Team Microsoft Delaware is getting ready for Bike To The Bay 2013 ride on Saturday 21 Sept 2013 to support The Delaware Chapter of the National MS Society, who is committed to research for a cure tomorrow, but also to provide programs which address the needs of people living with MS today (checkout a short video on MS).

This will be my 5^th ride in last 4 years (75-miles Bike-To-Bay in Sep'12, 75-miles Bike-To-Bay in Sep’11, 30-miles Crankin-for-a-Cure-2011 in May’11; 45-miles Bike-To-Bay ride in Oct’10). Looking forward for another fun ride with friends.

Vevo, one of my portfolio accounts, launched their Windows 8 App today. This is one of the best apps, I got an opportunity to work on. This app offers access to 75,000 HD music videos as well as original programming and live concerts from popular artists all over the world.

This app utilizes Search charm to discover your favorite music, and Snap view allows you to do others tasks while watching your music videos. This is just the start, as more functionality gets added. You can download this app from Windows Store.

If you are unable to reserve your app name for which you hold the trademark or other legal right, or see another app in the Windows Store using that name, you may report the App Infringement at https://www.microsoft.com/info/Marketplace.aspx to start the following 4-steps process:  

• Step 1: Contact information
• Step 2: Application information
• Step 3: Infringement information: You may identify up to 5 infringements for any of the following three categories:
• Copyright infringement issue
• Trademark infringement
• Publicity rights
• Step 4: Upload supporting files, sign and submit

Microsoft may provide your notice to third parties (including the alleged infringer). Notices of copyright infringement must comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. You can find information on these requirements and Microsoft’s Designated DMCA Agent at https://www.microsoft.com/info/MSDMCA.aspx.

RedRock, a Windows Phone 8 app, is an evangelism tool to accelerate migration of Windows Phone 7x apps to Windows Phone 8 apps. RedRock is easy to configure for any brand, and it comes with the source code to help you in your readiness and demo efforts. The key Windows Phone 8 features include:

1. Multi-Size tiles (small, standard, wide) with Cycle Tile template
2. Multi-Resolution screens (WVGA, WXGA, HD720P)
3. Lock screen including background Image
4. Speech – voice commands
5. Fast App Resume (FAR)  

You can download source code and how-to configure & demo your branded app from Windows Phone Dev Center. For quick access, you can download RedRock app directly on your device from the Windows Phone Store. Here are some screen-shots:

• Ensure that your Windows Store developer account is ready for app submission
  • Choosing the right account type (individual or corporate). For corporate account, Symantec, a 3^rd party vendor, needs to complete the Identity Verification.
  • Opening a developer account (be sure to have a credit card for an annual subscription fee)
  • Verify accounts (check your credit card statement to provide 3-digit code or the transaction amount)
  • Getting paid (setup payout account and fill tax forms for paid apps)
• Reserve App name in your Windows Store
  • Naming your app
• Generate your Windows Store app package
  • Ensure your app has required images (store logo, logo, small logo, splash screen, wide logo)
  • Build must pass WACK (Windows App Certification Kit) test.
  • Ensure that your app is associated with the Windows Store account
  • Ensure that you can access your privacy policy via Settings charm in your app.
• Art work
  • Screenshots (at least 1, maximum 8, with a description of 200 chars)
  • Promotional images (highly recommended, upto 4)
• App details
  • App category and subcategory
  • App pricing
  • List of countries/markets
  • App description
  • App features
  • Keywords
  • App website
  • Support contact info
  • Copyright and trademark info
  • Privacy policy
• Notes to testers
  • Ensure that you provide privacy policy details (explicit confirmation of being able to access it via settings charm, and provide the URL)
  • Ensure that you provide the test account details (user name and password) if your app needs login credentials

Aviary, a BizSpark Startup from New York, with whom I have been working for last few years, recently launched their Windows 8 App (Photo Editor) along with their Photo Editor Windows 8 SDK and half-dozen partner apps (Rowi, Memorylage, MyFrames, Photo Annotater, Selektiv, Volet by Volevi).

Aviary achieved significant performance improvements by implementing filters and effects through the new heterogeneous computing language C++ AMP (Accelerated Massive Parallelism). C++ AMP accelerates the execution of your C++ code by taking advantage of the data-parallel hardware that's commonly present as a graphics processing unit (GPU) on a discrete graphics card.

Photo Editor Windows 8 SDK, a free download for C++/XAML and C#/XAML Windows 8 apps, is available to impress your Windows 8 App users with intuitive editing tools.

Can’t wait to see the live demo and meet Aviary Team in person, then check out the NY Tech MeetUp event tomorrow evening. And, if you are up for Photo Hacking then checkout the upcoming Photo Hack Day 4 at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park, CA during 6-7 Apr’13.

VEVO, one of the brands I am working with, has recently launched their updated Windows Phone 8 App at SxSW, in addition to iOS, Android, Xbox 360 and Roku apps. The coolest addition is VEVO TV: an always-on broadcast-style music and video channel.

Download the VEVO app to experience free high-quality music & entertainment programming.

Windows Phone 8 Resources:

• Developing apps for Windows Phone
• Windows Phone Software Development Kit (SDK) 8.0
• Microsoft Advertising SDK for Windows Phone
• Submit your app into the Windows Phone Store
• Monetizing apps for Windows Phone
• Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 – building together

This privacy policy is subject to change without notice and it was last updated on January 13, 2013.
For any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact.

Sanjay Jain
Technical Evangelist
Microsoft Corporation
Blog: http://Blogs.msdn.com/SanjayJain
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SanjayJain369

 Team Microsoft Delaware is getting ready for Bike To The Bay 2012 ride on Saturday 22 Sept 2012 to support The Delaware Chapter of the National MS Society, who is committed to research for a cure tomorrow, but also to provide programs which address the needs of people living with MS today (checkout a short video on MS).

This will be my 4^th ride in last 3 years (75-miles Bike-To-Bay in Sep’11, 30-miles Crankin-for-a-Cure-2011 in May’11; 45-miles Bike-To-Bay ride in Oct’10). Looking forward for another fun ride with my son and friends.

Join us to learn how to leverage Microsoft Public Cloud Offerings including Windows Azure, Microsoft Dynamics CRM & ERP in the Cloud, and Office 365 on Wednesday 2nd May 2012 at 1:00pm EDT. We have a pack agenda for an hour; see below for details:

Agenda:

• Overview - Windows Azure Platform
• Key Cloud Scenarios with example ISV Solutions
• Dynamics Products Cloud Updates
• ISV Solution Demo by Peter Chase, EVP, Scribe Software
• Cloud Best Practices by Jim Steger, Principal, Sonoma Partners
• Resources (both Business and Technical) available to accelerate your cloud adoption and Go-To-Market
• Q & A

You can register here (you would need MPN - Microsoft Partner Network access; to join click here).

Sanjay Jain
Sr ISV Architect Evangelist
Microsoft Corporation
Blog: http://Blogs.msdn.com/SanjayJain
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SanjayJain369