Today, Microsoft announced the availability of a beta version of the Kinect for Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) from Microsoft Research. The SDK is designed to enable a growing community of academic researchers and enthusiasts to use Kinect technology to build compelling applications that include depth sensing, human motion tracking, and voice recognition on PCs. The SDK can be downloaded at no cost for the development of non-commercial applications.

The Imagine Cup Worldwide finals are currently taking place in New York City, USA and the Students to Business program is right in the middle of all the action. We’ve set up a blog specifically to share what’s going on inside the competition as well as the finalists’inspirations, motivations and future.

The pressure and excitement is mounting as Microsoft’s online reality show Career Factorquickly approaches its grand finale during this year’s TechEd Covention, May 16^th –19^th! Check out what the participants have accomplished so far and stay tuned to see what’s going to happen in the coming weeks!

The job market can be a tough ride—but it doesn’t have to be. Boost your resume by getting Microsoft Certified. And right now, you can get a FREE Microsoft Certification Exam voucher code for select exams to help you get started.

Like new jobs, these vouchers are in limited supply so don’t wait! Visit http://golink.us/p

  Special offer for Microsoft Students Business Program Members- A $50.00 value!

Skills and knowledge can give you the competitive edge whether you are just starting your career in IT or looking at your   next career step.
Join us on February 17th at The Microsoft Certified Career Conference. We will be online for 24 hours, join anytime you like, from anywhere where you have access to the internet Or review the recordings for 90 days after the conference. Use this code STU19B57 when you register at  www.msregistration.com/msl .

WebMatrix is here! Download it today! 

With WebMatrix, building a website is super-fast and easy without having to worry about configuring your own Web server, managing databases, or learning a lot of concepts.v

 Starts at 5pm Seattle Time (PST) Find your time here: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html 

Gang, we’re done! 24 chapters, about 1,000 pages. Congratulations to Charles, who has outdone himself!

Speaking for Charles and for the Windows Phone 7 team, we hope that you will enjoy Programming Windows Phone 7:

You can download a PDF here (38.6 MB).

And you can download the ebook’s sample code here (5.03 MB).

This book is a gift from the Windows Phone 7 team at Microsoft to the programming community, and I am proud to have been a part of it. Within the pages that follow, I show you the basics of writing applications for Windows Phone 7 using the C# programming language with the Silverlight and XNA 2D frameworks. Read more...

Are you an intern or recent graduate? Looking to brush up on your technical or soft-skills? Then this spring webcast series is just for you! Microsoft Students to Business is pleased to host our third Webcast series consisting of six, 60 minute webcasts beginning tomorrow and running through May5th. Check them out here: http://tiny.cc/sws22