Dr. Neil's Notes 31

Welcome to Show 31

Staring Hugo Ortega

Welcome to another show

News!
Organizer pack for Samsung Q1
IE7 - Good for screen space - bad for memory

Applications on the UMPC

What do we like?
Outlook! - Craig Pringle on Getting More from a small screen
OneNote
Games - Spider Solitaire
Castblaster
E-Reader pro

What we would like to see

More lifestyle apps
Education based appliactions that use touch


Happy Coding!

Any other topics you would like us to discuss?

This podcast was recorded on a Samsung Ultra Mobile PC with Castblaster

Dr. Neil's Notes 30

Welcome to Show 30

Staring Hugo Ortega


What is cool about Windows Vista?

Start menu search
Programs grouped in Start menu
Sync Center - Dr. Neil's webcast next week
Better TIP
Flicks
Splash dots when pen down

Vista on UMPC

Happy Coding!

Any other topics you would like us to discuss?

This podcast was recorded on a Samsung Ultra Mobile PC with Castblaster

Forthcoming Webcasts

This one looks good - I expect the presenter is rather good ;)

MSDN Webcast: Windows Vista Sync Center for Windows Mobile Developers – Mon, 11/27, 1:00 PM PT
Join Dr. Neil Roodyn as he introduces you to the Windows Vista Sync Center, a centralized location designed to provide a consistent user experience for all synchronization activities. Dr. Neil will illustrate how applications designed for Windows Mobile that either retrieve data from the desktop computer or send data to a desktop computer utilize Sync Center by providing a Sync Center handler.

This webcast should be interesting also, I am not doing this one (at least no one has told me I am!). I presented a session on SideShow at DevConnections. It is an awesome new technology so try to get to this one also.

MSDN Webcast: Creating Gadgets for Windows SideShow in Windows Vista – Tues, 11/28, 10:00 AM PT
Learn about Windows SideShow, a new technology that provides users of the Windows Vista operating system with quick access to data — even when their computers are turned off. In this webcast, we provide you with an overview of the Windows SideShow technology and show you how to create a gadget for Windows SideShow.

Remember these are USA pacific times

Update:The SideShow webcast is being delivered by Dan Polivy. I am not sure what Dan's official title is but having worked with him (on and off) over the last 18 months I would call him one of the senior architects behind the SideShow technology. Apart from being a great guy he knows more about SideShow than nearly anyone else. Looking forward to catching this webcast myself.

Wanted (preferably alive)...

Sydney based internship offered in a young company with lots of opportunities - relaxed environment with formal dress actively discouraged and pool table included. Developing on the bleeding edge of the growing Windows Live Services platform, ASP.NET, AJAX and other technologies that start with “A”. Blah blah blah – you know the rest. Send your resume to internship@viawindowslive.com.

I don't care for OneCare

I have been having issues with Vista running on the Toshiba M400. I installed the RTM bits last week. The Windows Mobile Device Center stopped working, I couldn't VPN in to my clients machines, various other features were misbehaving.
This morning I discovered (thanks to Nick Randolph) that all my issues are actually issues with the OneCare beta. 10 minutes later the OneCare beta was removed from the machine and everything is humming along nicely.
If you are working on the OneCare team (or know someone who is) "come on, sort it out!".

Sidebar Route Finder Gadget

Now that Vista has RTM'd I thought I should get some of my demos cleaned up and out into the world.

I did a demo of this Gadget at Dev Connections in Las Vegas 10 days ago.
Dr. Neil's Route Finder uses Virtual Earth to find a route using the VE API's.
The Gadget lets you display the route in flyout windows on the desktop or on a SideShow display if you have one available.

Update: changed SideBar to Sidebar to keep Microsoft marketing and Mr. Moth happy ;)

Woops! The link on the page went to the SideShow test gadget - fixed now.

Dr. Neil's Notes 29

Welcome to Show 29

More chat with Frank Arrigo
We talk about the Regional Director program

Happy coding!

This podcast was recorded on a Samsung Ultra Mobile PC with Castblaster

Dr. Neil's Notes 28

Welcome to Show 28

Frank Arrigo intros himself
We talk about
The history of Frank....
IBM - Microsoft - MSN - Windows Live

Happy coding!

This podcast was recorded on a Samsung Ultra Mobile PC with Castblaster

MSDN Webcast: Overview of Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC) Development for Windows Vista

A few weeks back Todd Landstad was a guest on my podcast. Tomorrow you can hear more from Todd on how to build great UMPC applications on Windows Vista.
I can recommend attending this if you are in a timezone where the time is acceptable - hint hint...

No need to register just head over here

Here is the offical blurb:

An ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) is a fully functional computer that is small, mobile, and runs a complete version of a Windows operating system (currently Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 and soon Windows Vista). UMPCs present many new and exciting opportunities for application development. Although your existing knowledge and skills transfer directly to the UMPC, there are some unique circumstances to consider when you are developing applications for these devices. Join us to find out what is involved in developing for the UMPC, and learn how to create outstanding applications for these new devices.

Presenter: Todd Landstad, Product Specialist, Microsoft Corporation

DevConnections Presentations

The three presentations for which I was responsible last week in Las Vegas can now be found here:
Building Power and Network Aware Applications on Windows Vista
Inside Windows SideShow
Architecting Gadgets for Offline Use

The SideShow SideBar gadget is available here.

The Power and Network demo code should be posted on MSDN in the coming weeks, I’ll keep you posted.

The other Gadget demo code needs some cleaning and then I will post it up and update this post.

Dr. Neil's Notes 27

Welcome to Show 27

Staring "Markus Egger"

We talk about
Vista
Tablet PCs
Windows Presentation Foundation
Live Services
Dev Connections
Code Magazine

Happy Coding!

Any other topics you would like us to discuss?

This podcast was recorded on a Samsung Ultra Mobile PC with Castblaster

Regional Director - Microsoft Australia

After a few weeks conversations, meeting some folks in Redmond and some paper work being passed back and forth I can now gladly announce that I am to be joining Dr. Greg Low and Adam Cogan as a Regional Director for Microsoft Australia.
Frank Arrigo has of course beaten me to blog this.

I have some ideas about what this new role will bring, but will be sure to keep you updated over the coming months as to what it means to be an RD.

Overall I am super happy, it means a great deal to have this kind of recognition of my work in the Microsoft developer space.

Update: A number of people have been asking if this means I am no longer an MVP or if I am now 'employed' by Microsoft. The answer is no. I am still a Windows Live Developer MVP and I am not what 'softies call an FTE (full time employee) or a Blue Badge. You can find out more about the Regional Director program here.

Dr. Neil's Notes 26

Welcome to Show 26

Staring "UberTablet"

News
- Hugo plays with ASUS devices
- Dr. Neil off around the world again - DevConnections

Digitizers - touch, active, external

What does it mean to the user?

What does it mean to the developer?

How should applications behave?

Happy Coding!

Any other topics you would like us to discuss?

This podcast was recorded on a Samsung Ultra Mobile PC with Castblaster