LiveSide - News blog : SDK

Windows Mobile 6.5 DTK For Developers Released

Sunshine — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:59:25 GMT

Microsoft has released the Windows Mobile 6.5 ~~SDK~~ DTK for developers.

The Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit adds documentation, sample code, header and library files, emulator images and tools to Visual Studio that let you build applications for Windows Mobile 6.5. This document contains important information about this package. For general information about writing software for Windows Mobile, please see the Windows Mobile Developer Center. The Windows Mobile 6 SDK must also be installed in order to use any of the Windows Mobile 6.5 Gesture API or samples. Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit comes with Emulator Images.

A new set of APIs is being introduced that will enable application developers to take advantage of the new Windows Mobile 6.5 touch gesture framework. The gesture APIs allow an application to handle touch gesture input and provide a visually consistent experience with the rest of the device UI. Note that the gesture APIs are only available on the Windows Mobile Classic and Professional SKUs. The headers and libraries are installed in the Windows Mobile SDK\Pocket PC\ folder. Samples that make use of these APIs are installed into the Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit\Samples\ folder.

As mentioned above, this release also includes the Windows Mobile 6.5 emulators:

[pictures by Geoffrey Emery]

You can download the package from Microsoft here, so you can finally get to work on your Windows Mobile Widgets. Over on the Windows Mobile Blog, Jorge Peraza wrote a great tutorial on how to get started with widgets.

After you’ve created your widgets you can upload them to the Marketplace (registration currently only open to English language markets).

Edit: Changed SDK to DTK
Reason: The Windows Mobile Developer Toolkit (DTK) is not a Software Development Kit (SDK) as you will still need to install Microsoft Visual Studio® 2008 and the Windows Mobile 6 SDK prior to running the toolkit installer. This is explained in SDK, DTK, DRK: WTF?! over on the Windows Mobile Blog. Thanks Alber1690 :)

The new Windows Live FrameIt is here! SDK now available for download

damaster — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:45:40 GMT

Back in January 2009 we briefly reported that Windows Live FrameIt will be getting a Wave 3 facelift and that there will be a FrameIt client and SDK available soon. Soon after we exclusively gave everyone a sneak peek of what the new FrameIt would look like and outlined what some of the new features will be. Today, Microsoft have officially updated Windows Live FrameIt beta to the new Wave 3 look with some the changes we mentioned before. Here’s what the new version looks like:

Yes you saw it right – the new FrameIt is now able to import your photos stored on Photobucket and Picasa into your digital photo frame. Is that not enough? Don’t worry, we heard that Facebook and Windows Live Photos integration will be coming soon too! Unfortunately, we’re still seeing no signs of Flickr or Live Mesh integration.

One other new feature is the new Live Search source that you’ll be able to add to your FrameIt collection. This source basically allow users to type in a search query on Live Search Images and retrieves all the image search results as a feed into your collection. It is recommended that you choose your search query carefully as sometimes you might get irrelevant results displayed on your FrameIt feed.

We also told you last time that the Windows Live FrameIt Software Development Kit will be available soon as well. For those developers out there, it is now available for you all to download.

Click here for the download link to the SDK.

What’s even more exciting is that we’re hearing the Windows Live FrameIt Client we told you about last time will be available soon. Here’s a more detailed description of what the new Client will be able to do for you:

Windows Live FrameIt allows you to collect content from across the Web to display on Internet connected devices. Now, the Windows Live FrameIt client is available to help you display your FrameIt collections on a broader range of devices and applications. Have a keychain frame that downloads images from your PC? Want to use your FrameIt collections with your screensaver? Use the FrameIt client to synchronize images from FrameIt to your PC and voila, your devices and applications will automatically be updated with all of your aggregated content.

To check out the new Windows Live FrameIt, visit http://frameit.live.com

Stay tuned at LiveSide for the latest exciting updates coming to FrameIt!

Sneak peek of the new Windows Live FrameIt

damaster — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 05:06:29 GMT

Last week we reported the announcement that Windows Live FrameIt will soon to be updated with a Wave 3 theme, to have integration with Live Mesh, and soon to have a client and SDK released. Today we got the chance to see a sneak peek at the new Windows Live FrameIt. Unfortunately, the version we’re looking at doesn’t have Live Mesh integrated yet, nor does it have the client and SDK available for download. That said, we’re still seeing some new features and also the new look. Here’s what the new FrameIt home page looks like:

As you can see from the following screenshot, the left-hand navigation adds two new sections – Devices, where users can now register and set up their compatible photo frames and devices; and Downloads, where it provides the new SDK for partners and client download for power users.

Although we’re not seeing Live Mesh integration, the new FrameIt will also integrate with Windows Live Photos, with the ability to directly grab your photo albums stored on SkyDrive/Photos in your associated Windows Live ID.

The new Devices page also lists all the current partners that manufactures FrameIt-compatible digital photo frames. This page allow users quick access to link their photo frames with FrameIt. Of course, as Microsoft is still signing up with more new partners, expect this list to expand as time goes. There’s basically three ways in which any device (not limited to digital photo frames) can connect to FrameIt: via a specific frame Token; through a specific Feed ID (with a secret number) for your FrameIt collections; or through subscribing to FrameIt’s RSS feed address.

Unfortunately, the SDK and client are still unavailable for download. However, according to the website, the FrameIt SDK will “allow hardware and software providers to integrate FrameIt directly into their products”. What this means is that FrameIt has the potential to connect and display anything on the web onto your web-enabled device, anytime, anywhere, and better yet, it can be customised specific to your need (like time of day, frequency…etc).

Instead of directly competing with digital photo frame manufacturers, Microsoft had taken the first step to make FrameIt a platform for all device manufacturers to leverage on. It’ll be interesting to see what will be in the SDK and how Microsoft could expand the concept into this whole new field. The potential here is unlimited.

Windows Live FrameIt to integrate with Live Mesh, client and SDK coming soon

damaster — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 08:08:46 GMT

One piece of information that came out of CES 2009 that went unnoticed was about Windows Live FrameIt. The FrameIt team blog today posted a link to a Channel 10 video about the upcoming support for Live Mesh in FrameIt. In the video Cynthia Hagan demonstrates a new version of Windows Live FrameIt (including the new Wave 3 header) and how she used Live Mesh to sync offline photos to her FrameIt-enabled Samsung digital photo frame. What this means for FrameIt is that besides from obtaining photo sources from an RSS feed where the photos are already available online, FrameIt can now source photos stored in your computer using Live Mesh technology. You can check out the video here.

What’s more news is that according to this incubation website titled “Windows Live FrameIt Extras”, Microsoft is also planning on releasing a Windows Live FrameIt client and also an SDK for Frameit. It would be interesting to see how this ties in with Windows Live Photo Gallery and Live Mesh.

Stay tuned at LiveSide for the latest information on Windows Live FrameIt!

New Live Search SDK released

Kip Kniskern — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 05:05:49 GMT

Thanks to ActiveWin for finding this, a new Live Search SDK (version 1.1b, 3/15/08) with samples for Visual Studio 2005 is up and ready for download. According to the download page:

The Live Search SDK provides documentation that describes the core concepts, requirements, development guidelines, and class library for the Live Search Web Service. The SDK also contains sample code that demonstrates application development techniques using the Live Search Web Service.

More information can be found at the Live Search Web Service Development Forum, including "additional applications, including those written by members of the community and in a variety of Open Source languages".

New at Virtual Earth: A new SDK including 3D Map Control; New Bird's Eye Imagery; and more to come

Kip Kniskern — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:08:00 GMT

From Bink.nu: A new SDK is available for Virtual Earth, and includes support for using 3D Maps in 3rd party map applications. From the SDK:

3D Maps

The Virtual Earth map control now supports 3D maps. This is a very significant change, both in terms of user experience and in the way you develop your Virtual Earth applications. To view the 3D maps, each user must install the Virtual Earth 3D control and must have sufficient computer hardware to display the maps. The map control has been updated to provide the APIs you need to get started with the 3D maps.

End users would still have to install the 3D map control on their computers to take advantage of the 3D capabilities, the SDK allows for checking to see that the map control is installed, or to shut off the 3D features.

And according to the Live Maps / Virtual Earth blog, another update to VE imagery has been released, including a number of new cities featuring Birds Eye imagery:

10TB of new imagery went out in this release along with 28TB of refreshed street map tiles. The October imagery release is one of the largest for Birds Eye in a while, featuring coverage in Madrid, Stockholm, Copenhagen, plus 15 regions in the UK and US respectively (see below for full list)

UK
US Birds Eye Imagery

Aldershot
Newbury
Ayre
Warwick/Leamington
Telford
Mansfield
Blackburn / Darwen
Basingstoke / Basing
Burnley / Nelson
Cannock / Great Wyrley
Craigavon
Nuneaton
Redditch / Astwood
Abergele / Rhyl / Prestatyn
Weymouth

Worcester, MD
Orange, CT. (plus more CT)
Warren, NJ
Hunterdon, NJ
Cape May, NJ
Jackson, MS
Tulsa, OK
Reno, NV
Marion, OR
Fulton, NY
Northampton, PA
Albany Metro, NY
Henrico, VA
Yonkers Metro, NY
Fresno, CA
Harford, MD
Larimer, CO
Erie, NY

The blog entry also mentions more information coming on "some info on features coming in the next release of VE to enhance your Birds Eye viewing experience", but nothing as of yet on that.

UK	US	Birds Eye Imagery
Aldershot Newbury Ayre Warwick/Leamington Telford Mansfield Blackburn / Darwen Basingstoke / Basing Burnley / Nelson Cannock / Great Wyrley Craigavon Nuneaton Redditch / Astwood Abergele / Rhyl / Prestatyn Weymouth	Worcester, MD Orange, CT. (plus more CT) Warren, NJ Hunterdon, NJ Cape May, NJ Jackson, MS Tulsa, OK Reno, NV Marion, OR Fulton, NY Northampton, PA Albany Metro, NY Henrico, VA Yonkers Metro, NY Fresno, CA Harford, MD Larimer, CO Erie, NY