I’m happy to report that the Windows Phone Marketplace is now officially open for business in 5 new markets around the world—Argentina, Indonesia, Malaysia, Peru, and the Philippines. We can’t wait to see all the great new apps you’ll create and [..]
When an author gets a book published, the publisher generally gives the author 10 complimentary copies of the book. Usually the author signs these books and gives them to all his friends, but then he has 7 or 8 copies still left over, and these [..]
During the week in September that I was attending the Microsoft Build conference and learning all about Windows 8, only one topic made me gloomy: This was the Windows 8 implemention of the Manipulation events. These events provide a high-level [..]
Many developers don't realize that a common source of memory leaks in .NET applications is the event handler. WPF 4.5 includes built-in support for weak events to help us do the right thing and not eat up all the available memory. The [..]
Performance is a concern for all but the most trivial of applications, and in a constrained environment like the phone it is all the more so; performance issues directly manifest themselves in the user experience. Memory usage is one such source of [..]
About 14 months ago I saw the New York premiere of Philip Glass's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No.2 at Carnegie Hall performed by violinist Robert McDuffie and the Venice Baroque Orchestra. McDuffie had commissioned the Glass work (subtitled [..]
During the .NET Microframework and .NET Gadgeteer code camp talk that Andrew Duthie and I gave several weeks back, we tossed around the idea of using the Gadgeteer and a moisture sensor to alert parents of, ahhhh, soggy diaper issues. Shortly [..]
People who live in New York City often inhabit tiny apartments, and the only reason we tolerate them is that we've exchanged private spaces for public spaces. We can frequently be found not in our apartments but walking around outside, or in a [..]
Big App on Campus: Two Weeks Left! Back in November, we announced a developer promotion for US students called “Big App on Campus.” There are exactly 18 days left to enter. Though we think it’s a no brainer, some of you have asked “Why should I [..]
Speaking of UX… I finally decided to download and learn to use the industry-standard PCB and schematic layout software: Eagle. I've tried a bunch of others, and quite frankly, got tired of always using "also ran" software. The majority of the [..]
The Maker Geek Roundup aggregates information of interest to makers everywhere. Topics include .NET Micro Framework, CNC, 3d Printing, Robotics, Microsoft Robotics Studio, Electronics, General Maker stuff, and more. If you have something [..]
Before joining Microsoft, I was a consultant, primarily building desktop applications using a variety of MS technologies. During my last couple years there, Silverlight was a large part of that both for full apps and as parts of larger web sites. [..]
For anyone interested in open source microcontroller development, or why boards are named with *duino type names, this 1/2 hour documentary is a great watch. http://vimeo.com/18539129 Arduino.TheDocumentary.2010.English explains the [..]
After assembling my Netduino-powered PIX-6T4, I wanted to go and write a simple game. This post describes the construction of that game, including all source code. Concept When you have 64 monochrome red pixels, you need to keep [..]
I recently picked up a PIX-6T4 build by Fabien Royer (with games by Fabien Royer and Bertrand Le Roy). This is a 64 pixel, two joystick/button, monophonic sound hand-held game device based around the Netduino Mini from Secret Labs. You create [..]
In my post about WPF 4.5 Observable Collection Cross-thread Change Notification, I showed the basics of how to synchronize collection updates in WPF, and how to avoid having to manually dispatch calls to the UI thread. In the comments, [..]
WPF 4.5 is available as part of the Visual Studio 11 Developer Preview released at the Build 2011 conference, and is part of the .NET Framework version 4.5. WPF 4.5 addresses several important customer requests including the ability to have [..]
In this Part 1 post, I'll show how to interface with ATmega ports and pins to light up LEDs on a board. The follow-up post will show how to use the timer to actually blink the LED. Most of the Microcontroller code out in the public is C [..]
In the wee hours of the night, I've been continuing to learn how to develop for the various AVR family chips from Atmel. I also do a lot with NETMF, Netduino, and the .NET Gadgeteer, but sometimes (despite the pain!) it feels good to code right [..]