The Imagine Cup is a worldwide technology competition aimed at students, where you get to let your creativity and programming skill run wild, and win great prizes while you’re at it!

Check out the video below for more on the Imagine Cup.

If you want to read more on the competition, check out the

So now that Windows 7 has been out and about a bit in the wild, security firms that previously made millions from selling their wares to naive users are finding their revenues dropping.

That is the only reason, I can guess, for them to be going to the harsh marketing that they have been up to recently. It basically amounted to them saying that Windows 7 was insufficiently secure and you “needed” another level of protection.

Of course, any extra protection is recommended; but in this case I think there is something that can outdo AVG and their irresponsible advertising campaign.

Recently I had a bit of a problem on my netbook when Office 2010 decided not to activate for whatever reason.

I tried a wide variety of things (it didn’t seem too keen on fixing itself), and eventually came upon the following solution:

1. Go to Control Panel
2. Select “Uninstall a program”
3. Find Office 2010 Beta, right click and select “Change”
4. Choose the fourth option, “Enter a product key”
5. Enter the product key you got with the download
6. Let it continue and run the wizard
7. When you restart your Office applications, it will ask you to validate online then you will be activated!
8. You may have to restart again to make the messages go away.

Office 2010 Activation Failure

Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems

This is the bold calling of the 2010 Imagine Cup, Microsoft’s worldwide student technology competition. Aimed at students just like you the whole world over, the aim of the Software Design competition is to give you the opportunity to revolutionise how technology enhances our lives.

Big Goals. Huge Challenges.

The aims of the Software Design aspect of the Imagine Cup are massive – address the UN Millennium Development Goals with software and technology. This includes addressing issues related to hunger relief; poverty; education; disease control; healthcare; the environment; and other challenges facing our world today.

End Hunger. Cure Diseases. Bring Relief.

The UN Millennium Development Goals are wide-ranging and affect every corner of the world. All of them can be addressed with technology, and the Imagine Cup offers students the opportunity to prove this, and their own prowess, on a global stage.

Get Started Now.

Start making a difference today, and get started on those world-changing applications. Signup for the remaining open competitions; you can find out more information on the Imagine Cup website. Why not get started now?

And if you needed a further incentive, Microsoft will be donating money to the charities they are working with this year when you sign up. So go ahead and do it today!

Look out for more posts in the coming days for more on the Imagine Cup, what Imagine Cup 2009 was like, and top tips for Imagine Cup 2010 – keep your eyes on the Imagine Cup category

Sign up for the Imagine Cup today!

So one final update on the rest of today, then off to town for pub / meal / pub / pub / club / pub / sleep (I think in that order too).

Two more brilliant this sessions this afternoon, from @garyshort and @blowdart.

Gary’s session on functional languages (i.e. Clojure) was extremely interesting, and introduced me to a whole new world on top of what I thought I already knew about functional languages.

Barry’s demo was the last one at a Developer Day as he is shipping out to America soon, and all the MVPs took the opportunity to take over the projector and give us some extremely funny clips making jokes for him.