Bing Maps Silverlight Control

This morning I upgraded the Where Was Dr. Neil and the Locus Activity Map web pages to use the released version of the Bing Maps Silverlight SDK.
The upgrade from the CTP took under an hour. There are some minor naming differences, for example the VirtualEarth namespace has been replaced by with a Maps namespace. It is now Microsoft.Maps.xxx which makes more sense.
I believe you only have a few more days to perform the upgrade, and then the CTP service will be shut down.
You will need an account key for each web site on which you host the Silverlight map control. You can get your key by creating an account on the Bing Maps Portal.
Then the key needs to be placed in the XAML when you add a Map to your Silverlight app.
The Silverlight interactive SDK is pretty handy to get you started once you have downloaded and installed the SDK.

World's First Surface Book Released

I am pleased to announce the world's first Surface development book. Developing for Microsoft Surface has been created and compiled from the many training sessions I have delivered the world over, and focuses on crafting exceptional user experiences for Surface.

Guiding its readers on the complete journey from the initial unpacking of a Microsoft Surface unit, to the satisfying delivery of their first Surface application, Developing for Microsoft Surface deals mostly with the ideation of Surface application design. Along the way it is filled with plenty of hands on labs and practical exercises to help readers explore the adventure that is Microsoft Surface and hone their application development skills for this platform.

The book (rrp US $49.95) is available now in handy e-book format at the special introductory price of US $45.00. Click on the link below to get started now.

Flat plugs, sleek, simple, smart

I have been to a few of hte RCA shows over the years, it looks like this year I missed out as one of the students showed off what has to be one of the best pieces of design I have seen in a while.
Find out more information here.

6 Steps to 7

A recent acquisition the new 27" iMac presented me with a brief challenge when I went to install Windows 7 with Bootcamp; after the first stage of the install the screen remains blank.
A quick search on the internet presented a very concise solution on the UK PCPro site, thanks guys.


1. Run the Boot Camp Assistant in OS X as normal and create a partition when asked, then insert your Windows 7 disc to reboot and begin the process proper.

2. Windows 7 requires the NTFS file system, so once in the installer just select your new partition (labelled BOOTCAMP), click on Drive options (Advanced) and choose to format it. Then select the newly formatted partition and continue.

3. Windows 7 will begin installing, and once it gets almost to the bottom of its checklist, it’ll try to reboot. Now, if you leave it here, you’ll get so far and see the black screen. Any further attempts to reboot will bring you to the same dead end.

4. Instead, restart and press a key to boot from the Windows 7 disc when prompted. Rather than running the installation again, choose the little option at the bottom to Repair your computer. Decline any suggestions that pop up until you see a list of options with Command Prompt at the bottom. Choose that option.

5. At the Command Prompt, type DEL C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ATIKMDAG.SYS to delete the default ATI driver, then close the window and reboot.

6. This time, Windows should successfully initialise a more appropriate display driver, allowing you into the desktop. From here insert your OS X disc to install the relevant hardware drivers as you normally would, then run Windows update to clear up any leftovers.