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As always, as you’re winding down for the weekend, take a few minutes to catch up on May’s developer news as seen on this month’s D³: LIVE & INTERACTiVE (this past Wednesday). Links Canadian Developer Connection Windows Phone App ( Windows Phone Marketplace ) TechDays TV - May 8 - WIN280 - Metro...

It’s that time of the month again where I get to fill you in on what’s coming up on TechDays TV in May. Don’t forget – these sessions are LIVE and INTERACTIVE, bring the TechDays experience online. Ask questions and get them answered as if the expert was right there in the room with you! If you’re not...

The Canadian Developer Connection experience as you know it today consists of the blog and corresponding Twitter and Facebook pages. It also has a very active discussion group on LinkedIn where some of you are already networking and sharing your thoughts (if you’re not a member of the group yet, you...

TechDays TV brings you live TechDays sessions on the very latest in technical training topics. Developer-focused episodes are featured every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month. These sessions are LIVE - watch the session, ask questions, and have them answered by the expert presenters. Sessions will then...

TechDays TV brings you live TechDays sessions on the very latest in technical training topics. Developer-focused episodes are featured every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month. These sessions are LIVE - watch the session, ask questions, and have them answered by the expert presenters. Sessions will then...

By now, you probably are aware that when you’re building a mobile app or mobile website, trying to fit an existing PC-based app into a phone app isn’t the right answer .  You have to be mindful of what you choose to put on a mobile app’s screen and where you lay it out.  But that’s not the...

Mark your calendars! Below are the sessions airing on TechDays TV in April. Don’t forget – these sessions are LIVE and INTERACTIVE. Ask questions and get them answered right then and there. If you’re not able to tune in on Tuesdays at 12:00 PM ET , the sessions will be available on-demand after the live...

The Discovery channel show Inside West Coast Customs worked with Microsoft to deck out a classic muscle car with all the latest in Microsoft Technology. The final result is pretty awesome! No it is not April 1st, this is for real and it is cool! The crew at West Coast Customs worked with developer...

There are so many great events coming up in Canada, I wanted to list some of them here, so you don’t miss out! TechDays isn’t your only opportunity to get out and learn about the latest technologies from experts. We hold a number of smaller events throughout the year, and we also sponsor...

Securing your software product is one of the key, non-negotiable items you need to do before you release it and make it available to customers.  Regardless of who you are, security should be top-of-mind when you build your Windows Phone apps as well.  In this post, we’ll go over tips and tricks...

As you read in Paul’s blog post Why we love our MVPs , Microsoft MVPs write about and talk about some really cool things. Many of you have told us that you’d like it to be easier to discover MVPs and what they’re writing about. So, moving forward, I’ll be curating top picks and sharing them with you...

If you were born in the 70’s like I was, you may remember a show hosted by Leonard Nimoy called In Search Of…   that explored unexplained phenomena and some of the theories behind it.  Being young and impressionable, I soaked in the theories that this show presented about things supernatural...

By now, most people have realized (in theory) that recreating a PC-based app (or web app) is not exactly the right idea for mobile apps.  In practice, however, it is clear that this is not as easy as it sounds .  When you’re building an app that has no history on the PC or web, building the...

In March, we are visiting four cities across Canada to give a full day workshop to help you get started building Windows Phone apps. In this workshop, you can expect to learn how to build apps for Windows Phone and have expert support for you to build your very own Windows Phone app or game. It’s...

Ok, I admit it. The headline was a bit of link bait given how obvious it is. That being said, it’s surprising how often the mistake is made by app developers to add more features and screen activity than is necessary. This is especially true of developers porting a PC app to the mobile form factor...

Everyone who has used a modern smartphone knows that with very few exceptions, apps that have the most value to its users are those that are connected to services.  Standalone apps just don’t cut it anymore.   With that being said, finding data sources through web-based services can be difficult...

From Episode 3 – Securing .NET Applications | February 1, 2012 Following his presentation at the East of Toronto .NET User Group ( @easttorontoug ), Gladstone Grant ( @gladstonegrant ) takes on my questions as well as some from the viewers about the opportunities developers have working with the Microsoft...

Once you have built your app or game and have published it into the Windows Phone Marketplace, you’re likely going to want to monitor the uptake of your app via download and (potentially) revenue statistics.  You are also going to want to find ways to market your app to people who may not know about...

You know the projects you’re currently working on and the technologies you use to get them done. But what about future projects? What would they be using? The people that can answer that are the developers and architects that not only keep themselves up to date with technologies of today, but that also...

A good number of us from the team are in Redmond this week on our annual pilgrimage to the mothership (Microsoft Headquarters) for training, so content from me will be a little lighter than usual. As a result, I wanted to share with you a set of links and resources that are new to help you learn more...

If you’ve built modern mobile apps, you probably already know that coming up with the idea for the app/game and coding it is really only half the battle .  Success is largely determined in the marketing strategy you adopt for your app.  There are quite a few strategies that you can take and...

On this D³: LIVE & INTERACTiVE special, the crew travels to the East of Toronto .NET User Group in Pickering, ON for a special presentation by Gladstone Grant, VP Developer & Platform Group at Microsoft Canada (my boss’ boss) ( LinkedIn , Twitter ). Gladstone talks about Microsoft’s overall technology...

If you waited on reading my 5-part Metro and Mobile app design series until the final post, there’s great news in that you can now read each of them online.  Also, if you want an overview of the developer perspective of Windows Phone, from a development standpoint as well as a Marketplace and marketing...

When you look at successful mobile apps and games, there are a few common traits that you will notice in them. They all achieve a certain set of goals that may be subtle or completely obvious (or both!). If you harness the power of motivation for your app user, you have created an experience for your...

Happy New Year! With 2012 upon us and a fresh outlook on what a new year can bring, you might have a few ideas up your sleeve for apps/games that you’ve always wanted to build. Windows Phone should definitely be one of the platforms you target for your upcoming masterpieces; given the momentum the app...