It was yet another opportunity for PODD to throw some spills and chills on Halloween 2007. It was a food-fest, songfest, and film fest all rolled into one; and to think that we weren't really expecting much out of this rainy evening! Amidst the food and merry-making, there were at least two scares (and if memory serves correctly, one blood-curdling scream from our dear Jenny).

The evening started late and the rain poured down all night. The few brave souls who dared to keep their eyes wide open got their fill of a few Japanese horror treats through titles like Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman, The Haunted Apartments, and Noroi: The Curse all projected through our makeshift Conference Room / Movie Theater (the setup thanks to the movie master Jay). Rare titles for a very rare group of fine PODD individuals.

As we burned the midnight oil, one horror film after the next, we couldn't be sure what was louder: the blaring of the videoke machine we had rented to spice up the evening for the singers in the company; or the shrieks from the room of horrors where the flicks were being projected. And for a night that was driven by fear and absolutely 0% alcohol, it looks like this was one freaky affair to remember!

Pictures of PODD's Halloween 07.

Microsoft Corp.'s annual Next-Gen PC Design Competition is open for online entry submission until 11:59 p.m. EST Dec. 14. The competition aims to encourage ongoing enthusiasm for Windows-based PCs by engaging the imagination and creativity of the industrial design (ID) community and delivering a resource for the PC industry at large.

With this competition, Microsoft hopes to identify great talent and spur a dialogue between the ID field, the PC industry and their shared customers regarding what makes a great PC fit their customers' digital lifestyle.

This year's competition theme focuses on designs that help people fuel their passion, whether it's music, traveling or photography. This year's next-generation PC designs must contain scenarios and features that address ways to help people pursue their passions more easily, more powerfully and more enjoyably - and even how to help users obtain results they had never thought possible. This is also the first year the competition will look at software and hardware as part of the PC design. Applicants will need to focus not only on exterior design, shape and color, but they must pay attention to programs that will enhance what people feel passionate about. Successful entries will clearly define and thoroughly understand the audiences that the PC is designed for as well as the culture, lifestyle, habits and practices of the user.

All eligible entries will be reviewed January through April 2008 by a distinguished panel of Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA)-member judges from the international PC and industrial design community in addition to representatives from leading hardware manufacturers. The entries will be scored by the following criteria:

*Innovation. Is the design new and unique?

*User experience and interaction. In what ways does the design make the PC easier to use?

*Aesthetics. How does the appearance enhance the emotional appeal of the product?

*Technology integration. How is the design enhanced by new technologies?

*Windows software. How does this design enhance or expand the users' experience with Windows?

*Market viability and manufacturability. Who does this design appeal to, and what are the viable markets?

*Ecology. How is the design environmentally responsible?


Five winners will be selected, and up to five honorable mentions may be chosen by the judges. From Feb. 15 through March 15 the selected finalists will be posted on the Next-Gen PC Design Competition Web site, http://www.nextgendesigncomp.com, where the public will be invited to vote for its favorite entry to determine the Public's Choice Award. The winners will be announced in May 2008 and honored at the 2008 Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC). More information about the competition, including how to enter, is available at http://www.nextgendesigncomp.com.

The Breakthrough Design Art Competition 2007 presented by Shu Uemura, Motorola, Globe Platinum and Metro is in its final judging stages. Deadline fore all submissions was on September 15 2007. Out of the hundreds of entries that were submitted to the judges, 15 have been chosen for Internet users to vote for on the official website of the competition, http://breakthroughdesign.com.ph/gallery.php. All one has to do it register and log in to be able to vote for their favorite piece of art. SHU-MOTO-GLOBE-METRO group put this art competition together to support people with the same groundbreaking vision and thereby granting local talent a chance to break through into the beauty, telecommunications, and media industries. Former PODD artists extraordinaire Leo Guevara and Rachael Barria are two of the finalists on this particular competition. Leo has one entry (slot 1 on the website gallery) and Rachael has two (slot 2 and 11).

Clicking on the slot where the work is found will allow a registered user to vote for that particular digital art piece. Vote for your favorite art piece today by registering and logging into the official Breakthrough Design website.

With all the fuss about what better OS there is available for your mobile, you might want to make room for one that has gotten the full support of Google. Dubbed as the Android OS, the operating system is a Linux-based fully customizable software that bears a striking resemblance to many of Apples features but only so far as looks is concerned.

The promise of Android is a complete software solution built specifically for the mobile platform. It will act as an operating system, as middleware and contain key mobile applications that are (according to the Open Handset Alliance that Google also supports and helped organize):

Open
Equal
Without Boundary
Easy To Develop

Thus the birth of the Android Developer Challenge; cool apps that surprise and delight mobile users, built by developers like you, will be a huge part of the Android vision. To support you in your efforts, Google has launched the Android Developer Challenge, which will provide $10 million in awards -- no strings attached -- for great mobile apps built on the Android platform.

How It Works

The award money will be distributed equally between two Android Developer Challenges:

Android Developer Challenge I: We will accept submissions from January 2 through March 3, 2008

Android Developer Challenge II: This part will launch after the first handsets built on the platform become available in the second half of 2008

In the Android Developer Challenge I, the 50 most promising entries received by March 3 will each receive a $25,000 award to fund further development. Those selected will then be eligible for even greater recognition via ten $275,000 awards and ten $100,000 awards.

Read up on the Android OS.

Details on the Android Developer Challenge.