Peter Torr's Blog
Posts about Windows [Phone] application development. And other stuff.
Emulating HVGA screens with Mix CTP
One of the (many) differences between Windows Phone 7 Series and the older Windows Mobile platform...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 03/29/2010
Strategies for dealing with Orientation Changes
[Update March 29th to add info on SupportedOrientations] Several people have asked me what the best...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 03/27/2010
Engagdet's post on multi-tasking
Yesterday Engadget had an opinion piece on mobile multitasking, once again borrowing my awesome...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 03/27/2010
Mock Location APIs from my Mix10 Talk
I posted the code from my Mix talk here, which includes the mock location code, but I never used the...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 03/25/2010
Tilt effect for Windows Phone controls
[UPDATE August 16, 2010: Please use the updated version of the tilt code at...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 03/23/2010
Other Windows Phone Silverlight Developer Talks
In case you missed it, the other "core" Windows Phone / Silverlight talks are also up now: Shawn...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 03/18/2010
Slides, video, and code
The slides and the video of my Mix 10 talk are now available at...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 03/18/2010
Mix talk is done!
Thanks to everyone who made it to the Building Windows Phone Applications with Silverlight, Part 2...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 03/16/2010
Warming up the Engine
Well it's been a while! Since HD DVD went the way of Betamax (sorry, couldn't resist) I've been...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 02/18/2010
What Now?
I have had some readers ask what is to become of this blog. Well, it started out discussing Office...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 02/20/2008
Fun Friends for Functions, Part 2: Handling Exceptions
Previously we looked at how you can bind a function to a set of arguments and then call the...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 02/01/2008
Why the ‘arguments’ object is bad, Exhibit #3,745
Having just written a post with an example of how to use the arguments object, you might question my...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 01/30/2008
Fun Friends For Functions
And now for a more techy post. In ECMAScript, functions are considered first-class objects. "What,"...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 01/29/2008
A Concert with PowerPoint Slides?
As you may know, Howard Jones played an acoustic show in Seattle last night with Robin Boult on...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 01/29/2008
Good News
Not one but two bits of good news this morning! Firstly, TWICE reported on Toshiba's plans for HD...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 01/14/2008
HD DVD Emulator for Xbox 360!
It's finally here! The Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator went live today, enabling content authors to test...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 12/13/2007
“Open Season” Hits #2; World Scratches Head
If you follow the High-Definition format war at all, you're probably familiar with the weekly sales...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 12/04/2007
Sliced bread ain’t got nuthin’ on this!
Forget being the best thing since sliced bread – this is the best thing ever. Well maybe not...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 10/02/2007
Wikipedia editing
Short post: In the interests of full disclosure, I've started editing Wikipedia on various topics...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 09/30/2007
Why Old Films Still Benefit from High-Def
Every now and then, I hear people make comments like "Movies more than 5 years old won't look any...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 09/26/2007
Using Timers Effectively in HDi
The use of timers in HDi applications is very common, and there are a few things you should keep in...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 08/29/2007
Simple ACA dumper
Quick one today – if you have an ACA with some files in it, you can use the createaca tool...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 07/05/2007
Helpful Tracing Routines
Last time we looked at conditional compilation, and how using it with HDiSim could aid with...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 06/27/2007
Using Conditional Compilation in HDi
One of the cardinal rules for developing HD DVD applications is, "let no exception go unhandled."...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 06/01/2007
link
No, not the application.link API. A web link. Or two. Some of you may have noticed a new name on the...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 06/01/2007
A Game of Chance that Pirates like to Play
Ahoy there me laddies! Yarrrr you better be readin' this blog then matey, or you'll be feelin' the...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 05/16/2007
HD DVD creation on the Mac and PC
Although I tend to blog about HDi and advanced interactivity in HD DVD, many customers simply want...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 05/12/2007
Coloured Blocks Advancing on a Moving Block
This blog would be titled Space Invaders, but I don't own that trademark so I had to choose...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 04/02/2007
Tech Acronym of the Day
TPM (Trusted Platform Module): noun. A dedicated chip that performs cryptographic operations and...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 03/08/2007
The Difference Between “Selected” and “Current” tracks
In HD DVD, there are two ways to figure out which subtitle or audio track the user has chosen. The...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 02/20/2007
A tip for writing script for HD DVD
A very quick tip today, although this one trips me up a lot. When you write script files for your...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 02/16/2007
Red Box Debugging
Today I have a simple debugging tip. Sometimes when you have an obscure bug, you need to answer the...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 02/01/2007
Paperless
I fly pretty regularly, but in the past seven years I've never had a paper ticket. I always just zip...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 01/20/2007
Simple Pre-Processor for HDi
Hope you all had a good break. I haven't blogged for a while due to travel (both business and...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 01/10/2007
Casino Royale… no PS 3?
I went to see the new James Bond film yesterday (aka Casino Royale) and it was probably the best...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 11/19/2006
Script Execution Order in HD DVD
An HDi application can use multiple script files so that you can better manage your code (more...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 11/08/2006
“Live” vs “Loaded” DOM
One of the potentially confusing aspects of HDi is the notion of the "live" and "loaded" DOMs. The...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 11/07/2006
Toggling Menus with the Menu button in 100% Markup
Here's a quick one: How do you have an HD DVD menu that opens and closes when you click the Menu...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 10/12/2006
iRiver Clix First Impressions
My trusty old Rio Carbon died the other day when it fell out of its little carrying case and was...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 10/11/2006
Bare Bones HD DVD Interactivity
We spend a fair amount of time focusing on "cool" menus in HD DVD -- with animations, transparency,...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 09/20/2006
Adding Picture-In-Picture to an HD DVD Title
Picture-in-Picture (PIP) is one of those "cool" features in HD DVD that looks really difficult but...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 09/11/2006
Using unsetProperty With Script Animations
A common theme lately has been confusion about the unsetProperty API used by scripts in HD DVD, but...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 09/08/2006
Scrolling Menus in 100% Pure Markup
After looking at drop-down menus in 100% pure markup, we turn our attention to scrolling lists....
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 09/01/2006
First European HD DVD Title is Open Source
Well, this should get the Slashdot folks on our side :-) Andrew pinged me this morning about the...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 08/14/2006
Looks like I'll be down $300 on November 14th
But what better way to spend it than 236 episodes of Friends? Thank you, Warner Bros. I hope they...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 08/05/2006
Updates coming
I know it's been a while since I last blogged anything -- I was on holiday last week and I've been...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 07/27/2006
How do I get started with iHD?
Many DVD authoring professionals may be wondering how they can get started with HD DVD. Probably the...
Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 07/17/2006