It’s time to GeekOut and win a Windows 8 tablet!

We know that there is a little geek in all of us – a geek who wants to create apps. We also know that you have some amazing ideas for those apps. That’s why we wanted to provide you with the tools, training and assets, to get you started with developing apps and launch them off to the world!

Geek Out is a collection of events, online and offline, which are aimed to help you create amazing Windows 8 apps and publish them to the Windows 8 Store. There are seminars, workshops and hackathons happening all around Finland – and the best part is..they’re all free!

So what are you waiting for, get your Geek Out and check out events in your area! You might even win a brand new Windows 8 device through our raffle!

The WOWZAPP Winners are here–and they’re riding with style!

It’s been a couple of week since WOWZAPP and we’ve managed to get some sleep. It’s been great seeing that so many attendees have continued on your app development, looking forward to see them in the Store! Let us know when you’re ready to publish, so we can do a virtual high five – and maybe promote your app!

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WOWZAPP – Get visibility for your app

WOWZAPP is right around the corner with more and more partners signing up for the event! So why do so many companies sign up for the event? In addition to all the free training, help from experts and recruiting capabilities (there will be students as well), they are interested in the visibility they’ll gain from the event!

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EuroSkills Day 2–Setups and starts

It’s been a long day.. the EuroSkills competitors arrived today to the competition site to check their equipment and get everything ready for the 3-day long competition starting tomorrow. For us at WebDesign the day was pretty simple, check that the applications work, check the connections and configure the keyboard layout for your own language. After those tasks were completed we got familiar with the venue and proceeded to the Opening Ceremony, which was quite amazing!

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And here are the Finnish Windows Phone Challenge finalists for Imagine Cup

Last week the finalists for the Windows Phone Challenge were announced. It was extremely exciting to see that seven Finnish teams proceeded to Round 2! That’s really…you guessed it amazing!

As you know we also organized local qualifications for the Windows Phone Challenge. Through this local addition we try to identify, reward and help the top teams get their apps our there to the public. I’m happy to announce the top 3 Windows Phone Challenge teams that will join the Software Design finalists for the Finnish Imagine Cup finals on the 25th of April!

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Free webservers for Finnish students! Setup your new website and reward yourself with free movie tickets!

It’s a good day to be a geek! Microsoft & Nebula are offering free virtual webservers for Finnish students! Things like this don’t come around so often, so you should definitely head over to www.microsoft.fi/TakeOverTheWeb and request free access of your own! Quick before they run out of servers!

Oh, we’re also giving out free movie tickets for the first 200 who gets their site up and running before 1.5.2012…You know for those rainy summer days

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Code on the wild side with Nokia–Exclusive Hackathon and summer interships through Imagine Cup!

There’s been a lot of buzz around Imagine Cup lately and especially around our local twist of the Windows Phone Challenge. Here’s the short summary, if you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard about it yet:

Microsoft and Nokia are organizing local finals of the Windows Phone Challenge with amazing prizes, internships and an exclusive hackathon!

By participating in Imagine Cup, you’ll get the chance to win some cool devices, get a trip to Australia and perhaps work at the most amazing summer internship ever at Nokia! If that wasn’t enough, 40 students will be invited to an exclusive hackathon event.

What’s Imagine Cup?

Imagine Cup is a innovation/technology competition for students, it’s basically Microsofts way of encouraging students to challenge themselves and innovate on new ways of using technology to solve some of the worlds biggest problems.

You can read more about Imagine Cup here:

• The official ImagineCup website
• Time to save the world–Now with extra kangaroos! (this blog)
• Get ready for Imagine Cup 2012 (this blog)

Alright.. so what’s a Hackathon?

We’ve been organizing these small events around Windows Phone for a while now. We gather up for 24H and create some kickass Windows Phone apps. It’s been pretty amazing to see people come to the event without any previous experience and then leave with a cool app prototype!

This time the hackathon will be filled with students who already have experience with Windows Phone, so we expect to see some really amazing things come out of it! We’ll head out to Hotelli Aavaranta and spend two days over there (11 – 12th of April).

During the two days you’ll get to chance to meet some of the representatives from Nokia and Microsoft and hear what’s it really like to work over there. You’ll also get feedback on your projects, make new contacts and learn from one of the best. We’ll also enjoy some nice food, drinks and party..in true geekstyle

During this hackathon you’ll also get a chance to talk to the Nokia representatives and apply for summer internships for their awesome positions. This is a great chance to connect with those guys and really show what you know…and amaze them with your Windows Phone apps!

Oh my…that’s really HUGE

Yeah, I know.. So now you’re wondering how can you take part in all of this awesomeness? It’s easy, all you need to do is participate in Imagine Cup’s Windows Phone Challenge and show us what you got! We’ll then choose 40 students to participate in the hackathon. Over there you can show the Nokia guys what you’re made of and hopefully get a awesome summer internship!

Oh..and don’t forget about the phones, trip to Australia and other prizes that are already related to Imagine Cup

Now what are you waiting for, go and register for the competition and join us at Aavaranta!

Time to get your hands dirty and shake ya’ booty! It’s time for a 24H Kinect hackathon with Luxus!

We’ve had a lot of hackathons lately but one thing that we’ve been missing is a Kinect-hackathon! Have no fear, the hackathon is here! Together with Luxus we’ll organize a 24H Kinect hackathon during their “Luxus Digital Week”. It’s time to join, develop on Kinect and have fun!

What: A 24h Kinect hackathon
Where: Puristamo Sali, Kaapelitehdas Tallberginkatu 1 C 15, 00180 Helsinki
When: 4. – 5.2.2012
Why: www.luxus.fi/digitalweek

What’s a Kinect hackathon?

The Kinect Hackathon is a free event where you’ll get the chance to go explore new ideas and the possibilities of Xbox Kinect. Whether you’re a student just starting out or an experienced developer, we’ll share tips and tricks and all-around Kinect development know-how.

The event is aimed for different types of people and is available for students, companies and individuals

- Developers will get support and the opportunity to learn Kinect development. Our Kinect mentors will help you around programming and the tools.

- Designers get a chance to explore the new possibilities of natural user interfaces.

- Innovators & business minds can see their ideas come to life on a fresh new platform. Learn about the different ways of support you can get for your new ideas, apps and startups.

The questions is: What kind of possibilities does this platform bring to you?

The hackathon challenge is different from other workshops because it’s 24-hours long and is aimed for developers, innovators, designers and business-minds. We’re excited to help you start the Kinect-journey. Are you ready to take on the challenge and create something cool? Sign up now at http://www.luxus.fi/digitalweek/ Deadline for registration is 1.2.2012

What to do before you come?

To develop on Kinect you’ll need a Windows 7 machine, Visual Studio 2010 (Express) and the Kinect SDK. Please install these tools on your machine, before the event.

The event starts at 12am so please be there in time. The address is Tallberginkatu 1 C 15, 00180 Helsinki. Food and beverages are on the house.

On the day of the workshop, bring your Windows 7 laptop computer!

Rocking your socks off with Windows Phone 7 [Video]

The Assembly Summer 2011 LAN-party started on Thursday and we’ve been browsing around with some of the Finnish MSPs. We had the opportunity to do two seminar talks over there, I did one on Windows Phone and Teemu talked about the Kinect SDK.

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