Cloud, edge computing, and IoT are making strides to transform whole industries and create opportunities that weren’t possible…
Microsoft partners with the industry to unlock new 5G scenarios with Azure Edge Zones
GitHub keeps on innovating in the source control management and collaboration space. There have been great new features like GitHub Actions recently,…
GitHub Mobile App Released
Earlier this week the Mobile apps using Xamarin + Azure poster was released. It serves as your essential guide to the most relevant cloud services provided by Azure for you as a mobile developer using Xamarin with Visual Studio and Azure.
You can download your poster here.
Enjoy!
UPDATED: Feb 26 2018 (later that day)
This post is a follow up to how I got Xamarin Android Device Manager up and running on Windows. Please read the Xamarin Developer guide first which explains how to install and use the Xamarin Android Device Manager for Visual Studio on Windows (or for Mac). Please keep in mind that at the time of this post the Xamarin Android Device Manager is still in preview.
For me I’m running the latest version of Visual Studio 2017 (15.5.7) and I already had the Xamarin components installed and working. Up until now I wasn’t really using the Android emulators for any Xamarin development as I was more focused on iOS and Windows. However now I have a need to and so I decided to try out the new Xamarin Android Device manager. Why you might ask? Well as of Android SDK Tools version 26.0.1, Google has removed support for their UI-based AVD and SDK managers in favor of their new CLI (Command Line Interface) tools.
After having installed the latest version of the Xamarin Device Manager installer for Windows, I ran it from the Start menu with Administrator privileges like so:
And this is the error I get:
I ran through the troubleshooting section section and the issue is that I was missing the Android SDK (requires 26 or higher). Perhaps a one of the latest Visual Studio updates caused this issue because now none of the Android tooling like device or emulator are working. Perhaps installing the Xamarin Device Manager broke it, I’m not sure but it’s broken. The only way I was able to resolve this was to run the Visual Studio Installer and uninstalled the the Xamarin SDK Manager and re-install it. Here is what I did.
1. Run Visual Studio Installer and then click on the Modify button:
2. Now go to the Individual components tab and Remove Xamarin SDK Manager and then click on the Modify button to apply the changes. Take notice of the amount of disk space that will be freed up. For me it was 113 MB.
3. Now do steps 1 and 2 again but this time add back the Xamarin SDK Manager and then notice the amount of disk space required for these changes…for me it was 1.4 GB, obviously something screwed up and I was missing a great deal. Now apply the changes by clicking on the Modify button.
Now when you run the Xamarin Android Device Manager from the start menu (with administrator rights) it should load up as expected. Now if you are like me and don’t have the latest Android SDK Tools, then you are then presented with the following dialog prompting you to download them from the Xamarin Android SDKs and Tools manager:
When the Xamarin Android SDK and Tools manager opens, review the SDK platforms you want installed and then click over to the Tools tab:
In the Tools tab, expand the Android SDK Tools selection and change the selected tooling to the current version which is 26.1.1 and then click on the Apply Changes button. If you’re just changing the Android SDK Tools, this should only take a couple min at most to apply. Once it’s done close down the Android SDKs and Tools manager.
Now go back to Visual Studio (re-run if you have it running already) and run the Android Emulator Manager from the Tools – > Android menu.
You will now be presented with the new Android Devices manager. When you first launch the Android Device Manager, it presents a screen that displays all currently configured virtual devices. For each device, the Name, Operating System (Android API Level), CPU, Memory size, and screen resolution are displayed:
I then went on and added a new option for Android Oreo and when I tried to run it I got another error:
Now it looks like I need to install another tool, Intel’s HAXM which requires Hyper-V be disabled.
What seemed like a quick and easy update has turned into quite the adventure. It’s 2018…why can’t this be more simple!
Enjoy!
Channel 9 | The Xamarin Show: Snack Pack | The New Xamarin Android Device Manager
How to setup and create Android virtual devices using Xamarin Android Device Manager
The final release of Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 is now available. Update 2 brings dozens of significant new features to Visual Studio developers, including tools for Windows Phone 8.1 and universal Windows apps.
You can find a detailed list of included fixes in the associated Support article.
You can download VS2013.2 now or wait for it to show up in the Visual Studio Notifications.
Enjoy!
Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 CTP2, Team Foundation Server 2013 Update 2 RC and TypeScript 1.0 RC
Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 RC: Windows Phone 8.1 Tools, Shared Projects and Universal Windows Apps
However I still see that the Touch Cover 2 are out of stock (in Canada). 
Image via Microsoft
http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-store-website-finally-has-surface-2-tablets-back-in-stock
Here is an awesome article by Kevin Fitchard about Nokia’s unveiling of its connected car platform called Here Auto.
After years of being the auto industry’s mapmaker, Nokia on Friday announced its intention to become a much bigger technological force in the vehicle. Nokia took the wraps off of Here Auto, an embedded infotainment and connected car system, which it hopes to sell to the world’s car manufacturers.
But unlike other embedded navigation systems, Here Auto isn’t walled off, Van-De-Klashorst said. It’s the same app you access on the smartphone or through a PC browser. All of your bookmarked destinations, preferred routes, contacts and preferences are stored in the cloud and synched between devices. If you map out a route on your phone and PC, the same route will be waiting for in your car as soon as it connects to the network. If the car loses its connection to the internet, the most recent route maps and settings remain saved in the car’s memory.
I’m an avid fan of Nokia and it’s Here maps. I’m really looking forward to seeing this come to market and how it evolves. I guess I can always mount my Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone and get similar results.
Enjoy!
Source: Gigaom | Nokia unveils its connected car platform: Here Auto
Great post by Bruno Terkaly on What Windows 8 Developers Should Know About The Cloud.
- Client-side developers do need to embrace the cloud. The increasing popularity of connected devices like tablet computers and smartphones is having a direct effect on the adoption rate of personal cloud services. You can expect both connected devices and cloud services to grow together.
- This trend has been accelerating over the past couple of years. Mobile and portable devices have limited internal storage and rely heavily on cloud services.
Enjoy!
As mentioned on twitter by Todd Brix, general manager of the Windows Phone Apps and Store team at Microsoft:
‘Summer break’ promo ends today, but great news – we’re keeping the price at $19. Join Dev Center and publish those apps.
This is great news for anyone who hasn’t already jumped in to the Windows Phone development.
https://twitter.com/toddbrix/status/372444926099070976
http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-permanently-lowers-annual-windows-phone-dev-center-fee-to-19
I love my Nokia Lumia 920 and I’m very happy with Windows Phone 8. I’m looking forward to what is coming around the corner with GDR3 and eventually Windows Phone 8.1 in early 2014.
Here is a great article – The Absolute Top Features of Windows Phone 8 by Jerry Nixon outlining some of the top features for the platform.
Enjoy!
It's all about Microsoft Business Applications
by Hussain Abbasi
Author: John Lunn @jonnychipz
If you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong.
Code. Fun. Serverless
Intelligent Apps for Pilots
My personal blog about everything technical
coding facts and opinions
Technical Leadership Centred Around the Microsoft Data Platform
Exploring the world of Azure, IoT and other interesting topics
where learning never ends...
Practical Coding Tutorial
A blog about Microsoft Azure
Christian Nagel about C#, ASP.NET Core, UWP, Xamarin, Azure, and more
Cloud Computing & DevOps Tips & Tricks with Hammad Aslam.
Stefan Wick on UWP and the Microsoft Developer Platform
The Flying Maverick 