This Blog is Moving!!!!

Attention readers,

I am moving to a new domain!!!!

http://www.Win8AppDev.com/blogs

I will let everyone know when all of the updates are finalized!!!

Nokia Promotions!!!

Hi all –

Here’s what’s going on in September for Windows Phone developers!

– If you’re an active developer (have published or updated a WP app in the last 6 months), you can enter a drawing for a Lumia 1020, 925 or 928 (your choice)! See
http://richarddunbar.blogspot.com/2013/09/september-lumia-blowout.html for details. Just like last month, being an active developer pays off!

– Have you published a new Windows Phone or Windows 8 app this month? If so, you can enter a monthly sweepstakes to win some cash! Go to http://www.mstechaffiliate.com/members/gregorystoll to enter.

– If you’re in the Austin area, check out the Austin Windows App Developers meetup! It’s run by Ryan Joy, a Microsoft evangelist, and you can sign up here: http://www.meetup.com/Win-App-Devs/

– Speaking of Ryan, he wrote a very useful post about marketing your app after release: it’s at http://ryanjoy.com/2013/08/marketing-101-12-things-to-do-after-you-publish-your-app/

– Nokia just announced a global app-writing competition called Nokia Create – you could win a trip to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona! For details, see http://developer.nokia.com/create/.

– If you’re starting a new app, you should check out Windows Phone App Studio, which lets you get started in a browser! It’s a free tool from Microsoft – here’s a good guide to getting started: http://ryanjoy.com/2013/08/create-a-windows-phone-app-in-20-minutes-with-app-studio/

– Here’s what’s happening in DVLUP:
– There’s a new challenge to update any app for 100 XP! It’s that simple! See
http://blog.dvlup.com/2013/08/30/dont-pass-up-this-opp-update-an-app-and-snap-up-some-xp/
– And if you are planning on updating your app, we’d love it if you would fill out a quick survey – there are a few prizes too! http://blog.dvlup.com/2013/09/10/updating-your-wp-apps-tell-us-your-plans/
– I wrote an article this month about adding ads to your app, and using an in-app purchase to turn them off. It’s at http://gregstoll.livejournal.com/436805.html, and all of my articles are at http://austin.devnokia.com/. I’ve also written a number of Windows Phone apps that you can see at http://gregstoll.dyndns.org/windowsphone/ – if you see anything you’d like to do in an app of yours, drop me a line and I’d be happy to send you some code!

Events:
– I’ll be at the Houston TechFest in September – see http://www.houstontechfest.org/SitePages/Home.aspx for info.

– Battlehack is coming to Austin in September! I’ll be there on day #2 and awarding a prize to the best Windows Phone app. To sign up, see http://battlehack.org/austin/#register

App of the month:
This month’s app is WP Pride by Patrick Campanile, aka Twisty Apps. It’s available at http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=26f50727-aa25-4a97-9a30-27670d088df4 – here’s what Patrick has to say:

WP Pride started out with just seeing some wallpapers a designer made. I loved them, and though, “I have to have a way to change these easily!” so I contacted the designer. He was all for it! I started the app, and then life got busy and it got left as another “project unfinished”. Then I heard about the giveaway you and your tram were doing with the 1020, and knew I had to finish the app to enter the August contest. And I did!

I relied on many articles written by you and others, and, knowing very little C#/XAML, I was still able to finish the app in about a weeks time! Did it have very many features? No. But it was a start. I have since been brainstorming with my designer on new features, and began to take a class in C#. We have many ideas in the pipeline, and are always looking for feature requests! We are working to get an update out with a re-designed layout and some more info on the future of the app.

—

As always, let me know if you’ve written any apps and would like to submit them to be considered for App of the Month, or just want to chat about Windows Phone. Email me or hit me up on Twitter at @gregstoll.

Nokia Lumia Blowout!!!

September Lumia Blowout!

Last month we gave a way an amazing Lumia 1020. That was pretty awesome. This month we wanted to take into consideration that maybe you aren’t on AT&T and would prefer a Lumia 925 or 928 to use on your carrier. Heck, it’s even possible you just don’t want a camera as awesome as the Lumia 1020 and would like a Lumia 920. If that’s the case then this months drawing is just for you. The winner will get their choice of a Lumia 920, 925, 928 or a 1020. The rules are simple:

1. You MUST live in the U.S. or Canada.
2. You MUST be an existing Windows Phone Developer WITH at least one published app currently in the marketplace.
3. You MUST be an active Windows Phone developer as of September 30th 2013, which means you must have either published a new Windows Phone application or have published an update to an existing Windows Phone application that required xap certification within a 180 day period (counting back from September 30th your last updated date must be April 4th 2013 or later.

Below is an example of where to find the last updated date on your Windows Phone application page in the Windows Phone Store.

Now that you know if you can participate or not here’s what you need to do. Email me the REQUIRED information below.

1. First and Last Name
2. Email address (this is the one we can reach you at, one you actually check daily)
3. The link to your qualifying application in the Windows Phone Store.
4. DVLUP.com username (If you haven’t registered yet, go do it, it’s free and you’ll be glad you did)
5. Your Windows Dev Center Publisher GUID (it’s on your dev center dashboard)
6. Your location: City, State/Province (and county if you are in TX or CA)

Make sure you include “September Lumia Blowout!” in the subject line or I might miss it. If you are missing any of the information above you will not be entered into the drawing for the new Lumia 920, 925, 928 or 1020.

Once I receive your entry I will verify your eligibility, enter you in the drawing then send it to the Ambassador for your area who will be your source for all things Nokia and Windows Phone development. We need your entry by September 30th. We will conduct the random drawing on October 1st 2013 and contact the winner.

No matter which area you are in the contest will be amazing and the entry is easy. So email me ASAP!

Send the email to ext-rich.dunbar@nokia.com with the subject “September Lumia Blowout!” .

Windows Phone 8 Workshop

Saturday 9-21 from 10:30-4:30 we are having a Windows Phone 8 workshop. Please register quickly at the following link as we are holding spots for MIS majors thru the 15th then it will become open enrollment. If you have a friend you want to bring who is not a MIS major, they can enroll after the 15th. We will be doing a Windows Phone Infohub using a Template helper. The primary goal of this workshop will be to get people set up with Windows Phone Developer accounts and to help them with submitting their first Windows Phone app to the store. The Windows Phone Store is different from the Windows 8 store – different developer accounts, different process, different testers, different expectations.

https://ualr-wp8.eventbrite.com/

If you are bringing your own laptop, it must have 4GB of RAM and be capable of Hyper-V. If your laptop came with Windows 8 and does not have a Celeron processor, you should be fine. If your machine is less than 1 1/2 years old and had Windows 7 on it originally and has 4GB of RAM, it should support Win Phone development. If it is older than that, there is still a chance it will support Win Phone. Download the Windows Phone SDK https://dev.windowsphone.com/en-us/downloadsdk This is the latest and greatest Phone SDK as of 8/1. It requires Visual Studio 2012 and a minimum of update 2 although I would recommend going to Dreamspark Premium and downloading Update 3.

I also need to ask you guys for a favor… even if you already have Visual Studio 2012 installed, would you please log in to your new Dreamspark Premium account and download one of the Visual Studio 2012 (Professional, Premium, or Ultimate)? One of Brad Jensen’s (and his boss and his boss’ boss) metrics is the number of downloads of Visual Studio and the updates to it from Dreamspark Premium. We do our best every year to help them meet their numbers and this is a simple thing we can do for them. You don’t have to reinstall it, just download it. You do need to install Update 3 and then the Phone SDK. If your machine doesn’t support Phone, you still should install Update 3.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Janet L. Bailey, PhD
President Southwest Decision Sciences
Assoc Professor
Department of Business Information Systems
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
jlbailey@ualr.edu | drjanetbailey@live.com