September, 2010

A test version of Smiles running on my WP7 device. In between chatting with developers who dropped by today’s Coffee and Code in downtown Toronto and getting some work done, I’ve been playing Smiles (pictured above), an incredibly cute and incredibly addictive puzzle game by London, ON-based development shop Sykhronics . Here’s a video of Smiles’ gameplay in its “Drop” mode: Mike Kasprzak of Sykhronics...

It’s an exciting time to be a developer. Whether you are building rich client applications, mobile applications, web applications, or line-of-business applications, there are lots of opportunities and choices when you develop a solution. Right now, it seems the only constant is change and while it is impossible to keep up with everything, we feel that the changing landscape has raised the importance...

Deployment Clinic Today in Montreal Deployment clinics are a little more formal than Coffee and Codes. You can book an exclusive timeslot to deploy and test apps to a Windows Phone 7 device, and there’s one taking place all day at Microsoft’s Montreal office ( 2000 Avenue McGill College , 4th floor) on the 30th. Email Christian Beauclair to reserve a time slot. Coffee and Code Today in Toronto I’ll...

Tonight, I'll be in Kitchener speaking at the Canada’s Technology Triangle .NET User Group Meeting, where I’ll be talking about game programming on Windows Phone using XNA. Assisting me – albeit indirectly – will be Justin Bieber, in sprite form. Starting from the humble “File –> New”, I’ll code up some simple 2D gaming fun where we’ll learn about XNA and 2D game development basics and play with...

Today, Wednesday, September 29th, join “les bons gars”, Developer Advisor Christian Beauclair and Regional Director Guy Barrette , who’ll be holding a Coffee and Code at Le Café de la Cité on 75 Queen . They put on a professional appearance, but we all know qu’ils vont ecrire des «fart apps»! They’ll be doing it in both official languages: Silverlight and XNA! This article also appears in Global Nerdy...

Can't see the video? Download Silverlight or download the video in high-quality WMV , medium-quality WMV , MP4 and MP3 (audio only) formats! XNA is the game development framework that makes it easier to develop games for Windows, Xbox and Windows Phone, and it lets you do it with managed code – that is, using C# instead of C++. In this video, Microsoft’s Shawn Hargreaves and Charles Cox talk about...

Want to share your .NET knowledge in front of an audience? Got some special pearl of wisdom that you’d like to pass to your grateful, applauding peers? Want to win prizes for your scintillating oratory ? “La Communauté .NET Montréal lance un grand concours appelé Speaker Idol afin de vous donner la chance d’être conférencier,” says the Speaker Idol event site. Luckily, my vast experience in talking...

Over pints Pierre Roman, Bruce Cowper and Rick Claus decided they would put together a concise and timely podcast each “Update Tuesday”. The object is to keep it simple by letting you know in plain non technical language what the updates are, what they resolve and why you should care. As always - if you have suggestions on making it better - please pass on your comments. Mail Rick directly  –...

Today, as part of Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to protect its customers with security updates and the latest guidance on the threat landscape, the company is releasing MS10-070 as an out-of-band security update. The update addresses a vulnerability in ASP.NET, as described in Security Advisory 2416728 , and carries a maximum severity rating of Important and an Exploitability Index rating of 1. As...

Calgary developers! Mark your calendars and call the babysitter because tomorrow night, Udi Dahan will be delivering a presentation at the Calgary .NET User Group . Now, if you don’t know Udi, here’s the bio: Udi Dahan is The Software Simplist, an internationally renowned expert on software architecture and design. A solutions architecture and connected systems MVP, 5 years in a row, Mr. Dahan is also...

Sarah Prevette addresses the SproutUp crowd. Photo by Brett Gundlock for the National Post . “On almost any given weeknight,” goes the article in today’s National Post , Sprouting a Hotbed , “there is an event in Toronto somewhere where the technology crowd convenes to talk about the smartphone applications they're building, to offer advice on each other's business models and share Twitter marketing...

If you’ve been meaning to take up Windows Phone 7 development but didn’t know where or how to get started and you’re in the Ottawa area, this event is for you! Join Microsoft Developer Advisor Christian Beauclair and DreamDigital’s Colin Melia as they present a hands-on lab this Saturday where they show you how to write apps for our new phone. At this lab, you’ll: Learn how to develop apps for Windows...

Creative Commons photo by “Demion”. Join us as we make ourselves available to you so you can try out a real live Windows Phone 7 device and see how your apps work on the real thing. We’ve got a couple of Coffee and Codes and one deployment clinic this week: Wednesday, September 29 in Montreal (Coffee and Code) Coffee and Code is all about us spending the day working out of a cafe so that you can find...

When I took this developer evangelism job and returned to the Microsoft platform almost two years ago (after an eight-year hiatus) one of the first things I had to deal with was the sheer size of it. Even people who’ve been working in a certain area of the platform get lost when they venture out to other parts (say, when a desktop developer decides to give web development a try). If you’re thinking...

For today only (September 26, 2010): Manning is selling the ebook version of Azure in Action for a mere US$15, which converts to CAD$15.36 as of this writing. The ebook is a MEAP book – that’s Manning Early Access Program – which means that it’s an in-progress book. Purchasers of MEAP books get updates and the final version as part of the deal. To get the deal on Azure in Action, use the discount code...

Don’t have Silverlight? Download it here or download the video in High Quality WMV , Medium Quality WMV , MP4 or MP3 formats. Featured on the latest edition of This Week on Channel 9 , the summary of the most interesting videos and news on Microsoft’s Channel 9 site: Visual Basic CTP for Windows Phone 7 Tools ASP.NET Security Vulnerability FAQ , and updated steps to avoid it Inside Windows Phone -...

Many years ago, as a .NET developer, I would often find myself frustrated whenever I wanted to target a particular aspect of Windows, only to discover that no corresponding API in managed code existed. (Yes, I leaned somewhat towards being one of the “.NET purists” that Scott Hanselman warned you about .) In cases like these, and after exhausting all possibilities to find a library in the .NET Framework...

Number 27 already? DemoCamp is “show and tell” for the bright lights of the local tech and startup scene, where they get to talk about their current projects in front of a group of their peers. Although its format has undergone many changes through the years, the spirit remains the same: An emphasis on demos rather than marketing pitches A preference for showing working projects in action over slides...

From a textbook on learning Spanish: Found via Reddit. Click the picture to see it at full size. The text: To ask what people do for a living ¿A qué se dedica el señor Machado? What does Mr. Machado do? To respond Es programador. Sabe diseñar páginas Web mejor que nadie. He is a programmer. He knows how to design web pages better than anyone. This article also appears in Global Nerdy .

It Makes Sense… It makes sense , after all: You can develop Silverlight applications in Visual Basic. You can developer Windows Phone 7 apps in Silverlight. Why can’t you develop Windows Phone 7 Silverlight apps in Visual Basic? That’s the question a number of developers have been asking, as Brandon Watson’s earlier tweet hinted: Here’s What You Get And we’re now one step closer to that becoming real...

If you write applications that live on one or more of the following Microsoft platforms: Windows 7 Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Azure SQL Server 2008 R2 SharePoint 2010 Office 2010 Exchange Server 2010 Dynamics CRM 2011 …then you should get them Microsoft Platform Ready ! What is Microsoft Platform Ready? Microsoft Platform Ready is a program to help you bring your applications from the initial idea...

Creative Commons photo by Oli-Oviyan. Click the photo to see the original. Inspired by the supremely-talented R. Lee Ermey : Listen up Cloud Cadets! On Saturday, October 2nd, Noel Tan from the Calgary PASS Chapter will host a Windows Azure Boot Camp ! The purpose of this FREE boot camp is simple: To bring you up-to-speed on developing for Windows Azure , Microsoft’s flexible cloud–computing...

The Ignite Your Coding LinkedIn group is a place for Canadian Developers to find out the latest tech news, see what’s happening in the world of Microsoft and other platforms, make announcements, exchange ideas and get to know other Canadian developers. Although we folks at Microsoft Canada’s Developer and Platform Evangelism team run the LinkedIn group, it’s open to all, no matter what platform you...

Today (Wednesday, September 22) Manning’s offering their SharePoint books, in both electronic and dead-tree form, at half price: SharePoint 2007 Developer’s Guide to Business Data Catalog SharePoint 2010 Site Owner’s Manual SharePoint 2010 Web Parts in Action SharePoint 2010 Workflows in Action Just enter the promo code dotd0922 in the Promotional Code box when you check out at manning.com . This article...

Creative Commons photo by Sean McGrath. Click the photo to see the original. The Fredericton .NET User Group is meeting tonight! Tonight’s presentation topic is the Open Data Protocol , as presented by Andrew Trevors of SwiftRadius . For more about the Fredericton .NET User Group and tonight’s meeting, see my earlier posting . This article also appears in Global Nerdy .