To summarize: Shortcuts can be created on the Windows 8 Start screen by creating a folder in “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs” Multiple shortcuts to the same exe or app with the same AppId results in only one shortcut on the Start...

We had talked about Visual States very briefly when we were discussing how we handle different views and orientation in a Windows Store App. Let’s go a step further and understand the concept of Visual States and how we can leverage this to create better...

I heard about Knockout a few months ago, but never gave it a proper try – at least not with ASP.NET MVC. You’ll enjoy the ViewModel pattern if you don’t want to have any code on your View – be it JS or CS! You can have a clean...

I was recently talking to a developer working on a Windows store app and he said: “Dude, why the dark background for the apps? Shouldn’t Windows 8 apps be a bit brighter and cheerful? I had to show a good amount of text in my app, so I ended up setting...

As developers, we start exploring any new platform/framework/language with a traditional “Hello World” program. Windows 8 is a re-imagined new OS, and so I thought let’s re-imagine the “Hello World” too. Consultant Jargon is my non-traditional version...

Microsoft recently set the Guinness World Record for the maximum number of developers (2500+) coding for a single event at a common location (in my hometown, Bangalore) for over 18 hours. I was a part of it and it was a lot of fun! We even had an anthem...

That’s right – 400 million new devices on the Windows ecosystem this year obviously represents the largest opportunity for software developers. That’s good enough reason to start looking into getting started with Windows Phone and Windows 8. Here are...

I was looking for some good tech talks to download for the weekend and came across “ Techdays 2012 the Netherlands ”. I went ahead and downloaded a few of the videos using the Firefox extension “ DownThemAll ”. Once the downloads were complete, this is...

I found something very interesting with Visual Studio from a code-commenting/todo-list perspective. (Which most of you might already know/use, if so – apologies for being late to the party! ) You can open up the “Task List” window and change the option...

We talked about providing quick access to key functionalities in my earlier post , and one of the ways of doing that is with the help of the Application Bar. A.K.A., this guy:           Notice how Windows Phone...

The first thing that you will notice when you visit the Windows Phone home page is the logo. It says Windows Phone – Put people first . The goal is to make sure people using the phone are delighted by the experience, they get to do the tasks that are...

I always thought my first blog post will be a tale to tell, totally interesting piece of work that people will instantly fall in love with. I thought I’ll write about my three year journey with Microsoft right out of college and add some heroic moments...