Where has The Wolf Bytes been?

Simple answer is I’ve been writing code rather than writing ABOUT code. 

The first half of 2012 has been extremely busy and productive to include the following accomplishments:

• Working with DevFish as part of WyrmCraft to publish about 85 apps to the Windows Phone 7 marketplace.  As part of this we created a really cool app publishing engine.
• Rediscovered my roots as an embedded systems developer as I gained experience with the .NET Micro Framework and specifically the Netduino GO!.  As part of this I’m building a QuadCopter where I designed and built some custom modules to be hooked up to the GO! main board.   I’ll be releasing both the hardware designs and software as open source once this effort has been completed, but for now, here’s a couple of pictures to wet your appetite.

• Ported SeaWolf from Windows Phone 7 to Windows 8.  There was a bit more of a learning curve than I had originally expected with Windows 8, but the more play with it, the more I can really tell that this was well thought out and will server as a great starting point for the next decade.
• I released a port a large line of business application I created for Windows Mobile as a native application on both the iPhone and Android.  I have to admit I was most enthusiastic to build the android app, and was dreading working with Objective-C and iOS.   But at the end of the day I have a new appreciation for the elegance of Objective-C (even using XCode) and have pretty much came to the conclusion that Android is just a bunch of stuff thrown together without too much planning that Google is trying to regroup with ICS…end of comments on that.
• At TechEd this year I worked the Windows Phone booth and was very much amazed with the interest of the folks on the floor.  Yes, this was a Microsoft conference but still the Windows Phone area was always packed!

I hope I can do a little better about adding some content to The Wolf Bytes in the second half of 2012, but with all the Windows 8 App ideas I have, I guess time will tell.  I’m considering adding a Windows 8 Tips and Tricks like I did for Windows Phone 7.  There are a lot of lessons I have learned (and still are) about the platform that I’ll probably start sharing.

-twb

New Short URLs for Florida Developers WP7 Apps

If you are registered on the FL App Developers Site http://www.flwp7.com we have a new feature available to you. 

Here was the problem…you were out and wanted someone to download your app or you wanted to put a link to it on some printed marketing material.  In the past you had to enter the big old Zune based URL like zune://navigation/?phoneAppId=b7522342-4235-a532-be54-13bc43ef1423 which was pretty much impossible to enter correctly.

With this new feature available to you from the Florida Developer Community Site, you can create smaller, more friendly URL’s that can easily be entered to bring people to your application.  For example with the URL http://flwp7.com/cs you’ll be brought to the market place page to download ContactSwap. 

To use these, make sure you and your apps are registered as a developer at http://www.FLWP7.com.

Then simply when entering your applications information, specify a few letters to create the unique URL at the bottom of the page.  For ContactSwap I entered the code CS:

This will allow anyone that navigates to http://flwp7.com/cs on their phone to be brought directly to your app on the marketplace.

While you are on the www.FLWP7.com site, make sure that you browse the apps that all the local folks created and download a few and check them out!  Support your local App Developer =D.

-twb

ByteMaster – WP7 Tribute App

Joe Healy the local Microsoft DPE of DevFish fame needed some way to learn a new tool for creating WP7 without any code called AppMakr.  As he said:

Kevin's a WP7 (and fruit and android) dev in Florida, deserving of his own tribute app. Yet he doesn't have one. So I'm building it for him. I was going to build one for myself, but hey, that's cheesy.

So the ByteMaster Windows Phone 7 Tribute App was born!

You can read about his experience here.

As you can see from the downloads from last month, a number of people are actually downloading it.  Not sure if that says something about the content or the person that wrote the app.  My guess is the later.

Anyway if you are interested in using this tool, be sure to check out his follow-up post on getting the app submitted.

BTW – The main pivot of the application is my recent blog posts.  If you are reading this in the app, we’ll see if it causes some sort of memory leak from the self referential recursive nature of this post .

-twb

Software Logistics, LLC – New Web Site

I guess it was time to retire my companies web site.  When we started Software Logistics in 2001, we built a Classic ASP web site that reflected my companies vision and goals at that time.  Over the years that site has been sadly neglected.  I guess something like the cobblers kids have no shoes.

After attending Mix11 this month, I saw some great demos of the open source Orchard CMS released by Microsoft earlier this year and decided it was time for an upgrade.

I’d like to welcome you to the new Software Logistics, LLC site with a new fresh look.  Along with the new web site, Software Logistics is continuing to sharpen it’s focus.  We are going to providing consulting and development services for organizations wishing to create or evolve their mobile strategy. We also kicked off a strong internal mobile app research and design effort for all three major platforms: iPhone, Android and Windows Phone.  We have a number of apps that we have built in the pipeline to be released in the coming months.

As part of this renewal, the first 25 organizations to contact us at Strategists.FreeOffer@Software-Logistics.com will get a free consultation on their unique mobile strategy.

Be sure to let us know what you think!

-twb

RSS Feed from Florida App Developers Site

I’m excited to announce a new feature on the Florida Windows Phone 7 Developers App Site.  You can now subscribe to RSS feeds for individual developer or for all the application that have been published and added to this site.

If you are developer this might be a nice way for you to publish a URL on your site or business card so folks can see what you’ve published.  In addition each feed item has a deep link that will open the application in the marketplace on your phone or in Zune on the desktop.

To activate your link, you need to make sure you have a valid twitter handle added, you also need to have your name, email address and web site.  Once those are added you can access your apps feed with the simple URL

http://www.flwp7.com/[TWITTER].rss for your apps and http://www.flwp7.com/all.rss for all the apps.

For example my apps would be at http://www.flwp7.com/bytemaster.rss

Enjoy!

-twb

Introducing Software Logistics Free ContactSwap App for Windows Phone 7

My latest addition to the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace was just approved, it’s called ContactSwap and it does just that.

ContactSwap allows you to add information about yourself in the form of a profile, you can even add more then one profile to control the information you give out.  Once you’ve added your profile, you are ready to go.

When you meet someone with Windows Phone 7 that you wish to exchange contacts with, all you need to do is start the app press the swap button and have the other person do the same.  Through the magic of the internet and location services your two phones will make the others contact information available to be saved as a contact on the others phone.  It really is just that simple.  For your security, you can add a 4 digit pin that can be used so only the person you intended on getting the contact can open it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-twb

Jingle Balls – A Christmas Windows Phone 7 Application

This morning the follow-up to my smash hit GotBalls! (which DevFish can’t see nearly enough good things about) was published to the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Jingle Balls is a nice little XNA application to help you get in the holiday spirit.

Enjoy!

-twb