http://www.microsoft.com/student/en-US/Blog.aspx Product Updates, Events, & More 2009 Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:36:58 -0500 Super Simple RSS mstep@microsoft.com http://www.microsoft.com/student/en-US/BlogPost.aspx?cID=483 Prasid here. This is a guest post by Erik Tomas Batallones, a Microsoft Student Partner at Fordham University. We recently asked our Student Partners to write about how Microsoft fits into a student's life. I promised to showcase the winning blog entries as guest posts here. Once all the blog entries were submitted, we had our students vote for their favorite entry. Erik here won first place. You can check out Erik's blog here. Thu, 5 Feb 2009 16:31:00 -0500 http://www.microsoft.com/student/en-US/BlogPost.aspx?cID=471 Tomorrow is going to be watershed moment in American history, and for those of us who are twenty-five and under, tomorrow is an especially important moment. This is because this will be the inauguration of the first "Digital President" - and a President who - more than any in recent history - engaged with the youth of our nation. I was at panel discussion at UW last week where the topic was "The Digital President," where the panelists discussed the Web 2.0 tactics the Obama campaign used to better engage today's youth. Brett Horvath, a college student and social media strategist, referenced the book Born Digital, which posits that those of us born after 1983 grew up on the internet, and understand it in a fundamentally different way than those born before,who have had to learn or adapt to the internet. As a "digital native" himself, Brett called this "the election of the first 'Digital President.' The election of our President." Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:32:36 -0500 http://www.microsoft.com/student/en-US/BlogPost.aspx?cID=333 They said when they hired me a year ago that what they needed was someone who could be the voice of Microsoft to students. A year later, I thought to myself, "it's about time I started talking." I've been staring at a blank page now for at least a month. Trying to think about what to write. It's not as though I'm new to blogging - I've had a personal blog - where I write about my sordid lack-of-love-life and college escapades with friends - for over 7 years. I've had a more professional - but still personal - blog about my take on technology, marketing, and social sciences - since I started this job - about a year ago. I created it when my thoughts started branching off and I needed a place where I could explore these more serious topics without detracting from the social escapades and vice versa. In fact, I've been expounding on every topic under the sun my entire life, but somehow this time it was different, it was harder, because this time I was writing for Microsoft. This time - writing in this professional capacity - felt the most personal of all. This time - for me a 25 year old aspiring tech junkie - to be blogging here, on this site, felt like kinda a big deal. And so I decided that the only way to begin was to blog about the blog. Tue, 9 Dec 2008 16:34:11 -0500 http://www.microsoft.com/student/en-US/BlogPost.aspx?cID=334 One of the hats that I wear at Microsoft is the manager for the Microsoft Student Partners (MSP) Program. Our Student Partners are currently doing a campaign around Zune, and in trying to help them as they go out to demo, it occurred to me that in all my travels around the interwebs, I've never seen anyone explain why Zune was anything more than just-another-media-player. I have a Zune that I've been using every day for the past year - and I don't think I would ever go back. The reason, Kathy R - a friend & Marketer for Zune told me, is that Zune "isn't just about listening to music - it's a whole new way to explore music." Tue, 9 Dec 2008 16:33:30 -0500 http://www.microsoft.com/student/en-US/BlogPost.aspx?cID=332 Have you heard of the College Puzzle Challenge? This yearly Microsoft-sponsored contest brought employees to 16 locations across the country to supervise the competition, which involved about 1,300 students from 24 colleges. In the words of Chi Bong Ho, former College Puzzle Challenge competitor, Cornell graduate, and new software engineer at Microsoft: "The challenge is an excellent way for students to informally meet people working at Microsoft. The fact that the challenge is fun and popular, at least amongst students in technical disciplines, doesn't hurt either." Wed, 3 Dec 2008 16:35:11 -0500 http://www.microsoft.com/student/en-US/BlogPost.aspx?cID=328 Hey guys and gals. Long time no post. Behind the scenes we are working on improvements to the site and digging up more great deals. We want to get some of these changes out to you, but we also want to make sure there is space for specific things you're looking for. So what are you looking for? This site is for you, so you have a say. What things would make this site more useful? What stories and advice do you want from the community? What is not working for you? We are looking for ways to give you more voice and it starts with you sending your suggestions to: mstep@microsoft.com Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:35:53 -0500 http://www.microsoft.com/student/en-US/BlogPost.aspx?cID=266 We'd like to officially welcome you to the new site. We've redesigned our Web site to bring together the things you need. Now it's easier to get the resources we offered before, and we've added even more. These improvements are about creating a site that's clean, quick, and useful. Here's how it works. There are three main sections: Studies, Life, and Future. You can guess what each of these sections is about. Within those sections are Templates, Tutorials, and Stories. When you have no time, templates are great tools to download so you can get started right away. When you're ready to learn some new tricks, numerous tutorials are there so maybe you won't be in such a rush next time. And finally, read the stories to compare horror experiences and pick up some advice. Submit your stories and we'll laugh with you, not at you. Promise. And now one request. If this site is going to be for you, it has to be, in part, by you. Tell us what you like, what you don't like, and what you would like to see. Your feedback is crucial. We'll use this blog to keep you updated on what we're working on and highlight the best feedback and stories we receive. Just e-mail mstep@microsoft.com with some constructive criticism and we'll make the site better. Again, we're glad you're here and hope to continue to make this site useful to you. Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:36:21 -0500