AKQA, Cynergy, Clarity, Thirteen23, and CreateThe have all signed up and are working hard on the design problem.  They have access to the best internal Microsoft support on Silverlight, WPF, Windows Live Services, ASP.NET, and other technologies. Best of luck to all teams!

On another note, we have confirmed Emmy Robbin of www.metelevision.com as the MC of the final event in Austin.  You can check out her Rock and Roll online show called "Red River Rocks" at http://metelevision.com/redriverrocks/index.php.  You may recognize Emmy from ME Television, Grindhouse, American Idol, or one of her many other media engagements.  She is pumped up and looking forward to being a part of Microsoft's PhizzPop Design Challenge Finale at SXSW.