by Joey deVilla on November 11, 2009
WinMoDevCamp Toronto, the Toronto edition of the workshop for developing applications for Windows Phone, takes place today at Microsoft Canada’s headquarters.
If you can’r make it to WinMoDevCamp in person, you can attend virtually by watching the streaming video feed.
Here’s the agenda (all times are Eastern):
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12:30 pm – 1:00 pm
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Light Snacks and Event Registration
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1:00 pm – 1:15 pm
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Opening Remarks & Explanation of WinMoDevCamp purpose.
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1:15 pm – 1:45 pm
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Keynote by Microsoft Canada’s Joey deVilla, Developer Evangelist.
This session will give you an overview Microsoft’s commitment to mobility and the tools in place to assist developers in creating world class applications.
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1:45 pm – 2:00 pm
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Break
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2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
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Developing for Windows Mobile – Mark Arteaga, RedBit
Learn how to use the familiar Microsoft .NET Framework and .NET-based programming languages like Visual C#® development tools to develop world class applications. Learn about new features in Windows Mobile 6.5 such as the Gesture APIs and the Widget Framework and how to use them appropriately.
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3:00 pm – 3:30 pm
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Saviidesk – Joe Compta, Bradon Technologies Ltd (Bell Mobility)
Application presentation and demo
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3:30 pm – 3:45 pm
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Break
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3:45 pm – 4:15 pm
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Telus Application Developer Program Presentation
Program presentation and overview
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4:15 pm – 4:45 pm
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Merge Healthcare OEM – Atul Agarwal, Director Web Apps
Application presentation and demo
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4:45 pm – 5:45 pm
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Samsung TouchWiz and Widgets – Max Karlin, Samsung Canada
An in-depth look at Samsung’s TouchWiz UI and Widgets. How to develop widgets, upcoming features and functionality and how to distribute widgets for Samsung devices.
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5:45 pm – 6:30 pm
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Dinner – Windows Marketplace Overview, Anthony Bartolo, Microsoft
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6:30pm – 7:00 pm
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vPost, Sculpting Mobile Data Convergence – John Cousens, Vayyoo
Application presentation and demo
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7:00pm – 7:30 pm
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Sony Ericsson “Hero” Developer Program – Sean Cheddi, Sony Ericsson
Developer Program enrolment and Panel SDK overview
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7:30pm – 8:00 pm
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WinMoDevCamp wrap up and Prize Giveaway
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This article also appears in Canadian Developer Connection.
Tagged as:
mobile,
WinMoDevCamp
by Joey deVilla on November 9, 2009
WinMoDevCamp Toronto, the free workshop where you can learn about Windows Phone Development, takes place this Wednesday at Microsoft Canada’s offices in Mississauga. Come learn about Windows Phone by participating in a development project, and come meet some of the faces (including me) at the local branch of The Empire! (And yes, we’ll serve snacks and dinner.)
WinMoDevCamp is free of charge and takes place this Wednesday, November 11th, from 1 to 9 p.m. at Microsoft Canada Headquarters (1950 Meadowvale Boulevard, just off Mississauga Road north of the 401). To participate in WinMoDevCamp, please register.
This article also appears in Canadian Developer Connection.
Tagged as:
mobile,
WinMoDevCamp,
workshops
by Joey deVilla on November 2, 2009
The New Yorker’s Hallowe’en Cover
I make sure to keep an eye on how technology pops up in mainstream non-geek culture because it’s a good way to gauge the techno-cultural zeitgeist and see how technologies are being received by the public at large. As techies, we’re all too happy to be early adopters and are willing to put up with usability problems, annoyances and extra work just to have the latest and greatest gear for its own sake. We have a tendency to forget that many non-techies don’t adopt technologies while they’re still new and need a techie mindset to use; they’ wait until technologies evolve to the point where the benefits outweigh the annoyances.
The current issue of The New Yorker has a Hallowe’en-themed cover that hints at how much smartphones have worked their way into everyday people’s lives:
Here’s a closeup:
(I’ll bet that at least one of you went out Saturday night trick-or-treating and checked your smartphone.)
The practical upshot of all this: the mobile platform is in your future. It’s the one that people take everywhere and it’s growing in power in leaps and bounds the way desktop (and later, laptop) computers did in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
WinMoDevCamp
Speaking of mobile platforms, we’re holding a full-day workshop on Windows Phone development called WinMoDevCamp Toronto next Wednesday, November 11th from noon to 9 p.m. at the Microsoft Mississauga offices (1950 Meadowvale Boulevard). It’s free of charge and your chance to learn how to develop applications for Windows Phone.
This article also appears in Canadian Developer Connection.
Tagged as:
mobile,
Pop Culture,
Windows Mobile
by Joey deVilla on October 30, 2009
Yes, you probably went here as soon as you saw the phrase “One-Handed Computing”:
But in this case, I’m talking about what Jason Kottke is talking about — those times when you use mobile technology while your other hand isn’t free because you’re:
- Eating
- Drinking
- Carrying or feeding a baby
- Walking the dog
- Carrying groceries
- “Straphanging” on a train or bus
- Getting by with a broken arm
In the cases above – and I’m sure you can think of many more – you’re accessing computing resources in a very undesktop-like way: with only one hand, and even then, a limited portion of that hand since most of your fingers are busy holding that phone. You’re likely using only your thumb, as shown below:
There are lots of times when users are stuck in “one-thumb mode”. If you’re building mobile applications, you should keep that in mind and make sure you design your user interfaces accordingly. You might need to consider things like:
- The size of touchscreen controls: make them too small and they’re not thumb-friendly.
- The number of controls on the screen; the maximum number is dictated by their size.
- Navigation in your app. Hierarchical arrangements make sense to developers, but lots of user experience people will tell you that ordinary people don’t get hierarchies.
- Which functions will your users use most often? You should make those very easily accessible. Which functions will your users use less often? You might be able to put them on a secondary or tertiary screen.
- Can you get information without making the user enter it? For example, can you infer information based on the user’s location, which you can grab from GPS instead of asking for him/her to enter it? Can your application remember your user’s most often-used data?
- Can you get other kinds of one-handed input, such as from the camera, accelerometer, magnetometer or other sensors?
That’s a fair bit to think about, and I might have to present some ideas at the upcoming Toronto WinMoDevCamp (and yes, I’ll also blog them).
This article also appears in Canadian Developer Connection.
Tagged as:
mobile,
one hand,
user interface
by Joey deVilla on October 20, 2009
Click the photo to see it at full size. Photo courtesy of 
