Windows 8 is ... Not So Bad

Windows 8 is ... Not So Bad:

After a lot of trepidation because of bad press, I've rapidly come to prefer Windows 8 over Windows 7. Because an equivalent-horsepower Mac is 3 times the cost of a Windows 8 machine, I'm moving back to Windows.

NOOK Color Gets CyanogenMod 10.1 Nightlies

NOOK Color Gets CyanogenMod 10.1 Nightlies:

When Barnes & Noble first announced the NOOK Color, that was all the way back in October of 2010, which frankly, is a pretty long way back to the past via the time machine – at least in terms of technology, 3 years is a pretty long time ago. The NOOK Color held the distinction of being the first popular 7” Android-powered tablet that was specially priced to move without breaking the $250 price point, where it ran on a highly customized version of the Android operating system that was specially designed to play nice with B&N’s app and book stores.
Needless to say, it did not take too long before hackers managed to figure out just how to load custom ROMs on the NOOK Color, and three years down the road, NOOK Color hacking still remains strong. In fact, you are now able to download nightly builds of CyanogenMod 10.1 for the NOOK Color, which lets you enjoy a custom version of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean complete with full access to the Google Play Store. That’s saying a whole lot you know, considering how other some handsets that were released even as late as last year will never see Android 4.1 Jelly Bean for that matter in its life cycle.

Cheatsheet for Android Graphic Designers

Cheatsheet for Android Graphic Designers:

When creating visual assets for Android apps there are tons of things to remember from screen density, icon standard sizes to naming conventions. Petr Nohejl has gathered all the useful information in one page making it easier to lookup the information needed. Head out to this site and don't forget to bookmark it for future reference: Android cheatsheet for graphic designers.

Thanks Petr!

App Development: The Future of App Development Forums at XDA – XDA Developer TV

App Development: The Future of App Development Forums at XDA – XDA Developer TV:

Recently, XDA added a set of forums focusing solely on App Development. We knew that XDA was missing a central hub for app developers to converse about things like development tools, prototyping, analytics, monetization, testing, security, localization, education, and so on.  In addition to the forums, we are providing assistance to app developers in any way we can.

Becoming Acquainted with Scala

Becoming Acquainted with Scala:

There are many touted benefits of the Scala programming language, especially for Java developers. Among others, Scala's advertised strengths and advantages include the following:

• Runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM)
  

  • Able to run on numerous hardware and operating systems platforms

  • Access to rich set of libraries and functionality in the JDK

  • Access to the broad Java ecosystem and its wealth of open source libraries and frameworks

  • Access to JVM features such as concurrency support and optimization

• Supporting Functional and Object-oriented Paradigms

• Statically Typed

• Concise Syntax

• Documentation

• Maturity

Building Web Apps with ASP.NET Jump Start

Building Web Apps with ASP.NET Jump Start:

Three of Microsoft's most seasoned ASP.NET speakers, Scott Hanselman, Jon Galloway, and Damian Edwards provide an accelerated introduction to building modern web applications with ASP.NET 4.5 and ASP.NET MVC 4. In this course, they target key scenarios like building mobile-ready websites, social web applications as well as modern HTML5 browser features.

Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 delivers modest improvements

Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 delivers modest improvements: 

In keeping with its vow to ship updates for its flagship software development tools in "a regular cadence," Microsoft has delivered Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 just a little over four months after it shipped the last one.