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MSDN Student Zine UK

Recent Posts

• Pushing Paint applications into Web 2.0 using Silverlight

  Posted: 09 Apr 2009 at 12:51 by ukstudentzine

  Paint applications on the desktop has been developing for a long time however there are few available on the internet, even less that offer the same control that you would find on a desktop paint application, even one as simple as Paint. Let me show you how you can make your own online paint application in Silverlight. One of the reasons this hasn’t been done before in Silverlight is the way it renders graphics and shapes. It uses Vectors; which are great if you want to create shapes that loo

• Mix Conference 2009

  Posted: 09 Apr 2009 at 12:50 by ukstudentzine

  The Mix Conference held each year in Las Vegas is a showcase for Microsoft’s vision of internet technologies and this year was no exception. It bridges the gap between Web professionals and industry leaders in a way that allows them to explore the future of the web together. This year it was held between the 18th and 20th of March. For those not able to attend the conference videos on demand of various sessions have been made available to download and view on the Mix Website. http://visitmix.com

• Getting to grips with Dreamspark

  Posted: 09 Apr 2009 at 12:49 by ukstudentzine

  What is DreamSpark? DreamSpark is Microsoft’s way of giving free software to students. Students can simply log on and enjoy the free Microsoft products available to download. Products available on DreamSpark include Expression Studio 2, Virtual PC, Visual Studio and more. Why DreamSpark? DreamSpark has just undergone a funky new makeover to help promote some of the new products and bonus features added. These include: · Live@edu integration · Updated versions of existing p

• Microsoft Surface - Real world meets software engineering

  Posted: 26 Feb 2009 at 14:47 by ukstudentzine

  Warren Rieutort-Louis, third year at CUED and a Microsoft Student Partner in Cambridge, explores the power of software engineering and the design process through a new touch technology that hopes to revolutionise the way we interact with out environment... Read the article here

• Dreamspark

  Posted: 17 Feb 2009 at 15:27 by ukstudentzine

  Students love free stuff, fact. Dreamspark was launched by Microsoft to do just that. Free downloads of Visual Studio and other cool Microsoft products such as Windows Server were already available for students. However, Microsoft decided this wasn’t enough and in January the new Dreamspark was launched to students around the world. Now Microsoft offers a new, improved and exciting range of products for free, including: · Live@edu which has been added to the package, with 24 new countr

• Making bigger bets with smaller stakes.

  Posted: 17 Feb 2009 at 14:42 by ukstudentzine

  Keeping Lionhead Innovative. Adam Jethro Langridge How do you make something big and innovative? That's a particularly interesting question in the computer games industry. It is easy to see its significance once you peruse your local Computer Game store. When I look around a game shop, I tend to look for something exciting and interesting that offers me something that I haven't experienced before. If I'm lucky I'll find something that hasn't existed before. For most people, especially those th

• F# ...Functional programming in the .Net world - Kevin Pfister

  Posted: 17 Feb 2009 at 14:37 by ukstudentzine

  F# was developed as an experimental programming language by Microsoft Research to provide a combination of many sought after features in other programming languages. The problem with most programming languages is that they usually have to give up on functionality to achieve it elsewhere; C# for example gave up on a slight performance overhead while gaining the benefits of managed code. The goal for F# was to create a type-inferred functional programming language that provides type safety, succin

• Visualising media search better (Part 2) - Kevin Pfister

  Posted: 17 Feb 2009 at 14:31 by ukstudentzine

  The way Image search results look now hasn’t really changed much in the last few years, I ask the simple question ...why? In this article I want to try something that hasn’t been done before; combining Deep Zoom and Live Image Search. I call it DeepSearch ...Sounds awesome! In the last article we used a pseudo 3D effect in Silverlight to show one way of visualising Images we have searched for. However just showing the images was a bit bland, even with a 3d effect. We needed to actually be a

• Microsoft IT Academy Student Pass

  Posted: 19 Jan 2009 at 10:18 by ukstudentzine

  Ever fancied getting some more letters after you name and improving your job prospects when you leave uni? Then Microsoft certification is for you! We're making a whole bunch of official eLearning content available to students for free through the IT Academy Student Pass programme. These courses will give you everything you need to learn to take a MCP exams and get ready for industry! To sign up you need a unique code to authenticate yourself as a student, to get one either click here to email

• Windows 7 for Tech Students

  Posted: 16 Jan 2009 at 11:32 by ukstudentzine

  Ten top features in the next generation of Windows for development and productivity Following Windows 7’s recent beta launch to the public, I’ve taken a look at the new development features and productivity improvements to Microsoft’s flagship product to see what it all means for technology students. Windows 7 brings in a wide range of changes, and not only to the way the operating system works and how it behaves: there are new and innovative ways to control the computer and how it interacts wit

• A better way to visualising media search (Part 1)

  Posted: 16 Jan 2009 at 11:30 by ukstudentzine

  Search... the most important aspect of the internet; without it no one would be able to explore easily the vast amount of content available in an efficient manner, but could it look better? Over the years search has come a long way, improving its algorithms and search techniques with the addition of other search categories such as image and video. We have reached the point now where the quality of results are sublime yet the search interface is still little different from where we originally sta

• Surface gets unwrapped at the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures

  Posted: 16 Jan 2009 at 11:29 by ukstudentzine

  Earlier this month Chris Bishop, chief research scientist at Microsoft Research Cambridge was selected for and hosted this year’s Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. The Christmas lectures themselves originated in 1825 when Michael Faraday wanted to have a way to help promote science to children. Luckily for all viewing there were no PowerPoint slides shown – instead Chris explained with lots of audience participation such things as the continuation of Moore’s law in the face of modern challen

• Developer events coming soon

  Posted: 16 Jan 2009 at 11:24 by ukstudentzine

  Developer Events Join other developers at free regional Microsoft Technical Events to receive technical 'know-how' demos from Microsoft experts, insights into our latest technologies and a chance to meet and talk to other developers. Free developer events offering lots of demos and code delivered by Microsoft experts who will bring you up-to-date on what’s happening in the world of Microsoft clients. We also have a quick survey for you to complete and you could win tickets to Wembley! Click her

• Which Imagine Cup Category is for you?

  Posted: 18 Nov 2008 at 15:26

  Imagine Cup competition is made up of 9 different competitions split across 3 different categories. This year’s theme is around trying to save the world’s largest problems using technology; the challenges that are trying to be solved are focused around the 8 UN Millennium goals. With the main focus

• The Winner takes it all

  Posted: 18 Nov 2008 at 10:55

  Dominic Green was a Microsoft Student Partner (MSP) in 2008 and went on to compete with teammate Ben Nunney in the Imagine Cup 2008 competition. They made it to the UK Finals and had an amazing time filled with numerous exciting opportunities and trips away. Both Ben and Dominic now work at Microsof

• How well do you know the Imagine Cup? What’s it all about?

  Posted: 18 Nov 2008 at 10:53

  https://imaginecup.com/Registration/Default.aspx What is the Imagine Cup? The Imagine Cup is a global celebration of technology and innovation amongst students which aims to solve the world’s toughest problems. After hours of MS mentoring, pitches, finals and much needed cups of coffee, students fr

• User Experience in Web 2.0 – Make your own news CloudUser Experience in Web 2.0

  Posted: 12 Nov 2008 at 14:18

  Originally virtually all websites are just text derived from HTML developed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1980, and then along came additions to the original HTML; images, tables, formatting and then eventually style sheets. This meant that a webpage could look good however it was still only displaying stat

• A story of opportunity at the Imagine Cup

  Posted: 11 Nov 2008 at 14:35

  There are great opportunities to be had at the Imagine Cup; when I went to the UK finals of last year’s competition, I wasn’t expecting much in the way of job prospects. I was a first-year undergraduate in Robotics with no placement year, and all of the companies attending the careers fair to accomp

• Be Aware that some criminals come dressed in Santa Claus suits

  Posted: 11 Nov 2008 at 14:31

  The Holidays Are Upon Us – Be Aware That Some Criminals Come Dressed in Santa Claus Suits The Holidays bring out the best in us, sharing with others, wanting to help, families gathered together to give thanks, the warmth of being with our best friends . . . BUT when using the Internet, remember t

• Windows 7 at PDC

  Posted: 11 Nov 2008 at 13:24

  In January 2007 Microsoft released Windows Vista, only to be met with mixed reviews when compared to the king of operating systems at the time; Windows XP. For the regular user, Vista added only ‘shine’ to the Windows experience at the cost of performance, start up time and memory usage –since its