After exams, Microsoft New Zealand is kicking off a roadshow to visit tertiary students across the country. With Windows 8 being released on October 26th, our recent Microsoft Surface announcement, new phones running Windows Phone 8 coming soon, Microsoft is the most exciting company in tech. And we are coming to a campus near you!

Join students from every tertiary institute in New Zealand, as Microsoft New Zealand presents two sessions at the venue near you - an evening session for all students , and an afternoon hands on technical session. For Auckland students we are running a special 14 hour,  Windows 8 Weekend Bootcamp on November 24th & 25th! So register your seat today.

 #1: An evening session for ALL STUDENTS, to hear about exciting opportunities from Microsoft!   Hear the latest from Microsoft, then stay for pizza, drinks, and instant prizes!

We are currently recruiting Microsoft Student Partners to lead technology conversations on campus. If you have a passion for the latest and greatest, this programme gives you the resources and the opportunity to develop the skills necessary for a successful career.
We recently launched the new-and-improved Microsoft Imagine Cup technology competition. Work individually or in teams to build software over the summer break - win cash, prizes, and maybe even a trip to Russia to represent NZ at the world's premier "software olympics"!
And finally, we'll tell you why you should consider building a Windows 8 app. And with simple templates, building apps is easier than you think...

Whether you're finishing university soon, or staying a student for a while longer, this session will be based around improving employability - and will discuss careers both at Microsoft and at our many partner organisations. Register your seat today:

That's right - the entire app building process, from start to finish. It doesn't matter if you are an experienced programmer, or completely new to building apps. We will start with an introduction to Visual Studio 2012, show off the built-in templates for Windows Store apps in Windows 8, and work with you to customise the templates to create your very own app.
With over a billion PCs in use, Windows represents the largest platform in the world. This unprecedented reach, combined with the fact that any PC running Windows 7 can run Windows 8, presents you with a tremendous revenue opportunity.

For the full hands-on experience, please bring your own laptop with Windows 8 and Visual Studio 2012 installed, or just come along to watch. Register now:

#3: A weekend bootcamp for TECHNICAL STUDENTS, to learn how to build Windows 8 apps!

Give us a 14 hours over two days and we will give your first Windows 8 application.

That's right - the entire app building process, from start to finish. It doesn't matter if you are an experienced programmer, or completely new to building apps. We will start with an introduction to Visual Studio 2012, show off the built-in templates for Windows Store apps in Windows 8, and work with you to customise the templates to create your very own app.

Pre-requisites for the bootcamp:

• Please bring your own laptop with Windows 8 and Visual Studio 2012 installed
• You must attend 80% of the event across the two days
• Be prepared to develop and submit your first app
• You must be a tertiary student in 2012
• Be prepared to build and develop and app, no spectators please :)

Prizes:

• Every student that attends the entire two days will receive a snazzy Windows 8 Polo shirt
• Every student that completes an app over the weekend and gets it published to the store will receive a Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse.

What do we promise:

• To provide an interactive and hands on workshop over the 14 hour period
• To provide you with copious amounts of food and drinks and keep you energised for the 14 hour marathon.
• There will also be three slates up for grabs for the best Windows 8 apps

Register now:

For a quick snapshot of upcoming events check out the below table

With the announcement of Windows 8 General Availability imminent. We are going to extraordinary lengths to help kick start your Windows 8 app portfolio.

The boot camp is designed to help attendees build their first app and get it published on the store.

That's right, at the end of this event, you will have successfully submitted your first Windows 8 app to the Windows Store.

The event is designed to help you work through a template project where you can add your own content and get it ready for the store.

To prepare for this workshop you must meet the following requirements:

• Have a machine with Windows 8 RTM and the Developer Tools installed

• By attending the event you commit to completing the application and submitting it to the store

• Be able to attend at least 80% of the boot camp on the Sunday from 9am-9pm

• Be a current student
• Have a current credit card so you can activate your free store account

Where: Microsoft Building, Level 5, 22 Viaduct Harbour Ave, Viaduct Harbour, Auckland CBD.

When: 23rd September, 9am -9pm

Cost: Free

Register: http://bit.ly/UbGU4g 

Food and Drinks provided as well as spot prizes.

Agenda will be provided on the day.

Questions - post questions on our Facebook page.

When –  3 options - 28th, 29th or 30th August

Where – University of Auckland, Business School, OGGB Building, Lab 6 and 7

When – 10 – 3pm

Free Event

Register at - https://win8.msregistration.com/EventList.aspx – Create an account on https://win8.msregistration.com/ and the register for one of the Auckland Student Camps.

Windows 8 Student Workshops

With the announcement of Windows 8 General Availability in late October of this year there is no better time to build your Windows 8 Metro App and make it available on the store.

As part of the lead up to the launch we are running several Windows 8 Camps to help you get connected with the local MS team as well as the local Windows 8 developer community.

Join us at the camp and learn how to get started, see some of our local apps in progress and find out the process to get your app on the store.

What’s a Windows Workshop?

Windows Camps are free, fun, no-fluff events for developers, by developers. You learn from experts in a low-key, interactive way and then you’ll get to apply what you’ve learned.

The camps are designed to be short as most of the actual development will take place in your own time, this is a great opportunity to network with others, meet your local MS reps and also kick start your Windows 8 development.

What am I going to learn?

At this Windows Camp, you’ll learn how to develop for the Windows 8 Platform. Topics include how to build Windows 8 apps, tooling, UI and Controls, and more.

 What do you need to bring?

The labs are designed to be hands on so bring your own machine with the Windows 8 RP installed and the developer tools required to build Windows 8 Applications. Check out the resources on the Windows 8 site to get started on your app now.

You can also register for the Win a Slate competition by building a Windows 8 app which finishes on the 9th of September.

(Agenda subject to change)

What does it cost and how do I register?

Windows Camps are free. We appreciate your time, so we take care of the rest. Registration is free, but it’s also limited to keep things interactive and fun. We recommend you register right away to make sure you get a seat. Registration links below.

Any Questions?

If you have any questions, please email nzedu@microsoft.com. If you can no longer attend this event, please cancel your registration so we can reassign the place to another person.

That's right, the first 40 students

to publish 3 Windows Phone Apps

between 1-Aug and 30-September

will each WIN a NOKIA LUMIA 710!

40x Nokia Lumia 710 Windows Phones up for grabs.

Don't miss out.

All you need to do is take the leap.

Start building great apps for the Windows Phone Marketplace.

So if you have the time (and can come up with three ideas) there is no reason to put it off any longer! For those new to the platform, Windows Phone development is completed using easy tools, Visual Studio 2010 and Expression Blend, both available as free versions to develop for the phone. Use Silverlight and XNA to build rich, immersive experiences in the languages you know, C#, VB.Net. And with exposure to a global market there is a huge opportunity to be the next Angry Birds.

If you're stuck and looking for resources, just do a quick search and you will find a plethora of training material - but to get you started, check out:

• Jump Start Training Sessions
• Mini Training Videos
• MSDN Resources
• Absolute Beginner videos
• App Hub Registration Walkthrough
• App Hub FAQ
• Resources from our latest Student workshop

Stay tuned to our Student Facebook page where you can post questions and stay up to date with the latest technology announcements.

So what do I have to do?

Email us at nzedu@microsoft.com and let us know you are taking part. Just send us your full name, email address, cellphone number, and a brief description of the apps you plan on building.

Following this, we will send regular updates on the status of the competition until all 40 phones have been given away.

Then get started on your 3 applications, and publish them to the Windows Phone Marketplace before 30 September 2012.

The winners will be the first 40 competitors to email three links (to their three applications on the Marketplace) to nzedu@microsoft.com. If the link is not yet active, it will not count until the application is live on the Marketplace.

For further specifications, read all the knitty gritty in the terms and conditions below.

This competition is very much a race.

On your marks, get set, GO...

Windows Phone Competition - Terms and Conditions:

Eligibility

1. To be eligible - you must be a New Zealand Resident using a New Zealand Market Place Account

2. To be eligible for the Nokia Lumia 710, you must have 3 new published Windows Phone application anytime between the 1st of August 2012 to 30th September 2012

3. Entries must be emailed to nzedu@microsoft.com with a link to all three applications on the Market Place and a short one line sentence describing the application

4. Valid applications must be published under the same Windows Marketplace account, and must be submitted from the same email address.

5. Each application submitted cannot be a follow-my-feed, app-maker, or other online-tool-created applications.

6. Each application must be different from each other and follow a different theme.

7. The judges reserve the right not to select a winner if entries are judged not to be of the required standard.

8. Restrictions on Applications: Applications must be free for Marketplace users to download

9. Competitors can win a maximum of one phone

10. Microsoft is not responsible for entries not received and incomplete, illegible, 'hacked' or otherwise fraudulent entries are not valid.

11. By entering this prize draw you agree to be bound by these terms & conditions.

12. Each emailed entry up to the first 40 competitors with three new published apps will receive 1 Nokia Lumia 710

13. Winners will be notified no later then the 5th of October 2012 via the email or contact phone number provided.

14. Prizes will be delivered to each winner at a New Zealand address (as advised by the winner) at Microsoft's expense.

15. Only people living in New Zealand are eligible to win. Employees and independent contractors (and each of their immediate family members) of Microsoft are not eligible to enter.

16. Prizes are not transferable or redeemable for cash. If you are unable or unwilling to accept your prize, Microsoft may award it to an alternate winner.

17. If you accept a prize you will be solely responsible for all applicable taxes related to accepting the prize.

18. If for any reason an advertised prize is unavailable, Microsoft may substitute the advertised prized for another prize which has approximately the same recommended retail price.

19. If there is a dispute as to who submitted the winning entry, the winner will be the authorized account holder of the market place account used to publish the Windows Phone Application. Applications submitted in to the draw must be by the actual owner of the Market Place Account.

20. Microsoft New Zealand Limited is the promoter of this prize draw and may modify these terms & conditions without notice. The judge's decision in relation to the winners or any other aspect of this prize draw is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

21. Microsoft may disqualify, from participating in this prize draw, any person who tampers with the entry process, or submits an entry not in accordance with these terms and conditions.

22. Microsoft is committed to complying with the Government gift and ethics policies. Employees and independent contracts of the Government must adhere to gift and ethics policies applicable to them when entering this prize draw or accepting any prize.

23. Microsoft is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, servers or providers, or any combination thereof. Nor is it responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information caused by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in this prize draw, or by any technical or human error that may occur in the course of the administration of this prize draw.

24. To the extent permitted by law, Microsoft, its retailers, suppliers, associated companies and agencies will not be liable to you for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage whatsoever, including personal injury, which is suffered as a result of, or arising from, your participation in the prize draw or winning (or not winning) any prize.

25. At Microsoft, we are committed to protecting your privacy. Microsoft will collect and use your details for the purposes of running this prize draw. You can access or request correction of your details by emailing uptodate@microsoft.com.

Thanks to everyone for entering the Windows Phone Community Competition – 98 entries of which only 82 were actual free apps and were eligible for the competition.

It was a difficult task assessing each and every entry, so we unfortunately had to extend the judging process by two weeks. The winners were notified on the 5th of May – so congratulations to the 9 winners.

THE FINAL RESULTS:

Be Creative ::
Win 1 of 3 Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phones!

The be Creative category was drawn first – 11 developers submitted more then 5 apps, 58 in total and were put into this draw, the category was draw randomly – the following are the winners:

Amit Chand – Publisher Name – Zapi
Daniel Ballinger – Publisher Name – FishOfPrey
Gordana Zivkovic – Publisher Name – nz bee

Be Great ::
Win 1 of 3 Samsung Focus S Windows Phones!

The remaining 65 entries were then assessed on the quality of their applications. The main criteria here was that the application was functional, easy to use. Extra brownie points for local NZ apps. The short list below:

…And the winners are:

Animal Splits
NZ Bach Finder
Neon Starfighter

Be Lucky ::

Win 1 of 3 Samsung Omnia W (Focus Flash) Windows Phones!

The final remaining 62 entries were then all put in the random lucky draw to win one of three Samsung Omnia Phones – and the winners are:

Postcode Finder
Crying Elf
Track Me

Again – thanks to everyone for the interest in this competition – we will be running another competition details will be posted in the next week so stay tuned!

• The Windows 8 Platform
• Metro Style apps
• Tools
• UI and Controls
• Integrating with the OS
• Managing states
• Notification and PLM
• Hardware: Media, Camera, Sensors
• Windows Store APIs

(Agenda subject to change)

What happens at these camps?
The first part of the camp will be lecture style presentations by expert trainers to give you an overview of the Windows 8 platform. The second part is a Hands-on-Labs workshop where you will have access to a Windows 8 Computer to complete hands on training. Attend one, or both. For the lab part of the event, space is very limited and we will be prioritising slots to those developers who commit to building a Metro Style App for Windows 8 to put into practice what they learn in the lab. Don’t worry we won’t be getting you to sign a contract or anything like that but we will follow up with you after the lab to see how things are progressing and what you have chosen to build.

What does it cost and how do I register?
Windows Camps are free. We appreciate your time, so we take care of the rest. Registration is free, but it’s also limited to keep things interactive and fun. We recommend you register right away to make sure you get a seat. To keep things simple, just you, some ID and maybe something to take notes on.

Any Questions?
If you have any questions, please email msdnnz@microsoft.com. If you can no longer attend this event, please cancel your registration so we can reassign the place to another person.

Christchurch 20 March	Wellington 21 March	Auckland 22/23 March
Lecture: 9 –1pm Addington Events Centre Twigger Street, Addington, Tower Junction, Christchurch	Lecture: 9 –1pm Mac’s BrewBar Function Centre, Taranaki Street Entrance, Wellington	Lecture: 9 - 5pm (day 1) Event Cinemas Metro Building, C1, Level 3, 291-297 Queen St, Auckland
Lab: 2 – 6pm Addington Events Centre Twigger Street, Addington, Tower Junction, Christchurch	Lab: 2 – 6pm Cliftons Wellington, Level 28, Majestic Centre, 100 Willis St, Wellington	Lab: 9 – 1pm (day 2) Cliftons Auckland Level 2, 45 Queen St Auckland

Terms and Conditions

Windows Phone Student Competition extended to 18th May – with grace period ending 1st June.

To enter -

- submit your phone application to http://create.msdn.com

- email nzedu@microsoft.com before 18th May with

- link to your phone application

- details of your phone application

- your contact details

Go in the draw to win one of 8 Windows Phones.

8 Windows Phones up for grabs – including 3 Nokia Lumia 800’s T&C’s apply.

Join Microsoft for a Windows Phone Student Camp!
The event is designed to be hands-on, so bring your laptops with the Windows Phone Tools installed, and start building your own Windows Phone apps. The team will run through hands-on demonstrations, showing you some of the features within Visual Studio and Expression Blend you can use to deliver great-looking fully-functional applications.

And of course, this being Microsoft, we have loads of prizes to give away.

There are five sessions that you can attend, so book in the time that suits you. Each session is 3.5 hours long and runs from 5-8.30pm everyday from 19th – 23rd March. Read below to find out what topics each session covers and then book in the slot that you favour the most.

If you have your own machine you are welcome to bring it with the latest tools installed. We will also have several desktop machines also available.

Register Below

19th March – aka.ms/nzcamp1

Agenda

• XNA Overview
• Build Your Own Game

Agenda

• XNA Overview
• Build Your Own Game

Agenda

• XNA Overview
• Build Your Own Game

Agenda

• Silverlight Overview
• Build Your Own Silverlight Application

Agenda

• Silverlight Overview
• Build Your Own Silverlight Application

See you there!

Windows Phone 2012 Competition - Terms and Conditions:


Eligibility

1. By entering this competition you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.

2. To be eligible for the competition, you must be a New Zealand Resident using a New Zealand Windows Phone Marketplace Account.

How to enter

3. To enter you must:

(a) email nzedu@microsoft.com with your contact email, mobile phone number, a link to your new Windows Phone Application on the Windows Phone Marketplace, and a few sentences describing the application’s functionality; and

(b) have your new Windows Phone application published to the Windows Phone Marketplace between 15 March 2012 and 18 May 2012. The only allowable exception to this time constraint is the grace period specified in clause 4. Publication of applications on the Windows Phone Marketplace is subject to the terms of the Application Provider Agreement (updated June 2011) for Windows Phone Marketplace.

4. Grace period: If your application is in the process of being certified for publication at the end of this promotion period (that is, at 11:59pm on 18 May2012) Microsoft will still accept your entry provided you email a screenshot of your application and a screenshot of the pending certification to nzedu@microsoft.com by 11.59pm on 18 May 2012. You will still be eligible for the competition if your application is published by 1 June 2012.

5. Restrictions on Applications: Applications must be free for Marketplace users to download.

6. Prizes and award criteria:

(a) Be Great: The three best submitted applications (as judged by Microsoft) and published on the Windows Phone Marketplace will win 1 of 3 Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phones.

(b) Be Lucky: Each and every valid entry submitted for an application published on the Windows Phone Marketplace will go in the draw to win 1 of 5 HTC Trophy Windows Phones – note: you are not included in this pool if you have been chosen as a winner in the Be Great category.

7. Prizes will be awarded in the following order. You can only receive one prize. Each entrant who receives a prize is ineligible to receive an additional prize in a later prize award category.

(a) Be Great: the 3 winners of the Be Great prize will be awarded first

(b) Be Lucky: the 5 winners of the Be Lucky prize will be awarded last.

General

8. Prizes will be allocated on the 5th of June 2012, and winners will be notified by the 10th of June 2012, via the email and/or contact phone number provided when the application link/description was emailed to nzedu@microsoft.com as specified in clause 3.

9. Microsoft is not responsible for entries not received and incomplete, illegible, 'hacked' or otherwise fraudulent entries are not valid.

10. Prizes will be delivered to the New Zealand address the winner nominates, at Microsoft's expense.

11. It is a condition of accepting any prize that the prize winner agrees to participant in publicity generated by Microsoft (or Microsoft’s marketing partners), and agrees to the use of their name, photo, application name, and application link for promotional purposes.

12. Employees of Microsoft (and each of their immediate family members) and independent contractors of Microsoft (and each of their immediate family members) are not eligible to enter.

13. Prizes are not transferable or redeemable for cash. If you are unable or unwilling to accept your prize, Microsoft may award it to an alternate winner.

14. If you accept a prize you will be solely responsible for all applicable taxes related to accepting the prize.

15. If for any reason an advertised prize is unavailable, Microsoft may substitute the advertised prize for another prize which has approximately the same recommended retail price.

16. If there is a dispute as to who submitted the winning entry, the winner will be the authorized account holder of the Marketplace Account used to publish the Windows Phone Application. Applications submitted in to the draw must be submitted by the actual owner of the Marketplace Account.

17. Microsoft New Zealand Limited is the promoter of this prize draw and may modify these terms and conditions without notice.

18. Microsoft reserves the right to cancel, suspend or change the competition or any element of the competition for any reason, including any cancellation, suspension or change necessitated by any event outside Microsoft’s control.

19. The judge's decision in relation to the winners or any other aspect of this prize draw is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

20. Microsoft may disqualify, from participating in this prize draw, any person who tampers with the entry process, or submits an entry not in accordance with these terms and conditions.

21. Microsoft is committed to complying with the Government gift and ethics policies. Employees and independent contractors of the Government must adhere to gift and ethics policies applicable to them when entering this prize draw or accepting any prize.

22. Microsoft is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, servers or providers, or any combination thereof. Nor is it responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information caused by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilised in this prize draw, or by any technical or human error that may occur in the course of the administration of this prize draw.

23. To the extent permitted by law, Microsoft, its retailers, suppliers, associated companies and agencies will not be liable to you for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage whatsoever, including personal injury, which is suffered as a result of, or arising from, your participation in the prize draw or winning (or not winning) any prize.

24. At Microsoft, we are committed to protecting your privacy. Microsoft will collect and use your details for the purposes of running this prize draw and to send you promotional material that may be of interest to you, as set out in clause 26 below. You can access or request correction of your details by emailing uptodate@microsoft.com.

25. By entering this competition, you consent to Microsoft New Zealand Limited sending you marketing and promotional material by email or using any of your other contact details Microsoft may have.

26. Microsoft reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to withhold the award of any or all prizes if entries do not meet the criteria set out in these terms and conditions.

Top 20 Finalist Teams in the 2012 Microsoft Imagine Cup provide a brief description on their idea. Support your favourite team at the Microsoft Imagine Cup Finals on the 30th of April from 7-9pm – Save the Date!

InTspiration -AUT

Our project is to create some software to aid in the evaluation of land for potential sustainability. Our hope is to create a bit of software that, given certain data readily available on the internet, would be able to help realise energy potential with a certain area of land.

Team United - AUT

Project Silver Bullet aims to reduce unemployment in developing countries by creating accessibility to the job market for the impoverished and providing support throughout the process of securing a job and holding onto it.
Project Silver Bullet aims to indirectly reduce poverty by tackling unemployment through streamlining current governmental and loan or microcredit initiatives using a single software product. It also aims to support and foster a sense of empowerment among employment hunters to ensure that the work cycle is sustainable and eventually evolves into a self driven machine. We are also working on a unique algorithm that predicts if a person would be successful in any chosen business.

Team YouMark - AUT

Team YouMark seek to revolutionize the current education system by bringing the classroom experience into the home of millions, focusing on self paced learning. The tools being developed by Team YouMark will enable creation off next generation interactive content with teacher collaboration.

Mobile Eye - AUT

Visual impairment is a significant health problem across the globe. Every 5 seconds one person in the world goes blind. Although 80% of visual impairment is preventable, for the 45 million blind people across the globe, prevention is no longer the cure
.
New Zealand is no stranger to this growing health issue. The number of blind people in New Zealand is projected to grow from 12,000 today, to as much as 18,000 in 2020. Vision loss robs people of their well-being and presents a significant economic cost.
In taking these factors into consideration, team Iris has developed a software designed to provide assistance to blind New Zealanders. In recognizing the extensive efforts tailored at the prevention of blindness by leading organisations like the World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Agency for the Prevention of Blindnes (IAPD), team Iris made the decision to focus our attention on the wellbeing of those who are already blind.
The application MobileEye is designed to provide the user with an added richness of information. It can take on a multitude of uses simply based on the needs of the user. It is the team’s intention that this technology will assist the individual in the areas of navigation, shopping and even simple day to day activities that can benefit from a greater awareness of surroundings.
The concept is simple – take a photo of your surroundings and hear your phone describe it to you. The technology however is a little more extensive.

Team MATx – Lincoln Uni

Using Microsoft Kinect technology by medical centers/physiotherapist or individuals for aid in post-stroke rehabilitation can help save more lives and drastically help drive down the rate of deaths each year by keeping people more fit and making them active and feel lively. This will have benefits such as reduction of rehab session cost, educational benefits, better privacy, flexibility, less likely extra injuries due to transportation, live chat access to medical assistant anytime, monitor of patient progress, interesting and much more fun than the normal boring sessions. And it could be used for other purposes as well such as networking among people suffering from stroke sharing their experiences, ideas, etc.

Dawn Phenomena - Unitec

We are creating an educational diabetes system that is targeted at children aged 7-14(and those young at heart), in particular, those that have type 1 or 2 diabetes.
The system will be used to educate children, particularly newly diagnosed children, about all things related to the diabetes condition and how one can go about living a long and fruitful life with the condition. All the components of our solution will be based on exploiting interactive features of computer games to deliver education knowledge through immersive and situational learning.
The system consists of three major components, a video game, a mobile phone application and a web application. All of which will be made available on a website we will be creating.

Decarbonators - Unitec

We are developing a creative technology solution that addresses a real-world challenge that will help alleviate climate change and pollution problems caused by carbon emission due to the apathetic attitude displayed by all levels of society from individuals to giant corporations.
CFI can be installed on an individual’s mobile phone with a pre-set profiles to choose from, enables every individual to get an estimate of their Carbon Footprint while they commute to uni, work etc by different means of transport. We provide each user with an up-to-date CF as an indicator on their screen or will be running in the background. Our system will award users with DeCarbon Points eg: earn more snapper points every X times they make use of a public transport instead of driving or while they do carpooling etc. DeCarbon points can be used to claim discounts on food or at any other commercial organizations that are tied up with CFI. Once they use up their DeCarbon points their account will be debited with the points they used up and will have to earn more as they go.

BackUp – UOA

Back pain affects at least 80% of all people at some point in their lives and is easily preventable with good posture. However, a sedentary lifestyle coupled with increasing computer use for work and entertainment and little motivation to maintain posture means that this problem can become severely debilitating for chronic sufferers. National back pain payout costs are over $500 million p.a. Our idea is a simple, lightweight vest/singlet to be worn by all-aged members of the population. This senses the spine's alignment in 3D and relays this to a smartphone, which then signals an alert if poor posture is maintained for some time. This is also used to update pain specialists' medical records electronically and as a research tool to give insight into common postural problems across particular subsets of the population.

Team Connect – UOA

Christchurch earthquake, Japan tsunami, Thailand flooding. 2011 was known as the year of disasters – what do they have in common? Immediate communication failure.
If you’re in a disaster zone, the first thing you’ll want to do is connect with loved ones; and that goes for everyone else around you. High traffic causes massive congestion to any remaining cell towers and telcos often struggle to keep communication up and running for days, or even weeks. As the first 72 hours are crucial, any downtime can be catastrophic.
We are developing a communication system that, unlike traditional solutions, will respond immediately in the critical hours following a disaster. We are Team Connect, and our solution will keep you connected to loved ones when you need them the most.

Get Lost – UOA

Our 'find me' smartphone application communicates with a wireless transmitter that can be worn by a child to allow parents to monitor where they are at all times. This application makes it easy for parents to find lost children and can be also used as a tool to prevent loosing children.

Silver Pass – UOA

Our idea is a solution to deal with a wide spread issue that is common at primary school level. Traditionally in schools the only mechanisms in place for information transfer are the report cards and infrequent parent-teacher interviews. For a relationship as important as the one between student, parent and teacher, this is simply insufficient, and good education is being compromised. Our solution replaces the traditional report with much more frequent, shorter updates throughout the year, both keeping parents involved and spreading out teacher workload. This would be done through a cloud based computer system that also facilitates parental discussion and learning suggestions. We hope this will improve the quality of both education and life of primary school children.

Team 2RTF – UOA

Our idea is concerned with the optimisation of aid distribution in disaster stricken areas. Our program is supplied with information on aid distribution, supplies, infrastructure and population density levels and will compute where aid needs to be and where it isn’t needed. In addition, it can also be used to deploy aid on a case by case basis.

Aura – UOA

Team Aura is set to revolutionize the diagnosis of Obstructive Sleep Apnea. OSA affects 1.2 billion people worldwide, and an Aura module consists of an advanced algorithm that detects breathing patterns of a patient through innovative monitoring technology. This information can then be easily accessed by medical professionals and patients alike through the Microsoft Azure Cloud Platform, allowing the improved efficient diagnosis of OSA .

Dunyati – UOA

We are dedicated to getting farmers in third world countries a fair price for their coffee. Our idea utilizes cheap technology that is both effective and easily deployed. We aim to partner with fair-trade as well as a few other NPO's and utilize pre-built infrastructure to help us attain our goals. Phase two of our plan is to setup micro-lending to african farmers that will be paid back once they harvest their crops, ensuring a higher quality crop and a higher quality of life for the farmers.

Thought-Wired – UOA

Thought-Wired NOUS is an integrated solution designed to restore abilities to those who lack them. Its primary function is to empower individuals with severe physical disabilities in communication and interaction capacities. It allows people, who are unable to speak, to communicate with anybody using the mind alone. Using NOUS individuals with disabilities can communicate with their family and friends offline in their place of residence or anywhere else as well as online over the Internet.
Besides communication NOUS opens unlimited possibilities for our users via extensible platform. Additional capabilities can be anything from controlling simple devices at home to education, mobility and entertainment applications.

Team Zooks – Otago Uni

Charities do great things, but the sad fact is the majority of these need to raise funds to allow them to carry on doing what they do. ‘Change for Charity’ is  service that provides revenue gathering for charities that distributes collected donations and allows acharities to provide feedback to users where their donations are spent. The way the revenue is collected  is by a piece of software that is installed on store payment systems that with the users agreement rounds their purchase up to the nearest 10cents and then donates the rounding to a charity. Particular charities could be chosen depending on the individual choices or charities could apply to be displayed for a certain period and proceeds gathered from transactions would be donated to them. Feed back to contributors could be sent back to them to their mobiles letting them know what difference their contribution has provided.

Team Doctor Pepper – Otago Uni

Originally our idea was focused on testing water in New Zealand conditions to see if it had been polluted. After seeing the aid agencies presentations and consulting with our mentors we have changed our idea to being a tool for aid agencies to allocate resources to provide quality water all over the world where it is most needed. We will do this by creating a phone app which allows agencies to input information about water quality and ask for resources at their current location. This Information will be stored in a database and accessible by a website.

Vcom – VUOW

Replacing the traditional way of communication between the UNICEF authorities and the victims, by a translator who translates the vocal English to the respective local language. The project will aim on a hand held device for translating language verbally.

Cloud Solutions – VUOW

Tsunami's are one of the world's biggest natural disasters and killers and one that cannot be averted. Over the last few years prediction systems have been built to predict tsunamis but due to lack of processing power they have been unable to really make a difference. It takes about 5 to 7 minutes to get a prediction of a tsunami's details like direction, height, etc. This time can be reduced to staggering 20 to 30 seconds which could save thousands of lives. This can be achieved by offloading this compute intensive workload to the Windows Azure Cloud. By using the GreenButton SDK and Windows Azure Cloud Technology we can enable this tusnami prediction software to use the benifits of the cloud and put the cloud to a great use which can save lives.