Randomisation

When a 'z' just doesn't cut it... (Oren Nachman's random notes from Microsoft)

Last Minute Perf Video for Mango

I had the opportunity to join Microsoft Research and this year's Interns at a recent XAPfest event...

Date: 07/10/2012

WP Emulator Crashing on Windows 8? Here's a Fix

Don't you just hate it when you upgrade to a new OS (even when it's a beta) and everything works...

Date: 06/25/2012

Got Phantom Menus? RefreshScreen is here to help

The fact that my (full updated) video card will occasionally blue screen my screen after playing...

Date: 11/08/2011

Windows Phone Power Tools

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but it's also often the mother of Open Source tools which...

Date: 09/13/2011

Windows Phone App Lookup Tool

Ever ended up with an application's GUID but not with the app's name? Probably not, but just in case...

Date: 07/12/2011

Getting Started with Node.js and Mango

It's been a while since I've found time to blog - but it's not like I've left you in cold hands....

Date: 07/06/2011

Marketplace Updates Galore! More Free Apps, No need for Support in your app

Woo! All registered Marketplace should have gotten their regular newsletter which this time comes...

Date: 02/24/2011

Marketplace FAQ: What do the different app statuses mean?

Now that we're out of the woods with the unlimited free app updates policy being clarified, it's...

Date: 02/01/2011

WP7 Marketplace Tip: Submitted a support request and never heard back?

If you submitted a request via AppHub, to either the "Device Unlock" or "Account Management"...

Date: 01/26/2011

WP Marketplace FAQ: What happens to my apps if I don't renew my subscription

The Question I've signed up for the Windows Phone marketplace and submitted my apps. They're selling...

Date: 01/20/2011

WP7 Marketplace FAQ: Do my free app submissions reset every year?

Summary Yes. Seriously? Yup, you get 5 free submission credits a year, so every year you could...

Date: 01/17/2011

SL WP7 Toolkit Pro Tip: Set a background on your LongListSelector so that it scrolls correctly

Got a LongListSelector in your project? Notice that if you try to scroll in blank areas (where the...

Date: 01/16/2011

WP7 Marketplace Tip #4: Include Contact info in your next app update

Summary Make sure that you include the app name, version and technical support contact info within...

Date: 01/11/2011

WP7 Silverlight Gotcha: Using the ListPicker from the Toolkit may cause you to fail certification

Applies To: Anyone using the current iteration of the Silverlight Tookit from Nov 2010 Toolkit Link:...

Date: 01/09/2011

WP7 Marketplace Tip #3: Free app updates are free, even if they fail!

This has finally been clarified by the Marketplace team as the most current, up to date, lore on the...

Date: 01/08/2011

WP7 Marketplace Reporting Outage

Hot on the heels of the previous post (but, unfortunately, not related) the Marketplace team have...

Date: 01/05/2011

New Year, New WP7 Marketplace Clarifications

Check out the final word:...

Date: 01/05/2011

WP7 Silverlight Gotcha: Setting the Source on a MediaElement will stop background music playback

Applies To: Silverlight (the restriction applies to XNA, but the MediaElement is only Silverlight)...

Date: 12/02/2010

WP7 Dev Tip: Detecting whether or not the user is playing music in the background

Applies To: Silverlight & XNA Quick Bits...

Date: 12/01/2010

WP7 Gotcha: Showing a Launcher or Chooser will crash while Navigating

Applies To: Silverlight & XNA (anyone using Launchers / Choosers) Quick Bits Always wrap [some...

Date: 11/30/2010

WP7 Marketplace Tip #2.5 - Free App + Updates Policy Clarified (finally)

It's been a while, and there's been a lot of confusion surrounding this topic of "5 free apps", so...

Date: 11/17/2010

Silverlight Performance at TechEd Europe

If you happen to be down at TechEd Europe this week, don't forget to come by the Windows Phone 7 and...

Date: 11/10/2010

WP7 Silverlight Perf Demo 1: VirtualizingStackPanel vs. StackPanel as a ListBox ItemsPanel

This is the first in a series of blog posts which run through the demos from my PDC 2010 talk, with...

Date: 11/08/2010

WP7 Marketplace Tip #2: 5 Free Apps == 5 Free App Submissions

Updated Policy! Sure, the App Hub site says: Submit up to five free apps to Windows Phone...

Date: 11/04/2010

Silverlight for Windows Phone 7 Performance Session at PDC!

It's that time of year again - PDC 2010 kicks of tomorrow! Join the Silverlight Performance Team as...

Date: 10/28/2010

Silverlight: Why do I get 0x8000ffff when using WriteableBitmap on an Element

I'm working on a WP7 library which helps analyze your VisualTree and to provide a visual aid, I take...

Date: 10/19/2010

WP7 Marketplace Tip #1: Submit one app with multiple locales

... as opposed to multiple apps, each with a different locale. Why? If these are free apps, then...

Date: 10/19/2010

Are the Windows Phone 7 Developer Tools Still Free?

YES! Visit: https://create.msdn.com/en-us/home/getting_started and click "Install Now" to download...

Date: 10/18/2010

WP7 Perf Tip #6: Be smart about graphics (use JPEG where possible)

Take Away's: Wherever possible (i.e. no transparency) use JPEG images since these decode faster than...

Date: 10/03/2010

WP7 Perf Tip #5: Check your memory usage

Two for the price of one today! Take Aways: Make sure your memory usage is below 90MB. Always check...

Date: 09/28/2010

WP7 Perf Tip #4: Use fully qualified paths when setting the source property

File this one under "Sad, but True"... Take Away's: Always prefix your source paths with a "/"...

Date: 09/28/2010

WP7 Perf Tip #3: Read the performance document

This is kind of obvious - but important. Read the White Paper which was written by the Silverlight...

Date: 09/11/2010

WP7 Perf Tip #2: Know your ProgressBar

Take Away's: Do not use the built in ProgressBar straight up, use Jeff's template When you're done...

Date: 08/16/2010

WP7 Perf Tip #1: Test on Device

I'm kicking off a series of posts about Silverlight perfofmance under Windows Phone 7 with a a kind...

Date: 08/16/2010

WP7 Silverlight TextBoxes No Longer Scroll

There's a change in the pipeline that will be hitting the public Windows Phone 7 images at some...

Date: 08/09/2010

BUG: Silverlight Crashes (Along With the Browser) When Profiled

It's one of those bugs... If you've tried profiling Silverlight lately and you've run into a...

Date: 08/05/2010

Windows Phone System Tray obscures FrameRate counters

Here's a small tip for those of you who want to debug performance in a Windows Phone Silverlight app...

Date: 06/28/2010

Profile Silverlight 4 from the VS 2010 UI (Premium & Ultimate only)

Maxim has a great post detailing a workaround which allows you to get some profiling functionality...

Date: 06/02/2010

Profiling Silverlight 4 with Visual Studio 2010

Silverlight is now into its fourth version (woo!) and with each iteration the platform becomes more...

Date: 05/26/2010