"We are students of the University of Canterbury. Our three different areas of specialisation (Mayur, computer science; Tanmay, Computer Engineer; and Saima, law), meant that we were able to bring a range of ideas to our project.

 

Keeping the theme of the environment in mind, our team came up with an idea to develop a tool which would enable the public to contribute towards environmental sustainability. The team focused on the ever-increasing concern of pollution levels and developed a software called “Where is my bus?” which can be installed into smart phones or pocket pc’s and retrieves real-time bus information.

 

This will encourage people to use public transport as information on bus timetables are made easily available, which will in turn help people reduce their dependence on cars, a major pollutant of our environment in the 21st century."

 

"We're Team Phoenix, and we're creating a taxibus simulation to demonstrate the environmental benefits of this new form of public transport.

 

Current solutions to transport problems such as congestion and pollution are not ideal, as they do not solve the underlying issues at hand. While cars are convenient, they are the major causes of congestion and pollution. People already know about the issues associated with cars, and so it's not enough to simply educate them. Buses are not convenient, as they can only be taken along specific routes at scheduled times, and during offpeak times they are often empty.

 

We propose a new form of public transport – taxibuses. This form of transportation would provide the convenience of a car - while providing environmental benefits similar to that of a bus (i.e. the concept of ‘carpooling’).

 

People would use the taxibus service through their cellphones; one would simply text their ride requests, and within minutes, a vehicle would arrive to pick the passenger up and take them to their chosen destination. Taxibuses allow people to share rides in an effortless manner, which means that the financial cost of a ride, and the amount of congestion and pollution resulting from a ride would be distributed among a number of passengers. This provides environmental benefits over using cars.

 

We are building the underlying functionality that determines which taxibuses pick up which people, and providing a simulation to demonstrate the feasibility of our idea."

Get your hands on Microsoft's free developer software through MSDNAA. This program gives IT and Designer students and academics access to the latest development tools, operating systems, server software, documentation and technical references. In addition, students get licenses to these tools for their personal PCs and laptops, so keeping up to speed is easy. Find out how you can get your hands on the tools here.

Here's how to get the free software at the University of Canterbury:

Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering

• Software Images: Available from the Physical Sciences Library on restricted loan.
• Software Licenses: Email mssrep@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz to get the licence keys.

Department of Accounting, Finance, and Information Systems

• Software Images: .ISO images are located in folders dedicated to different courses, only students enrolled in a course have access to the course folder. Under that is an MSDN folder that contains the images.
• Software Licenses: Students can access licencses from the ELMS site here. To gain access to this site you will need to register using your Student User ID.

The Imagine Cup 2008 competition is well underway with 12 teams getting prepared to present their projects in the first round, check out our imagine cup site and watch their ideas and get behind your local team. Support your local team by voting for them here and go into win a number of cool prizes including an XBOX360, anyone can win, you, your friend or your grandmother!! Get behind your team and help get them the PEOPLES CHOICE AWARD.

Couple of weeks ago I wrote a post on Visual Studio one of the most powerful tools around to unleash your creativity. There are other tools such as Expression Studio and XNA Platform available to enhance the flow of creative ideas. However these tools come with a price (the economics price not the sociological one) so students often moan about the cost of purchasing these tools. Most often students go for the free stuff i.e. the Express editions or trial versions which are ideal for a beginner but they create strict boundaries for intermediate users.

So Microsoft came up with DreamSpark which will enable every student in the world to access Microsoft Technologies for FREE. Currently DreamSpark allows you to download Visual Studio 2008 (Professional Edition), Expression Studio, Windows Server 2003 and XNA Platform 2.0.

Yes, you have heard it right its FREE for students. Click here for more info.

But unfortunately, DreamSpark is not available in New Zealand just yet.