LocalDB is created specifically for developers. It is very easy to install and requires no management, yet it offers the same T-SQL language, programming surface and client-side providers as the regular SQL Server Express. In effect the developers that...

C++ is an uncontested tool for delivering innovation outside the box (augmented reality, natural user interfaces, compelling games, and more). But how to reconnect with C++ using our C# background as starting point? This is a somewhat short guide to the...

Tim Huckaby and Cameron Skinner, General Manager – Visual Studio Ultimate at Microsoft, discuss the Visual Studio 11 Dev Preview. Cameron talks about the exciting new features coming that developers can expect, especially in the Application Lifecycle...

Allow me to draw your attention to this Windows Phone application Certification Requirement: Requirement 2.7.2 The privacy policy of your application must inform users about how location data from the Location Service API is used and disclosed and the...

In March, DrupalCon is coming to Denver. I am excited to attend. The speaker and session list is rich, and I am happy Microsoft continues its dedication to part of this community. Web Matrix Microsoft WebMatrix makes it easy for anyone to create...

One of the best parts of Windows Phone application development is how fast you can add sophisticated functionality to your solution. In fact, I was teaching a weekend crash course on Windows Phone at Brigham Young University a few weeks back. Here’s a...

When you create a Windows Phone application you might have some data to store. Where do you store it? Well, there’s always Isolated Storage . I discuss that here .  There’s always a local SQL Database . I discuss that here . But, what if on-the-phone...

Creating a Windows Phone Application is straight-forward. The rich and robust Silverlight environment gives developers the tools a controls they need to create compelling user experiences. But what do you do once you have your application? What draws...

As I have discussed in previous posts, there are lots of great sensors at the disposal of the Windows Phone application developer. One of them is the Accelerometer . The accelerometer measures the tilt of the device in both the X axis and Y axis. You...

There are a lot of sensors on the Windows Phone. We’ve got: Microphone GPS Location Camera (front & back) Gyroscope / Accelerometer Magnetometer / Compass I suppose we could also say the touch panel is a sensor, but it is so ubiquitous that we just...

The Windows 8 Team has written a blog article around how Windows 8 will support sensors – letting developers built extremely robust applications that interact with the user. To pull all of this together, our final challenge was to make the power and promise...

To get your point across, style matters . Making your point takes flair and sometimes some swagger, and you always need substance. So, your message needs to be complete and your document’s format needs to be what you intended. Of course, you want to have...

Millions of people a month come to the Windows Personalization Gallery to download themes and wallpapers for their desktops. Send us your art or photography, and we might use it in the gallery, either as a wallpaper (a standalone desktop image) or a full...

My colleague Developer Evangelist, Sam Stokes, in California has written a compelling article on dragging items in Windows Phone. But I have a problem with Sam’s approach! Maybe it’s because I have a problem with Sam – but probably not; he’s actually...

Yeah, I’ll say it. This is awesome. On CodePlex, there’s a new project, the Windows Phone 7 Enulator Skin Switcher. The Windows Phone 7 emulator skin switcher is an application that gives you multiple skins to use on your Windows Phone 7 emulator. Start...

My colleague Windows Phone Developer Evangelist, Daniel Egan, has set out to do the impossible. Only kidding. He has set out to measure the real differences between building an app on Windows Phone, the IPhone, and Android. I am excited to see his conclusions...

In an article by Richard Hay: I recently transitioned our household to hosted email accounts with Office 365.  My wife and I are both Outlook users and like the benefits of working in that interface locally on our desktop and laptops. The option...

What’s Microsoft Virtual Academy? MVA is a fully cloud-based learning experience focusing on Microsoft Cloud Technologies. You can access a variety of training content online and become one of the renowned experts in the IT Pro community around the world...

We are aware that many of you have run into the issue of getting an "Invalid Credit Card" message when trying to register.  We apologize for this erroneous message and inconvenience.  While we work toward a solution, we do have a workaround...

UTAH’S PREMIER DEVELOPER EVENT Neumont University 10701 S Jordan River Parkway | South, Jordan, Utah Saturday, March 10, 2012 | 9:00AM – 5:00PM FREE | Lunch Included Registration: utahgeekevents.com Meet your peers and learn about the latest technologies...

It’s more than once I get asked the question “ Where should I start to learn C#? ” So often I start my blog posts from the point of view that we all know the .Net framework and we are rushing forward from that point. Indeed that does describe 99% of my...

In a recent article, the Windows 8 team introduces a set of mobility features in Windows 8 that can reduce unexpected bandwidth charges. People want similar mobility on their PCs as they get on their smartphones. It is unlikely that your end goal is just...

My colleague Developer Evangelist for Windows Phone in California, Daniel Egan, has posted a helpful article on the step-by-step implementation for consuming REST data in a Windows Phone application. Over and over again, I see developers that have this...

My colleague Developer Evangelist in Arizona, Michael Palermo , has found his true love – sort of. Read his left-brain poetry as he pines for, you guessed it, Microsoft .Net Framework. And, frankly, who can blame him? I have a managed heap of memories...

The Windows 8 team has released the new Windows logo. This logo will be the trademark for Windows 8 and serves to illustrate the Metro interface introduced by the forthcoming Operating System. In some ways you can trace the evolution of the Windows logo...