November 11, 2011 By 29 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: , , , , ,
October 1, 2011 By 92 Comments

Microsoft Releases Official Windows Phone 7.5 Development Tools

Windows Phone 7.5 is now being released across the globe, and it is a smoking new operating system that brings the feature set of Windows Phone up to the iOS/Android level.  With that, Microsoft has released Windows Phone 7.1 SDK which allows developers to code for the Windows Phone 7.5 Mango without the need of using beta tools. The Windows Phone 7.1 SDK provides software developers all the tools they need to build amazing Windows Phone 7.5 Mango applications, as well as games. The list of new features in Windows Phone 7.5 is incredibly impressive, so why not sit back and watch a quick 10 minute video that shows you all the fantastic features the Windows Phone 7.5 provides to consumers. While you watch, download the new SDK here.

For more details of how Windows Phone 7.5 can help you get control of social media, make sure you read the detailed article on Miguel Carrasco dot Com.

Filed Under: Microsoft, Windows Phone 7 Tagged With: , , ,
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: , ,