During TechEd 2012 Telerik announced their first control library set for Windows 8 Metro application. I blogged about it few days ago and if you didn’t read it yet, you can find it here “First Look to Telerik RadControls for Win8 Metro”.

Earlier this control library set was for few developers through invitation only as it was in Early Adopter Mode. Telerik now released the first beta set of this controls for public download. You can now use these controls to develop your Windows 8 Metro applications. As it is in beta stage, the library is available for free download and once they release the final binaries, we will come to know about the pricing. Till then, try out the controls and read the complete post to find out the downloadable link and other resources.

My 4th Windows Phone application named “ABC For Kids” is now available in Windows Phone Marketplace. This application is for Kids, who can play with this application to learn Alphabets, Words, Numbers and Colors. Parents can help them to check their kids learning skills using this application.

Find details about the application and the downloadable link from Windows Phone 7 marketplace. Don’t forget to rate the app and share your feedback.

Visual Studio 2012 is currently in RC stage and many of us actually started exploring it by downloading. Each Visual Studio release is like Christmas for developers around the globe and Visual Studio 2012 is no exception!

Telerik released a Free eBook on Visual Studio 2012 and ASP.NET 4.5 for you which will walk you through the highlights and show you how to use the new features to make your life as a developer easier. Read more to download the Free eBook and start exploring it’s features.

“Quick Launch” is a new feature in Visual Studio 2012. If you used Productivity Power Tools in Visual Studio 2010, you might be familiar with this. In Visual Studio 2010 Productivity Tools, you can see this with the name “Quick Access”.

Now Microsoft integrated it as “Quick Launch” in Visual Studio 2012 and to use it, you don’t have to install any extensions. This 4th tip on Visual Studio 2012 will guide you to know more about this new feature. So, continue reading and let me know your feedback.

Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 RC is now available for public download. There are plenty of new enhancements in this release of Visual Studio IDE. I already started explaining them in my blog for the developers to improve their productivity using this new IDE.

Today in this productivity improvement post, we will know about the enhanced version of the Solution Explorer. It is not new and was available in earlier versions too but in this new release they added new enhancements for the developers. Check out the complete post to know about it and it’s benefits.

In our last blog post we discussed about browser switching mechanism in Visual Studio 2012 for web developers to test their web applications against different web browsers which actually increases the productivity time of such applications.

Today in this post, we will learn about the Refactor feature of Visual Studio 2012 which will again improve your productivity without using any additional tools or extensions. So, continue reading this post to learn about this feature of new Visual Studio IDE.

If you are a web developer and use Visual Studio to design and develop web applications, this post will help you to improve your productivity. Last year we discussed how to improve your productivity using the “Default Browser Switcher Extension” in Visual Studio 2010.

Now here comes another post which will show you how to use the in-built “Browser Switcher” extension available in Visual Studio 2012. I hope that, once you start working in Visual Studio 2012, this will definitely help you to increase your productivity.

Everyday we use various social networking sites especially Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to connect with our friends virtually over the wire. These social networking sites are now directly and/or indirectly connected with our daily life.

As a computer user, many time we are familiar with Keyboard to do some operations and in such case we need to know the shortcut keys of those sites. In this non-technical blog post, I will share the shortcut keys of Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

During TechEd 2012, Telerik announced their first commercial library for building Windows 8 Metro applications. This control library is a set of controls for XAML and HTML apps. User can chose the language of their own choice and deliver a high end Windows 8 enterprise and consumer applications using these controls.

In this blog post, I will describe more about the controls and guide you to kick start with your Metro application development using the Telerik RadControls. The controls set is neither yet released nor available publicly to download. In case you want a special early adopter access, this blog post will help you to get one too.

Nokia announced that, they are coming up with a new Software Update for Lumia 710 and Lumia 800 in June – July timeframe. According to their announcement, this will be available in US and China from 22nd June and all other countries will get the update during July. You can get this update through Zune software. According to Nokia this update will be required for the new applications to work in Lumia 710 and 800.

Among the software updates, the most important update will be the Camera Extras which will include “Smart Group Shots”, “Action Shots”, “Panorama” and “Self-Timer” showcased for Windows Phone 8. Continue reading to know more about the Camera Extras.

Yesterday in Windows Phone Summit, Microsoft announced the new features of Windows Phone 8 consists of some interesting stuffs those coming in the way. Microsoft also announced that the existing devices running Windows Phone 7.x will not get the update of WP8, but there will be a update for those devices which will call as “Windows Phone 7.8”. Check out the post “Can we Upgrade our WP7 Device to Support WP8?” for more details about WP7.8 update.

Many of you might attended the Summit In-Person or Live from web. In this post, I will share the points on “What’s New in WP8” for you to bookmark for future. If you missed the event, this post will give you brief idea about what is coming next in Windows Phone 8. Continue reading.

Today in the Windows Phone Summit, Microsoft clearly mentioned that, there will not be any kind of upgrades of Windows Phone 8 in Windows Phone 7.x devices. Instead of that, they will throw a upgrade to WP7.8 for all the WP7.x handsets to fulfill the transitions between Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8.

This post will cover the new interesting stuff (from the Windows Phone Summit) that Windows Phone 7.8 will have to give you a look & feel of Windows Phone 8.

This is a common question “Do I need to install Silverlight Tools separately if I install Visual Studio 2012?” few people asked me online/offline. That’s why I came with this blog post.

If you are seeking for the information on the same topic, this post will tell you whether you need to install Silverlight separately and if it already comes with Silverlight, what are the versions that it supports. Continue reading and share to those who might find it useful.

Today morning, 19th June 2012 Indian Standard Time, Microsoft announced their all new Tablet PC running with Windows 8 operating system. Steve Ballmer (CEO, Microsoft) showcased the new Microsoft branded Tablet PC for the next generation named as Microsoft Surface tablet.

The tablet PC will be available in two different version named “Surface for Windows RT” and “Surface for Windows 8 Pro”. Both will have different configuration. Though the price details are not available yet, continue reading the post to watch a video demonstration of the Surface tablet, screenshots and system specific information.

On 27th May 2012, I kick started a Giveaway contest and mentioned that at the end of the contest I will raffle two (2) “Telerik Ultimate Collection License worth $1999 each” to the contest attendees. Initially the end date of the giveaway was decided as 8th June but on popular demand, I extended it up to 15th June 2012.

The contest is over now and it’s time to declare the Winners name. Cross your finger as it’s time to see whether your name is there in the winners list. Continue reading to see the winners name.

If you have installed Windows 8 Release Preview and Visual Studio 2012 RC, you might want to develop your first Windows 8 Metro Style Application. Unlike other version of Visual Studio, you need a Developer License to build your Win8 Metro apps. Without a developer license you won’t be able to deploy the app in your Windows 8 machine or Windows 8 simulator.

This blog post will help you to understand it better and will guide you to get a Free Developer License for Windows 8 Metro application development. Continue reading to get your developer license.

Microsoft released Visual Studio 2012 RC (Release Candidate) on 31st May 2012. This is the pre-release versions of the next release of Visual Studio.

In this blog post, I will share the installation experience of Visual Studio 2012 with you. The UI and installation steps changed drastically. Just go with it if you haven’t already installed this new IDE yet and try out the new Metro Style Application development.

Telerik released the sixth major version of RadControls for Windows Phone 7 (Q2.2012) on 11th June 2012. There are many new controls in this new release demanded by many developers. Now those controls are here for you. Get the latest bits and start using them.

In this post, I will share you the direct download link from where you can get the trial version of the product. If you have a license, you can get the full version from your Telerik account. Also, in this post I will share what are the new controls available in this release.

On 26th May 2012, we (KolkataGeeks) organized Developer Conference 2012 at Kolkata. The event was organized by Microsoft User Group Kolkata (KolkataGeeks). It is the premier technical event for technology professionals at Kolkata interested in learning, connecting and exploring latest Microsoft technologies.

In this event, I delivered one hour Technical Presentation and showcased Demos using Telerik Rad Controls for Windows Phone 7. In this blog post, I will share the slide of my WP7 session as well as few snaps from the Album. Continue reading for further details.

Microsoft released Windows 8 Release Preview (RP) on 31st May 2012. If you didn’t yet download the latest release of Windows 8, you can download it from here: Download Windows 8 Release Preview (All Languages, ISO/Offline/Standalone Installer).

I downloaded the latest release of Windows 8 (Release Preview) and installed it on my VMware Player. The installation experience improved a lot from the Windows 8 Consumer Preview and in this post, I will share the same experience with you. So, continue reading and share it to your connection and help them to understand it better.