November 11, 2011 By 30 Comments

Microsoft TechDays 2011 in Vancouver

I’m excited to be presenting at Microsoft TechDays 2011 in Vancouver on November 15th and 16th 2011. If you are a software developer that loves staying up to speed on the latest trends, tools, and strategies for developing software effectively, you need to attend TechDasy 2011.  I’ve been doing the Microsoft TechDays tour since they started a few years ago, and every year they continue to get better and better. This year in Vancouver will be no exception with the likes of Scott Hanselman, Mary-Jo Foley and others presenting live.

My sessions are focused around my passions. User Experience, and Windows Phone. I strongly believe that as a software developer, you need to be focusing on honing your user experience skills and expanding your wings. With the consumerization of information technology, users of the software you develop are no longer just expecting applications that function.  They are also expecting beautiful user experiences that capture and engage them. If you are in Vancouver, and have a chance to come to TechDays 2011, make sure you head over to my sessions that are sure to keep you entertained, and also provide you with some real world tips and strategies you can take back with you and use immediately. Here are the two sessions I will be presenting. Don’t miss them!

Windows Phone User Experience Design Using SketchFlow

This session is an instructor-led lab where you get to roll up your sleeves and get your hands on the software. In this lab, you discover principles of good user experience design and you start to build a prototype for an application using the SketchFlow Template for Windows Phone and Expression Blend. Prototyping in Sketchflow allows you to add sample data, customize the look and feel of your data, and add interactivity with objects that you create right in Expression Blend, or that are imported from other sources, such as Adobe Illustrator. There will be a limited number of machines provided to complete the lab for those who are unable to complete the exercises on their own laptops.

Windows Phone 7.5: An Overview and Architecture Deep Dive

Windows Phone is a different kind of phone, architected to put the focus on end users while enabling developers to build compelling, connected experiences that enhance the phone. Peer under the covers to see how the architecture evolved to deliver powerful functionality for users and developers: enabling rapid seamless transitions between applications; delivering continuous user experiences in the background; combined Silverlight/XNA in a unified UI; sharing data between phone and applications; sensor fusion for integration of the physical and virtual worlds; and many more. Along the way, we will demonstrate how Microsoft brought together these features to deliver experiences that are responsive and battery efficient.

Make sure you take the time to register today for TechDays 2011 in Vancouver at the beautiful Vancouver Convention Centre

[This Article Also Appears on Miguel Carrasco.com - Where Marketing and Technology Intersect]

Filed Under: Microsoft, Microsoft Expression, Windows Phone 7 Tagged With: , , , , ,
September 21, 2011 By 77 Comments

Windows 8 and Software Developers

As a Software Developer, I was stunned at what I saw at Microsoft Build last week. And it was a stunned look of excitement. Last week Microsoft unveiled Windows 8, a revolutionary new touch centric operating system that will change the way you work forever.

I was lucky enough to take part in Microsoft Build, and was able to record a full demo of Windows 8 Slate Device, be interviewed by Telerik TV on my thoughts of Microsoft Build and Windows 8 and what it means to software developers, and also record a podcast with Windows Observer! Here are the links to those videos and podcasts, because they are way more fun to watch and listen to!

Listen to the Windows Observer PodCast

Filed Under: Microsoft Expression, Videos, Windows Phone 7, WPF, XAML
April 23, 2011 By 133 Comments

SketchFlow for Windows Phone 7 and Silverlight 5

At Mix 2011, Microsoft took Expression Blend to the next level by releasing a beta version of Blend for Silverlight 5 and SketchFlow. One of the pieces that was left missing however was the ability to create Windows Phone 7 Prototypes with the new tool.

To get started, all you need to do is go to the Microsoft Expression web site and download Expression Blend Preview for Silverlight 5.  The Installation was fairly simple and fast.

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Once I had Expression Blend 5 + SketchFlow installed, the next thing you will want to do is head over to the download site for the Windows Phone Prototyping Templates.

Next decompress the files and copy the ProjectTemplates folder into the Blend Preview for Silverlight 5 folder in your documents folder. Next time you run Expression Blend 5, you will have the ability to create Windows Phone SketchFlow projects!

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This is extremely useful!  You no longer need to draw your own Windows Phone interfaces anymore to wrap your sketches.

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Filed Under: Microsoft Expression Tagged With: , ,
November 9, 2010 By 66 Comments

Why you need to learn to use SketchFlow for Prototyping

Sketchflow is one of my favourite applications to use.  It can be used for so many different

Filed Under: Microsoft Expression Tagged With: , ,
December 12, 2009 By 185 Comments

Tech Days 2009

Tech Days 2009 Things have been super busy at Anvil Digital so all I’ve had time for is twitter these days.  If you don’t follow me yet, make sure you add me http://www.twitter.com/miguelcarrasco as I will more than likely save blog posts for deep discussions and thoughts over the next year.

That said, if you are a Winnipeg Software Developer or IT Pro, make sure you sign up for Tech Days 2009.  Time is almost up to sign up for this insane show packed with real world deep dive content!  I will be presenting on Expression Blend 3.0, the world best user interface design application on the market.  Don’t believe me? come check it out! With forty 200+ level sessions, Tech Days is the learning conference on both current technologies and new products like Windows 7, Exchange 2010 and much more.

Expression Blend for Developers

Not a designer? Overwhelmed by Expression Blend? Not a problem! We’ll show you how to use Expression Blend to create advanced and polished user interfaces for business applications, consumer applications, multimedia projects, games or anything in between. We’ll cover features of Expression Blend from a developer’s perspective and show how it works in tandem with Visual Studio throughout the development process. You’ll learn how to create professional-looking user interfaces and visual elements – even if you don’t think of yourself as an interface designer.

Filed Under: Events, Microsoft, Microsoft Expression, Software Development, TechDays 2009, User Experience Tagged With: , ,
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