Designing & Optimising Graphics for your Series 40 app (Featured Video)

Are you wondering what to consider when designing and optimising graphics for your Series 40 application? Mikko Kaipio, Senior UX Designer, provides you with tips and best practices for handling graphics in your Series 40 applications.

He also explains the key items to take into account when porting your Android application graphics to the successful Nokia Asha family of Series 40 phones.

More information about Series 40 UX resources can be found here: http://bit.ly/Qx757l

Explore the app examples used in this video:

Silverlight animation with Expression Blend (and no code) (Featured Article)

Silverlight animation with Expression Blend (and no code) by izinin

Microsoft Expression Blend (included in the Windows Phone SDK) is a powerful visual design tool for making visible elements and effects in Silverlight applications. It can be used simultaneously with Visual Studio on the same opened project – modifications made in either tool become immediately available in other.

This tutorial shows how to create powerful object animation using Microsoft Expression Blend.

Grouping graphics into canvas

Read the article for more information: Silverlight animation with Expression Blend (and no code)

Windows Phone 8: APIs de trabajo con voz

Hola a todos! Hoy vamos a examinar una de las principales novedades que incorpora Windows Phone 8: Las APIs de voz. Aunque el reconocimiento de voz ya estaba disponible en Windows Phone 7.X, no existían APIs que pudiésemos consumir para incluir este tipo de funcionalidad en nuestras aplicaciones. Pero con Windows Phone 8, esto ha cambiado. Podemos usar el reconocimiento de voz en nuestros proyectos por tres vías distintas: Comandos de voz. Nos permitirán ejecutar acciones…(read more)

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Nuevo libro de desarrollo para Windows 8 y Windows Phone 8

Desde hace tiempo, estoy un poco alejado del mundanal ruido de blogs, twitter y demás. La razón no ha sido otra que hacer posible un deseo que tenia desde hace mucho tiempo, escribir un libro.

Antes de nada, que se que nadie lee los post hasta el final. Aquí esta el enlace para que lo podáis comprar YA.

Hace tiempo, nos propusimos el amigo Yeray y yo, que teníamos que escribir algo juntos. Sinceramente jamás creí que me iba a costar tanto poder plasmar en papel todos los conocimientos que tengo en mi cabeza, por que amigos una cosa es escribir un blog y otra muy distinta escribir un libro.

Pero bueno, después de muchas horas de trabajo y muchas horas de sueño perdido, junto con la ayuda de dos cracks, Ibón Landa, nuestro colaborador incansable y José Manuel Alarcón, nuestro editor convencido, este libro puede estar en la calle.

Portada MiniLibro

 

Os presento “Introducción al desarrollo en Windows 8 y Windows Phone 8”, este “mini” libro consta de 190 paginas en las que abordamos una introducción a las herramientas de desarrollo para ambos sistemas, descripción de conceptos de programación basados en el patrón Model View ViewModel (MVVM), el lenguaje visual XAML, los principales elementos de una interfaz visual tanto para Windows 8 como para Windows Phone 8 y por ultimo una explicación detallada de que pasos debemos seguir para publicar nuestras aplicaciones tanto en la Windows Store como en la Windows Phone Store.

Pero aquí no acaba la cosa, esto es solo un pequeño aperitivo, es la avanzadilla de algo mucho mas grande, es simplemente una introducción del libro “Desarrollo en Windows 8 y Windows Phone 8”. Un libraco de casi 500 paginas con el que pretendemos guiar a cualquier desarrollador en las nuevas características de programación para ambos sistemas.

Portada Libro

Pero para esto aun tenemos que esperar un poco mas. Eso si gracias a Krasis Press, todo aquel que adquiera el libro de introducción, el cual solo esta disponible en versión PDF, dispondrá de un cupón de descuento del importe total si decides comprar el libro grande.

Así que os lo vuelvo a recordar. COMPRAD MI LIBRO, que aunque esto no lo hayamos hecho para salir de pobres (bueno nunca se sabe), al menos nos queremos tomar alguna que otra caña a vuestra salud.

Por ultimo, desde aquí quiero agradecer el inmenso trabajo de mi compañero de fatigas, Josué Yeray, sin mi aportación es muy probable que el libro en algún momento estuviera de todos modos en la calle, pero sin la suya este proyecto jamás hubiera llegado a su fin.

En mis años de juventud en el colegio recuerdo haber plantado mas de 1 árbol. Tengo una mujer estupenda y una hija que es un autentico regalo y un sol de niña. Acabo de escribir y publicar un libro. Si, ya me puedo morir en paz.

[Libro] Introducción al desarrollo en Windows 8 y Windows Phone 8

Hola a todos! Estos últimos meses han sido una auténtica locura, es lo que tiene no saber decir no a todo proyecto interesante que cae en tus manos. Al mismo tiempo que hacía de mentor en el Megathon de Bilbao y peleaba con WinRT para sacar adelante las demos de Visual Studio 2012, gestaba un nuevo proyecto, plasmado en forma de libro, que por fin hoy ve la luz. Junto con Ibon Landa y Rafael Serna , incansables compañeros en la mayoría de proyectos en los que me…(read more)

The quick way to USB tethering via SSH on your N9

Here’s something obvious (and I’m sure it has been discussed before, I just can’t find the link right now), but it might be helpful if you haven’t played around with SSH much yet, and your Wi-Fi Hotspot isn’t working (the case for me right now). The goal is to get an internet connection over your N9/N950 from a PC (tested with Linux, expected to work with OS X and probably also works on Windows – on Windows you might need something like PuTTY).

  1. Enable developer mode on your device
  2. Connect your device to your computer via USB
  3. Select “SDK mode” when asked for the USB connection type
  4. Use the SDK connection utility, and select USB connection
  5. Note the password displayed in the “Connectivity Details” screen
  6. On your computer, use “ssh -D 9898 developer@192.168.2.15″
  7. Accept the host key question, and enter the password from step 5
  8. You should be greeted by a Busybox prompt “/home/developer $” – leave that open in the terminal window in the background
  9. At this point, a SOCKS proxy server is running on port 9898, and you can use it in any applications supporting a SOCKS proxy (there are even utilities like socksify(1) (Debian package: dante-client) that make generic network applications work through a SOCKS proxy)
  10. To use it in Firefox, go to Edit – Preferences – Advanced – Network – Settings…, then choose “Manual proxy configuration” and set “SOCKS Host:” to localhost and port to 9898 (be sure to disable the proxy again when you want to browse via a normal Wi-Fi/Ethernet connection)

Instead of doing steps 4 and 5, you can set up a permanent password for your “user” account on the N9, and even set up a SSH key on the N9 to avoid having to enter the password. You can make step 6 simpler by adding an entry to your ~/.ssh/config file (on your host) – see ssh_config(5) for details:

Host n9proxy
    HostName 192.168.2.15
    User developer
    DynamicForward 9898

After that, a “ssh n9proxy” (possibly followed by the developer password) is all you need to set up the proxy. This method is arguably easier (and definitely safer) than using the Wi-Fi hotspot, and instead of using up battery on your N9, it gets charged via the USB port while you are using it.

By the way: You will have to manually connect your N9 to your mobile internet connection, this won’t happen automatically.

Camera Explorer (Featured Project)

Camera Explorer shows the use of Windows Phone 8 advance photography API. This application contains three views: viewfinder, settings and preview page. Viewfinder has the option to select ISO and scene mode, settings page holds the camera configuration controls and preview page opens and display the preview image of the photo captured in the viewfinder.  A comparison and implementation of the application in respect to Windows Phone 7 are provided in the project wiki.

Windows Phone 8 camera API has a high configurability of camera parameters.  This new photography API allows the access of both the camera hardware and the camera API of the platform, like exposure time, ISO, focus position and white balance.  To learn more about this camera API see Advance photo capturing library.

– Somnath Banik (on behalf of the Projects Moderation team)

Series 40 Web Apps UI Visualisation Examples (Featured Project of the Month November 2012)

project iconSeries 40 Web Apps UI Visualisation Examples is a Nokia Developer example which demonstrates the basic use of the S40 Web Apps HTML “UI Components”. The example code snippets are meant for both designers and developers: designers get an impression of how the components actually look on the device and developers learn how to use the Web Apps UI components.

If you’ve noticed a theme in our examples you’re right. Last month we featured a similar project showing off Java ME UI components. These sorts of Nokia Developer examples make it easier for designers and developers to start programming more easily, with less iteration.

The project wiki documentation contains extensive documentation explaining the main UI elements and navigation elements, along with common design patterns. This is a useful complement to the Series 40 Web Apps Developer’s Library.

As this is an official example, you can ask questions in the project discussion boards.

– Hamish Willee (on behalf of the Projects Moderation team)

Thank you Nokia Ron

By now, many of you will have heard that Ron Liechty (Nokia Ron) is leaving Nokia Developer to enjoy a well-earned retirement. I’ve created this blog as a place where we can share anecdotes about our experiences with working with Ron, and thank him for his dedicated stewardship of our community.

It’s my blog, so I get to go first. I’ll be brief!

I guess I should say up front that I’ve still not actually met Ron in person, although I do know he looks a bit like a pirate on a motorcycle (images below for your viewing pleasure). That feels very odd with someone I’ve worked closely with for 2 years and come to respect and value.

I first became “aware” of Ron in 2006. He seemed to be everywhere on the forums – providing fast and concise answers on almost any topic. While his technical responses were excellent, what set him apart for me was how diplomatic, respectful and patient he was in all circumstances (I was a technical support team leader at the time, and let me tell you, this is not always easy!)

When I joined Nokia to share community management responsibility for the wiki I was a little nervous about working with Ron. Firstly he was a legend in the community, with a reputation a mile high – how could I make my mark? Also, I know how hard it is to share responsibility for a community you’ve built with people you don’t yet trust. I shouldn’t have worried – he was very welcoming and helped mentor me through “working in Nokia”.

Things aren’t going to fall apart now he is going – the moderators and champions he’s recruited will still be working as hard with the community as ever; and of course Ron’s done a thorough job handing over his responsibilities. But over the last 2 years we’ve become a really effective team, and that is what I will miss most – sharing the experience of working with this excellent community with him, and being able to easily get his advice and insight.

Thanks Ron for everything. I hope you really enjoy your retirement.

Coltran Studios: Powered by Windows Phone (Featured Video)

When Simon Jäger, a developer, met Jason Zielinski, an artist, amazing things started to happen. They formed Coltran Studios, perhaps the world’s smallest international game studio, based in Sweden and Chicago. Learn how the two brought their ‘Cradle to the Grave’ mobile game to Windows Phone. Says Zielinski: ‘This is real, this is amazing, this is brilliant’.

Read more about creating your Windows Phone 8 games for Nokia Lumia:http://www.developer.nokia.com/windowsphone