By Denisse Zavala Microsoft recently revealed the details of the Windows Phone Application Platform. It is built upon Silverlight, XNA Framework and the .NET Compact Framework, and MS rely on this combination to claim that development of rich applications will not have a steep learning curve for developers who are familiar with these technologies. I wanted to get my hands on this platform so I used my basic Silverlight skills to create a really simple application to manage a To-Do list. Here the details: First thing to do is get the Windows Phone developer tools CTP, which includes the VS 2010 Express for Windows Phone development tool and an add-on to the VS 2010 RC to enable phone de...

By Guillermo Cedillo   There are four principles of design: balance, emphasis, rhythm, and unity. These principles of design help you to combine the visual elements into a good design. Balance Visual interest is what you balance in design. Different colors, shapes sizes, etc. create different degrees of interest. It is the distribution of this interest that you need to control. Each element on a layout has visual weight that is determined by its size, darkness or lightness, and thickness of lines. There are two basic approaches to balance: symmetrical and asymmetrical. Symmetrical balance is an arrangement of elements so that they are evenly distributed to the left and to the right ...

By Bety E.   Many people have complained about the lack of adoption of the intranet among employees. Employee engagement is very important for this adoption and the way to achieve this is through social aspects. We, as humans, are social by nature, there for we can get engaged through these aspects. The objective of this is to get employees to visit the site daily. Once this is done, you can focus more on tasks and less on the social part. The following are five ways to engage your employees and to use the intranet to the fullest.   ·         To achieve a successful intranet launch, building awareness is needed. Set up a contest to name your intranet by using the intranet as a platf...

To become familiar with the development of an application for the Windows Phone 7 we will create a simple Silverlight application: a form of tweets that are related to a particular topic.Environment and ToolsTo start, we must download and install the  Windows Phone Developer Tools Beta, which allows us to develop applications using Visual Studio 2010 for  Windows Phone 7. After doing this with VS 2010 we create a project using the template for Windows Phone Application. The solution generated by using the Windows Phone Application template contains a single draft Silverlight for Windows Phone, which has a similar structure to that of a Silverlight application for web or desktop. As we ...

This summer Microsoft launched a new proposal for smart phones the Windows Phone series 7 (WPT). In this article we will review some of the most important aspects of this platform. User InterfaceIn terms of user interface, WP7 introduces several innovations to be taken into account in the design and application development. These include:  • Metro Design. The WP7 user interface is based on a design named "Metro", and is inspired by the kind of icons and colors used on public transport. This seeks to achieve clean and clear user interfaces and make it easier for anyone using the phone to be able to understand the available options. • Hubs. Windows Phone 7 introduces the concep...

By Bety E. It is striking how many people agree that a fundamental key for successful businesses is communication. But when cutting costs becomes the priority through offshoring, communication gets lost along the way. What if I tell you that you can cut costs the same way and keep clear-cut communication as if you were working with your onshore team? The solution is nearshore software development. One of the most important benefits that nearshoring offers is same time zone. Many people don’t give it the importance it demands when choosing between nearshore and offshore services and then they’re suffering because of difficulty in communication, ineffective business hours trying to co...

By Brenda V. The answer to this question is yes! As a nearshore software development option , Mexico is the lowest cost destination closest to the US Market, moving your IT project work will allow your business to grow with limited resources, while having access at the same time to the best technological resources available. Increase your business competitiveness and gain leadership in your industry. Mexico’s geographical location will give you an ideal place to start your outsourcing project work, a place to supply the US market with Agile and “just in time” methodologies with access to world class infrastructure, labor force and technologies. If you are thinking about outsourcing y...

By Beatriz E.   There are a small number of countries who have the same relationship as Mexico and the United States. Due to their shared border, trade and demography, these two countries enjoy a convenient relationship for outsourcing. Also they have some sort of degree of cultural proximity which isn’t enjoyed with other countries like Asian ones. And those are excellent reasons for considering Mexico as an option for nearshore software development services. Cultural proximity is defined as the relationship between two markets that have a high level of cultural similarity. None the less, differences can’t be ignored. It would be wrong for me to say that Mexican and American cultur...

By Brenda V. When asking some of our most important clients about the current challenges they face, a big percentage of them always mention the importance of keeping up with technology using limited resources. Most small to medium size companies struggle when trying to implement new applications or software to improve internal processes and help their employees to be more efficient. But we can also find companies whose main service is based on technological products they offer to their clients and are always searching for innovative ways to keep themselves in the market. Keeping up with changing technologies as decision maker can be an overwhelming task, you may ask which IT solutions...

By Brenda V. Even after … years of being created, I still bump with people who don’t even know what LinkedIn is; for all those who seek to answer the question about this I can tell you that LinkedIn is a social network dedicated mainly to help connect people on their professional side; something like connecting with the people you work with but also with former colleagues or service providers. It’s not only that, LinkedIn has evolved into a much more elaborate and complicated tool where you can join groups of people with the same professional interest than you, ask questions related to your work activities or even put adds completely focused to the targeted markets. Now, why would Li...