services areas and built several industry significant services. Qiang has the right mix of entrepreneur thinking and start-up style execution. In his rich experience, he built the technical team from scratch and then grow the team for many times, and led them to create some innovative online services successfully. 1:30pm - 2:00pm // Making better decisions with analytics Marc Andreesen once said that “markets that don’t exist don’t care how smart you are.” Whether you’re a startup founder trying to disrupt an industry, or an intrapreneur trying to provoke change from within, your biggest risk is building something nobody wants. By measuring and analyzing as you grow, you can validate whether a problem is real, find the right customers, and decide what to build, how to monetize it, and how to spread the word. In this session, Dibyo will share how analytics can help you make better decisions. Dibyo Haldar, Analytics Manager, Facebook Dibyo is an analytics and insights professional with 11 years of experience across Coca-cola, Marketics and Skype. He is currently an analytics manager at Facebook. 2:00pm - 3:00pm // Startup Showcase Coming soon! Looking for amazing pitches from some of our most innovative startups? After a rigorous selection process, seven startup finalists will pitch to our Microsoft Ventures team and stand a chance to pitch at Startup Asia 2014. Startups will be pitching live in front of the panel of judges and investors. So take a look how these startups deliver their pitches and get some tips for your own. Our Partners ...

We’re back folks! Thanks for waiting. In Windows Phone Challenge #5, the theme is “Bridging the GAP” on Windows Phone. We have taken your feedback from the past Windows Phone Challenges into consideration and will be exercising flexibility for ideas generation for #5. How? You will suggest the Ideas for this Challenge. We will give priority to ideas relevant to Singapore’s context. We have 3 recommended ways to generate Challenge Ideas, but please don’t let that stop you from proposing your own original ideas :) *Update* First 10 approved Challenge Ideas will be awarded 20GB of OneDrive storage space for a year! ...

Chinese New Year is an important traditional Chinese holiday celebrated on the first day of the year of the lunar calendar. There will be many great sales and necessary shopping to be done. I have compiled some of the best deals you can get from Q0010 Singapore (which coincidentally, has a Windows Phone app here). Usually, our local shopping malls will be packed to the brim with people, so here’s a good way to beat the crowd! *Shipping fees are waived when you purchase any CNY dresses. #1 Wearing New Clothes It is believed that we should start the New Year off right with new clothes. From head to toe, all your clothes and accessories should be brand new. Some girls prefer wearing traditional dress like the Qi Pao, but usually most girls just wear modern western-style clothing. People wear red on Chinese New Year because red represents prosperity, fortune and luck. At Q0010, there are plenty of casual work dress and party dresses that are red for the festive season. This will be perfect for Chinese New Year. Ladies, click here. Gentlemen, click here. #2 Red Packets (Ang Baos) ...

Hey BizSpark Startups**!** Microsoft BizSpark will be organizing BizSpark Summit Startup Pitch where startups will pitch to Microsoft Ventures and stand a chance to enter Startup Asia 2014 Arena to bring home a prize money of US$10,000 in cash. There will be two qualifying rounds. Pitch Training by Tech in Asia Startups can register to attend a free pitch training session by Willis Wee, Founder of Tech In Asia. Each participating startup will give a 5-10 minutes pitch, followed by Q&A and discussion. Participants will be provided with training and feedback on pitch delivery techniques. *Only for 20 selected BizSpark startups. The business pitch will be 5-10 minutes compelling and concise summary of a proposed solution or product. Slides, demonstrations and other presentation materials are encouraged. Pitch to Microsoft Ventures at BizSpark Summit 2014 The top startups will be invited to BizSpark summit, which will be held on 27th February 2014 at Microsoft Singapore Auditorium. Six qualifying startups will then present to a panel of distinguished judges from Microsoft Ventures China and stand to qualify for Startup Arena 2014 at Startup Asia. Details of the pitch training: Date: 5th February 2014 Venue: Microsoft Singapore, One Marina Boulevard Level 22, Room 22BR-01 Time: 1pm- 4pm Agenda for Pitch Training Workshop: 1:00 - 1:15 “What makes a good pitch?” 1:15 - 1:30 “Guidelines on how to create a good pitch” 1:30 - 2:15 “Pitch creation (with template provided)” 2:15 - 2:50 Pitch Practice 2:50 - 3:00 Wrap up Pitch Criteria: 1. Clear, concise, professional and stayed within the ten-minute time frame. 2. Product or service concept, customer benefits and market opportunity are clear, compelling. 3. Business seems viable and feasible. The online registration form: http://sdrv.ms/1lAfF3N Deadline: 28 January 2014 Thank you for your interest. We look forward to hearing great pitches from you guys!