Tag Archives: windowsphone

On Windows Store "crap apps"

Yes, Dear Reader, this actually happened. Now, I as much as the next dev will not beat around the bush when it comes to acknowledging there’s a problem with “crap apps” on the Windows (Phone) Store. But is there a platform that doesn’t have this problem? I doubt it. Shall we have a look? Yes.… Read More »

Removing Ads with an IAP – the Declarative way

Microsoft’s XAML provides a way for us to define our UI in a declarative manner. Combined with databinding it means you should – in almost every case – never have to directly reference a UI control to accomplish some work. Add the MVVM design pattern in to the mix and I find myself “rethinking” any… Read More »

Programmatically changing UI language in Windows Phone

If you’ve done globally-focused development on Windows Phone, you already know that to change the display language, you have to do so in the Settings area of the phone, then reboot the emulator (or physical device) for the change to take effect. What a pain. Wouldn’t it be better to change the UI language on-demand?… Read More »

Windows Phone 8, Family Safety, and your kids

Amazon recently had a sale on the Lumia 520 “GoPhone” from AT&T. It was down to only $40 out the door, and I also had $10 in Amazon gift card credit in my account. So why not. Free shipping, to my door, and I have a new test device for my Windows Phone app development.… Read More »

WP8 Breaks Bad (cooking with MEF)

Microsoft’s Managed Extensibility Framework is somewhat of an unsung hero in the .Net world in my opinion. The framework itself is insanely powerful and magical but when you combine it with other patterns and frameworks like MVVM it becomes pure sorcery. If you haven’t checked out MEFedMVVM, I suggest doing so after you get up… Read More »

Creating .netitude, for Windows Phone

Because you haven’t read enough of them, this is yet another blog post on Microsoft’s new Windows Phone App Studio – the online “point & shoot” method of creating an app for Windows Phone (8). Before we start, did anybody notice that the App Studio is located at windowsstore.com? #justSayin I’ve wanted to make a… Read More »

Outlook.com + Windows Phone + Windows 8 = HEAVEN

Let’s face it, Windows Phone, Windows 8, and Outlook.com are purpose-built to work together. And why not – their polygamist marriage is f***ing AWESOME. If you’re using a 3rd party for your e-mail instead of Outlook.com and are as gung-ho about the rest of the Microsoft ecosystem as I am, you’re an idiot. I was… Read More »

Cross-(Modern)-platform Federated Authentication

So in my previous post we discovered the joys of federated authentication using the sexy tools provided by the Windows Azure team. Now, let’s make the most of them. Something that is troubling developers more and more as Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 really stretch their legs in both the consumer and enterprise spaces… Read More »