Mobile Panel at #DDD9

Due to a late change to the DDD9 session schedule there will now be a Mobile Panel session at the end of the day. The panel will be discussing: "mobile devices, mobile web and anything in between" I'll be on the panel. If you're going to be at the conference do come along to what will hopefully be a very interesting discussion and, apparently, the first ever panel session at D...

Gotchas when integrating with the Music and Video Hub #WP7Dev

If you are making a Windows Phone 7 app which can, or needs to, integrate with the Msuic & Video hub, Microsoft have provided some instructions on doing this: http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/wpdev/archive/2010/11/04/integrating-your-app-into-the-music-videos-hub.aspx and http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff769558(VS.92).aspx There...

What makes a great application?

Really thought this was worth noting from the keynote of #uktechdays online conference today: Q. What makes a great application? A. A combination of Core Architecture and User Experience. Core Architecture is made up of: Functionality Reliability Scalability Security Performance The User Experience involves: Delighting the user Being easy to use Being powerful Being focused Being flexib...

WP7Dev at VBUG Reading (Bracknell)

Last night I went over to VBUG in Reading to talk about getting started with developing for Windows Phone 7. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and everyone said the talk was interesting and useful. As ever there were lots of questions, which I consider a good thing as it means people are getting the information they want. (Assuming that I could answer them all - which I managed yesterday!) There were...

16 ways to make your WP7 game better #wp7dev

One of the great things about Windows Phone 7 is all the games available.Over the last few weeks, I've definitley spent more time than I probably should playing just a few of them. Not being one to miss an opportunity to find ways to improve the apps (and games) I'm working on and may build in the future, I've been looking for lessons I can learn from other people's games. Some of these lessons are...

Do you like my new layout?

I thought it was time for a change. Well, I've had this blog since 2006! In that time the layout has changed very little. (Possibly only once but I can't say for sure.) In case you care (have forgotten), here's how it looked before: As ever, any comments, feedback, suggestions, etc. are very we...

Speculation about what's coming next to Windows Phone 7

We know that cut & paste will be coming to Windows Phone 7 in an update later this month. We've also heard that there will be another update in February. At the moment we don't know what it will include though. I don't have any inside knowledge about what the February update will include. Nor do I know what or if anything else will be included in the January update. I do know what I'd like...