December, 2011

  January 4, 2012 | 12:00 PM ET | Add to Outlook >>   Tune in on January 4 to Developers, Developers, Developers: LIVE & INTERACTIVE . Windows Phone experts Atley Hunter, Barranger Ridler , and Paul Laberge will be on the show to chat about Windows Phone and the Developer Movement . Plus: Miguel Carrasco , well known community personality and career coach, talks about LinkedIn and...

As 2011 comes to a close and 2012 about to begin, now’s the time to start thinking about starting something new. Whoa! I can’t believe it. 2011 is already coming to a close. Where did this year go? Looking back, there were some really amazing things that happened. Just off the top of my head: Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) tools and device updates Windows Azure SDK updates galore Product launches: Visual...

One last day of work for most of us, but hopefully it’s either a very productive day because hardly anyone else is working, or a relaxed day enjoying the fudge and cookies someone else brought into the office and wondering what exercise regimen you should undertake in the New Year to shed those holiday pounds. I hope all of you who are travelling make it to your destinations safe and sounds despite...

Microsoft Canada has launched the follow-up campaign to the Mango App Challenge , the Developer Movement .  Like the Mango App Challenge, the Developer Movement is a contest for you as a developer to build great apps and get great rewards as a result, but it’s more than that.  It’s more than Windows Phone.  It’s more than Azure.  More than apps on their own.  It’s a call to...

One of the more complicated concepts in phone development, regardless of the platform you are targeting, is multi-tasking.  The nature of a mobile device is to be resource-limited.  It’s not a PC where you have a significant amount of CPU, memory, storage and other assets to tap into in your apps and games.  The result is that you have to be wise in how your apps and games use resources...

This week is jam-packed with opportunities to learn about and get started using Windows Azure. If you haven’t had a chance to look into Windows Azure yet, take some time this week and give it a try by attending these LIVE ONLINE events: Details on Windows Azure Camp Online >> Details on Learn Windows Azure >> Getting Started with Windows Azure LIVE | 12:00 PM ET | Add to Outlook >>...

Live shows are always a tricky thing. On the one hand, they are great as they allow you to interact with the show, ask questions, give your opinions, etc. On the other hand, they are trickier from a technical perspective and many things can go wrong, as was the case last Wednesday when this episode was originally scheduled to air. Having said that, all is well now and we’re good to go. This Thursday...

I know most of you are on Facebook. But I know a lot of us are still trying to figure out exactly how to use LinkedIn. I wanted to make sure you aren’t missing out on a tool that can help you find work opportunities. Facebook is generally regarded as a tool for keeping in touch with friends near and far, it is also used by companies to share information about promotions and offers. LinkedIn is generally...

The SQL Azure labs site is a great place to explore and play with SQL Azure! You are probably already using SQL Server and may be working with or wondering about SQL Azure. Often when I want to explore a technology, I find reading a blog post or MSDN article isn’t enough to make me comfortable. I need something more tangible to help me grasp a new tool or offering. The SQL Azure team provides a series...

December 7 | Add to Outlook >> See the post-TechDays Vancouver interview with Scott Hanselman ( @shanselman ), discussing the answers to the questions you had about “the Web Stack of Love”. Web experts Thomas Lewis ( @TommyLee ) and Frédéric Harper ( @fharper ) stop by and chime in with their thoughts and opinions. Plus: ask them any questions you might have around web development that weren...

One of the great features of Windows Phone is the natural feel of the left-to-right (or right-to-left) scrolling of apps and hubs.  There’s a good reason for this flow – the Windows Phone team looked into the behaviour of how users interact with the phone and figured out that the anatomy of the hand is such that its actually easier to scroll left and right vs. up and down (true story!). To that...

The Canadian HTML5 Coat of Arms was designed to inspire and excite the Canadian developer community around the usage of HTML5. The central logo and secondary technology class logos, which are imbedded within the shield, are available through a creative commons license by the World Wide Web Consortium and can be found on the group website here . The inspiration for its design is the classic coat...

As you may know, the Microsoft TechDays Conference took place in Montreal last week and we have landed an interview with Louis-Philippe Pinsonneault, a local Montreal developer.  He is a really nice guy and a great developer.  I was very happy to finally meet him in person after chatting with him over email on several occasions. If you used the Windows Phone TechDays 2011 application (free...