Category: App Development

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App Development NFC Windows

.NET Standard Libraries and NuGet Package Wizard

Generating NuGet Packages from Visual Studio 2017

A few days ago, Microsoft has released  .NET Standard 2.0, which is the new dreams-come-true platform for libraries. Additionally, Portable Class Libraries (PCL) have since also been deprecated. Therefore, it’s about time to port my existing libraries.

In addition, also Visual Studio 2017 Version 15.3 with full support for .NET Standard 2.0 was released, as well as the latest Windows 10 Fall Creators Update Preview SDK. So, let’s get started!

.NET Standard vs. UWP

However, it turns out that UWP doesn’t yet support .NET Standard 2.0. For the UWP platform, the latest supported .NET Standard version is still 1.4, which is considerably less powerful.

Attempting to reference a .NET Standard 2.0 library from an UWP app leads to errors, including the following that gives it away:

Project '...' targets '.NETStandard,Version=v2.0'. It cannot be referenced by a project that targets 'UAP,Version=v10.0.10240'.

Upgrading the UWP project to the latest SDK Preview for the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update Build 16257 doesn’t change anything; both the SDK and the new Visual Studio 2017 version 15.3 can not yet use .NET Standard 2.0 in conjunction with UWP. According to Microsoft, that will be coming soon with the next UWP version.

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App Development Smart Home Windows

Installing Windows 10 IoT Core on a Raspberry Pi

Setting up a Raspberry Pi with Windows 10 IoT Core turned out to be more difficult than expected. In the end, there was a successful workaround – here’s how to get it running (even on non-supported SD cards).

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App Development Smart Home

Using Netgear Arlo Security-Cameras for Periodic Recording

Automating Arlo Camera Recording

The Arlo security camera by Netgear is one of the few cameras that doesn’t need a power supply, so is easier to use outdoors. The cameras have motion-sensing integrated and upload a short video sequence around the motion event to the Netgear backend. Great about the Arlo ecosystem is that this is possible with the free plan as well; you can access the recordings of the last 7 days already with the free basic plan.

For my use case, I wanted to also take periodic pictures / recordings. These can then later be stitched together for a time-lapse.

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App Development Bluetooth Beacons Windows

How to Read the Battery Level of Bluetooth LE Devices

Microsoft Surface Dial

At the Microsoft Build Tour in Vienna, I had the opportunity to present an enhanced version of the Bluetooth Beacon talk. With the Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft released a massive update to the Bluetooth LE capabilities of the OS. This finally allows developers to use the full potential of modern Bluetooth scenarios, including sensors, wearables and beacons.

At Build 2017, Microsoft released three new sessions explaining the capabilities of the new APIs:

  1. Intro to Bluetooth LE Explorer
  2. Unpaired Bluetooth LE Device Connectivity
  3. Bluetooth GATT Server

Even though the sessions reference example code and blog posts that should have been released together with the session recordings, still none of that is available so far. That gave me the opportunity to explore the new APIs based on the short documentation overview page and the videos.

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App Development AR / VR Artificial Intelligence Events Windows

Event: Mobile Developer After-Work #15: Next Generation Apps

Mobile Developer After-Work #14
(c) www.annarauchenberger.com / Anna Rauchenberger – Wien, 05.04.2017 - Mobile Developer After-Work #14 // Creating Immersive Environments //

Mobile Apps are no longer simple tools and games. They have grown to amazingly complex systems. Which ingredients are necessary to successfully develop a next generation app?

You will need Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning. Only the best performance will satisfy your customers – or do you want to wait more than a few seconds in a mobile app? How can you visualize your user interface with HoloLens?

At the #mdaw15, you will learn how to develop and plan such apps with modern frameworks. Join the next After-Work event in St. Pölten for free at https://mobility.builders/

What is a Mobile Developer After-Work Event?

#mdaw events are mixtures of conferences with more casual meet-ups. Different expert speakers approach an overall topic from diverse perspectives. Afterwards, there’s plenty of time for networking and discussion amongst attendees – with snacks and drinks, of course.

The events target mobile developers and decision makers. The goal is to dive deeper into relevant and already known topic areas, as well as to keep up to date with the constantly evolving and changing toolset of the mobile world.

In the meantime, we can look back to 14 previous #mdaw events. Topics so far included business apps, digital healthcare, Xamarin, user experience or a Refugee Hackathon. We’re organizing the events with technology partners like Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, the City of Vienna, and many others.

The community has grown to around 500 attendees, and we continue to get more and more developers on board with each event!

Together with Helmut Krämer, I’ve founded the community in 2013 and am proud that it’s still around. We’ve had a tremendous impact on the Austrian developer community so far. With the upcoming #mdaw15, we’re extending the reach geographically and host our first event outside of Vienna, to reach even more developers!

Categories
Android App Development Bluetooth Beacons Windows

Video: Everything You Need To Know About Bluetooth 5 & Beacons

Bluetooth Beacon Session by Andreas Jakl
(c) www.annarauchenberger.com / Anna Rauchenberger – Wien, 05.04.2017 - Mobile Developer After-Work #14 // Creating Immersive Environments //

With the first Bluetooth 5 devices just released (first and foremost the Samsung Galaxy S8), Bluetooth Beacons like Apple iBeacon and Eddystone by Google gain a lot of potential. Increased range means future beacons will cover a much larger area, without increased power consumption. With the payload increase of beacon advertisement frames from 31 bytes to 255 bytes, the amount of information transmitted by beacons can substantially increase.

In my session about Bluetooth Beacons at the Mobile Developer After-Work #14: Creating Immersive Environments, I provided a short update about the latest news. Unfortunately, recording of the live session at the event failed. Therefore, I’ve re-recorded it – you will miss the live experience, but I did have a little more time for more detailed explanations of some important facts, so it’s well worth watching again even if you have been at the #mdaw14 Event!

The 45 min recording is now available on YouTube.

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App Development Bluetooth Beacons Windows

Bluetooth Beacon Interactor 2 for Windows 10

According to ABI research, 8.2 million Bluetooth Beacons have been shipped. In 2021, the yearly shipments will have increased to an astonishing number of 565 million beacons per year.

The Bluetooth Beacon Interactor for Windows 10 is a free & open source app for scanning your environment for Beacons. It was the first Bluetooth Beacon scanner app available for Windows 10 and works on PCs, smartphones and even the Microsoft HoloLens.

New Features in Version 2.0

The app has just received an update to version 2.0, which adds the two most requested features:

  • URLs in Eddystone URL frames are now clickable. You can directly open the web site linked to by Physical Web beacons.
  • Thanks to a community contribution by kobush, the app now also supports beacons compatible to Apple iBeacons / Proximity Beacons.

Download

You can download the source code of the Bluetooth Beacon Interactor and its base Universal Beacon Library at GitHub. If you would like to scan your surroundings for Bluetooth Beacons and analyze their contents, you can directly download the app from the Windows 10 App Store.