How many times have we had to solve the shared printer scenario at home, or simple file sharing within a home network (I am assuming most of us have not setup a full blown windows network).

Windows 7 finally resolves this issue with a simple shared key…

After arriving at Las Vegas airport I remember being really impressed by the ample places I could charge my laptop and even my USB devices for free. In recent memory it took quite a lot of skill and patient preparation to be in the right seat at the right time to get the only outlet near your gate. Now it seems everyone has a laptop notebook and the airports have responded accordingly.

Imagine my surprise as I was walking though the terminal to see the Charge Carte beckoning to me…

A singular device with almost every type of charging cable available to cater for the person who rushed out and forgot their charger. You now have the option to get a quick charge for the most popular devices (includes Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, LG, Kyocera, Blackberry, Palm, Siemens, Sony-Ericcson, Nextel, iPod and iPhone).

Sounds like a good idea … until you see the price Charge Carte is charging ;)

Live Mesh is now in general availability for the Windows Mobile devices. I am really glad about this, I had blogged about a long winding method to circumvent the limited roll out some months ago. Now the only problem is whether to use Live Mesh or My Phone. Personally I am going to settle on which ever service integrates with Live SkyDrive first.

UPDATE: If you are getting this error: “Time mismatch with server” then your version needs to be updated.

I spent an eternity trying to figure out how to wrap text using WPF … here is the code snippet for future reference":

<Label Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="1" x:Name="MyTitle" HorizontalAlignment="Center" FontFamily="Segoe UI" FontSize="12" MaxWidth="175">
    <TextBlock x:Name="MyText"  TextWrapping="Wrap">TITLE</TextBlock>
</Label>

I have been on the Zune band wagon from the beginning, and for a while there I regretted it, now that you can purchase most of your music via MP3 I am not sure that it matters. However, I have been waiting, quite patiently I might add, for some kind of Zune\Xbox alliance. If the persistent rumors are to believed then that dream may come true this year.

I quote from wmpoweruser.com

“The ZuneHD will have a capacitive, multi-touch OLED screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio and TV out, from what looks to be a HDMI port on the side. The radio will now be HD and the device will support HD media playback, which will be available from the updated Zune Marketplace. The ZuneHD will also support 3D Xbox games, but it is unclear what form this will take. The device will come in 16 and 32 GB versions, and will support wireless sync. It will also finally come with a browser that supports multi-touch. The device is set to launch in Fall, around September, and will also finally be available outside US, in Canada, UK and France, and possibly other European countries. “

Xbox gaming on the new Zune. Sold. Having a device this powerful must also mean that at the very least movies will be available from the Zune Market Place. Sold. Web browsing via Wi-Fi. Sold and Sold.

The last time I posted picks on upcoming Zune devices  it turned out to be true, so here is to this fall bringing some really cool new devices. Of course the iPod Touch is not a bad alternative either ;)

I have just completed 10 day attack on Windows Presentation Foundation and after repeated false starts I have concluded I need to buy a book. In the age of Google search this may seem absurd to the average developer, however, after 8 days of trying to recreate a Windows Forms App (the other 2 days were actually useful) I am realizing I need to have a paradigm shift in my current mindset. Let us take the humble ListBox for example, the XAML would look something like this:

        <ListBox>
            <ListBoxItem>Item 1</ListBoxItem>
            <ListBoxItem>Item 2</ListBoxItem>
            <ListBoxItem>Item 3</ListBoxItem>
            <ListBoxItem>Item 4</ListBoxItem>
        </ListBox>

So I thought that was it I *know* List Boxes in WPF … WRONG! This is not even scratching the surface my friends! Our capable WPF designers have broken the ListBox into its simplest forms. For example let us trying creating a list of Rectangles

        <ListBox>
            <Rectangle Width="20" Height="20" Stroke="Yellow"  StrokeThickness="4" ></Rectangle>
            <Rectangle Width="20" Height="20" Stroke="Blue"  StrokeThickness="4" ></Rectangle>
            <Rectangle Width="20" Height="20" Stroke="Green"  StrokeThickness="4" ></Rectangle>
        </ListBox>

or ellipses…

        <ListBox>
            <Ellipse Width="20" Height="20" Stroke="Yellow"  StrokeThickness="4" ></Ellipse>
            <Ellipse Width="20" Height="20" Stroke="Blue"  StrokeThickness="4" ></Ellipse>
            <Ellipse Width="20" Height="20" Stroke="Green"  StrokeThickness="4" ></Ellipse>
        </ListBox>

…or any combination of the above. It is a type agnostic list of items you want to show. I can also orient the flow of list boxes as I see fit…

        <ListBox VerticalAlignment="Top">
            <ListBox.ItemsPanel>
                <ItemsPanelTemplate>
                    <VirtualizingStackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" IsItemsHost="True"/>
                </ItemsPanelTemplate>
            </ListBox.ItemsPanel>
            <Ellipse Width="20" Height="20" Stroke="Yellow"  StrokeThickness="4" ></Ellipse>
            <Ellipse Width="20" Height="20" Stroke="Blue"  StrokeThickness="4" ></Ellipse>
            <Ellipse Width="20" Height="20" Stroke="Green"  StrokeThickness="4" ></Ellipse>
        </ListBox>

Can you see why I need a book, at a casual glance I thought I really knew what was going on with a simple drag and drop, but on closer inspection it is clear that I am missing some underlying goodness through my own poor ignorance.

WPF rocks!!!