Gabriel Mongeon

If you ever develop applications for Windows Phone using location services, there is a GPS emulator that allows you to simulate movement and thus test your application without going outside with your phone.

Other “recipes” for Windows Phone.

I will be present at the SharePoint Summit in Québec (April 11 and 12) as a speaker and exhibitor with Alcero.

Come see my session titled How to Extend Search Capabilities in SharePoint 2010 or you can simply meet me on site.

An excellent way to meet experts and other SharePoint users.

The Orchard project recently released version 1.0 of their product. I had talked about it previously here, and I decided to install it again.

Installation

The installation is done via the Web Platform Installer and I also used Web Matrix on a virtual machine to do my tests. The installation is almost automatic and very pleasant. No need for obscure configuration.

Once installed, you just need to start the Orchard site with the Web Matrix interface to see the initial site configuration page (Site name, admin user, password, database). Again, it is very simple and intuitive.

BlogEngine.Net has just released version 2.0 of their engine, the same one that runs this site. You can see all the new features here.

I have already done the update, it took about 30 minutes including the backup, and it was a piece of cake!

For the fourth consecutive year, I have received the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Award in the Visual C# category.

I congratulate all the MVPs who have also been renewed for 2011 and the new MVPs!

Well, it may not be connected to a cellular network and it may be second-hand, but yesterday I received a Samsung Taylor for Windows Phone 7 (WP7) development!

I had fun with it last night and I am very satisfied with the device. Obviously, since it is a pre-production development device, it does not have all the features of a production phone. But all in all, it has all the functionalities of WP7.

I just came across the Microsoft Gadgeteer website while doing some research for La Machine.

Gadgeteer allows you to quickly create prototypes without necessarily knowing electronics, just plug in, write a few lines (in NETMF of course) and you’re done. You can see a full demonstration on the Channel 9 website (Included below).

<object data="data:application/x-silverlight-2," type="application/x-silverlight-2" width="512" height="288"> <param name="source" value="http://channel9.msdn.com/scripts/VideoPlayer.xap?v=3.2"> <param name="initParams" value="deferredLoad=true,duration=0,m=http://ecn.channel9.msdn.com/o9/ch9/6d32/4015d252-f215-4945-9d48-9e0901306d32/dotNetGadgeteer_ch9.wmv,autostart=false,autohide=true,showembed=true, thumbnail=http://ecn.channel9.msdn.com/o9/ch9/6d32/4015d252-f215-4945-9d48-9e0901306d32/dotNetGadgeteer_512_ch9.jpg, postid=0"> <param name="background" value="#00FFFFFF"> <a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=124807" style="text-decoration: none;"> <img src="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=108181" alt="Get Microsoft Silverlight" style="border-style: none"> </a> </object>

For now, this product is still within Microsoft Research, but we could hope to see it commercialized by spring or summer 2011.

In a previous post, I mentioned that I had acquired a FEZ Domino. I then started the project of building a robotic platform from it and improving it over time. So here is the beginning of The Machine.

Components

I bought a few components from RobotShop to start the construction of The Machine:

• 4WD Arduino Development Platform from DFRobot. It includes 4 motors (4WD).
• The 2A Motor Controller Shield for Arduino from DFRobot. With 2 outputs for the motors.
• Some hardware pieces.
• Some wires.

I also used a Logitech Dual Action USB game controller to control the robot. The Fez Domino supports joysticks, keyboards, and mice, so no driver needed.

The ExoPC Slate tablet, running Windows 7, from Rimouski is now available in the Microsoft Store or in some American Microsoft stores (I don’t think there are any in Canada), this will give a serious boost to the Quebec company! More details on the ExoPC website.

After a few weeks of waiting, I received my Fez Domino ordered via RobotShop!

This microcontroller running on the .Net Micro Framework (NETMF) is designed in the same format as the Arduino, allowing the use of its “shields”.

While waiting to play with it and give you my feedback, you can check out the following sites:

• TinyCLR.com: Community around Fez and GHI Electronics products (managed by the manufacturer GHI Electronics)
• Fezzer.com: Drivers and mini-applications developed by the community
• microframeworkprojects.com: Contains projects/documentation created by the community.