At the Microsoft Inspire conference being held this week, the company announced a number of new products and programs to their global partner network. Office 365 has been bundled with Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility + Security. Their Surface as a Service program is in Australia and three partners are delivering an on-perm Azure stack for those wanting to run private cloud solutions.

Microsoft's cloud platform Azure has a new addition to the family. All public regions now have the Web Application Firewall available, following its announcement about six months ago. A Web Application Firewall (WAF) can help secure online applications without the need to make modifications to programs.

Today, Microsoft reported solid quarterly earnings, and investors are pleased. The stock is up about three per cent after hours. Unlike Netflix and its subscriber numbers, or Facebook and its monthly active users, there’s no single stat for Microsoft that made Wall Street happy. Instead, Microsoft offered a mix of solid metrics that showed that the company’s master plan is proceeding right according to schedule.

Over the past few years, there has been mounting concern that the US government could invoke the Patriot Act to collect Australian data for surveillance purposes without permission. However, the extent of these powers is a little hazy: some experts claim that the Act can be enacted on American soil only, while others maintain that any data centre with ties to US companies is fair game.

FINAL ROUND! Good news developers: you still have tonight to complete and submit your app and chase the dream. Simply submit your new app to the Windows Store (even if it's an Android or iOS port) and you could win the chance to present your app to thousands of industry-types at Microsoft's TechEd 2013 on the Gold Coast. Then there’s the HP laptops, Xbox bundles and Microsoft peripherals that we’re also giving away...

And round 5 is go! There's still plenty of time left. Register in our comp, and Microsoft Australia's dev gurus will help you publish any app idea you have to the Windows Store! One lucky dev will also be chosen to present their app at TechEd Australia 2013 on the Gold Coast. Speaking of fame and fortune, we're also giving away HP laptops every week. It's easy to get started. What better way to debut your app on the Windows Store and even port one over from Android or iOS.

OK developers, it’s round 2 time! Register in our comp, publish your app to the Windows Store and you could share in over $13,000 in prizes -- including six HP laptop/tablets and a huge trip to TechEd Australia 2013 on the Gold Coast. There has never been a better time to finally work on that new tablet or phone app idea, or port your existing app over from Android or iOS.

OK developers, this is big. Lifehacker has teamed up with Microsoft to help and encourage you to publish your Windows 8, Windows Phone or Windows Azure app on the Windows Store. Whatever your idea may be, Microsoft has the tools to help. And with over $13,000 in prizes up for grabs (including six HP ENVY X2 convertibles and a major prize trip to TechEd Australia 2013 on the Gold Coast), there has never been a better time to finally work on that new idea, or port your existing app over from Android or iOS.

Good news for cloud developers with a data fixation: the Windows Azure Store has expanded to Australia, allowing developers to buy (and sell) data sets for use with their cloud applications. Australia was one of 25 new markets added to the service last week.

We have a third winner in our our ongoing competition to win one of four Nokia Lumia 710 phones, thanks to Windows Azure. Congratulations to Bronwen Zande. Great news for Bronwen, but also for everyone else -- since the opportunity to win the fourth and final phone is now wide open.

Over the past fortnight, we've staged reader meetups in four cities, thanks to the Windows Azure team at Microsoft, complete with a trivia competition for each location. Now that the meetups are over (sob!), we figured we should share the questions with you.

Alas, the reader meetups are over! But we had a great time meeting Perth Lifehacker readers last night, and everyone can still enter our competition to win a Nokia Lumia 710 phone.

We've given away two phones so far in our Windows Azure Nokia Lumia 710 phone competition, but there are still two to go. And your chances of winning are higher than ever, since the most recent challenges added in score a higher level of points.

Let the meetups continue. After Brisbane and Sydney last week, thanks to Windows Azure it was the turn of Melbourne Lifehacker readers to demonstrate their developer chops and win some prizes.

It's time for our second Nokia Lumia 710 winner as part of our ongoing competition to win one of four Nokia Lumia 710 phones, thanks to Windows Azure. It was a tight battle, but the winner is . . . .

We've shown you pictures of our Lifehacker meetups in Brisbane and Sydney, but this is a unique view of the Brisbane experience. Reader and attendee Alexander Chen captured the event on a time lapse camera.

Our fortnight of meetups thanks to Windows Azure continues, and last night was Sydney's turn. We've got winners, we've got ludicrous captions.

As we revealed earlier this week, we have the first winner in our competition to give away four Nokia Lumia 710 phones, thanks to Windows Azure. There are still three phones to win, and right now is your best chance of winning.

Our first 2012 reader meetup thanks to Windows Azure took place in Brisbane last night, and it was a roaring success. Check out our photo gallery of the evening with all the news and all the winners.