Mobile on DVLUP

Mini Code Camp

Sat, 03 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I’m doing an awesome one-night mini-code camp on August 21st. Pascal Rettig (@cykod ), organizer of the Boston HTML5 Game Development meetup group, is giving me the floor to show you how to bring your awesome HTML5 skills to the fastest growing mobile platform , Windows Phone. Go here to sign up, it’s free

Before I explain what I’ll be showing you, check out the prizes I am giving away…

Awesome Giveaways!

I will be giving away some great stuff, including:

Nokia Lumia 822 and Lumia 800 giveaway [winner!]

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

[UPDATE] We have a winner!

Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to get their first app in the Windows Phone Store! Keep it up, as I have many more contests coming up. Update your app entry with a new feature, or optimize it’s layout, to get the app ready for my next contest ;)

Now, without further ado, the winner of the June giveaway… drum roll… Richard Huang of Boston, MA. Here is a link to his Windows Phone app entry for the drawing. To everyone else who didn’t enter, if you’re a developer who fits the qualifications below, email me to get a head start on my next giveaway.

Hackathon Winners

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I will be writing a more in-depth blog post (with videos and event pictures) on the Telerik website when all the media is done being edited. For now, I wanted to quickly get a post up to show the winners of The Boston Hackathon . There were over 40 apps created, submitted and presented! Every developer who went through my grueling training schedule on day one, built their app, got it in by 3:30PM on day two and had the courage to present to the audience, earned a Nokia Premium Developer Program token ($1,500 value)! They will all be able to publish their apps to the Windows Phone Store.

Deep Diving with Lance

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Grab your scuba gear because we’re diving into new WP8 features

Windows Phone 8 ushered in a bunch of new APIs to hook into. I am providing my Dvlup’rs with a one-on-one training experience via email (and soon, via Skype). Take a look at the topics below. I will do a mini-code camp with you on a topic of your choice, then we can apply what you’ve learned to your app idea.

Rewarding Quality

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Offer ends Feb 11th, 2013 5:00 PM PST

So you’ve published an app and you’ve worked hard to keep its rating at 4+ stars. You’ve had at least 50 ratings, proving that it’s not a fluke. Now what? Let me bring you into the fold of the elite.

You and your app will get:

Windows Phone Store Placement
App Highlights Placement (Nokia’s app that is preinstalled on all new Nokia Lumias)
NAX Credits for you to advertise your app in other apps

So if you meet the conditions (has minimum 50 ratings, is currently 4 stars or higher, and you’re DVLUP member or eligible to be) send me an email ext-lance.mccarthy@nokia.com

Registering Extensions

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

With the entrance of Visual Studio 2012 we saw a new interface to edit your WMAppManifest file. This is a great tool to help you properly setup your app’s meta data. There is one limitation you should be aware of… there is no support for extensions. What are extensions? They are the added functionality that lets you tie your app into other parts of the OS and user experience. This blog post will cover the extensions for photos, but the process is the same for other extensions.

From The Ground Up

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This post is to get you started on Windows Phone Development “from the ground up” and is targeted towards people who have no prior experience with the Windows Phone SDK. At any time you can refer to my resources page for additional links to WPDev assets, tutorials and example code.

Ok, let’s begin.

The first thing you should know is that is does not cost a penny to develop for Windows Phone! The SDK and the tools are free. The only time you will need to pay is when you sign up for your Microsoft DevCenter account. The DevCenter is your portal to the Windows Phone Store. It is where you will submit, update and track your apps. I can help mitigate those costs for you. If you are an Android or iOS Developer and are porting an app, or a true “from the ground up” developer, I will pay for your first year’s DevCenter fee. Contact me for details.

Denied?

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

So, you got an email from DVLUP stating that your challenge submission was denied. Why were you denied? What did you miss? I wanted to write this post to share the top reasons for denial and how to fix it… 90% of these are due to the fact you didn’t edit your WMAppManifest file.

Here are the top offenders:

Not all Live Tiles Sizes
No animated Tiles
Not all WP8 resolutions

#1- You need to have all three tile sizes enabled for your app. Here is a list of the tile sizes from the MSDN Documentation . To rectify this problem, simply toggle the “Support for large Tiles” property in your WMAppManifest file. See the image in answer #2 for more details.

Comatose Cursor

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

You’re sitting in front of your PC, steaming cup of next to you and your fingers are posed over the keyboard ready to strike. Visual Studio is full screen and Expression Blend is waiting to assist in the background, but your cursor is blinking steadily in the same place it was 15 minutes ago. You’re blank, the ideas aren’t flowing, the classes of objects haven’t materialized yet.

Level Up with DVLUP!

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Got your developer hat on? Check. Got your gamer hat on? Check. Ready to earn awesome rewards for doing what you love? Check!

Great, then let’s get rolling! I am officially announcing the beginning of a brand new, groundbreaking program from Nokia for Windows Phone developers, DVLUP. You are formally invited to participate in this currently invite-only program where you earn points for your apps through completing challenges. Spend your XP on Xbox 360s, new Nokia Lumias and more.