SignalR isn't just for web applications. It can also provide the basic real-time communications for a connected Windows Universal Application or even iOS and Android applications. Christos Matskas demonstrates how to get started with creating applications across a range of platforms that require real-time communication using SignalR… Read more
It seems a great idea to have your application on all the main mobile platforms as well as on the desktop. Nothing beats writing an app specially for each device, but then you've created a full-scale maintenance headache. Are technologies like PhoneGap/Cordova or Adobe Air, using a browser-based UI, the perfect compromise? If so, what frameworks do you use?… Read more
For users to get the information they need from mobile reports, we frequently have to tailor the way we design those reports to the characteristics of the target device. Adam Aspin demonstrates some of the ways that we can deliver easy-to-use Business Intelligence to tablets and smartphones using Reporting Services. … Read more
The easiest way to make a responsive web application perform well is to minimize requests and the amount of data that is downloaded. The most dramatic way of doing this, for mobile applications particularly, is to download just the data you need to use. There are additional ways of doing this, such as 'Mobile first', Prioritized content, Intelligent markup and Compression, but the most important task is to minimize the data-download requirements.… Read more
Sometimes, the sheer byzantine complexity of the typical JavaScript frameworks underlying a typical web application can give you pause for thought. If all you need is a simple way of creating a mobile-first application that involves creating simple markup templates, loading them into a DOM fragment and dynamically populating them with JSON data, then maybe a lean micro-framework like Mustache.JS would provide a better, leaner approach.… Read more
Are there ever times when the best practice for a GUI is to let the user type-in information using the keyboard? Of course there are, but then the users nowadays expect, when it is appropriate, to have auto-completion and suggestions that come with the search engines such as Google, and from mobile computers. The GUI must never get in the way. Dino shows how, as usual.… Read more
Professor Stephen Byram Furber CBE, FRS, FREng was one of the designers of the BBC Micro and the ARM 32-bit RISC microprocessor. The result of his work, the ARM chip, is in most mobile phones, calculators and other low-power electronic devices in the world. At the University of Manchester, he is working on the radical SpiNNaker project which could one day change the whole nature of the personal computer. … Read more
Joe becomes intrigued by the way that experts make errors in any area of technology, and suggests that the problem is more that of mindsets than lack of knowledge. He illustrates the point with SQL Development by means of the "Britney Spears, Automobiles and Squids" table, and the tangled Stored procedure, and shows ways of getting rid of both procedural and non-procedural code by adopting a different programming mindset.… Read more
For many years, everyone involved in the administration of offices has wished that there was a way of combining the voicemail, fax, the PBX with the Exchange Email system, particularly for highly mobile users. . With Exchange Server 2007, this has now become a reality. Even though it forces the Exchange Administrator to become familiar with telephony, the benefits are such that it is well worth the effort.… Read more
Prasanna is reminded of pizza in cardboard boxes when he explores the possibilities of Synchronization Services for ADO.NET. Data applications are becoming increasingly mobile, and often disconnected, and data is often wrapped up to be consumed later. Miccrosoft's Merge Replication was their first, and most heavyweight, solution, but now comes a different tack, based on SQL Server 2008 and ADO.… Read more
In this new column giving practical advice on all things Sys Admin related, Ben Lye takes on the often difficult task of keeping track of mobile device activity… Read more