Imagine Cup Australia – no dream too big!

image

From world hunger to disease to environmental change, our planet faces many challenges. But when met with imagination and ideas, obstacles turn into opportunities.

Imagine Cup is a global competition for student teams who combine inspiration with technology to tackle some of the world’s toughest problems. Every year, students come up with amazing solutions that use technology to improve education, help environmental sustainability, and reduce poverty and child mortality.

If you are a student, or know students, assemble your team together, put your thinking caps on and start imagining how you can help create a better future! Winning teams have a chance to share their ideas at the Imagine Cup 2012 Worldwide Finals right here in Australia and compete for cash grants and other prizes! The skills and experience you could gain while developing your ideas, the confidence that comes with presenting your innovations, and the access you get to influential business leaders could be life changing – as they’ve been for many previous contestants.

If you can imagine how technology could help solve the world’s toughest problems, it’s time to enter Imagine Cup 2012.

Kick-start your career by getting involved in The Imagine Cup 2012 today! REGISTER NOW

Aussie Comps: All you need is an idea at Round 1 – it’s that easy!

  • Game Design14 Feb (AEDT) – If you love gaming and exploring virtual worlds, why not have a shot at creating a game that will make a positive impact in the real world? By entering, you’ll learn the art of game design and take the first steps towards a career in game development. Round 1 submission deadline is 14 February 2012.
  • Software Design13 March (AEDT) – Unleash your ideas and technical talent to create cutting-edge software applications that can help make the world a better place. Get a team together and get cracking – round 1 submission deadline is 13 March 2012.

Online Challenges

Add Spending Limits For New Risk-Free Windows Azure Sign-Up

The new Windows Azure Trial accounts and MSDN Accounts are now completely risk-free given the institution of “spending limits”. By default all new trial accounts and newly provisioned MSDN benefits are created with a spending limit of $0. That means that if you exceed the monthly allotments of gratis services, your services will automatically be shut down and your storage placed in read-only mode until the next billing cycle. Then you can redeploy your services and take advantage of that month’s allotment (if any remains).

We do require you to enter a credit card (which helps verify your identity as a legitimate Azure users). But it will not be charged with the new default spending limit.

To see the steps, see Jim O’Neill’s post The New, Improved No-Risk Windows Azure Trial. He shows how you can sign up in just a few steps.

This is courtesy of the December release of Windows Azure has unveiled a new Windows Azure site and sign-up experience. In the past, one of the biggest concerns and roadblocks was that you could overspend on your free trial.