Australia
Imagine Cup – World Finals are coming to Australia in 2012!
The Imagine Cup – Australian Finals were held last night at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney with the crowning of ‘Brain Speller’ from University of Canberra as the champions.
Judged by a panel of five, the judges were industry experts including a past winner of the World Finals. The 2011 Imagine Cup World Finals will be held in July in New York, with 400 other students from around the globe competing against Team Australia.
Following the announcement of the winners for the local finals, Pip Marlow, managing director of Microsoft Australia announced that the 2012 World Finals will be held in Australia.
“We have the brightest and smartest talent in Australia, and by hosting the worldwide finals here next year, we hope to help inspire a new generation of student inventors and imagine-makers.”
The Imagine Cup 2012 will challenge students to come up with ideas to help solve the world’s toughest problems – inspired in part by the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals – and to use the power of software and technology to help bring those ideas to life. This year, the Imagine Cup has attracted over 300,000 students and more than 400 student finalists will compete.
For more information about the Imagine Cup, visit: www.imaginecup.com.au
Upcoming update from AshMan
AshMan says…
Make sure you stay tuned onto this blog as well as the AshMan says…Facebook page for updates on some exciting events that will be coming up.
One is TechEd 2010 which I will be presenting at the Academic Day on Microsoft Technologies.
The other one is a secret right now and will be announced very shortly! But if you attend QUT you will be reaping the maximum benefit from this awesome event!
So stay tuned!
Apple iPhone’s first Virus
AshMan says…
Not too long ago a hacker from the Netherlands found a simple exloitation that allowed him to take control and read the files of jailbroken iPhones.
The hacker didn’t do any permanent damage to the devices he accessed, he demanded for money to restore and give control back to the owner. He then gave up the hacking spree and informed the community on how to block the exploits.
This was only just the beginning of what is seeming to be a string of problems for jailbroken iPhones. Australian users have become the recipient of the first iPhone virus according to Mashable.

iPhone's first Virus spreading through Australian and Japanese jailbroken phones.
The virus is called ikee, and like before is non-destructive but changes the background of the device to an image of Rick Astley.
This virus has spread in the same manner, by exploiting unsecured SSH access. iPhones share the same root password for SSH access as part of Apple’s factory settings.
However if you are the owner of a locked handset, Apple switched off SSH access as a default setting, and users of jailbroken iPhones are urged to turn SSH off when not in use, or to simply change the root and mobile passwords.
This new virus has only attacked so for a range of IP addresses in Australia, though there is word that it is filtering through a number of Japanese iPhones.
Windows 7 Student Prices
AshMan says…
Students in Australia, US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Korea and Mexico will all be able to purchase the upgrades to Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 7 Professional for a significantly reduced price.
Prices haven’t been confirmed for Australia yet, however in the US and UK the upgrades will be on sale for US$30 and £30 respectively. To be eligable for the discounted price you are required to have a valid student email address (an email address provided to you by your university)
You can find some more information at the Windows UK and Windows US sites.

Windows 7 Upgrade to be only US$30 for students with a valid email.
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