Faculty Connection is an online set of real-world resources and shared peer knowledge, the goal of the Faculty Connection site is to put relevant and applicable tools and information at the fingertips of technology educators.
The UK Academic Team is responsible for offering IT students and faculty members free access to software, for enhancing knowledge and skills by providing curriculum materials and other learning opportunities, for helping students achieve their dreams by organizing an international competition, and finally for assisting last year students through career resources and job opportunities at our customers and partners.
With this blog we want to inform you on our latest initiatives.
Enjoy reading and stay tuned!
Microsoft DreamSpark includes free Dev Center registration as well as many more benefits.
Did you know that your Dev Center registration entitles you to unlock a device for testing and submit apps for publication to the Windows Phone Store?
If you need a bit of help getting started, the links below take you to a range of training, design assistance and sample code to get you on your way to building outstanding Windows Phone apps and games.
▶ Brand new to Windows Phone development? Check out this video series before you start: Windows Phone Development for Absolute Beginners
▶ Windows Phone 8 Training: Windows Phone 8 Jump Start
▶ Design System Training: Windows Phone Design Boot Camp
▶ Hands-on-labs: Windows Phone 8 Training Kit
▶ Sample Code: Windows Phone Samples
You can also keep up-to-date on technical guidance, latest news and information on the official Windows Phone Developer Blog, Inside Windows Phone, and on Twitter at @wpdev.
There’s never been a better time than right now to get started, and we’re with you all the way and also get some awesome goodies whilst your at it with the UK Windows App Builder Reward Programme. This loyalty programme is for UK Windows Phone app builders who publish new and innovative apps between 4 Feb to 31 Mar 2013.
A fantastic line up of new and exciting prizes await, so get started building your original apps for Windows Phone and Windows Store, leveraging Windows Azure.
▶ Register yourself on the UK App Builder Reward Programme website
▶ Build & publish your original & unique app.
▶ Claim your points and redeem them for rewards.
Terms & Conditions available here UK App Builder Reward Programme.
Kinect for Windows samples are now available under an open source license.
You can find everything on CodePlex: http://kinectforwindows.codeplex.com/.
Why is this now on CodePlex?
New Blog Resources
The new developer blog http://blogs.msdn.com/b/k4wdev/ will focus on going behind the scenes with the K4W engineering team and will go deeper on the technology and APIs, share tips & tricks, and provide other titbits of information relevant to those building K4W applications.
Dedicated Twitter @KinectWindows
What About KinectforWindows blog?
Our existing product blog http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kinectforwindows/ will continue to focus on announcements, product news, and highlighting great, real-world uses of Kinect for Windows and http://www.kinectforwindows.org will remain the site for material in relation to the SDK.
Furthering Windows Azure commitment to open source development, today, Microsoft announced the release of our official Android SDK for Windows Azure Mobile Services.
Android developers now have easy access to structured data storage, authentication, push notifications using Google Cloud Messaging(GCM) and more in the form of a native Java SDK. This SDK joins the Windows Store, Windows Phone 8, and iOS SDKs that we've already released.
MS Open Tech developed the SDK and the Windows Azure team worked on the portal integration and push notifications. The native Java SDK for Android developers can be used for applications destined for the Google Play Store, Amazon App Store, or any other Android app store. Additionally, integrated support for push notifications with GCM has been added to server scripts. Like the other Mobile Services SDKs, the Android SDK will be open sourced you can access the GitHub repository here.
To learn more about the release, please watch this short 7 minute video where I show how to quickly create a new mobile service, download the Android quick start app, and connect the app to Windows Azure Mobile Services. Additionally, the features of the portal and capabilities of Mobile Services are described for people that haven't looked at Mobile Services before.
You can learn more about the announcement in ScottGu’s blog post here.
These services streamline the development process by enabling developers to use the cloud for backend functions like structured data storage and user authentication via Microsoft account, Facebook, Twitter, and Google. Whether you are a developer building an app for the Windows Store, iPhone, iPad, or Android and want an easy backend connection for storage, identity and push notifications, Windows Azure Mobile Services provides the right capabilities developers need.
Developers will benefit from the Windows Azure Mobile Services update in the following ways:
· Rapid Development: configure a straightforward and secure backend in less than five minutes.
· Create modern apps with the following built-in support:
· Email services through partnership with SendGrid
· SMS & voice services through partnership with Twilio
· Access to Structured Storage, Windows Azure Blob, Table, Queues, and ServiceBus
· Push Notifications for Windows Store, Windows Phone, iOS, and Android apps
· You can now create and run Mobile Services in 4 datacenters covering North America, Europe, and Asia.
Visit WindowsAzure.com, access the current libraries up on GitHub, access the Android Quick Start project in the Windows Azure portal, and find tutorials in the Mobile Services dev center.
Windows Azure Mobile Services are still free for your first ten applications running on shared instances and if your interested in teaching Windows Azure please see http://www.windowsazure.com/education
In September 2012, Microsoft Research received 111 PhD applications which were reviewed by 153 internal and external reviewers between October and December 2012. We have now selected 20 applications that will be funded through Microsoft Research Connections starting in the academic year 2013/14. Eight proposals relate to the new Joint Initiative with University College London (UCL) and the Joint Initiative in Informatics with Edinburgh University.
Expert Visual Classification with Thousands of Categories University of Bath
Investigation of a Radically New Energy Technology Based Upon Programmable Artificial Photosynthesis University of Cambridge
Compositional Verification of Scalable Joins by Protocol-Based Refinement Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS
3D Smart Memory for Scale-Out Servers EPFL
Intuitive and Efficient Design of Enclosures for .NET Gadgeteer University of Lancaster
Natural User Interfaces for the Developing World University of Cape Town
Understanding the Dynamics of Embryonic Stem Cells Differentiation: A Combined Experimental and Modeling Approach University of Cambridge
Exploiting Mobile Sensing and Geo-social information in Mobile Recommendation Systems University of Cambridge
Future Filesystems: Mechanized Specification, Validation, Implementation and Verification of Filesystems University of Leicester
All-Pay Auctions in the Real World Hebrew University
First-Order Satisfiability Modulo Theories Uppsala University
Learning to Index Technical University of Denmark
Joint Initiative with University College London
3D Reconstruction of Live Scenes Using Multiple Heterogeneous Mobile Depth Cameras
Probabilistic Databases of Multimodal and Universal Schema
Weakness as a Virtue
Experimental and computational studies on the human antigen-specific T cell repertoire
Joint Initiative in Informatics with Edinburgh University
Performance Portability for Large-Scale Heterogeneous Systems
Provenance for Configuration Language Security
Bayesian Probabilistic Programming for Security
Solving the Problem of Cascading Costs: Better Approximate Bayesian Inference for Data Pipelines
This plugin for Construct 2 makes it easy to integrate the power of Azure Mobile Services into your games for Windows 8. Saving to the cloud is a great way to seamlessly store data for achievements, leaderboards, save games, user data and lots more!
Example basic use case: The player gets a new high score and wants to post it online so others can try and beat them! With this plugin they can login using either Facebook, Microsoft, Google or Twitter and add their score to an Azure database. Then when they go to the leaderboards page, they can pull down the data and see how they rank! They can even make use of advanced filtering and sorting to see only their scores, scores from a specific user and more!
Advanced use case: After rolling your own level editor you want a way for users to be able to save their creations privately and securely in the cloud. Using authentication you can filter levels by user so only they can see/edit their own creations, until they choose to publish then other users will be able to play, rate and comment. Download Download the .c2addon plugin file (r120.2 and above only)
Example .capx example file
Documentation View the documentation online
Source View the source on CodePlex
If you have developed one of the new breed of beautiful, modern apps that runs on a tablet, smartphone or other mobile device you may well have used an infrastructure cloud service for the back-end. You can’t risk even a small chance of an outage of your cloud service at that kind of scale. Even though the app itself didn’t fail, your customers will perceive it that way. At the same time you don’t want to get in to the service management business: it’s got almost nothing to do with development. You’re caught – at massive scale like this you have no choice but to have an ultra-reliable service. This event shows you how to develop your cloud service so that it requires the absolute minimum of your time in doing service management and cloud development, but still gives outstanding reliability.
Date Thursday, 2 May 2013 from 09:00 to 16:30
Register here http://ukazure.eventbrite.co.uk
Location
09:00 – 09:30 Coffee and Registration
09:30 – 11:00 The Modern Developer and the Cloud
Aimed at the mobile/tablet/laptop developer, this general session introduces three crucially important concepts concerning the back-end services their apps connect to:
Service management is tough. Service management at the massive scale of your successful app is really tough.
Infrastructure-as-a-Service
Platform-as-a-Service
11:00 - 11:15 Coffee Break
11:15 – 12:45 Copy what you already have in to the cloud
The default option is to do it the way it’s always been done in your own data-centre. Install Operating Systems, Databases, Web Servers, Middleware and your own code, data and configuration on to Virtual Machines that run in a public cloud operator’s data-centre. Then simply manage it all to provide the high levels of reliability, scalability and availability your customers will expect from your app. It’s not the best way, but it’s at least a start and helps you to get going very quickly. In this session we show you how to do that.
12:45 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 15:00 Slow down, think, be prepared
Modern App developers tend to be attracted to the tangible parts of technology; the parts their customers can touch and feel: tablets, slates, smartphones, laptops, readers, desktops, TVs. This session shows you how to build a cloud infrastructure that just works, requires almost no service management at all and frees you up to concentrate on the user experience part of your app – the bit the users actually see and feel.
15:00 – 15:15 Coffee Break
15:15 – 16:15 Case Studies
Let’s look at a few case studies of apps that have been released and learn the good, the bad and the ugly. These guys will tell you what works and what doesn’t. What’s worth concentrating on and what’s just a waste of time.
16:15 – 16:30 Wrap-up
A review of the day’s activities and suggestions of how you can progress your app and what next steps you could take.
Yeti Bowl has been developed to instruct and inspire developers to produce games in HTML5.
YetiBowl is now a Triple Play teaching solution supporting Window 8 App, Web and Windows Phone 8 its codebase is FREE on CodePlex. So if your interested in teaching HTML5 for the web or for apps its perfect!
What is YetiBowl?
YetiBowl is a HTML5 game development workshop. With Windows 8 HTML5 development for the web or for the app markets on Windows 8 and Windows Phone.
How do you play the game?
Yeti bowl is a challenge oriented game where you play the Yeti. Armed with snowballs you have to knock the hikers off the mountain before they reach the summit. Once three hikers reach the top of the summit, game over. Go ahead and try the web version of the game.
Why is Yeti Bowl special?
Yeti blow show the powerful portability of HTML5. With no changes to the code base, this web based game can easy be ported to both a Window 8 app and a Windows Phone 8 App. You’ll see our Windows 8 App is also tricked out with additional features utilizing a handful with Windows 8 APIs to differentiate the App version from the web version of the game. .
Who is this for?
Students: To take student developer from the basics of building an HTML5 app, to the advanced features that will set an app apart. Any student with a basic understanding of web standards should be able to be successful in this workshop.
Web Developers: Developers with asp, php, or even ruby skill sets will be comfortable with the constructs of an HTML page and JavaScript files. Whether they are familiar with traditional Microsoft technologies or not, HTML5/JS app development often provides enough familiar grounds for them to build a great app.
JavaScript Developers: JavaScript developers have endless opportunities inside of a windows 8 app. They can use their same skill set, and some of their same js libraries to build windows 8 apps.
HTML5 YetiBowl game: an HTML5 cross browser version of the game that works with keyboard or touch. The game can be found in the “web” folder:
https://yetibowl.codeplex.com/SourceControl/changeset/view/1738d57d6e63#YetiBowl_web/game.html
Windows 8 game: the windows 8 game requires you install the Microsoft Ad SDK first. You should then be able to open the game and install it:
https://yetibowl.codeplex.com/SourceControl/changeset/view/1738d57d6e63#YetiBowl_Win8/YetiBowl/game.html
Windows Phone 8 game: the web version of the game ported to windows phone 8.
Windows Phone 8 code:
https://yetibowl.codeplex.com/SourceControl/changeset/view/1738d57d6e63#YetiBowl_WP8/Yeti/Html/game.html
Live coding version of talk: From build 2012
Watch the follow session in which we live coded an HTML5 game then converted it to a Windows 8 Store app, all within the one hour session:
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2012/3-110
Feedback
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It is less than 24 hours until Ireland’s largest ever game developer’s conference takes place.
I would like to share the live streaming link http://aka.ms/GamingStream
They whole day will be live streamed at http://aka.ms/GamingStream so even if your not in Ireland you can watch the sessions and join into the Q&A
Game developers can discuss the day and submit questions on twitter with hastag #GIG2013
The stream will start at 10.30am GMT tomorrow. on the 28/02/2013
see full Agenda below.
Running Order for Gaming Reimagined & GIG13 Conference
10.30am-12.00pm: Keynote by Andrew Webber and AJ Head of DLALA studios
12pm- 12:45pm: Lunch and Expo & Imagine Cup showcase
12.45pm – 1.25am: Irelands Imagine Cup Winners Announced
1:25pm - 2:15pm Tech Talk 1: Unity
2:15pm - 3:05pm: Tech Talk 2: Monogame
3:05pm -3:25pm: Engine Q&A Panel
3:25pm -3:45pm: Break
3:45pm-5pm Keynote on Game Design by Andrew Spooner
5pm – 7pm Games Ireland Gathering
Update on Irish Game Industry, Keynotes, Demos & Panels
Yippee Entertainment are launching a unique competition.
Yippee are offering one person in the UK and one in the US a chance to design a member of Chuck’s Chimpact family and have their design turned into a character in the Windows 8 & Windows Phone 8 versions of the game. Chimpact is available on a variety of platforms but this is an exclusive to the Windows game versions that will have this new character. What’s more the UK winner will get a chance to go to the Yippee Entertainment game studio in Manchester and see their creation turned into a video game character!
You can find details to enter at the website: http://www.chimpact.com/competition/
This competition is open to anyone in the UK or US who wants to draw, paint, crayon, use a software design programme or any art and crafts they fancy to design a new member of Chuck’s family on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.
This Microsoft Virtual Academy course is tailored for developers looking to leverage C#/XAML to build cool apps and games for Windows Phone 8. This platform is another leap forward in Microsoft’s overall mobile strategy and the developer community has taken notice. Now is the time to embrace your opportunity and start building Windows Phone apps.
This fast-paced, demo-rich online course features two mobile development thought leaders as presenters: Andy Wigley, a sought-after mobile app developer and co-author of three best-selling books on mobile application development and Rob Tiffany, mobile strategist, author, and speaker for Microsoft.
Register and complete your training for FREE here http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/tracks/building-apps-for-windows-phone-8-jump-start
Modules and MVA Points
01 | Introducing Windows Phone 8 Development 7 Points - Level 200
After some brief introductions and a detailed overview of the agenda, expert instructors Andy Wigley and Rob Tiffany kick off the course with an information-packed introduction. This module has two parts. In the first part of a two-part module and covers the new app platform in Windows Phone 8, application development models, the Windows Phone 8 version of WinRT, supported application models and a "getting started with WP8 app development" section. In the second half of a two-part course introduction led by Andy Wigley and Rob Tiffany. This section provides a broad new features overview (details of these new features are covered in later modules), Windows Phone 7x compatibility, and using the Windows Phone Developer Tools.
02 | Designing Windows Phone 8 Apps 4 Points - Level 200
With Windows Phone 8, it's more essential than ever that developers know how to properly express apps so they adhere to the overall look and feel of the phone. In this session, Andy and Rob introduce the Windows Phone design language and how to start designing an app; application structure and navigation models, getting started with XAML, understanding Themes and built-in control styles; new features in Windows Phone 8 to help you align controls correctly; how to generate design time data in Blend, an introduction to MVVM and databinding; ListBox and LongListSelector and designing list item layout templates.
03 | Building Windows Phone 8 Apps 4 Points - Level 200
This module provides developers with a comprehensive understanding of the key components required to build a Windows Phone 8 App, including Page Navigation, the Application Bar, building UI for multiple screen resolutions and portrait/landscape orientations, implementing page transition animations with the Windows Phone Toolkit and Localization.
04 | Files and Storage on Windows Phone 8 4 Points - Level 200
This module covers new storage concepts for Windows Phone 8. The concepts covered in this module include accessing the Installation folder or the Local folder using the Windows Phone Runtime Windows.Storage APIs. Additionally, Andy and Rob focus on background file transfers, Special Folders (Shared/Media, Shared/ShellContent, Shared/Transfers), and exploring the local folder with ISET Using Removable SD cards. If you're looking for Local Database information, see modules 8a and 8b from the Windows Phone Mango Jump Start (see related links).
05 | Windows Phone 8 Application Lifecycle 4 Points - Level 200
During this session, Andy Wigley and Rob Tiffany focus on key concepts like the Windows Phone 8 program lifecycle (Launching and Closing, Deactivating and Activating, Dormant and Tombstoned applications and the Simulation Dashboard). Next, they discuss Idle Detection on Windows Phone and Detecting Obscured events, Fast Application Resume, Lifecycle design, and Page Navigation and the Back Stack.
06 | Background Agents 4 Points - Level 200
Andy Wigely and Rob Tiffany cover concepts during this module that will help ensure your apps help ensure the best possible performance and battery life for the phone user. Topics such as Windows Phone task management, multi-tasking with background agents, updating tiles from a background agent, creating tasks in Visual Studio, File transfer tasks, and Background notifications will be covered.
07 | Tiles and Lock Screen Notifications 4 Points - Level 200
In this module, developers learn about Tiles in Windows Phone 8. Topics include Local Tiles API, Updating Tiles from ShellTileSchedule, Updating Tiles from Background Agents, Lock screen notifications for Windows Phone, and Lock screen background for Windows Phone.
08 | Push Notifications 4 Points - Level 200
During this session, Push Notifications and server-initiated communications are covered. Andy and Rob discuss Push Notifications Infrastructure and demonstrate three kinds of Notifications: Raw, Toast and Tile, then cover Push Response Headers.
09 | Using Phone Resources in Windows Phone 8 4 Points - Level 200
Andy & Rob demonstrate how to leverage a variety of Windows Phone 8 resources in tihs module. Working with Launchers and Choosers, using Contacts and Calendars (SaveAppointment Task, Custom Contacts API), taking still images and manipulating video streams (Camera APIs, lenses), working with the Windows Phone Microphone and Sensors (such as the Motion sensor) and working with Video Content are all covered in this module.
10 | App to App Communication in Windows Phone 8 4 Points - Level 200
In this session, Andy and Rob demonstrate app to app communication in Windows Phone 8. Topics such as auto-launching with File and Protocol Associations (URI), launching apps to handle particular File Types, and launching one app from another are covered.
11 | Network Communication in Windows Phone 8 4 Points - Level 200
During this module, developers learn how to leverage patterns for asynchronous use of networking APIs. Topics include WebClient, HttpWebRequest, Listener Sockets, Web Services and OData V3, Data Compression support, Simulation Dashboard, Data Sense and applications. Storing data in Skydrive. Encryption and Authentication. Accessing services running on localhost.
12 | Proximity Sensors and Bluetooth in Windows Phone 8 4 Points - Level 200
Andy & Rob cover local communication with Windows Phone 8 in this module. After a Bluetooth Overview, using Bluetooth from an application, Near Field Communications (NFC), bump-to-connect, using NFC from an application and proximity API functionality are covered.
13 | Speech Input in Windows Phone 8 4 Points - Level 200
In this session, Andy and Rob illustrate the vast speech capabilities for developers on Windows Phone 8, including speech synthesis, controlling apps using speech (voice command definition files, building conversations, selecting application entry points), simple speech input/speec recognition, and speech input and grammars, such as using Grammar Lists.
14 | Maps and Location in Windows Phone 8 4 Points - Level 200
During this module, developers learn how to leverage the new Location API and new Maps Controls with Windows Phone 8. Primary topics include the Windows Phone Runtime Location API, acquring the phone’s current location, continuously tracking the phone’s location, running location-tracking apps in the background, the New Map Control, specifying Map center and zoom, animating Map Display using Map Views.
15 | Wallet Support 4 Points - Level 200
Andy Wigley and Rob Tiffany provide and important overview for Wallet Support during this session. After the Wallet Overview (applications and wallet storage, wallet capabilities), they cover creating and using a membership card, the Wallet Background Agent, and creating and using a payment instrument card.
16 | In-App Purchasing 4 Points - Level 200
During this module, developers learn how to support In App Purchases. Rob and Andy cover topics such as adding products to your application (durable and consumable items), the purchase lifecycle, and the Application Programmer Interface (finding products, purchasing products, using product receipts).
17 | The Windows Phone Store 4 Points - Level 200
This key module provides important content for preparing your app succesfully for the Windows Phone Store. Performance Analysis, creating an Application (configuring the application, the Store Testing Tool), Distributing an Application, the Windows Phone Store, Advertising Supported Applications, and Maximising Uptake will be covered.
18 | Enterprise App Architecture 4 Points - Level 200
Rob Tiffany illustrates a variety of ways Windows Phone 8 can be effectively leveraged in the enterprise. During this module, focus is on both enterprise architecture, publishing and device management. Specific topics include Mobile Enterprise Concepts, building mobile middleware with SQL Server 2012 + IIS, securely publishing enterprise data out to the Internet, consuming and working with data on Windows Phone, Phone Devices in the Enterprise, managed and unmanaged devices, Device Enrollment, and distributing the enrollment key.
19 | Windows 8 Cross Platform Development 4 Points - Level 200
Building for consistent experiences across Windows devices (Tiles, Notifications, Animations for differing screen sizes, controls, Lifecycle), Minimizing Development through reuse (Portable Class Library) and Sharing Code from Windows Phone Runtime and the Windows Runtime, and Architecture (Architecture APIs, Visualizing Data, and Navigation).
20 | Mobile Web 4 Points - Level 200
Teresa Greiner joins Rob Tiffany for this strategic final session of the Building Apps for Windows Phone 8 Jump Start. By 2015, Gartner predicts that 80% of all mobile applications developed will be hybrid or mobile web-oriented. Teresa shares important approaches developers and application architects can take now to best prepare for this coming reality. Additionally, Teresa and Rob will discuss a myriad of mobile web best practices. Finally, Rob explains how you can leverage new HTML5 capabilities to build enterprise web apps.
If you’re a developer or architect who needs to move beyond the hype and come face-to-face with what’s real, you will love this experience.