John's Blog

From time to time, we find that we accidentally didn't publish some topics in the Windows Mobile SDK help, or that somehow we didn't include all the new topics we should have on MSDN ( MSDN contains the most up-to-date collection of Windows Mobile documentation...

These labs are a must-see for Windows Mobile developers. They were originally created for MEDC in May. If you didn't go, see what you missed? :-) Step by Step: Migrating an eMbedded Visual C++ Application to Visual Studio 2005 http://msdn.microsoft...

The fact that Windows Mobile is so flexible that it can be used on Smartphones and Pocket PCs of all shapes and sizes is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, all the available hardware grows the market and brings us some really cool stuff. On the...

As an ex-UK person, the BBC is the definitive source of all my information, so it was interesting to read about our top blogger Mr. Scoble moving on. It's in large part thanks to Robert that we're encourage to blog here at Microsoft, so we all owe him...

The Patterns & Practices group is a team at Microsoft creating fundamental building blocks of code for you to use in your applications. Their release for Windows Mobile 5.0-based Pocket PCs and Smartphones is called the "Mobile Client Software Factory...

Every time I hear of "Ajax", I think of a kitchen cleaning product. Or at least, I did until a few months ago. Then I starting thinking "Asynchronous JavaScript And XML". And then I started thinking "I wonder if I can do this stuff on my Pocket PC?"....

Well, it's taken a lot longer than I had hoped, but we've finally got our Windows Mobile Starter Kits shipping! Ok, so maybe we're not going to have a real Ship Party, and I know I'm not going to get a "Ship It!" award for my special Microsoft plaque...

I've been lucky enough to have a Palm Treo 700w to play with, and of course, that means writing some applications for it. I started off with C# to get a feel for the device, and here are a few tips I've picked up. 1. Update the Treo. Without the...

Woot! This is great - the Windows Mobile device emulator has been released in a standalone format, so you can demo your applications without having to install Visual Studio 2005. Also, there is now a version of the emulator that includes MSFP - the Messaging...

Windows Mobile 5.0 is the operating system used by a huge variety of amazing pieces of hardware, but it's not fixed in stone. Every time a new piece of hardware appears on the market, perhaps with a new screen size or a new keyboard, the operating system...

As you can read on the Windows Mobile Documentation blog , the SDK docs on MSDN recently got an update. As well as various fixes and tweaks, there is a brand new section on the Internet Explorer Mobile Documuent Model - vital stuff if you are interested...

Well, the team is now back from MEDC in Las Vegas, and apart from some nasty colds, coughs and very unpleasant food-poisoning incident, we all survived unscathed. In fact, all things considered, this was a wonderful event. Some of the highlights...

I've not posted for a while, mostly because I've been busy working away with the rest of the Windows Mobile documentation team on creating a lot of new content, just in time for MEDC . We'll be releasing it in dribs and drabs between now and 8th May,...

Good news for Windows Mobile developers eager to test their applications on (presumably) forthcoming devices - there's a new emulator for Visual Studio 2005 that simulates a 320 by 240 landscape-mode Smartphone device. Is there no end to the permutations...

Have you seen the new Palm Treo device running Windows Mobile 5.0? I have, and I made another video blog to prove it. You can test your ability to understand a N. Ireland accent by clicking here to access it. John's Second Video Blog ...

Well from an Irishman (*) displaced to Redmond, a Happy St Patrick's Day to youse! I was updating my team here about how "pinching someone who doesn't wear green" is an Irish-American thing, and not something I grew up with. We would punch them in the...

Wow, after all the hype, the details are finally out: and those UMPC's look smart - a complete Windows XP computer in something the size of a paperback book? Not bad. OK, so the three hour battery life of the first generation devices seems a little poor...

Just a reminder in case you weren't aware, but MSDN hosts its own forums which include a healthy dose of Pocket PC and Smartphone discussion. If you're looking for an answer to a programming question, it's a great resource. Amd while I have my blog...

Folks here at work were discussing how to make a popular blog posting, and top of the suggestions was to include a list of some sort - Top Ten Tips for example. So I thought I would give it a go, and give my Top Ten Things that Great Mobile Software does...

MEDC - the most important event of the year, well, at least for Mobile and Embedded Devices developers. We, that is, we the User Assistance team will have a presence at the event - probably a booth like we did last year. I'm interested in knowing what...

I've just posted a short video blog entry, and I'd be interested in whether is works - both in technical terms, and if it's a useful way of sharing information. In this blog entry, I'm taking a look at some of the new Pocket PC hardware that's become...

Over on the Windows Mobile Doc blog , I just posted an entry about the freshly-released February documentation update on MSDN. You can read about it on the blog, or see for yourself on MSDN . The point of the blog is to allow you to subscribe to the RSS...

What's Hopper? A serious debugging tool for Windows CE, that's what. Hopper will stress out your applications UI, allowing you to search for leaks, crashes and all kind of bad things. You can read more at the HopperX Blog .

I've been lucky enough to get to play with a Universal Pocket PC Phone, and I think I like it a lot. The screen on this thing is just gorgeous - it's VGA - which means that text is rendered so smooth it looks better than paper. The size and weight...

At the end of last year, we performed one of most successful surveys ever of Windows Mobile SDK users. We got a ton of great information, and I'd like to thank everyone for taking the time to answer all those questions. The lucky winners of the gift cards...