Windows 8 with Metro-style applications offers one of the biggest opportunities for developers in a very long time. As a Windows Phone developer, you are uniquely positioned to be able to get in on the ground floor of this exciting new platform!

If you have built a Windows Phone 7 application, you already have most of the needed knowledge to bring the app to Windows 8.  Get your app ready and attend one of the 100s of free Application Excellence Labs that DPE and Windows are holding around the world so you can be among the first  developers who get to submit to the store early!

Our store services are ramping up as planned–and of course the plan includes ramping up developer registrations to enable app submissions to the Windows store. Today, you need an invite “token” to register. This begs the question – How can YOU get a token?

Register TODAY!

Follow these steps to get invited to an App Excellence lab:

1. Contact me at chris.koenig@microsoft.com for instructions on how I can nominate your app for an Excellence Lab.
2. Create a really great Windows 8 Metro style app (or game) immediately. Get it as ready as if you were submitting it to the store.

Resources to help bring your Windows Phone app to Windows 8

Microsoft has already provided some great resources that you may want to look to learn how you can move your Windows Phone applications to the Windows 8 platform:

• Windows Phone to Windows 8 blog series by Jared Bienz
• Migrating WP7 to Windows 8
• Metro UX style, design and principles
• Creating your first Metro app with C#/XAML
• Samples and SDK

Additionally, there will be two online workshops to give the additional knowledge to move you app over.

FREE Online Workshops

These FREE half-day ONLINE workshops will provide you an overview getting from Windows Phone to Windows 8.  Leveraging your XAML and .NET skills, these workshops will introduce the fundamentals of developing Windows 8 Metro-style applications, tips for migrating your Windows Phone applications, and guidance on Metro UX. Technical experts will be on hand to address your questions, discuss your existing Windows Phone applications, and help get you started on developing your applications on Windows 8 and getting them into the Windows Store.

Questions? Let me know and I’ll do what I can to help.

Now go out there and build some amazing apps!

On Tuesday, April 24 from 6:00pm-9:00pm at the Microsoft office in Dallas, the Dallas ASP.NET User Group is hosting Dr. Tobias Komischke and Jason Beres from Infragistics for a session on User-Centered Data Visualization (a.k.a. UI for Geeks).

Topic: User-Centered Data Visualization (a.k.a. UI for Geeks)

In this code-focused talk, you will learn how to create high performance, expressive data visualizations that run on the browser, as desktop apps, and on devices like iPads, Windows 8 tablets and Android tablets. At the end of this talk, you will understand the techniques, tools and technologies you’ll need to implement effective visual experiences.

Speaker Bios

• Dr. Tobias Komischke is the Director of User Experience at Infragistics and is responsible for the UX design consulting business.
• Jason Beres is the VP of Product Management, Community, and Evangelism for Infragistics.

Registration

You can register via EventBrite at http://dallasaspnetapr2012.eventbrite.com/, or send email to rsvp@dallasasp.net

As a special incentive to attend, this month the User Group will be giving away one whole MSDN Subscription. Each member who brings a guest will receive one extra door prize ticket per guest, which will increase your chance of winning!

I’m running a Windows Phone Hackathon at Tulsa School of Dev on Friday, April 13th - check this out and sign up today at http://tulsasod2012.eventbrite.com

Dream It. Build It. Take Home the Experience.
The power to build smart, visually stunning games and applications is right in the palm of your hands with Windows Phone. Join us at Tulsa School of Dev for a hands-on workshop featuring one-on-one proctoring from Microsoft and community experts to help you get your app built and published in the Windows Phone Marketplace. It’s the perfect opportunity to design and implement that cool new app you’ve been dreaming about, so bring your ideas and get ready to code.

But that’s not all!

Attendees will also receive a token to register for free for the Windows Phone Marketplace as well as a cool Windows Phone t-shirt just for attending our event! That’s a $120 value – yours FREE with our thanks for attending.

But wait – there’s more!

Attendees that successfully submit 1 application to the Windows Phone marketplace on Friday, April 13th or 3 applications before Friday, April 20th will receive a BRAND NEW WINDOWS PHONE! Just send us links to the submitted applications (we’ll show you how) to qualify you for this giveaway. Applications must be net-new applications (not updates to exiting apps) and submitted between April 13th and April 2oth to qualify (offer not available to Government or Microsoft employees, or their dependents).

So – you want a brand new Windows Phone? Build me some apps and you’ll go home with one…

Good news on the Windows Phone Starter Kit front.

Dani Diaz has released a new starter kit – this time for running your own mini-conference:

The Windows Phone Starter Kit for Conferences allows you to easily create a Window Phone 7 app for a conference. The app displays speaker information, session information, schedule and more.

Because there is not universal data format for conference data, developers have to change the ConferenceService class to parse the data for the conference they are building the app for.

Additionally, the popular Windows Phone Starter Kit for RSS has been updated to support those pesky RSS and ATOM feeds that don’t quite exactly technically meet the RSS or ATOM spec. The parsing *should* be much more generous now, and accomodate custom icons for yoru feeds. Make sure that if you’re releasing an update to your application that you increment the VERSION number in your XML configuration file, or the feeds won’t load as expected…

As always – if you have ideas for new starter kits, or questions about existing ones, don’t hesitate to reach out to us through the CodeGallery, GitHub or our blogs.

Would you like to spend 3  days with 1000 developers in 125 sessions geeking out on everything Mobile, Web and Cloud at a giant waterpark? If so , then ThatConference is the conference for you!

August 13th – 15th, 2012

Kalahari Resort, Wisconsin Dells, WI

Although they’re just getting started, it looks like they have a great lineup of speakers including Sara Summers, Scott Hanselman, Brandon Satrom, Jimmy Bogard and more coming in all the time. If you would like to speak at ThatConference, the call for speakers  is NOW OPEN. Just visit their Camp Counselor Application Form to submit your session topic. You’ll have to register on the site to submit a session, but that’s a small price to pay to be part of developer conference history…

Want to learn more? There are several ways to stay in touch with ThatConference – here are just a few ways for you to Get Involved:

• On the Web: http://thatconference.com – the fountain that is the source from which all good and important information flows about ThatConference
• Email: contact@thatConference.com 
• Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/thatconference
• Windows Live Group for Volunteers: thatConferenceStaff.groups.live.com
• Twitter: @thatConference
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ThatConference

  See you there!

Hey all – just a friendly reminder for those in the DFW area:

The Fort Worth .NET User Group has moved locations. Their new home is at Pier One Imports’ corporate office

Pier 1 Home Office
100 Pier 1 Place
Fort Worth, TX 76102

FWDNUG Meeting Location

Attention cloud developers!

Spend a day at a Windows Azure Kick Start with some of the nation’s leading cloud experts to learn how to build a web application that runs in Windows Azure.  In the Kick Start will learn how to sign up for free time in the cloud, and how to build a typical web application using the same ASP.NET tools and techniques you use every day.  You will explore web roles, cloud storage, SQL Azure, and common scenarios for cloud-based computing including details on what workloads should (and should not) be moved to cloud.

This will be a hands-on learning experience so be sure to bring your laptops all set up with the software you’ll need to participate.  The invite links below have all the details you need to get your machine ready.

By the way… if you have an MSDN subscription, you automatically get free cloud benefits!  This video shows you how to get your risk-free access to Windows Azure to explore and learn the cloud by activating those MSDN benefits.

Lunch and cool prizes will also be provided so sign up today!

If you have any questions about this, or future events, please send our Event team members an email at  msnextde@microsoft.com.

I recently participated in an event series called 30-to-Launch. The concept was simple: get a bunch of business-minded-startup-company-developer-types in a room, 3 hours a week for 4 weeks, feed them a steady stream of Windows Phone awesomeness and see what kinds of cool applications pop out! We had a great time going through these four sessions and learned a lot about Windows Phone. Rather than keep everything to myself, we were able to secure the great minds at UserGroup.tv to record the sessions, and I’ve posted all my decks up on my SlideShare.  Most of the demos have links to them in the slides – if not, you can find a lot of great content at http://github.com/chriskoenig – those demos are probably squirreled away in there somewhere, so feel free to poke around and see if you can find something interesting in there.

So – here ya go. Enjoy!

Day 1 – The Basics: slides | video

Day 2 – Phone Features: slides | video

Day 3 – Data and Networking: slides | video

Day 4 – Marketplace: slides | video

Windows 8 changes everything.

Combining the broad reach of Windows, best-in-class developer tools, a reimagined user experience, support for new chipsets, and a built-in Store with industry-leading business terms — Windows 8 is the largest developer opportunity, ever.

Join us for this free, full-day event designed to share all the knowledge you need to start building Metro-style applications for Windows 8 – today.  We’ll begin by showing you how to use Visual Studio to code fast, fluid, immersive and beautiful Metro-style applications in HTML5/JavaScript, XAML/C# and C/C++. Your existing investments in these languages carry forward, making Windows a no-compromise platform for developers.

Whatever language you choose, your app gets deep integration with the Windows shell, including notifications, live tiles, deep links, and contracts with other apps. And now you can build once and support all Windows customers, no matter what type of PC they have – from tablets to laptops to convertibles to desktops.

We’ll cap the day off with an open, hands-on lab session. It’s the perfect opportunity to get your dream application underway, or finish that app you’ve already started – with Windows 8 experts available to guide you through every step. Bring your laptop to join in the fun and show off your killer app.

Get started now!

Prerequisites:
Please bring a notebook computer and your personal identification. Also, check out the Windows Dev Center, where you can download the Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

Location:

Microsoft Dallas Office
7000 State Highway 161
Irving, Texas 75039

Registration:

Register by Phone:  1-877-MSEVENT (9AM-7PM EST M-F)
Register Online: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032507802&Culture=en-US