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Your App Here – Round 6

This is the very last entry round of Your App Here! That’s right. Your last chance to win your share of $13,000 worth of cool prizes like HP Envy X2 convertible ultrabooks, Xboxen or a trip to TechEd Australia on the Gold Coast later this year. All you have to do is enter an app that’s never been published in the store before and you’re in the running. This is a great opportunity to port from other stores such as iOS, Android or Windows Phone.

Technical design guru Shane Morris is the Creative Director at Automatic Studio, one of the final judges in this comp and all round good guy. He’s built Windows mobile apps for Qantas, NAB and Dimmi plus Windows 8 touch-enabled apps for Westpac, Webjet and NineMSN’s Jump-In.

Less is more, explains Shane: “Avoid the temptation to cram more features into your app assuming that will make it more popular. In our experience, an app that has a limited set of options, and does so with confidence, tends to be more appealing.”

“And if you’re not a confident designer, don’t get too ambitious too early. Stick to the Windows design language templates. If users open your app and see consistent styling and navigation, they’ll immediately be much more willing to explore.

“Navigation style is key to crafting an authentic app experience. Games can be different, but for regular apps – don’t be fooled that designing for Windows is just typography, white space and blocks of colour. There are helpful Windows 8 and Windows Phone guides on MSDN.

Success begins with your first submission! Learn more about promoting and managing a successful Windows 8 Store app.

So, what are you waiting for? Register at Lifehacker for your last chance to enter!

Microsoft’s Innovation Centre turns 1 and we’re celebrating!

You’re Invited to a Special Screening of The StartUp Kids

It’s celebration time! On May 22nd the Microsoft Innovation Centre will have officially opened it’s doors for 1 year! To celebrate the fantastic year we have had we would like to invite the Queensland start-up community to join us for a screening of The Startup Kids.

It’s going to be an awesome night to chill out and celebrate the year. So come down in the evening and join us for pizza, networking and a screening of this amazing documentary!

Continue Reading →

HeadsTails: Gaming George Boole Style

https://github.com/nickhodge/HeadsTails
I am no gamer. In fact, I reduce all gaming to a simple Boolean logic of “you win or you lose.” So thanks to Claude Shannon and George Boole, I present HeadsTails.

For the February 2013 Sydney #AppFest (and in the upcoming Bizspark Camps) I am going to use the HeadsTails project as my base sample.

It demonstrates:

WAMS (Windows Azure Mobile Services) as a backend for Leaderboards
WAMS Notifications for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8
WAMS Authentication using Microsoft ID obtained by logging into a Microsoft Account
Simple MVVM without a large Framework.
ViewModel & half the Model in a Portable Class Library
The View and the other half of the Model in each project
The User information Model is platform specific as the Live ID/Microsoft ID is platform specific. Therefore, this is wired via an Interface mechanism. (check out IHeadsTailsUserDetailsModel)

What the sample does not demonstrate:

How to design a Microsoft-style application
The absolute best in security. Heck, my app’s login details are published out there for all to see!

Winter of Apps. Win from the Trolley of Envy

With the popularity of the December of Apps, and the onset of warm inside winter coding weather, Microsoft DPE Australia have decided to give Australian developers a chance to obtain one of 26 new HP Envy’s in the Winter of Apps Continue Reading →

Upcoming Windows Azure Developer Camps in Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth!

Please join us for a special Windows Azure Developer Camp event. Windows Azure DevCamps are free and fun events for developers, by developers. This special DevCamp will be presented by Microsoft technical experts. You do not want to miss this unique event.
Details of the events: -

Adelaide: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032552584&Culture=en-AU&community=0

Melbourne: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032552587&Culture=en-AU&community=0

Perth: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032552590&Culture=en-AU&community=0

Continue Reading →

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Bizspark Dev Camps, June 2013

Please join us for a special Windows 8 Developer Camp event for Start-ups. Supported by BizSpark, Windows 8 DevCamps cover developing for Windows 8, Phone & Azure, and are free, fun events for developers, by developers. Continue Reading →

Getting Started with Windows { Phone 8 | 8 } Dev. (Recording)

On Tuesday 30th April 2013, I presented a 1h20m Virtual AppFest session on where to start with Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 Development. Continue Reading →

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A Weekend in Code. For Charity

This most recent weekend, Microsoft, along with other sponsors, participated in the Appathon for Charity. A weekend filled with code! Continue Reading →

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Your App Here – Round 5

Our second last round has started! You can still win your share of $13,000 worth of cool prizes like HP Envy X2 convertible ultrabooks, Xboxen or a trip to TechEd Australia on the Gold Coast later this year. Just enter an app that’s never been published in the store before and you’re in the running. This is a great opportunity to port from other stores such as iOS, Android or Windows Phone.

If you’ve read any gaming or tech news sites this week, or just been pottering about on Twitter, you’ll have seen links to a great article from Greenheart Games on their approach to piracy. The game, Game Dev Tycoon, that Patrick Klug talks about in that post was first written for the Windows Store. It has has been at the top of paid lists on the Windows Store in several countries, including Australia and the US. Lifehacker spoke to Patrick recently:

“It’s great to see a paid game can have success as well, not just free ones. Microsoft really makes it clear and easy to publish to every country.”

“Don’t focus on so many features that you can’t get them all right. Remember the importance of quality – and that the polish (that last 10% of effort) – is often the part that really makes the game fun to play.”

To that end: “The biggest advantage to Windows Store development for us was the tooling – Visual Studio debugging is absolutely fantastic for HTML games, and for C# it’s even better.”

Success begins with your first submission! Learn more about promoting and managing a successful Windows 8 Store app.

So, what are you waiting for? Register at Lifehacker to enter!

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Your App Here – Round 4 Results

Adrian Akison’s Shared Whiteboard is a Windows 8 app that lets you share your graphs, notes, equations and doodles as a literally shared digital whiteboard. Anyone the whiteboard is shared with can edit it simultaneously, making it very useful for brainstorming and a lot of fun as well. More details on Adrian’s win can be found in the Lifehacker announcement.

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Your App Here – Round 4

I’m sure you’ve heard the word by now. I doubt I have to tell you about the $13,000 worth of cool prizes like HP Envy X2 convertible ultrabooks, Xboxen or a trip to TechEd Australia on the Gold Coast later this year. I probably don’t need to tell you that it must be an app that’s never been published in the store before, but can be ported from other stores such as iOS, Android or Windows Phone.

So I’ll just tell you that Round 4 opened today and given the fierceness of competition for Round 3, you should get your apps in now, so they’ll have more time in store to garner reviews and downloads to help you with the major competition.

Here’s some other tips for you from Vaughan Knight, developer of Dodo GoGo.

The app has had around 300,000 downloads, been featured in the Windows 8 Store around the world and generated amazingly useful feedback from players.

Vaughan’s biggest tip for success: “If you’re not in the Store, you don’t exist. Just get it in there — don’t stand around waiting to perfect it….We put Dodo GoGo in there to see how it would go. We sacrificed some initial features to just get it out there, on time, and to ensure we had an audience.”

One huge advantage of Windows 8 development is the ability to target Windows 8 Phone devices such as the Nokia Lumia 920, Windows 8 PCs and tablets and Windows Azure cloud services with the same well-established Microsoft developer tools. “But for every app that’s built and submitted, there are probably 20 that are created but not submitted. It’s about getting over that last hurdle…“

Success begins with your first submission! Learn more about promoting and managing a successful Windows 8 Store app.

So, what are you waiting for? Register at Lifehacker to enter!

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Your App Here – Round 3

Round 2 winners have been announced over at Lifehacker. Get all the details of the fantastic Touch Meds and Cycling Tracker apps.

Round 3 has started and we’ve dispensed with the themes. It’s open slather on what kind of app you produce! commenced Register with Lifehacker to enter for yourself. The app can be entirely new or ported from an existing platform such as Android or iOS, but it must be the first time you’ve published it in the Windows Store or Windows Phone Store. That’s literally the only limitation. No themes, no constraints. Just your idea and your skills.

If you want to win your share of more than $13,000 in prizes, such as an HP Envy or a trip to TechEd Australia on the Gold Coast later this year, sign up now. Plus we love promoting great apps, so we’ll be helping you get the word out and make the most of your app launch.

That’s what this is all about. You build a fantastic, beautiful useful app and we’ll reward you both in prizes and in broader store success. The Windows Store, for example, lets you keep 80% of your sales once you’ve made more than $25,000 USD and lets you keep 100% of all other revenue streams from the day you launch. Microsoft doesn’t take a fee from free apps that make money via subscription, in-app sales or any other method.

Get cracking on your idea, and register with Lifehacker to enter.

Nick’s General Tips for Sumitting Windows Store Apps

Submitting your App to the Windows Store can feel daunting. It is like entering a competition – and hoping you win, or at least are not embarrased by the reaction from the judges.

Here is a little secret: even my Windows Store Apps have been rejected.

Apps are a little different. The rejection can seem personal; but it provides you with another chance to polish & re-enter.

If you haven’t already done so, then register on Windows Store now. If appropriate, personal registrations are easier with less verification needed than a company registration.
Keep initial feature set simple and quality high, especially if this is your first app; you can always add additional features in future updates.
Read this “Preparing your App for Store Submission“
Ensure you have installed the latest Windows App Certification Kit (WACK) and other SDKs from Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows 8.
Ensure you run the “Windows App Certification Kit” tool before submitting your app to the Store.
Read the Windows App Store Guide. And read the “Avoiding common certification failures”
When submitting, write a lengthy description of your App, and include many screen images as you can muster to show off your work.
Allow time for you app to go through the App certification process. This may from 5 to 7 working days.

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Your App Here – Round 2

The education-themed Round 1 is over and winners have been announced. Get all the details from our partners in this contest, Lifehacker.

Round 2 has already commenced and the theme is Medical/Health. Register with Lifehacker to enter for yourself. The app can be entirely new or ported from an existing platform such as Android or iOS, but it must be the first time you’ve published it in the Windows Store or Windows Phone Store. And that’s really the only limitation!

You can win your share of more than $13,000 in prizes, such as an HP Envy or a trip to TechEd Australia on the Gold Coast later this year. Plus we love promoting great apps, so we’ll be helping you get the word out and make the most of your app launch.

That’s what this is all about. You build a fantastic, beautiful useful app and we’ll reward you both in prizes and in broader store success. The Windows Store, for example, lets you keep 80% of your sales once you’ve made more than $25,000 USD and lets you keep 100% of all other revenue streams from the day you launch. Microsoft doesn’t take a fee from free apps that make money via subscription, in-app sales or any other method.

Think about what you can do to improve health or medical circumstances in Australia, and then register with Lifehacker to enter.

The #Appfest Challenge has ended

Following the #Appfest Sydney in February, attendees were offered the opportunity to win one of ten sweet Asus Vivo Tab RT by publishing 4 apps into the Windows Store. This challenge has now closed, but here’s a photo of Lachlan Hardy in the mailroom preparing to ship a Vivo Tab RT to one of our winners, Mike He.

Congratulations, Mike!

Mike built 4 great apps:

Here’s a screenshot from Fridge Buddy, an app to help you keep track of the food in your fridge.

#Virtual AppFests: The 2013 Edition

Welcome back Virtual #AppFests. This is the perfect mechanism to set aside time to learn how to create & publish great Windows 8, Windows Phone and/or Windows Azure based apps. NB: now regularly at 12.00pm on Tuesdays Continue Reading →

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Your App + Windows Store = Winning Combination

In conjunction with Lifehacker, Microsoft is challenging developers to create quality Windows 8 Apps — and potentially win a trip to TechEd AU 2013. Continue Reading →

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Lucas Moffitt: Developing the Teacher Collection

Lucas Moffitt, a Windows 8 developer in Newcastle, answered my dev questions. Continue Reading →

Winnings (2)

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Sydience on their #AppFest Sydney Experience

#AppFest Sydney is over. The winning team from Sydience wrote in detailing their experience of the weekend. Continue Reading →

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The Story of “Thousands of Hundreds”

A small two-person team, working part time created the Windows 8 App Thousands of Hundreds. How did they do it? Continue Reading →

#AppFest Melbourne – 2nd March 2013

Announcing #AppFest Melbourne. Yes! the hacking on code continues. Seats limited. THERE WILL BE PRIZES. Including $500 from Sensis!! Continue Reading →

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SAPI giving away $500 at #AppFest Sydney

Sensis API (SAPI) are offering a prize of $500 to the team that shows the best SAPI Integration at #AppFest Sydney!

What’s SAPI?
The Sensis API (SAPI) is a freely available business search API which makes it easy for digital developers, entrepreneurs and publishers to enrich their user experience on their websites, mobile-sites and applications. SAPI provides access to over 2 million Australian business listings from Yellow Pages and White Pages, and ratings and reviews from Yelp.

Sensis will be there on Sunday afternoon to judge and award a prize.

Terms and Conditions

Installing Drupal on Windows Azure

In preparation for DRUPALCON Sydney 2013, I decided to start contributing to the Drupal.org site and become more familiar with the community. I wanted to contribute something before asking my myriad of questions about configuring and extending Drupal. So my first contribution to the Drupal.org documentation is a book page in the community documentation. Installing Drupal on Windows Azure.

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Guest Post: Telerik Virtual Accelerator for Windows 8

Greetings, LaLa Ninja readers! My name is John Bristowe. I’m a Developer Evangelist with Telerik in Sydney.
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Show off your Windows 8 App at DEMO, San Francisco!

Windows Startup Challenge.

Yes, this is an opportunity for Australian Windows 8 developers to go to the US. There are more details on the US site; good news is that Australian devs are eligible.

From the official announcement:

We are excited to announce the Windows Startup Challenge – a joint initiative between Startup Weekend, Microsoft and DEMO to help developers, designers and entrepreneurs go from prototype to development to launch.

If you have a Windows Store app idea, apply to compete by February 4th (note: this date has been extended from 29th January) for a chance to get publicity, expert help and mentorship, connections to investors and a free trip to San Francisco to unveil your app at DEMO Mobile on April 17th, 2013 in front of top tier investors, VCs and press.

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Windows Phone 8 + Start-Up’s = Weekend Goodness

Join us for a start-up weekend of coding fun, business coaching, dev tools & great prizes! The Windows Phone 8 Start-Up Weekend is kicking off on March 8^th and running through to March 10^th 2013. Grab a team, your start-up crew and some killer app ideas and join us at the Microsoft Innovation Centre with Windows Phone guru Nick Randolph (Built to Roam).

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#Appfest Sydney – February 15th – 17th 2013

The three day event to develop your App idea on Phone, OS, or Cloud.

At #Appfest Sydney, you’ll have the time to immerse yourself in developing awesome content for the Windows Platform including Windows 8, Windows Phone and Azure. You’ll get the opportunity to network and connect with peers, Microsoft Evangelists and industry experts to make your App ideas happen. Continue Reading →

December of Apps: List of Winners

Congratulations to our 40 winners in the Microsoft DPE AU “December of Apps” Competition:
Continue Reading →

New Developer Communities

We know how important it is to connect like-minded people with each other, so we’ve created 3 new developer communities. Within these portals you’ll find the latest news, events, resources and a whole bunch of other cool stuff! It’s a pretty awesome place to meet new people!

If this sounds like something you want to be involved in, go ahead and register

Windows 8: http://w8.msdeveloper.com.au/Default.aspx

Windows Phone: http://wp.msdeveloper.com.au/Default.aspx

Windows Azure: http://azure.msdeveloper.com.au/Default.aspx

See you on there!

P.s. MSDN Australia is still alive, check it out here if you aren’t already familiar with the awesome resources on there

December of Apps

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(40 devices won) Microsoft Australia is Giving 40 Developers a Windows RT Tablet for Christmas in a December of Apps

UPDATE 21st December 2012 8:20am: ALL THE VIVO TABs HAVE BEEN WON!

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A December of Apps Developer Challenge

Need that nudge to get your Windows 8 app dev on this December?

Well Christmas may have come early. How’s this for motivation…

Publish 4 Windows 8 Store apps this December and score an Asus Vivo Tab RT. Continue Reading →

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Duncan McKenzie: A Journey to Rusutsu, Japan.

Duncan popped into one of my Thursday night Virtual #AppFests. Duncan is from Adelaide, and has a day job doing C# and SQLServer projects: mainly backend development. In less than 2 weeks he built & published a Windows Store app. Here is his story.
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Why Participate in an #AppFest: Words from Developers

The first Australian #AppFest was held at TechEd 2012 on the Gold Coast. It was a 24 coding marathon. Months later, what are the feelings of the people who attended?
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Windows 8 Workshops at YOW 2012

Readify are running a two Free Windows 8 Workshops at YOW! 2012.

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It’s Time for Congratulations!

It gives us great pleasure to announce the Winners in the Windows 8 App Competition 2012 – launched at TechEd 2012 & #Appfest at TechEd 2012….

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Microsoft & Readify present: Modern Apps, Modern Processes

The IT world is in the throes of yet another seismic shift, this time very much led by the consumer.

This consumer led revolution isn’t just impacting developers writing software for the consumer market, it is also affecting the expectations and attitudes of the corporate market and raising the bar for what people are expecting from their internal systems.
In such a world the tools and approaches needed to develop modern applications also need to change.

With the launch of Visual Studio 2012, Microsoft is providing tooling that targets the new Windows 8 platform and HTML5 based web applications in addition to providing support for existing development platforms.

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Awesome savings on Dev Center accounts

Individual Windows Phone 8 developers can now register for a Dev Center account for just $8 USD! Yep, you read it correctly…only $8 USD! For you Math gurus, that’s a saving of 92%! Score!

So, what are you waiting for? Download the Windows Phone 8 SDK, sign up at the Dev Center and get coding!

There are more details here if you need them

Enjoy!

Virtual #AppFest : Twice A Week Until Christmas

Welcome back Virtual #AppFests. Twice a week Until Christmas. This is the perfect mechanism to set aside some time to learn how to create & publish great Windows 8 Apps.
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TechNet LIVE Series – Don’t miss out!

Online meetings every Friday fortnight 11am-12.30pm (AEST) presented by our Technical Evangelists, the experts!

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Free Azure Training in your city

Announcing upcoming FREE Azure training we have happening in your city soon. We ran these events recently in Melbourne and based on the great feedback we received we decided to run more of them in more cities – starting with Sydney & Brisbane

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Are you ready for Launch? Get your Windows 8 Apps into the Store

On 26^th October 2012, Windows 8 will launch to the world. And you can be a part of history!
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Windows 8 AppFest makes it to Gizmodo – woot!

Looks like we weren’t the only ones to be impressed with the energy and outcome of AppFest, even the peeps at Gizmodo were. Check out what they had to say about it all here.

TechEd 2012: Some Jason Silva link love

Hot off the TechEd 2012 keynote, here are some of the links to what Jason was talking about…

The myth of violence: the world is becoming a safer place

The way ants collect food is the same as the way information flows on the internet

Talented and dedicated engineers spent countless hours designing Japan’s rail system to be one of the world’s most efficient. Could have just asked a slime mold!

Awe is good for you

John Lam presents the Windows 8 Developer Platform

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Windows 8 Development. Where do I start?

Whilst Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers said way back in 1981: “The Waiting (is the Hardest Part)”, I find that starting is the hardest part. With building Apps for Windows 8, where do you start?
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Now is the Time. Get your Windows 8 Apps into the Store

Windows 8 has reached RTM (release to manufacturer) status. w00tage!

This is the time to create & publish great Windows 8 Apps. It is your time to become rich and/or famous. But only in a good way.
Continue Reading →

Standing on the shoulders of giants… Jason Silva to keynote TechEd 2012

This year, we celebrate the genius, passion and achievement of our community. Join us as Jason Silva kicks off the awe with his vision of what you can achieve when you stand on the shoulders of giants and think big.

If you haven’t registered for TechEd 2012 don’t miss out on a massive year; register now https://australia.msteched.com

Making Win + X do anything you want

One of the things you may have noticed is that Windows 8 is a Touch First UI. It works great for touch, but most of us will be using a mouse and keyboard for the near future anyway. I’ve been discovering a few keyboard shortcuts, and how to do some things quickly. One of my favourite keyboard shortcuts is Win+X.

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Awesome Aussie Apps

We’re extremely proud of the Aussie apps that made it to the Australian Windows 8 Store! The exposure these developers are getting is extraordinary. Take a look at what they put together and how they felt about it all…

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5 by 5 : Insights for the Australian Startup Ecosystem – Nick Scevak

The last entrepreneur in our 5 part series is Nick Scevak – Co-Founder of Startmate. Check out his thoughts on the Australian Startup Ecosystem.

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The simplicity of Metro in web design

We asked Tonic The Agency a few questions regarding their work with the front end UI design of the TechEd Australia 2012 site. Included are combined responses from John Epta, Technical Director, and Ewan Duckworth, Lead Developer. Check it out…

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5 by 5 : Insights for the Australian Startup Ecosystem – Nikki Durkin

And our 4th contender in our 5 part series is Nikki Durkin – Founder of 99 Dresses. Take a look at what she has to say about the Australian Startup Ecosystem.

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Hardware that’s just too cool

Check out these Prototypes and student projects

Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera

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5 by 5 : Insights for the Australian Startup Ecosystem – Mick Liubinskas

Next up in the 5 by 5 chain is Mick Liubinskas, Co-Founder of Pollenizer. Find out what he thinks about the Australian startup ecosystem.

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Windows 8 App Fest 2012

Before TechEd kicks off, get hands-on coding time in the ultimate 24-hour hackathon for building Windows 8 apps. Join us on the Gold Coast a day earlier to get into the guts of app building with our Windows 8 Dev speakers and other industry experts.

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5 by 5 : Insights for the Australian Startup Ecosystem – Stephen Baxter

As the second entrepreneur in our 5 part series, Stephen Baxter – Founder of River City Labs, explores his views of the Australian Startup Ecosystem. Take a look at what he has to say.

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Windows Azure Meets Devices Dev Workshop

On the 4th July 2012 we are running a Windows Azure meets Devices workshop at the Queensland Microsoft Innovation Centre. The focus of this workshop is on building and scaling out applications across multiple platforms by utilising the capabilities of Windows Azure. Join us for a full day workshop with Nick Harris and Paul Du Bois.

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5 by 5 : Insights for the Australian Startup Ecosystem – Adeo Ressi

As part of a series we’re doing, we asked 5 entrepreneurs 5 quick questions about their personal experiences and perception of the Australian Startup Ecosystem.

First up - Adeo Ressi, Founder of The Founder Institute. Check out his responses.

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Improving Software Architecture

In this excellent video, Adam Cogan sits down with Marcel de Vries and Terje Sandstrom to breakdown the Software Development process.

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Do you have a plethora of Hypervisors?

Spending too much time and money managing your hypervisors? Adding more hypervisors doesn’t seem like an obvious answer to reducing costs, but Andrew McMurray tells us exactly how it should be done. Continue Reading →

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(Completed) First Windows 8 Finishing School, Melbourne

(Now completed) Now is time to get your App into store; and to help out, Microsoft Australia is running the first in a series of “Finishing Schools” in Melbourne. Continue Reading →

Sounds of Yesteryear

Remember the sound your modem made as it connected to the rest of the world? There’s a great post. from Alexis Madrigal in The Atlantic breaking down the components of the sound. He also links to the rather excellent Museum of Endangered Sounds

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Kinect Bizspark Start-up Camp

On June 15^th- 17^th2012 we are holding a Kinect Bizspark Start-up Camp as our kick-off activity following the successful launch of our Queensland Microsoft Innovation Centre. We are looking for aspiring entrepreneurs and developers to come and be a part of this exciting opportunity. We are after either established teams with an innovative idea for a kinect application to work on over the weekend, or individuals we can match with ideas and teams for the weekend.

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Wheel of Wealth – How the wheel began rolling…

Success stories are something everyone wants to be a part of. Kris Shanahan, Founder of Shantek Studios, takes us through his own experiences as a mobile developer and explores the reality of it all. Continue Reading →

Missed out on tickets to the London Olympics?

Don’t worry, so did we! Nevertheless, we think we have a winner up our sleeves. Microsoft Australia is hosting the Imagine Cup Worldwide 2012 Finals. The finals bring together over 400 of the most talented students from 107 countries to showcase their world-changing solutions and to compete for the worldwide title. Continue Reading →

Music Hack Day 2012

What happens when you get a room full of hackers and tell them to create something amazing in just 24hours? Check out what Sydney’s first Music Hack Day was like.

10 Things Not To Do In A Datacenter

Ever wondered what’s the ideal environment for your precious data? Let Andrew McMurray give you a heads up on what you probably shouldn’t be doing… Continue Reading →

Kinect + Surface goodness

A retail experience like this won’t have any shoppers complaining! Check out what our buddies over at Razorfish have put together.

Metro Style Room at the Windows 8 Developer Camp, Melbourne

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Windows 8 Developer Camps: An Update from the Road

To those who attended the Windows 8 Developer Camps: Thanks. Whilst we have a few cities left to tour, the presenters have had a marvellous time talking with you about Windows 8. Here is a collection of helpful links & resources for your enjoyment, after hours. Continue Reading →

The Lexus LFA Surface Experience

How do you get people to feel passionate about a car they can’t touch? The Surface, of course.

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Annoying Users #5: The Unplug-o-saurus

A beast that you thought was long extinct still lives on in offices everywhere. This ‘bottom-of-the-food-chain’ creature can’t work their computer and they can’t figure out why.

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(Thanks to our friends at TechNet)

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Nikola Tesla – the Greatest Geek that ever lived?

We, at La La, are obsessed with geekhood! If you remember we set up Geek Origin Stories to celebrate just that. The Oatmeal, in his own unique style, just did a piece celebrating arguably one of the greatest geeks that ever lived. It was too good not to share.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

Ryan Shelton’s Geek Origins

Who ever said you had to be dull to be a geek? Ryan Shelton is living proof! We discovered when it all started for him with our buddies at Gizmodo – check out Shelton’s story and tell us how it all happened for you! Submit your own story at http://geekoriginstories.lalaninja.com.au/ ….and you could even win an Xbox 360!

From Inside the Windows 8 App Excellence Labs

Our Engineers have been reviewing the first of the Windows 8 apps submitted to the Australian Windows 8 App Excellence Labs, and thought it would be great to hear what Tristan & Damana are seeing. Continue Reading →

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Annoying Users #4: The Social Butterfly

Corporate policy says no to social networking, but that doesn’t stop them from friend requesting you to get access. News Feed Flash: it’s not gonna happen! Dislike.

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(Thanks to our friends at TechNet)

Damana & Tristan Reviewing in the App Excellence Labs

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Windows 8: The App Excellence Labs Experience

As a part of our Windows 8 Developer Camps, Microsoft Australia has been offering a free 2 hour App Excellence Lab to App developers. At first, this sounds rather ominous. Microsoft Developer engineers peeking into your App. Touching your App before anyone else. Maybe being critical. Does it hurt?

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CliffyB’s Geek Origins

CliffyB is pretty awesome, but when did it all start? We captured his Geek Origin Story with Gizmodo – check it out for inspiration and submit your own story at http://geekoriginstories.lalaninja.com.au …you might also win an Xbox 360!

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Join the Class: Microsoft School of PHP (3 of 3)

by Nick Hodge

PHP on Windows?. Check the final part of our School of PHP video series.

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Raaj Menon’s Geek Origins

What was your ‘Eureka!’ moment? We found out the details about Raaj Menon’s Geek Origins with the peeps over at Gizmodo - check out his story and submit your own at http://geekoriginstories.lalaninja.com.au. ..you might even win an Xbox 360!

What’s your app?

During our recent Windows 8 Camp in Melbourne, we asked a bunch of dev peeps, what do you want from an app. Here’s what they said.

Douglas Rushkoff’s Geek Origins

…And there’s more! We teamed up with Gizmodo again and this time we asked Douglas Rushkoff about his Geek Origins – check out the clip and submit a profile of your own at http://geekoriginstories.lalaninja.com.au for the chance to win an Xbox 360!

ForestFly

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Meet ForestFly, the beauty of HTML5

We decided to push the boundaries for HTML5′s canvas tag in this beautiful photo gallery visualiser. So we at La La Ninja decided to make ForestFly – http://forestfly.lalaninja.com.au

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Annoying Users #3: The Password Forgetter

They’ve got a memory a goldfish would chuckle at, but their constant password reset requests are no laughing matter. It’s a wonder they remember how to get to work every day.

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(Thanks to our friends at TechNet)

Dan Ilic’s Geek Origins

In celebration of Geek Origin Stories, our buddies over at Gizmodo are doing a series of videos profiling some more famous Geek Origins. Behold Mr Dan Ilic.

Remeber, submit your own over at geekoriginstories.lalaninja.com.au for your chance to win an Xbox 360

Barbie® #Kinect application lets fans wear her iconic outfits

Have you ever wanted to dress up like Barbie™, but feared the cost in chiffon could set you back — check out the exclusive Barbie™: The Dream Closet application — concept and design by Melbourne communications agency Gun, developed by Perth rockstar studio Adapptor. Using Kinect for Windows, Gun and Adapptor teamed up with Mattel® to give all the little Barbie™ dolls (and Ken dolls too) access to wardrobe belonging to the world’s most fashionable doll. Kinect then maps it over you, allowing you to strike a pose and share through Facebook. Check out the exclusive video – and then head over to Gun’s website for more info.

Guiness Book Of Records - World's Biggest Pacman

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World’s Biggest PAC-MAN makes it into the Guiness Book Of Records!

Proud parents we are. Grats to our friends at Soap.

worldsbiggestpacman.com

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Annoying Users #2: The Cookie Monster

They don’t understand what Internet cookies are, and they never will. But the Cookie Monster believes cookies are constantly plotting the demise of their computer. Computer problems? Cookies are probably to blame.

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(Thanks to our friends at TechNet)

Chris Vik conducts the Melbourne Town Hall Organ with Kinect

Our good friend Chris just keeps making magic. Check out this performance he did with his Kinectar rig.

(via Chris Vik)

Microsoft School Of PHP

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Join the Class: Microsoft School of PHP (2 of 3)

by Nick Hodge

PHP on Windows?. Check part 2 of our 3 part School of PHP video series.

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Announcing the next .NET language – Db.NET

Finally out of NDA, and just in time for Lang.NEXT 2012, I’m pleased to announce that we’ve revealed the newest addition to the .NET family, Db.NET. Check it out at http://thenextlanguage.net

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Geek Origin Stories

When did you realise you were a geek? When did the proverbial geek lightbulb go off. Geek Origin Stories is a database of origin moments. Share yours and read others.

Ohh, and to celebrate the launch of this site, we’re giving you the chance to win an Xbox 360. Deets over on http://geekoriginstories.lalaninja.com.au/

Proudly made by La La Ninja and the peeps at Microsoft Australia

The NUI Revolution – Kinect changes the way we interact

This guest ninja editorial comes from Aussie Kinect gurus Bronwen Zande and John O’Brien

Stand Up, Point at your monitor. Now point at the wall. Did this article magically appear on the wall in stunning HD? Probably not, but it could. Continue Reading →

La La Ninja Annoying Users #1: The Shouter

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Annoying Users #1: The Shouter

AKA the CAPS LOCK CRUSADER, they send ridiculous IT queries in all capital letters – as if YELLING

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(Thanks to our friends at TechNet)

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Windows 8 + a Ford Mustang = Project Detroit

You certainly wouldn’t think of this if someone asked you what the next generation of remote control car would be…

Check out what the guys at Channel 9 got up to with Inside West Coast Customs – definitely wouldn’t mind taking a spin in this set of wheels…or keeping it!

http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/detroit

Can a Zenbook cut an apple?

We recently got our hands on a shiny new Asus Zenbook. Thought we’d have some fun with it’s ultra thin edge.

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The browser you love(d) to hate

Hats off to the peeps over in IE. This is a beautiful site. Being a hater has never been awesome. Ohh, and that video is too funny.

http://browseryoulovedtohate.com/

cap2

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(First Round Complete) Windows 8 Developer Camps: Australia

(Now completed) The first round of Windows 8 Developer Camps have now completed. All 8 cities. We had lots of fun!. Continue Reading →

9by9

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9 by 9: web thinkers

We took 9 smart aussies, and asked them all the same 9 smart questions about the web. We then built this HTML5 video wall. Here’s what happened http://9by9.tv/

Envisioning the future of robotics

How close are we to Asimov’s vision of our robotic future? Lawrence Crumpton explores how close we’ve come.

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Microsoft School Of PHP

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Join the class: Microsoft School of PHP

by Nick Hodge

PHP on Windows?. Check part 1 of our School of PHP video series.

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Fun with cinemagraphs and Cliplets

Today, MSR released Cliplets, an easy (and awesome) way to make cinemagraphs. We thought we’d make our own little one.

We’re looking for a Marketing Manager, is it you?

Welcome

Hello friend, welcome to La La Ninja.

La La Ninja, you ask?

La La Ninja is the unofficial home of Microsoft Australia. This is the place where we share the things we love with the people we love (and maybe even like).

Expect to see a collection of stuff that we find, write and make.

That’s it really, no spiel, no hoopla, no fancy mumbo jumbo.

More to come so stay tooned.

Geek on, friend.

^mk

Cloud Ninja