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Archive for the ‘Silverlight’ Category

Bing Maps gets a major boost

03 Aug

Bing Maps added some new major functionality yesterday.

First of these is the OpenStreetMap view. Described as the Wikipedia of maps, it allows the the user to view lots of different sets of data for the same location, without leaving the Bing Maps interface. 

Secondly, Bing Maps announced that its “Sexy Maps” (Microsoft term;-)) built with Silverlight have been rolled out to all Bing Maps users.  The new maps are a “combination of both raster tiles and vector graphics rendered in the browser at run time”.

The new dynamically labeled areas are clickable and will zoom you into the respective region, like peeling back layers of an onion, with this, Bing Maps will add more emphasis on its Local Search

Theres a load of visual effects as well, designed to make seeing the map when you are colour blind easier, and using some of the local machine hardware, and the power of Silverlight to make zooming a load more smoother.

More details can be found at TheNextWeb http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2010/08/03/new-features-in-bing-maps-openstreetmap-taxi-fare-calculator-enhanced-silverlight-maps

 
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Posted in Mapping, Search, Silverlight

 

MSN Video Player now on Media Center

26 May

You may have already noticed, but there’s a new option on the TV menu. MSN Video Player. You may have seen it before, as it was trialled in August last year but then disappeared. Its return brings with it around a 1,000 programmes at launch and a load more to follow.

When selecting the link for the first time, you need to go through a few setup steps. None of these are very complicated though.

Basically you have to accept the terms of service, and a download of around 5mb. If you haven’t got Silverlight on your machine, youwill be asked to download that as well.

Once installed, you get to select a programme genre from a standard looking set of links at the top of the page, or you can use the useful search page to find what you are looking for.

I have a seven year old nephew who is into Dr Who big time, and this sounds like a really good excuse for Uncle John to get to watch old episodes of Dr. Who, particularly the Tom Baker ones – purely in the interests of education though;-)

    Dow Da Dow, Dow Da Dow Dow Da Dow,   whooooo hoooooooo

 
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Posted in Media Center, Silverlight, TV

 

Fantastic Silverlight training course

27 Apr
The Silverlight Tour comes to the UK – and it’s called the Masterclass!

This 3 day hands-on training with both designer and developer tracks looks awesome and (uniquely) has two expert trainers per course. 

Currently scheduled in London, Manchester, and the Midlands for June, all courses also come with the chance to win an xbox 360, and Silverlight Spy licences!

Early bird discount of £100 if you book in May, and if you are a member of #SLUGUK or #nxtgenug there are additional discounts to be had.

Full Details are here: http://silverlightmasterclass.net

In addition bbits are holding a raffle for a free ticket for the masterclass. To be eligible to win the ticket (worth £1095!) you MUST paste this text, including all links, into your blog and email Ian@bbits.co.uk with the url to the blog entry.  The draw will be made on June 1st and the winner informed by email and on http://silverlightmasterclass.net

 
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Posted in Silverlight, Training

 

WPF/e gets its proper name

16 Apr

WPF/e, Microsoft technology for delivering the next generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIAs) for the Web, gets a proper name Silverlight.

Check it out on MSDN

 
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Posted in Developer Tools, Silverlight