Microsoft Imagine Cup 2012: Call for mentors
By Mauricio Freitas, in
Entrepreneurship, posted: 31-Oct-2011 18:45
I just got word the top 25 New Zealand teams have been selected for Microsoft NZ Imagine Cup 2012. More importantly, Microsoft is looking for industry mentors, who will work with team to guide them and share their industry experience.
The Microsoft Imagine Cup is a global student technology competition that encourages students to tackle the toughest problems facing the world today while applying the latest technologies and networking with the IT industry. More than 350,000 university students from 100 countries competed in 2011, and we are recruiting for New Zealand teams for the 2012 competition!
Once again, we are looking for Industry Mentors to work with student teams by guiding them and sharing valuable industry experience. In return, as a Mentor, you get to identify and work with the best young and up-and-coming IT talent in NZ. Industry Mentors also benefit from gaining positive exposure with their contribution to students, IT industry and wider community.
| Location | Industry Mentors Positions Available |
| Auckland | 18 |
| Waikato | 1 |
| Wellington | 2 |
| Christchurch | 1 |
| Dunedin | 3 |
If you are interested, please contact nzedu@microsoft.com by 10th November 2011. For more information, please read the Mentor Overview.
Case Study Challenge (ecentre Massey University)
By Mauricio Freitas, in
Entrepreneurship, posted: 11-Oct-2011 16:41
As part of the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), ecentre is holding a Case Study Challenge on the 15th November and a Business Idea Workshop on the 18th November. Details below:
IT Rockstar 2011 is on - register now...
By Mauricio Freitas, in
Entrepreneurship, posted: 22-Nov-2010 18:27
For the third year I am a judge at IT Rockstar, a crazy competition to find the top New Zealand IT professional.
Judges are:
Brett (NZICT CEO)
Josh (IT Rockstar 2010)
Mauricio (Geekzone BDFL)
Rhoda (Greenstone CEO)
This year the team at 920 are accepting individual and team nomination.
Below is a video of the IT Rockstar 2010 final - skip to the 33 second mark to see me and fellow judge Brett Roberts (another Brett):
Companies fail to deal with technology: telephone numbers and voicemail
By Mauricio Freitas, in
Entrepreneurship, posted: 12-Jul-2009 17:28
I just had a laugh now when I read Ari's tweet about his experience with Post Haste, a New Zealand courier company:
Yes, I just called their local offices on a Sunday evening to listen myself and their voicemail recorded greeting say "You called us outside our office hours. To book an emergency courier call 025 ...".
For those who don't keep pace with this moving world of telecommunications, 025 is the non-geographical prefix used by Telecom New Zealand for their old TDMA network. This means there used to be a mobile network in New Zealand that used the 025 prefix.
Telecom shutdown the 025 network 31 March 2007 6pm. This was more than two years ago.
Like Ari I wonder how many emergency courier jobs Post Haste missed in those two and a half years of voice mail redirecting their customers to a non-existant number. I also wonder if no one in the company ever thought of looking for a reason in dropped jobs at weekends and week nights...
But they are not alone. I see lots of vans driving around town with old 025 numbers still printer on the sides. Those people who need jobs now more than ever are losing for not updating something as simple as a number on the side panel of their van...
This is how low tech people can be.
Yes, I just called their local offices on a Sunday evening to listen myself and their voicemail recorded greeting say "You called us outside our office hours. To book an emergency courier call 025 ...".
For those who don't keep pace with this moving world of telecommunications, 025 is the non-geographical prefix used by Telecom New Zealand for their old TDMA network. This means there used to be a mobile network in New Zealand that used the 025 prefix.
Telecom shutdown the 025 network 31 March 2007 6pm. This was more than two years ago.
Like Ari I wonder how many emergency courier jobs Post Haste missed in those two and a half years of voice mail redirecting their customers to a non-existant number. I also wonder if no one in the company ever thought of looking for a reason in dropped jobs at weekends and week nights...
But they are not alone. I see lots of vans driving around town with old 025 numbers still printer on the sides. Those people who need jobs now more than ever are losing for not updating something as simple as a number on the side panel of their van...
This is how low tech people can be.
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Ffunnell on TV3
By Mauricio Freitas, in
Entrepreneurship, posted: 6-Jun-2009 08:43
Some of you have known about Ffunnell, an advertising network comprising New Zealand's largest independent publishers - Geekzone, Kiwiblog, PublicAddress, Pundit, Scoop, Throng...
Scoop's Alastair Thompson was on TV3 yesterday explaining a bit of Ffunnell. Click the image to see the video on Scoop.
Scoop's Alastair Thompson was on TV3 yesterday explaining a bit of Ffunnell. Click the image to see the video on Scoop.
Want to attend the I.T. Rockstar finale? Read on
By Mauricio Freitas, in
Entrepreneurship, posted: 29-May-2009 14:26
The I.T. Rockstar finale is here i Wellington, Thursday 4th June at The Loaded Hog Waterfront.If you want an invite to attend the big party, contact megansmith@920.co.nz for your FREE ticket!
I will be there as one of the judges, wearing my black I.T. Rockstart t-shirt:
Party on!
I will be there as one of the judges, wearing my black I.T. Rockstart t-shirt:
Party on!
Ivy Worldwide logo contest: US$2500, HP Mini, Wacom tablet
By Mauricio Freitas, in
Entrepreneurship, posted: 29-May-2009 09:03
A couple of friends in America run a marketing agency and have just renamed the company Ivy Worldwide. They are running a logo contest with some good prizes: US$ 2,500 cash, HP Mini laptop, Wacom tablet for the top three designs.
Ivy Worldwide runs some great programs bringing bloggers and tech writers together with some big companies - it was through them that I got to engage with brand names such as HP, AMD, AT&T and others.
To get going visit Ivy Worldwide to check the contest rules, and work on a cool logo design for them...
Ivy Worldwide runs some great programs bringing bloggers and tech writers together with some big companies - it was through them that I got to engage with brand names such as HP, AMD, AT&T and others.
To get going visit Ivy Worldwide to check the contest rules, and work on a cool logo design for them...
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Think Small and solve problems
By Mauricio Freitas, in
Entrepreneurship, posted: 5-Feb-2009 08:20
What about pausing a bit from complaining and helping find a solution for those small problems? That's what ThinkSmall seems to allow people to do, through a web-based crowd solution finder platform (yes, these are made up words to describe it).
It comes from Tim Norton and the crowd behind Made From New Zealand - if you are registered with Made From New Zealand then you can use the same login at ThinkSmall.
It comes from Tim Norton and the crowd behind Made From New Zealand - if you are registered with Made From New Zealand then you can use the same login at ThinkSmall.
Key Strategies for Successful Online Communities
By Mauricio Freitas, in
Entrepreneurship, posted: 16-Oct-2008 17:05
If you are involved in building communities - social networks, events, intranets, blogs, microblogging, etc... You might be interested in this event being promoted by Intergen:
Key Strategies for Successful Online Communities
How to create, develop and evolve a social media presence to increase collaboration, drive awareness and improve customer loyalty
Social networking and online communities have received significant attention in the past 12 months, as services such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn attract and connect communities of people. For organisations wanting to truly bring their marketing and customer service strategies into the 21st century, creating and fostering an online community can be the most powerful –not to mention the most cost effective – marketing tool available.
For marketers and communicators social media is proving effective at reinforcing an organisation’s brand, understanding and capturing customer feedback, and creating and sharing information across communities of interest. Organisations can take advantage of similar technologies to create their own custom community experiences.
Recognising the importance of this trend, Intergen has invited Andreas Stjernström from Swedish enterprise software company EPiServer to New Zealand. He will highlight the reasons why developing a community is important, and give real world examples of organisations that have successfully created and maximised the benefits of online communities.
Intended as an introduction to online community development, these free events are targeted at:
- Organisations that are currently creating or are looking to create or sponsor an online community.
- Agencies who want to offer your customers options for taking advantage of social media.
- Marketers and communicators who are looking for new mediums to communicate your organisation’s value proposition.
Events are scheduled on the following dates:
Wellington Wednesday 5 November, Level 7, 126 Lambton Quay – 4.30pm-6pm
Christchurch Thursday 6 November, Level 2, 158 Hereford Street, 8am – 9.30am
Auckland Friday 7 November, Level 2, 15 Huron Street, Takapuna – 12.30pm – 2pm
To register for these free events, email events@intergen.co.nz .
TelecomOne un-conference day 2 and wrap-up
By Mauricio Freitas, in
Entrepreneurship, posted: 6-Oct-2008 10:01
I am back home in Wellington now, after the TelecomOne un-conference. On the second day (day 0, day 1) I attended half of a session moderated by Nat Torkington about children education and technology, and then Peter Gutman's session about cybercrime - variants, free market of information, why security forces are not doing enough, etc.
About 12pm we did a wrap-up session where we all had the opportunity to review what went right, what went wrong, how it worked for everyone and what is next.
TelecomOne was an interesting un-conference. First because it was mainly an internal event, with a few "externals" being invited. This caused a bit of friction in the wiki pages where invited atendees discussed the upcoming meetup during the weeks leading up to the actual event.
Some Telecom people were worried about an open discussion about their vision, directions, services, network in the presence of "externals". We actually even had a person from the legal department on site - but I can guarantee that everyone understood very well the implications and the rules of separation. All discussions were open and clear, with a very good deal of understanding, criticism, suggestions and discovery.
Add to this the rounds of werewolf games (on Friday and Saturday evenings), plus the late night talks and it was a very enjoyable weekend - you can see my Flickr TelecomOne set here, or search for Flickr TNZ1 tag. Also available is a series of #TNZ1 Twitters. The special touch was the "Innovation Red" wine served there...
During the wrap-up we had comments from some "externals" that were a surprise. For example one of them even said something like "... amazed to find out so many bright Telecom and Gen-i people together and certainly changed my view of the company".
Also worth noting is the presence of some high up people there - if not the whole weekend, at least attending a couple of important sessions - like Alan Gourdie (Chief Executive, Telecom Retail) who attended the session about communicating to customers and public in general where we discussed public blogging, social media, regulations and other topics.
On the way back home, all out-of-town people managed to band together again at the Air New Zealand Koru Lounge and we almost had another session there, in the corner.
Also is worth noting that Telecom provided meals and a bus from Auckland CBD to Warkworth, but "externals" (such as myself) did not receive any contribution towards the expense to attend this camp. I paid my own travel, accommodation, and car to drive to Warkworth. Actually very interesting to see a group of "externals" such as the one the organisers put together coming on their own to participate on a private camp.
Also interesting is to see the Foo Camp concept can be applied really well to private organisations.
Well done the organisers and facilitators. Well done to Telecom for being brave and accepting that people from outside your organisation can help too, by providing real criticism and constructive feedback.
Special thanks to the Mahurangi College and staff, location of Foo Camps, and now TelecomOne. On to the next one.
About 12pm we did a wrap-up session where we all had the opportunity to review what went right, what went wrong, how it worked for everyone and what is next.
TelecomOne was an interesting un-conference. First because it was mainly an internal event, with a few "externals" being invited. This caused a bit of friction in the wiki pages where invited atendees discussed the upcoming meetup during the weeks leading up to the actual event.
Some Telecom people were worried about an open discussion about their vision, directions, services, network in the presence of "externals". We actually even had a person from the legal department on site - but I can guarantee that everyone understood very well the implications and the rules of separation. All discussions were open and clear, with a very good deal of understanding, criticism, suggestions and discovery.
Add to this the rounds of werewolf games (on Friday and Saturday evenings), plus the late night talks and it was a very enjoyable weekend - you can see my Flickr TelecomOne set here, or search for Flickr TNZ1 tag. Also available is a series of #TNZ1 Twitters. The special touch was the "Innovation Red" wine served there...
During the wrap-up we had comments from some "externals" that were a surprise. For example one of them even said something like "... amazed to find out so many bright Telecom and Gen-i people together and certainly changed my view of the company".
Also worth noting is the presence of some high up people there - if not the whole weekend, at least attending a couple of important sessions - like Alan Gourdie (Chief Executive, Telecom Retail) who attended the session about communicating to customers and public in general where we discussed public blogging, social media, regulations and other topics.
On the way back home, all out-of-town people managed to band together again at the Air New Zealand Koru Lounge and we almost had another session there, in the corner.
Also is worth noting that Telecom provided meals and a bus from Auckland CBD to Warkworth, but "externals" (such as myself) did not receive any contribution towards the expense to attend this camp. I paid my own travel, accommodation, and car to drive to Warkworth. Actually very interesting to see a group of "externals" such as the one the organisers put together coming on their own to participate on a private camp.
Also interesting is to see the Foo Camp concept can be applied really well to private organisations.
Well done the organisers and facilitators. Well done to Telecom for being brave and accepting that people from outside your organisation can help too, by providing real criticism and constructive feedback.
Special thanks to the Mahurangi College and staff, location of Foo Camps, and now TelecomOne. On to the next one.
