\n\nCongratulations to Piano Time and Layout!\n\n\u003Ca href=\"http://apptivate.ms/apps/111/layout\">Layout\u003C/a> is a powerful tool for interaction design that makes prototyping in the early stages of development and design a breeze. \u003Ca href=\"http://apptivate.ms/apps/130/piano-time\">Piano Time\u003C/a> is a multitouch piano keyboard for your Surface or other Windows 8 tablet device. (It also supports using your keyboard as, well, a keyboard.) It includes recording and playback, a metronome, a learning mode, and more.\n\nAs grand prize winners, these two apps win a \u003Cstrong>$5,000 cash prize\u003C/strong>! They will also be featured in \u003Ca href=\"http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/aa570311.aspx\">MSDN Flash\u003C/a> and on the \u003Ca href=\"https://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/DevRadio\">DevRadio\u003C/a> show, and they will be promoted by Microsoft throughout the developer community.\n\nThe grand prize winners came from a pool of 15 finalists and were chosen by a panel made up of Stack Overflow's own \u003Cstrong>Joel Spolsky\u003C/strong> and \u003Cstrong>David Fullerton\u003C/strong>, as well as Microsoft developer evangelists \u003Cstrong>Doris Chen\u003C/strong> and \u003Cstrong>Jeff Brand\u003C/strong>. There was some stiff competition for the judges to choose from, and we congratulate \u003Ca href=\"http://apptivate.ms/semi-finals\">all of our finalists\u003C/a>. They won't be going home empty-handed, either - along with the winners of the Reviewer Sweepstakes, they'll go home with some great prizes, too. The first place winners from each category group win a Surface plus a $500 cash prize. The second and third place winners go home with good stuff, too. Johnny, tell 'em what they've won!\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"http://stackoverflow.blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/developer-prizes.png?v=2\" alt=\"\" />\n\nAnd \u003Cem>you\u003C/em> get a Surface! And \u003Cem>you\u003C/em> get a Surface! EVERYONE gets a Surface!\n\nThe 15 finalists came from a pool of 50 semi-finalists, which in turn came from the list of over 300 fully eligible submissions to Apptivate. Some more stats about the event:\n\n\u003Cul>\n \u003Cli>There were 456 apps submitted overall, including deleted and ineligible apps\u003C/li>\n \u003Cli>The third week of November was the best week for app submission, with 49 apps coming in that week\u003C/li>\n \u003Cli>Apptivate users posted 2646 questions and answers in the [windows-8] and [microsoft-metro] Stack Overflow tags\u003C/li>\n \u003Cli>Over the course of the event, 3163 users voted (on apps or on comment threads) 7454 times\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ul>\n\nThat's all for Apptivate… in 2012! The response to this was so positive, we're already on the lookout for similar collaborations in the new year... So stay tuned!","html","2012-12-20T12:00:00.000Z",{"current":288},"apptivate-ms-the-results-are-in",[290,298,303,308],{"_createdAt":291,"_id":292,"_rev":293,"_type":294,"_updatedAt":291,"slug":295,"title":297},"2023-05-23T16:43:21Z","wp-tagcat-announcements","9HpbCsT2tq0xwozQfkc4ih","blogTag",{"current":296},"announcements","Announcements",{"_createdAt":291,"_id":299,"_rev":293,"_type":294,"_updatedAt":291,"slug":300,"title":302},"wp-tagcat-company",{"current":301},"company","Company",{"_createdAt":291,"_id":304,"_rev":293,"_type":294,"_updatedAt":291,"slug":305,"title":307},"wp-tagcat-promotion",{"current":306},"promotion","Promotion",{"_createdAt":291,"_id":309,"_rev":293,"_type":294,"_updatedAt":291,"slug":310,"title":312},"wp-tagcat-stackoverflow",{"current":311},"stackoverflow","Stackoverflow","Apptivate.MS: the results are in!",[315,321,327,333],{"_id":316,"publishedAt":317,"slug":318,"sponsored":12,"title":320},"370eca08-3da8-4a13-b71e-5ab04e7d1f8b","2025-08-28T16:00:00.000Z",{"_type":10,"current":319},"moving-the-public-stack-overflow-sites-to-the-cloud-part-1","Moving the public Stack Overflow sites to the cloud: Part 1",{"_id":322,"publishedAt":323,"slug":324,"sponsored":278,"title":326},"e10457b6-a9f6-4aa9-90f2-d9e04eb77b7c","2025-08-27T04:40:00.000Z",{"_type":10,"current":325},"from-punch-cards-to-prompts-a-history-of-how-software-got-better","From punch cards to prompts: a history of how software got better",{"_id":328,"publishedAt":329,"slug":330,"sponsored":12,"title":332},"65472515-0b62-40d1-8b79-a62bdd2f508a","2025-08-25T16:00:00.000Z",{"_type":10,"current":331},"making-continuous-learning-work-at-work","Making continuous learning work at work",{"_id":334,"publishedAt":335,"slug":336,"sponsored":12,"title":338},"1b0bdf8c-5558-4631-80ca-40cb8e54b571","2025-08-21T14:00:25.054Z",{"_type":10,"current":337},"research-roadmap-update-august-2025","Research roadmap update, August 2025",{"count":340,"lastTimestamp":12},0,["Reactive",342],{"$sarticleModal":343},false,["Set"],["ShallowReactive",346],{"sanity-C3BAkYCCCX8HdiPxjLuiVfEnluGEDmOOof4JxhE3ODU":-1,"sanity-comment-wp-post-4765-1756387846353":-1},"/2012/12/20/apptivate-ms-the-results-are-in"]