Why the Windows 10 Universal Windows Platform Bridges are a GREAT thing!

At the build conference earlier this year, one of the more controversial announcements were the "Bridges" that were introduced. These "bridges" are new ways of building apps and involve using tools and languages that are different from the "native" methods of C#, C++, VB.Net or F# for the code...

My thoughts on the Surface Hub now I've used them

Yesterday I got a hands-on with both sizes of the Surface Hub. If you're not familiar with the name it's Microsoft's new wall mounted computer intended for collaborative work and meetings. In the picture above you'll see the small one (yes really) which is a 55" 1080P screen. There's also an 84"...

Looking at the AdDuplex data differently: Treating variants the same

If there are two variants of a phone: for example one that takes one sim card and the other two; or one version that supports LGT and one that doesn't. Are they really different devices? Each month, AdDuplex releases stats based on the devices that it serves ads to. You'll find July's stats here. In...

Creating an Xbox One style loading indicator

If you've started an XBox One you'll have seen the loading screen where the three white circles pulsate below the logo while the console starts up. Watching this the other day I thought I'd have a go at recreating such an animation. (I've been looking at a lot of loading indicators recently and...

How important is the color of an app icon?

So, someone is viewing your app in the store. How much effort do you put into optimizing what they see? What about the colour of the app icon? I have an app I use for demos, experiments and the like. It's called PhoneBook. It has a bright pink icon. The reason it had such a coloured icon was to...

Windows 10 as a meal

Imagine Windows 10 as a meal. It's a pretty special meal, so let's consider it a banquet. Now, if you look at what we have in Windows 10 so far it might seem a bit disappointing. Here's the thing though. If Windows 10 is a banquet, what we've had already is just an appetizer. It might be considered...

Two approaches to updating your app to Windows 10

So, you want to make a version of your app that targets Windows10. That seems like a great idea but how do you go about it? After all, there's no "Update this project to Windows 10" option like we've had in previous versions. You almost certainly want to keep your existing code so you can continue to provide updates to users who haven't yet updated to Windows 10. This leaves two options: 1. Create...