During the month of June we are throwing down a Windows 8 app challenge in San Francisco. . . Join us over 4 weeks to build your Windows 8 app and a chance to win exciting prizes! Agenda: Week 1: · Business Opportunity for Windows 8 · Designing Apps with...

NOKIA is bringing another seriously cool competition for Windows Phone developers across the US and Canada with is Ready.Set () {Code} Challenge . Ready.Set () {Code} Challenge Headphones on. Tilt the seat back. Just steady codin’ as the keys get tapped...

Steven Sinofsky, President, Windows and Windows Live Division, announced today from Japan’s Windows 8 Dev Days that the Windows 8 Release Preview will be available during the first week of June. /via @BuildWindows8 As always, if you’re interested in more...

Since SQL Server 2005 we have had the ability to write User Defined Types (UDT's) and User Defined Aggregates (UDA's) etc. that are then executed by the .net framework within the SQL Server process. SQL Server 2012 now uses version 4.0 of the CLR although...

A couple of years ago wrote a blog post entitled Visual Studio 2010 – Darker Shades of Blue Theme where I posted a custom settings file for Visual Studio 2010 . With the release of SQL Server 2012 you can also import and export settings and this morning...

Windows Developer Event - Windows Reimagined Learn everything you need to start building Metro-style apps for Windows today at our free, full-day Windows Developer Event. We’ll show you how to use Visual Studio to code fast, fluid, immersive and beautiful...

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 has reached the RTM milestone and is now available for download on MSDN . Read the SQL Server 2012 datasheet to learn more.

In my former life as an architect at Intel Corporation and a Microsoft MVP , I used to blog on the Intel Software Network about Microsoft Developer technologies. On April 6th 2009 I wrote a blog post discussing the need for a Team Foundation Server Express...

Please help us fight childhood cancer! I'm having my head shaved this weekend, as is our 8 year old son Andrew, to stand in solidarity with kids fighting cancer, but more importantly, to raise money to find cures. Please support me with a donation to...

Windows 8 reached an important milestone today with the release of the Consumer Preview along with the Visual Studio “11” Beta . Along with the Consumer Preview there is also the Windows Server “8” Beta (read the associated datasheet ). If you’d like...

How will you change the world with KINECT for Windows on your PC? With the launch of the new KINECT for Windows sensor today you can also download the latest KINECT for Windows SDK . Get your newly optimized for the PC KINECT for Windows sensor and change...

T-Mobile has launched the NOKIA LUMIA 710 and you can have yours for only $49.99 with a new 2 year agreement, order yours today! The NOKIA LUMIA 710 has a 3.7” ClearBlack display, a 5 MP auto focus camera, and a 1400MHz Qualcomm MSM8255 processor. Subscribers...

KINECT for Windows is coming to a PC near you beginning February 1, 2012! How will you change the world with KINECT on your PC? According to the KINECT for Windows blog , the KINECT for Windows hardware will be available in limited quantities at first...

Updated for Windows Phone 7.5 , formerly known by the codename “Mango”, Windows Phone Stopwatch 5.1 has been Released to Marketplace (RTM) and so I thought I’d give an overview of this latest release and some of the new features. With 100,000 downloads...

In my blog post entitled Testing the Update Process for Windows Phone Apps published last night we discussed the need for testing the update process for your Windows Phone applications. In this blog post we explore how to debug the update process for...

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” It was with these famous words that Charles Dickens began his book A Tale of Two Cities , “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”, while he was referring to one of history’s most explosive...

Windows 8 is powered by apps, and we’re excited to see all the great apps our developers will build. If you’re a developer you should definitely be following the Building Windows 8 and Windows Store blogs and beginning today you might also want to check...

Got a great app idea? Building an amazing app right now? Your app could be featured in its own digital advertising campaign. Each month from December through February,up to seven apps will be selected and promoted in campaigns created and funded by Windows...

The Windows Phone “Mango” update process began this morning at around 10:00am PST as the Windows Phone 7.5 becomes available to users around the world and the majority of customers will have an opportunity to update their phones within the next four weeks...

We’re all likely familiar with Scott Adams Dilbert cartoon although what you might not have heard about is the fact that Microsoft’s Brandon Watson just challenged Scott Adams to the Windows Phone Challenge. Brandon challenged Scott to give the Windows...

While I’m sure you have already heard the news, Windows Phone “Mango” was Released to Manufacturing this morning and is now on its way to our handset and mobile operator partners to optimize “Mango” for their specific phone and network configurations...

Any developer will tell you that debugging applications in production environments presents them with some unique challenges and applications on Windows Phone are no different.  With the new version of the AppHub developers portal debugging exceptions...

Yesterday during the opening keynote of the Worldwide Partner Conference , Steve Ballmer announced that Boeing was taking to the Cloud with a solution to market its best-selling airplane, the 737. The Boeing 737 is the best-selling airplane in aviation...

Brandon Watson wrote a blog post this morning that should be music to the ears of all Windows Phone developers, announcing the availability of the Windows Phone Developer Tools Beta 2 and also how you can install Windows Phone “Mango” on retail Windows...

We’re excited to let you know that we’ve just released an updated version of the Microsoft Advertising SDK for Windows Phone with support for both Silverlight and XNA. We strongly encourage you to download the Advertising SDK June 2011 Update , and start...