For the past couple of months I've been writing a small application for Windows Mobile to do some of the Live Anywhere functionality the Xbox division announced a while ago. It's far from perfect, but it goes a little beyond the average gamercard functionality by showing the extended profile, and all of the played games we have on record. The application uses a lightweight SOAP interface I have setup with majornelson.com to grab all sorts of fun data about any given gamertag. This API is also going to pave the way for some tools I'll be adding in the future allowing people to display extended gamercard and presence data on their own website, or even use it to build their own applications.
If you want to give it a try download and extract the zip file, and throw the three files onto your Windows Mobile device. I've included the .NET Compact Framework v3.5 (the version that runs on my phone), the application (just a straight .exe right now), and a certificate chain (in case your security config requires running only signed and trusted applications). So feel free to try it out and if you want to give some feedback or suggest features I'm all ears. I've also got some screenshots on Flickr if you want to give it a look.
Here are some of the known issuses with the app:
-
You might have a different processor than I do in your phone, and as such might need a different .NET CF install file than I have included in the zip file
-
I haven’t made a CAB installation file yet, so you’ll have to browse to where you saved it for now
-
I’ve included the certificate chain I used to sign the app with, just in case the security configuration on your phone doesn’t allow running unsigned applications; however, your security configuration might also prevent you from installing certificates to be trusted publishers
-
Currently I’m displaying some of the labels on the page to demonstrate the visual layout, and for a few debugging purposes; in the final version you won’t see anything until loading all Gamertag-related data is finished
-
I did my best to make this easy to use without a touch screen, but you may encounter some usability issues
Enjoy!
I've got an extra code for the new Call of Duty 4 Map Pack, so I'm going to run another giveaway for it.
The rules are the same as last time. So, if you're a registered user (here or at MajorNelson.com) login and post a comment here. If you're not registered make sure you set your name to your gamertag AND include your gamertag in your post. Also, I'm going to run the drawing after I check the post and see there are fifty or more comments; or 7 days passes (whereby comments on posts are automatically shut off).
Some general guidelines:
-
Do not attempt to enter more than once, if you do enter more than once you will be disqualified for this and any other giveaways I might do
-
Register if at all possible, if I have any question as to whether or not you've tried to enter more than once this will make it very easy for me to determine you are innocent
Anyway, good luck people!
Hi all, sorry for not posting for a while, but I swear I've got a legit reason for not doing so. So this past week (22nd - 30th) was spring break at my university. However, being the kind of person I am I took kind of an extended spring break. So the week of March 16th a couple of my friends came out to go snowboarding up in Breckenridge and Keystone; and it was incredibly fun (despite having to go kind of slow due to my friends being used to the really tiny hills out in the midwest). I managed to get quite a few good pictures of the three-day snowboarding fiesta, so I threw them on Flickr. If you're looking for me, I'm the one with the obviously sunburned face. Yeah, that wasn't fun.
There other (and more fun) part of spring break was my trip to Japan. I went there to teach English at couple of camps for Japanese elementary, junior high, and high school students. It was defintiely a good time (minus the jet lag I had on the way back). The kids were definitely fun to work with, and were really good at understanding what I was acting out when the language barier was just too much for communication. So for a couple of observations about the trip/Japan in general:
-
Don't give elementary school kids fireworks (one of my campers almost started a huge brush pile on fire...)
-
Japanese toilet seats live up to the hype
-
Japanese baths are kind of strange, but once you get used to them they're very enjoyable (just wish we could use them in the morning as opposed to at night)
-
Narita airport's WiFi is not very secure (i'll probably write an article about how to bypass pay WiFi sometime around here)
-
C.C. Lemon is the greatest drink in existence (it's a super-carbonated lemon soft drink)
-
Akihabara (the elecronics district of Tokyo) is pretty much the best thing since sliced bread
-
Yodobashi-Akiba dominates any electronics store that exists in the United States (7 stories of electronics goodness)
-
Tokyo's subway/train system is amazing, not to mention very easy to understand
Enough of the talking anyway. Because of the huge number of pictures I took on this trip I actually purchased a Flickr pro account so I could upload all of them, so behold their glory over at Flickr.
Also, the reason I haven't posted for a while is because something went wrong with the Internetz while I was trying to post my little spiele on my pre-spring break festivites, so I lost the entire post and didn't have time to write it again before boarding my plane. In other news, I'll be doing a giveaway this weekend for the Call of Duty 4: Variety map pack and later today I'll be giving away some more arcade games on my Twitter account so try to keep an eye on that.
Later!