(cm)Hot, lecture-free summer days are approaching . An ideal time of year to let creative ideas flow as freely as sweat! This year's "ETH Life" summer competition offers the chance to demonstrate your artistic talents to a wide audience.

Calling on all ETH Life readers: create a screen background for the new Neptune laptops. Contributions will be judged according to the following criteria:

	reference to Neptune (1) (mobile teaching and learning environment) (cf. box), to the strategic programme ETH World (2) and/or to ETH Zurich
	aesthetics, user-friendliness and functionality as a desktop background
	scalability: the design should be submitted for use with a SXGA monitor (1400 x 1050 pixel). It should be easily scalable for other resolutions.

The winning design (3) will be installed as the default background on all Neptune laptops sold in 2003. A wide diffusion is guaranteed; 2,500 Neptune laptops were sold in the 2002 promotion.

The first prize, is a 512 MB USB Flash Drive (worth 200 CHF), sponsored by ETH World (2),. In addition, the jury will be giving away 64 MB USB Flash Drives for five further praiseworthy contributions. The latter will also be included on the hard disks of the Neptune laptops.

It's got to be worth an effort! Please send your entry by e-mail by 31st August 2003 to: redaktion@ethlife.ethz.ch.

The jury comprises Benjamin Stäger (ETH World), Georg Wilckens (VSETH) and Christoph Meier (ETH Life). Christina Brand and Immo Noack (Project Neptune) will act as advisers.

ETH Life is looking forward to receiving your entry and wishes you a good summer.