The, ‘yeah, we took Monday off’ edition.

Windows Phone

• Windows Phone 7 Series on HTC HD2 – You knew someone would do it.  pocketnow.com has video.
• Source for the WP7 Foursquare app – It looks great, now check out how it’s built.

Mobility

• Open LTE Network ? – GigaOM reports that a private equity firm, Harbinger Captial Partners, plans to build out a 4G network to cover most of the U.S.A. by 2015.  AT&T and VZW have their eyes on this one.

Mobile Platforms/Applications

• ArkSwitch- WM 6.5.x finger-friendly task manager just released v1.1.4.  At CodePlex, so you can get the source, too.
• Viigo has been bought by RIM- Maker of the popular BB app now owned by them. via BGR
• Microsoft My Phone updated- Now at v1.6, and allowing sync via WiFi. An excellent service if you have a Windows Mobile/Phone device.

Community

• Windows Phone 7 Dev Camp – Chicago, April 10, via Dave Bost

A slow news day topped with a slight snowfall.  Started categorizing the links – you like?

Windows Phone

• Managed code security on WP7- Yashwardhan from the .NET CF team gives an overview of managed code security in .NET CF 3.7
• NETCF / CoreCLR Transparency behavioral differences- Another must-read post from Yashwardhan for WP7 devs.
• WP7 Input Scope – Peter sorts it out for you.  I consider this a must-read for WP7 devs.
• SketchFlow prototyping for Windows Phone- Christian Schormann from the Expression team gives the how-to
• Known issues w/NETCF + VS2010Express MIX drop
• NetFlix OData app on WP7

Mobility

• Why Japan is king of mobile – stats and facts from mobiThinking
• How Weather Data Could Be the Next Location Data – a January bit from GigaOM that poses some interesting questions.

Mobile Platforms/Applications

• BlackBerry Beta Zone – For .ca, .us, and .uk only.  via Engadget Mobile

Community

• CINNUG Mobile Development Firestarter –  April 24, 2010  We’ll cover Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone.  Get registered and come see yours truly talk about Windows Phone development, and learn about Android and iPhone dev, too!

• Foursquare for Android – for those Android users who love checking in, via Android Community.
• Mobile broadband traffic outside of your awareness- Dean Bubley has a great post discussing how much traffic is occurring that you may not be aware of.
• AT&T 3G MicroCell rollout – Nationwide, starting mid-April, via Engadget Mobile
• Microsoft’s mobile strategy learning from Android?- Matt Asay says it should.  I disagree. Phillipe has some thoughts, too.
• next-gen LTE from Huawei at 1.2 Gbps- Something to look forward to in several years.
• Advice for Mobile Start-Ups- Kevin Benedict provides an index for his eight-part series.

Still tweaking the format a bit.

• List of SQL Compact 3rd party tools- just updated by ErikEJ.
• Labryinth Sample game for Windows Phone- from Pete Blois
• Outlook Mobile Update – Detailed info from the Exchange team; for WM 6.1 devices (WM 6.5 doesn’t need it)
• Fool’s Gold in Mobile?- An interesting perspective by Tomi Ahohen /via Carnival of the Mobilists 215
• Windows Phone 7 Series Copy & Paste drama, resolved eventually – Post from Long Zheng with some details. I’d also like remind the reader that Silverlight 3 doesn’t have c&p, so…
• WiFi offload vs femtocells- Dean Bubley has a great post on why WiFi offload will not always win over femtos.
• FCC’s Broadband Plan – Details & analysis from GigaOm.  Mobile broadband will save us all. Huzzah!
• Mobile social networking stats- UK stats show that it’s huge!

A great example via Steve Rubel’s Micro Persuasion blog of the mobile web “done right” at MI.  I would encourage all mobile web developers to check out this site, learn from it, and then modify your own mobile web sites based upon what you have gleaned here.

While you are at it, head over to MobiForge and get even more knowledge on building mobile web apps.

•  jiggy  Create native iPhone apps in your browser.
  
• Force Sensing/Mobile Device Interaction  ..and you thought twisting and bending a mobile device was a bad thing.
  
• Got a TyTN II?  Got Android?  Get some Android on your TyTN II. (running as an app, no less, not replacing WM).  Cool stuff from the crazy and inventive XDA-Dev crowd.  Although I'd prefer to get some peanut butter in my chocolate instead (and yes, I'm old enough that I remember these commercials on TV).
  
• Want Windows Mobile? Need dual-SIM? Check out what HKC just announced. Samsung also recently announced a dual-SIM, but without WM.
• Paul from MoDaCo, announces AppToDate, a generic updater for WM.
• Dale Vanderboom has a good post on .NET MF vs MRS  I would also suggest his post on Extension Methods for manipulating bitmaps in .NET CF.
• Jason Langridge tells us how to get clickable phone numbers on WM Professional.  Maddening issue, and sure, I figured this out a while ago, but why wasn't this fixed in for 6.1 ?
  
• Reed Robison has a great post on XML provisioning for WM devices. XML provisioning is very powerful stuff; I've used often to great effect. Also note that the latest issue MSDN Magazine (April 2008) has an article about this, too.

Microsoft has released ADO.NET Synchronization Services for Devices CTP: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=75FEF59F-1B5E-49BC-A21A-9EF4F34DE6FC&displaylang=en 

Forums: http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=1225&SiteID=1

We've been waiting a while for this, so go get it and be certain to give your feedback to Liam and team in the forum!

Still haven't signed up for Day of .NET in Ann Arbor, MI? Good Grief!  Get on it! Register. It's free, as in no cost to you.

Fresh from MEDC 2006, I'll be talking about Securing Your Mobile Data and Life with LUA: Developing for Fun and Fortune as a Non-Admin.  My colleague, Dave Giard, will be presenting An Introduction to Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006. 

Visit the site and take a look at the entire schedule.  I hope to see you there!

-Nino

I’ll be speaking at the Microsoft Developer Care event this Friday, March 17 in Southfield, MI. Registration is here.  Come up and see me, Drew Robbins and Josh Holmes at this event.

11:30 – 12:00

Lunch

12:00 – 1:15  Building a Windows Mobile Device

To kick things off, we’ll demonstrate how to build a Windows Mobile 5.0 device using Microsoft’s Platform Builder tools. You may never build your own device, but this session will help you better understand the Windows CE operating system and the components available to you for building applications. If you will be creating devices with the Windows Mobile operating system, this session is essential for understanding Platform Builder and the various components involved with creating a device.

1:30 – 2:45  Creating and Deploying Mobile Applications

Now that we have a Windows Mobile 5.0 device, we’ll discuss how to target that device with Visual Studio 2005. This session will cover the options for creating applications using unmanaged code as well as applications built on the .NET Compact Framework. We will use Visual Studio 2005 to build an application and deploy it to a Pocket PC.

3:00 – 4:15  Connecting Mobile Applications

The true power of mobile applications is realized when the device allows us to take our work with us and stay connected to the home office. In this session, we’ll demonstrate how to build applications that synchronize with the desktop, connect to services on the Internet and integrate with enterprise systems.

4:30 – 5:00  Question & Answer

Stick around to ask questions of the Developer Care speakers.

I wanted to wrap up some thoughts about MEDC 2006 last week (er, nearly two weeks now)..

In sum: What a great event!!! 

I really enjoyed this year’s event and most of all got the opportunity to meet a great bunch of people such as – Jenny Kays and John Kennedy from the MED Content Publishing team, Alex Yakhnin, Neil Cowburn, Chris Tacke, Ginney Caughey, Peter Foot, Mark Arteaga, Alex Feinman, Daniel Moth and Maarten Struys from OpenNETCF, David Kline, Ryan Chapman and Richard Greenberg from the .NET CF team, Amit Chopra from the VSD team and many other folks (lest I forget Mike Fosmire, my MVP Lead).

Overall, though, I was just very impressed at how tight-knit the .NET CF / Embedded / Mobile Devices groups (Microsoft + MVPs) are. I had a great time and was really glad to meet everyone. I also came away quite impressed at the level of involvement and interaction the MVPs have with the product groups.   ..and oh the things to look forward to at MEDC 2007. :-)