Make Adobe Reader XI show scroll bars in Windows 8

If you have Windows 8 laptop with touch screen then you might run into an issue with your Adobe Reader XI like I did. Your Adobe Reader is configured (by default) to detect if you are using a touch screen and if you are then it will not show the scroll bars.

To show the scroll bars by default go to "Edit > Preferences". There select the "General" category and for "Touch Mode" select the option of "Never".

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Menu appearing in left side in Windows 8

I recently bought a Windows 8 PC and it had a weird issue (well what did you expect, that it would run flawlessly).

All my menus were being shown on left side to be precise on the bottom-left side, even the context menus.

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BlackBerry Q10 is a lot of innovation looking for longtime BB fans

I have been enjoying the company of the BlackBerry Q10 for the past couple of weeks. Some might think this smartphone is too little and too late. I think it's a lot of innovation and I hope it's not too late.

My soft spot for the BlackBerry platform goes all the way back to the trackball or roller ball, and the scroll-wheel days. These devices set the standards for security and email management and were considered the "must have" mobile phone during its heyday, especially for enterprise customers. Now fast forward a decade and the BlackBerry is fighting for survival among the iPhones, Samsung Galaxies, Motorola Droids and a host of other newcomers.

But the latest BlackBerry, the Q10, with the QWERTY physical keyboard for us that remember the good old days, is quite a smartphone and I wouldn't count BlackBerry out just yet. The Q10 is running the new BlackBerry 10 operating system, which is supposed to propel the BlackBerry devices into the future of smartphone innovation.

Straight out of the box from Verizon Wireless, this devices has a feeling of quality, with a textured back, rounded, smooth edges and an extremely tight fit. You can't help but notice the keyboard occupying the lower one third of the Q10's 4.7 inches in height. Then you're left with a 3.1-inch display, which is small by today's smartphones standards, but gets the job the done.

I guess having a 1.5 gigahertz dual-core processor is fine for now, but if BlackBerry is going to compete with its most fierce competitors, such as Apple, Samsung, HTC and LG, it will need to move into the quad-core territory.

I can stand behind the Q10's 8 megapixel camera though, especially in low-light situations. I shot some gorgeous photos just before sundown, with some of them in dark shadows. The colors were vibrant, life-like and impressive for a smartphone camera.

When I was setting up all my various social media and email accounts on the Q10, I was surprised to see integration for Evernote, a popular online note management application, become a part of the BlackBerry's Remember app. Now that falls into the very useful and cool category. As a heavy Evernote user, I like it and was thrilled to see this feature integrated into the Q10.

Here is one of the reasons I still think the BlackBerry has a fighting chance. When I look at the iPhone home screen, I see 24 icons with various red numbers in rounded-corner boxes. When I look at the Q10's home screen, I see my next appointment, which in was in 41 minutes on this particular day, along with "new' email and voice mail notifications. The synergy between all the calendars, social media accounts, task keepers, messages and multiple email services is nothing short of amazing. The Q10 became my go-to device to see what's happening next in my schedule.

I also like the shortcuts built into the device. From the home screen, you can just type "text" to begin sending a message, or "c" to call someone, or "T" to jump to the top of any page.

I did find it odd that Web pages don't rotate when you rotate the device, but fell in love with the "Reader" feature, where information comes up in plain-text view with no other distractions. You'll find this little nifty feature under the menu while visiting Web pages that contain articles to read.

I also don't know if the BlackBerry platform will ever catch up with Apple and Android in the number of apps available, and now even Windows Phone 8, who has also passed the 100,000 mark and iOS and Android marches toward one million. But I do know there are some good ones available for BlackBerry and one of the first apps I tried out for the Q10 is the famous BlackBerry "Password Keeper." It's as rock solid as ever and still sets the standard for password apps.

With all the talk from the BlackBerry corporate board about finding a buyer, exploring joint ventures or going into a partnership, it's hard to imagine to what's next for BlackBerry and their smartphones. The PlayBook tablet bit the dust a couple of months ago and might not resurface under the BlackBerry 10 operating system.

I think the BlackBerry will be around for years to come and will remain competitive. The Q10 is available from Verizon Wireless for around $200 under contract.

But here's one last effort to bring some traction the BlackBerry and especially the Q10. It's kind of a "Back to the Future" approach, which is to bring back the trackball in the land of touchscreens, much like the BlackBerry Bold 9930. I find it difficult to place and move the cursor around when editing text on this BlackBerry. Sometimes, you need to back up when writing a sentence to make a correction or insert a word and there are no arrows keys on the Q10's keyboard to move left, right, up and down.

I found the physical keyboard on the Q10 to be comfortable and precise. I made less typing mistakes than with a touchscreen device. The Q10's touchscreen above the keyboard was wonderful for swooshing from screen to screen, launching apps and getting into the Hub.

If I had only had a trackball, I would have had the best of all worlds — a touchscreen, physical keyboard and a quick, precise method to manage the cursor without having to go to the touchscreen.

Then the BackBerry Q10 could lead the way back into the game as the powerhouse among the business users, just like in the old days. Now that's something to think about.

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Samsung ATIV S Neo is Sprint's 2nd Windows Phone 8 smartphone

The Samsung ATIV S Neo is coming to Sprint on Friday. This will be Sprint's second Windows Phone 8 smartphone of the year, with the HTC 8XT being the first WP8 device earlier this summer.

The ATIV S Neo will be sporting a 4.8-inch display with a 1.4 gigahertz dual-core processor under the hood, which falls short when compared with some of the other high-powered quad-core smartphones, such as the 1.9 GHz Samsung Galaxy S4 or the LG Optimus G Pro at 1.7 GHz of processing power. You can also add 1 gigabyte of RAM and 16 GB if internal storage to the balance sheet.

The battery is a respectable 2,000 mAh lithium-ion, but there are other devices out there with larger capacity. The good news is that the ATIV S Neo features ATIV Beam for sharing photos, music and video with other WP8 devices using the NFC technology.

For snapshots, Sprint's WP8 baby has a eight-megapixel camera with LED flash and a 1.9 MP camera for video chats and self-portraits.

Despite a few shortcomings, the ATIV S Neo still might worth a test drive for WP8 fans. It'll only cost you $150 under contract if you want to take it home.

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A lost or stolen iPhone is bad; a good data recovery plan is good

If you ever lose your iPhone, it's really a bad feeling and more than likely, you'll replace with it another iPhone. Then your thoughts will quickly turn to recovering all your contacts, calendar, notes, photos, videos and even a log of text messages that were on the iPhone that is missing in action.

If you're lucky, there will be a backup in iTunes if you have been syncing regularly, or there might be a backup in iCloud. If not, then your next best option might be some free iPhone data recovery software from EaseUS, a software development company located in the Sichuan Province of China that specializes in backup and security solutions.

According to the company if you had been using their backup software, you'll just need to connect your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to a PC and launch the free EaseUS MobiSaver software. The program will scan your iDevice and list recoverable files. Then it's simple matter of clicking the "Recover" button.

The MobiSaver software is designed for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and supports operating systems up to iOS 7. But it only supports the PC desktop computers for backups, such as Windows 8 and 7, Vista, XP and Windows Server 2008/Home Server. For Mac users, EaseUS offers data recovery software for $89.95 that is compatible with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, 10.7 Lion, 10.6 Snow Leopard and 10.5 Leopard operating systems.

The best action against data loss in iDevices is to backup regularly through iTunes or make sure you are utilizing iCloud. But as an extra percaution, some free iPhone data recovery software is also worth a look.

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Samsung London event offers a hint to new Galaxy and ATIV devices

Samsung chose Memorial Day, when our minds are not on hot tech news, to roll out a teaser for an event on Thursday, June 20, in London.

The hints in their poster point to maybe new Galaxy and ATIV devices, which means Android and Windows 8 flavored announcements. Then we have images of some pretty thin devices that might could be a tablet, laptop and something that resembles a camera lens.

Samsung announced Windows 8 devices just under a year ago at a conference in Berlin, Germany, which included a two notebooks and a smartphone, called the ATIV S. Since the launch of these devices, the ATIV S has suffered several delays and has not gained much traction among carriers in the United States.

The Samsung ATIV smart PC is currently available from AT&T, while the Samsung ATIV Odyssey smartphone is available from Verizon Wireless.

Maybe the London event will bring new features to these devices. So circle June 20 on your calendar for the latest tech news from the Samsung camp.

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Is a smartphone the next milestone for social media giant Facebook?

The big question is whether Facebook, the king of social media, will unveil a smartphone during an April 4 shindig? Will it also be powered by Android, the king of mobile operating systems.

The invitations have been sent out and all eyes are on Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., where attendees will find 1 Hacker Way and get inside by 10 a.m. PST to see Facebook's "New Home on Android" announcement.

From the day Facebook was founded in 2004, they have reached one milestone after another, such as adding photo uploading in 2005, launching music listening applications in 2011 and taking the big, big step of going public in the fall of 2012.

A lot of fans must have been thrilled with their growth, as Facebook reached one billion users in September. That a lot of updates, photos albums, music apps, messages, likes and just overall spending a bunch of time on Facebook.

If a Facebook-branded smartphone does come true, I wonder how Facebook will make it unique from all the other iPhones, Androids, Windows 8 and BlackBerry devices.

I imagine the smartphone market is pretty saturated now, because everyone I know already has a mobile phone of some flavor, whether smartphone or feature phone. Then we have those contract things that make us pretty loyal to one particular carrier for a couple of years.

But who is to say there is not room in the market for a Facebook device, or to speculate further, a HTC device running Android that been tweaked by the Facebook team.

So I say bring it on. We'll be checking our Facebook pages for new friends and updates while watching to see if the social media giant can deliver something really special, whether it's a phone or something else.

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How to debug Windows Phone HTML5 Apps

  Debugging HTML applications is never an easy task and until today I did not know how to approach this for Windows Phone HTML5. The technique I will describe in this post can be applied also for Windows Phone 7.1 applications using Phonegap or Android/iOS applications.

   The "secret" tool for debugging the html content inside our applications is called WEINRE which comes from WEb INspector REmote. Weinre is a debugger for web pages, like FireBug (for FireFox) and Web Inspector (for WebKit-based browsers), except it's designed to work remotely, and in particular, to allow you debug web pages on a mobile device such as a phone. 

    In order to install Winre you will need to download and install NodeJS

    Once you have installed NodeJS restart your machine this way you will be able to run the NodeJS commands from the command prompt. After restart open a command prompt window and run this command:

 npm install weinre -g  

This will install the Weinre package globally. This is what you should see in the Command Prompt window:

    When the installer has finished its work you are ready to run the Weinre server on your PC. Execute this command from the Command Prompt:

 weinre --boundHost -all- --debug -true  

    With these parameters Weinre should also open the firewall port. For more parameters have a look at this page. You can verify if the server started by opening a browser page and loading 127.0.01:8080 (8080 is the default port for Weinre). If you are seeing this page then the server is running:

   Now click on the Debug Client User Interface link where you will be able to see if any client is connected and debug the connected clients.

    Let's create the Windows Phone HTML5 application. Use the SDK template to create a new project, open the page index.html inside the folder Html and add this line to the head section:

 <script src="http://[the server ip]:8080/target/target-script-min.js#anonymous"></script>  

replace [the server ip] with the IP of the PC running the Winre server and run the application. If everything went as we expected in the Debug Client user Interface on the Server we should see one Target connected:

    Once the target Windows Phone page is connected you can inspect and change the DOM in real-time, execute javascripts:

 

 
    In this particular case I've only changed the background of the page but you can do whatever you want. Here you can find further details on how to use the Server User Interface.
    Using the Console panel you can execute arbitrary JavaScript expressions/statements. It also shows the output from various console methods, like console.log().

 

    This is pretty much everything. Simple and veryyyyyy useful if you need to debug your HTML5 windows phone applications.
    As usual don't hesitate to contact me if you have further questions.

NAMASTE

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Share localization files between Windows Phone and Windows 8

    As I wrote in my previous post I am getting back with a post on how to share the localization files between Windows Phone and Windows 8. This should be a simple task, but in the current version of the Windows Phone SDK and Windows 8 it cannot be easily done. The target is to have only one of the two projects (Windows Phone or Windows 8) that manages the localized (in this sample I am only taking in consideration localized strings but the concept can be easily extended) and use it in the other project. Also I wanted to use the Multilingual App Toolkit to easily manage the translations inside the project.

    First let's see what we have:

• Windows Phone + Multilingual App Toolkit
1. The main resource file is called AppResources.resx and is inside the Resources folder 
2. The AppResources.resx automatically generates the AppResources class
3. The files generated by the Multilingual App Toolkit for the Windows Phone project are also inside the "\Resources" folder and the name look like AppResources.[culture].xlf
4. We have a class called LocalizedStrings.cs that helps us with the binding inside xaml files

• Windows 8 + Multilingual App Toolkit
•  The main resource file is called Resources.resw and it is inside the \strings\[Default language] folder
• The Resources.resw doesn't have .cs class in code behind generated (it uses the ResourceLoader class to load the localized values). We can also have values with "." like MainButton.Text to directly use inside xaml with the x:Uid.
• The files generated by the Multilingual App Toolkit for Windows 8 are inside the "\MultilingualResources" folder and the names are [AppName]_[culture].xlf

    So we cannot directly use the files from one project to another.  There are a lot of differences but the couples (AppResources.resx, Resources.resw) and all the (AppResources.[culture].xlf, [AppName]_[culture].xlf) have different names but share very similar structure (they share most of the structure). 

     My approach and idea is to automatically generate the set of localized files needed by one solution directly from the set of files of the other project at compilation time. As source I have chosen the Windows Phone resource files (the other way around is more difficult as we could have resources not supported by Windows Phone). In order to automatically generate the resource files I have created a console application that would be run as a Post-build event on the Windows Phone project and write the necessary files to the Windows 8 project. the Windows 8 project build will be set to depend on the Windows Phone project this way we will always have updated resources when we run it. The console application needs three parameters/inputs: the folder of the Windows Phone project (source), the folder of the Windows 8 project (destination), and the name of the Windows 8 project as we will need it when we generate the [AppName]_[culture].xlf files for the Windows 8 project. The console application also automatically generates the AppResources.cs class inside the Windows 8 projects which is a class similar to the one used by Windows Phone. The source code for the Console Application is also included in case you need to do some changes and also the full sample.

     So let's see what would be the steps you will have to make if you want to use the solution.

1. Create a Windows Phone application (in the attached sample the project WindowsPhoneApp). Using the Tools menu enable the Multilingual App Toolkit and using right-click on the project name select "Add translation languages..." to support more languages (in the sample is italian)
2. Create the Windows 8 projects (in the attached sample the project called WindowsStoreApp). Create the the folder structure \strings\en and add the file Resources.resw to it. Inside the Package.appxmanifest set the default language as en. Now use the Tools menu and enable the Multilingual App Toolkit on the Windows 8 project and add the same languages that you have added to the Windows Phone Project. 

    If later you want to add another language support remember to add it to both Windows 8 and Windows Phone projects.

This is how our solution looks :

two different projects each of one with its localization part. Now we will set that the Windows 8 project build depends on the Windows Phone project and set the post-build action of the Windows Phone project to be:

$(SolutionDir)ConvertAppResources\$(OutDir)ConvertAppResources.exe "$(SolutionDir)WindowsPhoneApp" "$(SolutionDir)WindowsStoreApp" WindowsStoreApp

where ConvertAppResources is the project that converts the resources. We pass 3 parameters to the console application:

1. the folder of the Windows Phone application which is the source - "$(SolutionDir)WindowsPhoneApp"
2. the folder of the Windows 8 app which is the destination - "$(SolutionDir)WindowsStoreApp"
3. the name of the Windows 8 app- WindowsStoreApp

In our case the console application will generate and overwrite Resources.resw, WindowsStoreApp_it.xlf and WindowsStoreApp_qps-ploc.xlf. It will also generate the file AppResources.cs in the Windows 8 application folder which you will have to include in the project after the first compilation of the Windows Phone application.

To keep things even more similar to Windows Phone method I have added the class:

 using Localization;  
 namespace WindowsStoreApp  
 {  
   /// <summary>  
   /// Provides access to string resources.  
   /// </summary>  
   public class LocalizedStrings  
   {  
     private static AppResources _localizedResources = new AppResources();  
     public AppResources LocalizedResources { get { return _localizedResources; } }  
   }  
 }  

and inside App.xaml added the resource:

 <Application.Resources>  
     <ResourceDictionary>  
       <local:LocalizedStrings x:Key="LocalizedStrings"/>  
       <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>  
         <!--   
           Styles that define common aspects of the platform look and feel  
           Required by Visual Studio project and item templates  
          -->  
         <ResourceDictionary Source="Common/StandardStyles.xaml"/>  
       </ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>  
     </ResourceDictionary>  
   </Application.Resources>  

This way you could easily bind in Windows Phone style and even reuse xaml and cs that you already have from your Windows Phone project:
Xaml Binding

  <Button Content="{Binding Path=LocalizedResources.ButtonText, Source={StaticResource LocalizedStrings}}" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Margin="517,302,0,0" Height="100" Width="283" Click="Button_Click"/>  

and/or code-behind:

 MessageDialog md = new MessageDialog(AppResources.ButtonMessage);  

If you want to know more on how the conversion works look inside Program.cs. The steps I do is save the Resx to Resw and generate the class AppResources.cs. After that for every .xlf file in the Windows Phone Resources folder  I generate and write the corresponding Windows 8 .xlf file (there are some conversions involved). If you want you don't have to add the project ConvertAppResources to your solution but only add the output .exe file to one of the projects and be very careful when you write the post-build action command.

Once everything is setup-ed you will only have to modify the Windows Phone resource strings and the Windows 8 ones will get updated. If you want to use specific Windows 8 resources you can add more resource files and use the ResourceLoader to load them - for example if you've added the file Errors.resw to the \strings\en folder of the Windows 8 project you will access it like this:

                var resourceLoader = new ResourceLoader("Errors");
                this.Scenario5TextBlock.Text = resourceLoader.GetString("InvalidOperation");


Be careful:

• before adding the post-build action verify that the localization of both Windows Phone and Windows 8 project work (independent from each other) 
• if the post-build command is not right the Windows 8 application will not get the updated resources when you compile the windows phone project
• the Window 8 project has to depend on the Windows Phone project this way you will be sure that Windows 8 gets the updated resources
• modify ONLY the Windows Phone .resx and .xlf files

Some limitations of the Multilingaul App Toolkit:

• If you modify the Resx file and add a new resource you will have compile the project before you will see the new string in the .xlf files
• If you are modifying the Resx file for a resource that you have already localized when you compile you will loose the localization and you will have to modify the .xlf files again.  

Let me know if you have problems understanding or making it work (I don't think that I was really good at explaining the process but the hack works).


SOURCE CODE

NAMASTE

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Easily localize your Windows Phone applications using the Multilingual App Toolkit

  Great news for Windows Phone developers. Today Microsoft released an updated version of its Multilingual App Toolkit for Visual Studio 2012 that supports also Windows Phone projects (the previous version only supported Windows Store projects). You can download the Visual Studio Extension from HERE. The extension itself is multilingual:

   So why is this extension so great in my opinion? As you probably know Windows Phone projects in Visual Studio already support multilingual localization for the applications based on .resw files. The Multilingual App Toolkit adds support for localization industry-standard XLIFF file format and also connects with the Microsoft Translator for quick translation suggestions.

  Lets have a quick looks on how it works. After you have installed the extension you will find a new menu entry inside the Visual Studio 2012 Tools menu with which you can enable or disable the Multilingual App Toolkit for your Windows Phone project.

 Once you have enabled the Multilingual App Toolkit Visual Studio added the XLIFF support and also generates the AppResources.qps-ploc.xlf which is the pseudo-language engine that helps identify translation issues during development. 

   From this moment you will USE ONLY the AppResources.resx file to add new resource strings and the extension (at compilation) will add the missing strings to the corresponding .xlf file. 

    To add new languages to your application you will only have to select the desired language as supported in the project Properties inside the Application section. Once a language is selected the extension automatically generates the corresponding Xlf file.

    You can then double click on the xlf file and Visual Studio will open the Multilingual Editor that enablesyou to edit the translation. If you add new strings to your AppResources.resx file remember to compile the project before opening the .xlf file or you will not see the newly added strings.

  Now with these 3-4 easy simple steps we have localized our application. You can use the the Microsoft Translator in order to have some suggestions but you should always double-check the translation in order to avoid strange translations and situations ("My Application" in italian is translated as "La mia domanda" which actually means My question).

  If you are building a test application remember to add the binding to the resource strings inside your .xaml and .cs files ({Binding Path=LocalizedResources.ApplicationTitle, Source={StaticResource LocalizedStrings}}" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextNormalStyle} for Xaml or AppResources.value for .cs  )
 Some words about the AppResources.qps-ploc.xlf pseudo language file. Pseudo Language is an artificial modification of the software product intended to simulate real language localization. The pseudo language can be used to detect potential localizability issues or bugs early in the project cycle, before the actual localization starts. For more details about localizability testing with Pseudo Language see Localizability Testing. Inside Visual Studio if you right click on the Pseudo Language file you can select the Generate pseudo translations. 

In order to test it you will have to set the qps-ploc culture for the Application UI. Just add these 3 lines to your Application constructor (but remember to take them out when you don't need them anymore):

  public App()  
     {  
       var ci = new System.Globalization.CultureInfo("qps-ploc");  
       Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = ci;  
       Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = ci;  

 More details on how to use the Multilingual App Toolkit can be found HERE.

 It is really great that Microsoft is migrating the localization of the apps to an open standard. I will get back to this subject with a post on how to share the same xlf files between windows phone and windows 8 projects)

NAMASTE

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The 2013 CES is a haven for gadgets and technology enthusiasts

Members of the media enjoy a sneak peak of what's to come at this year's CES event.

The 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show is underway and Las Vegas is the place to be this week for gadget lovers.

The keynote addresses will kick things off today, with Kazuhiro Tsuga, president of Panasonic Corp. leading the way. Tsunga was to share to his vision for the future and elaborate on how Panasonic is engineering a better world for us all.

We'll also hear from Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA, and Lowell McAdam, chairmen and CEO of Verizon.

As we know from previous years, Apple Inc. will not be in the house and Microsoft was on tap on a keynote appearance, but I hear that Chairman Steve Ballmer worked in a few comments on the new Windows RT and Windows Phone 8 devices.

It didn't take long for gadget news to start filtering out from the convention booths at the Las Vegas Convention Center/Hilton and The Venetian.

Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology company, has already primed the pump, with their announcement of the world's largest smartphone. It's called the Ascent Mate and sports a whooping 6.1-inch display, a 1.5 GHz quad-core display and a 4050 mAh battery under the hood. We'll learn more about this trend-setter in the coming months.

The Near Field Communication technology is also on the move, with early announcements coming Samsung on NFC Bluetooth speakers and Asus rolling out their 10.1-inch VivoTab Windows 8 tablet.

Sprint is also using CES to announce their Microsoft Windows Phone 8 plans. They'll have two WP8 devices coming this summer — one from Samsung and another from HTC. So get ready for Live Tiles and SkyDrive features from the guys in yellow.

Let's also not forget the auto makers, as Ford and USA Today have teamed up for an app and Ford SYNC integration to allow drivers to just tell their car to listen to sport stories or the latest news. I imagine we can expect similar technology from other auto manufacturers.

The fitness craze is continuing to spark innovation with the announcement of the Fitbit Flex, a Bluetooth wristband that help track the progress of your workouts to help meet your goals. According to the company, it'll also monitor your sleep quality.

Another early mover out of the gate is Coby Electronics Corporation, with their LED TVs, Bluetooth speakers, headphones and earbuds. This New York company has been making consumer electronics products since 1991 and continue to carve out a place in the industry.

This is just the first day of CES and the best is yet to come. It's going to be a good week for technology.

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Bluetooth Service's UUIDs

If you are developing on Windows Phone 8 and trying to communicate with a Bluetooth device using a StreamSocket these UUID's might come in handy:


ServiceDiscoveryServerServiceClassID= '{00001000-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
BrowseGroupDescriptorServiceClassID = '{00001001-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
PublicBrowseGroupServiceClass = '{00001002-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
SerialPortServiceClass = '{00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
LANAccessUsingPPPServiceClass = '{00001102-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
DialupNetworkingServiceClas = '{00001103-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
IrMCSyncServiceClass = '{00001104-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
OBEXObjectPushServiceClass= '{00001105-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
OBEXFileTransferServiceClass = '{00001106-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
IrMCSyncCommandServiceClass= '{00001107-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
HeadsetServiceClass = '{00001108-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
CordlessTelephonyServiceClass = '{00001109-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
AudioSourceServiceClass = '{0000110A-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
AudioSinkServiceClass= '{0000110B-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
AVRemoteControlTargetServiceClass = '{0000110C-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
AdvancedAudioDistributionServiceClass = '{0000110D-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
AVRemoteControlServiceClass= '{0000110E-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
VideoConferencingServiceClass = '{0000110F-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
IntercomServiceClass = '{00001110-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
FaxServiceClass = '{00001111-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
HeadsetAudioGatewayServiceClass= '{00001112-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';  
WAPServiceClass = '{00001113-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
WAPClientServiceClass = '{00001114-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
PANUServiceClass = '{00001115-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
NAPServiceClass = '{00001116-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
GNServiceClass = '{00001117-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
DirectPrintingServiceClass = '{00001118-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
ReferencePrintingServiceClass = '{00001119-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
ImagingServiceClass= '{0000111A-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
ImagingResponderServiceClass = '{0000111B-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
ImagingAutomaticArchiveServiceClass = '{0000111C-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
ImagingReferenceObjectsServiceClass = '{0000111D-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
HandsfreeServiceClass = '{0000111E-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
HandsfreeAudioGatewayServiceClass = '{0000111F-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
DirectPrintingReferenceObjectsServiceClass = '{00001120-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
ReflectedUIServiceClass = '{00001121-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
BasicPringingServiceClass = '{00001122-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
PrintingStatusServiceClass= '{00001123-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
HumanInterfaceDeviceServiceClass = '{00001124-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
HardcopyCableReplacementServiceClass = '{00001125-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
HCRPrintServiceClas = '{00001126-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
HCRScanServiceClass= '{00001127-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
CommonISDNAccessServiceClass = '{00001128-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
VideoConferencingGWServiceClass = '{00001129-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
UDIMTServiceClass = '{0000112A-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
UDITAServiceClass = '{0000112B-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
AudioVideoServiceClass = '{0000112C-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
SIMAccessServiceClass = '{0000112D-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
PnPInformationServiceClass= '{00001200-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
GenericNetworkingServiceClass = '{00001201-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
GenericFileTransferServiceClass = '{00001202-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
GenericAudioServiceClass= '{00001203-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';
GenericTelephonyServiceClass = '{00001204-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}';

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BlackBerry 10 launch set for Jan. 30; new smartphones unveiled

The BlackBerry 10 interface will include a new feature that will divide the screen into a "Personal" and "Work" display of apps and data.

The BlackBerry 10 launch is scheduled for Jan. 30, where Research in Motion, the smartphone's maker, will unveil the first two BlackBerry 10 Smartphones that will run on the new platform.

This is what a lot of BlackBerry fans have been patiently waiting for, as the iPhone, Android devices and now Windows Phone 8 devices, chip away at the loyalty of RIM’s customers.

The two devices expected to be announced have been rumored to be a touchscreen and a QWERTY keyboard model. The latter will soothe the fears of a lot of diehard BlackBerry fans, since the famous BlackBerry keyboards have been one of the reason for the device's popularity over the years.

According to RIM, the BlackBerry 10 will “create a truly unique mobile computing experience that constantly adapts to your needs” using an approach called BlackBerry Flow that will be unlike any other smartphone in the market.

Other new key features likely to found on the new platform include a new keyboard that will “learn how you write and adapt to how you type” and a feature to balance your personal and business apps and data.

The launch will happen simultaneously in multiple countries. More details will available at the event.

More: BlackBerry 10 to debut new apps

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Windows 8 is coming; upgrading or a new device will need a plan

Windows 8 will be available for sale on Oct. 26 and can be pre-ordered now. So it’s time to start thinking about your game plan for upgrading your existing computers or pondering what kind of device you’ll want in a new purchase.

But there is some confusion about which version of Windows 8 will work for you and the price you’ll pay, along with a long list of choices for new Windows 8 hardware coming down the pikes.

Windows 8 will be available in several versions — one for tablet devices running ARM processors, which will be called Windows RT, and another for desktop PCs that’ll be known as Windows 8 Pro. A consumer version is also in the works and will just be called Windows 8.

As for the price, it’ll depend on whether you per-order the Windows 8 Pro DVD package now and pay $69.99, or wait until the release date on Oct. 26 and pay $39.99 using the Windows 8 upgrade Assistant online.

If you have purchased a new PC after June 2, the upgrade price from say Windows 7 will be around $15, which is not a bad deal.

The other issue with upgrading your existing Windows operating system to Windows 8 will be the licensing or product key dilemma.

According to Microsoft, If your PC is running Windows 7 Home Basic or Home Premium, your files, programs and settings will easily transfer to Windows 8. But if your PC is running Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate, Windows XP or Windows Vista, you will probably need to re-install some programs.

So in a nutshell, you should be able to install Windows 8 on the same PC hardware that powers Windows Vista and Windows 7. Just make sure you have at least a 1 gigahertz or faster processor, 2 gigabytes of RAM, 20 gigabytes of hard drive space and a video card with DirectX 9 graphics and a WDDM driver.

If you have installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview, you should be fine with an upgrade as long as the Consumer Preview was installed over a previous Windows OS.

But if it was installed on a new hard drive with no previous OS, such as if you built a PC, then you can expect a challenge and will need to purchase a new version of Windows 8 for a license and product key.

As you think about whether to upgrade you existing PC or buy something new, keep in the mind that Windows 8 is optimized for touch screens and you might not get the full experience on a desktop PC.

Anyone using a tablet with Windows 8 RT installed will be able to swipe and swoosh away in the new interface. For a desktop or laptop, you’ll have to get use to taking your hand form the keyboard to reach over and touch the screen for a little magic.

As for other choices running Windows 8, there will be somewhat traditional laptops that convert into tablets and tablets with detachable keyboard. They will have screens that’ll slide and flip or completely detach in order to transform from one device to the next.

In addition to the usual notebook PC manufacturers, such as Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, HP, Samsung, Sony and others, Microsoft also will have a dog in the fight with their Surface tablet. This will put Microsoft in direct competition with the Apple iPad's iOS and many of the other manufacturers that also will have Windows 8 on their devices.

So whether your upgrading or buying for the Windows 8 experience, it’s time to start thinking about your plans.

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Farseer Physics for Windows Store Apps using Monogame

  Last week I did a session on porting XNA Windows Phone 7.x games to Windows Store apps using MonoGame. I have to thank Dean Ellis from the MonoGame project team for all the help. 

 While XNA is not a framework directly supported by Microsoft for Windows Store apps the current version of MonoGame is compatible with Windows 8 and, the most important thing, the applications pass the WACK. There are already several games available in the Windows Store developed using MonoGame (Armed, Skiddy, Rune Legend and I guess there are more). 

   For the session I ended up using the Simple Animation sample but seeing how easy is to share the code between the platforms (Windows, Windows Phone,PC, MAC, iOS, Android, Playstation, Linux) I started looking for a physics engine. The most used Open Source physics engine seems to be Farseer Physics but it was too late to do the porting for my session. On Sunday I tried the porting and everything went pretty smooth. The only thing I've changed was the serialization/de-serialization of the "World" state. I compiled the engine and also the sample. For the Sample project the Content Project was compiled using Visual Studio 2010 (for the moment Visual Studio 2012 doesn't recognize this type of project) and added the xnb's to a Content folder inside the Visual Studio 2012 solution. 

 You can see the result in this YouTube video:

I've used SnagIt to capture the movie and it influenced the frame rate (when running without capturing the framerate is always at 60 fps). The test device was the Samsung Slate which has a powerful cpu. I would love to know if a WinRT device will be able to run at the . If any of my readers has access to a WinRT device please deploy the sample to the device and let me know if the framerate is as expected. For the sample you will have to use an external keyboard and mouse as the touch screen is not working in this version. I will try to fix it for the next release (the problem seems to be inside the MonoGame framework as I only receive the move event and not the pressed and released from the touch screen).

   

Use this link to download the full project (engine and sample): 

SOURCE CODE

NAMASTE

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Nokia Lumia 920, 820 joins Microsoft Windows Phone 8 camp

Nokia and Microsoft launched new Windows 8 smartphones today at a press event in New York. We can say hello to the Lumia 920 and 820 devices.

The two longtime technology powerhouses, who have been in a partnership since February 2011, vowed to use their "complementary strengths and expertise create market-leading mobile products."

The new Lumia 920 smartphone is chock full of new features, such as PureMotion HD+, wireless charging and Nokia's PureView camera technology, first seen on the PureView 41 megapixel phone announced earlier this year. The 920 will have a 8 megapixel camera.

This new device, shown in a new yellow color that Nokia says won' scratch off, is powered by a sizable 2000mAh battery and a Qualcomm 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor. It'll also be available in red and gray.

Nokia is bring their notable mapping technology to the Lumia 920 that'll include daily commute drive times, routes and walking directions, indoor maps and Augmented Reality using the City Lens app while exploring your surrounding.

The live tiles in the Windows Phone 8 can be customized to show difference sizes for apps and other information that updates automatically. A new feature is the ability to capture screenshots and share them like regular photos and videos. A pinch and zoom feature is now available.

Probably the most unique feature for the Lumia 920 is the wireless charging and the accessories that support it. A "Fatboy" charging pillow, plates and stands will keep the 920 charged and ready to go. For music lovers, JBL Power Up wireless speakers headphones with Near Field Communication, or NFC, will require just a tap to transfer audio from the phone to speaker.

Nokia also announced that Nokia Music in the United States.

The Nokia Lumia 820 has many of the same features as it's more power sibling, such as NFC, City Lens and Carl Zeiss optics. The 820 is powered by a smaller, 1650mAh battery.

Nokia is banking on Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system to regain the prominence they once held in the mobile phones industry. While a few devices still use Nokia's longtime Symbian operating system, these new devices are hoping Microsoft's unique tiles display will gain traction among consumers who are also being bombarded with Android and iOS smartphone choices.

Samsung also is on-board with Windows Phone 8, as they announced their new Ativ devices last week. But some say they were only prototypes and the real devices are coming soon.

The Lumia 920 and 820 are the latest devices to get behind Microsoft's new mobile platform.

Now it's up to the consumers to give the new OS and the new phones a thumbs up.

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Samsung announces new Windows 8 devices

The new Windows 8 devices announced by Samsung includes a smartphone, a tablet and two versions of notebook.

Samsung has announced several Windows 8 ATIV devices at a conference in Berlin, Germany.

They include two notebooks, a tablet and a smartphone that will be a part of Samsung's new brand for its Windows-based devices.

The smartphone, called the ATIV S, will run the Windows Phone 8 operating system with a 1.5 gigahertz dual-core processor. It'll have a 4.8-inch display and an eight-megapixel real camera, along with a 1.9 MP front camera.

The 2300mAh battery is quite impressive in size, which put the ATIV S in the same arena as the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx, which has a 3300mAh battery.

The ATIV Tab tablet will run Windows RT, which will use ARM-based processors. It'll have a 10.1-inch display and will come with a five-megapixel rear camera and a 1.9 MP front camera.

According to Samsung, the ATIV Tab will boot up instantly and will come with Office Home and Student 2013, which is the new versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and One Note. Samsung says you'll be able to create and edit documents just like on a PC.

Samsung also unveiled two PC devices - the ATIV Smart PC Pro and ATIV Smart PC. Both devices will have Windows 8 functionality and Windows 7 compatibility.

The notebooks will have detachable keyboards for switching between a traditional notebook and a tablet environment. The S Pen, used on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and earlier Note device, will be incorporated into both devices for drawing and writing.

The Smart PC Pro, with one USB 3.0 port, will use the Intel Core i5 processor, while the Smart PC, with one USB port, will have the Intel Atom processor. Both devices will two-extra USB 2.0 ports on the keyboard.

Battery life is rated at up to 13.5 hours for the Smart PC and up to eight hours for the Smart PC Pro.

As for the branding, Samsung says "ATIV, the reverse order of the word VITA, meaning “Life” in Latin, is a pledge to make everyone’s life extraordinary with excitement."

The new Windows 8 devices will be on display at the IFA Consumer Electronics show in Berlin through Sept. 5.

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Microsoft goes square, bold colors with new logo design

Microsoft has ditched its wavy logo design for the square look. The new design incorporates four squares with different colors and ties in with Microsoft's new direction with Windows 8, their mobile initiatives and gaming devices.

According to a Microsoft top official, the new look "signals the heritage but also signal the future - a newness and freshness."

It took 25 years for Microsoft to make a drastic change in the logo design, but they have been slowly moving in a direction of simplicity with recent choices for typefaces, a clean uncluttered design and bold colors.

I first noticed the new approach in the appearance of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview operating system, where the Metro design influence was very noticeable. We're likely to see the full design initiative when the new Windows 8 OS is unveiled on Oct. 26.

Now that the new logo is in place, Microsoft is positioned to move forward with new products that'll have a fresh corporate identity, such as the upcoming Surface tablet.

It's simple. It's bold. It's colorful. I like it.

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Microsoft Surface arrives to challenge iPad, Android tablets

Microsoft choose Hollywood as the location to unveil Surface, a windows tablet computer designed and engineered completely by the guys at One Microsoft Way in Redmond, WA.

While the Surface is unique in appearance, with an integrated kickstand to help prop it up and a Touch Cover with a built-in keyboard, the big question quickly comes to mind. Is this tablet the iPad killer?

Various tablet manufacturers have been trying to build a serious iPad competitor since the Motorola Xoom arrived on the scene in early 2011. The Xoom wasn't it and neither were the Samsung Galaxy Tabs. The Acer tablets, Asus, the Amazon Kindle and a few others have gained traction, but the iPad remains on top.

Microsoft has probably thrown every punch they've learned in their 30-year history of building hardware and developing software to make the Surface attractive to savvy consumers. It even has a few strong point and features not found in the current crop of tablets and can one-up the iPad in a few areas.

Although Microsoft did not list physical dimensions, they did point out the Surface's 10.6-inch display with a 16:9 ratio. I'm afraid the iPad stops at 9.7 inches in the display size, while other tablets, such as the Xoom 2, Acer Iconia Tab and Asus Transformer Prime stop at 10.1 inches. So the Surface holds the top spot for display size.

The Surface is about the same thickness as the iPad and the weight is around 1.5 pounds, but that's iffy, depending on configuration and what Microsoft calls the "manufacturing process."

Perhaps the most "talked about" feature of the Surface will be the Touch Cover, which will be available in five colors. It will attach to the Surface with a magnetic latch, which reminds me of the iPad's magnetic cover. But the Surface has a keyboard on the inside of the cover, which could be a stroke of genius for Microsoft if consumers give it a nod.

I can't wait to get my hands on the VaporMg casing, which Microsoft is saying will feel like the finish of a luxury watch.

It seems that devices of late are all going with high-end materials on the outside. Apple likes aluminum and some of the Ultrabooks are even using glass, such as the HP Envy. A technique using Liquid Metal is being tossed around for the iPhone 5. So maybe the VaporMg technology, which has a dose of magnesium, will ensure Microsoft's Surface is in the game of hi-tech casings.

It's no surprise that the Surface will be powered by a couple of versions of the Windows 8 operating system, which has been on the market in preview form for desktop computers. You'll be able to choose between Windows RT for ARM processors or Windows 8 Pro for Intel processors.

I've been testing Windows 8 Consumer Preview on a desktop and it'll be interesting to see how this OS performs on a tablet.

As for ports, the Surface will have HDMI and a full-sized USB 2.0, along with a micro SD slot. That's not a bad start for a tablet, which will also be available in configurations of 32, 64 and 128 gigabytes. The latter is only for the Windows 8 Pro version.

If you're itching to try Microsoft's latest creation, you'll just have to wait awhile. They still have to figure out how much it'll cost. I imagine it'll be ready for the shelves sometime this fall, or surely in time for holiday shopping.

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