Cool Gadgets and Things ...

Lighting seems cute, but redundant - Apple should be curing the wire ;)

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/microsofts-windows-phone-8-finally-gets-a-real-windows-core/12975

1)"As of Apollo, the Windows Phone OS will include the same file system (NTFS), same networking stack, same security elements, graphics engine (DirectX), device driver framework and hardware abstraction layer (HAL) as "big" Windows. Apollo also will include the mobile variant of the same browser -- Internet Explorer 10 -- as Windows 8."

2) Microsoft execs have said repeatedly that existing Windows Phone 7 apps will run on Windows Phone 8. The two phone platforms are binary compatible, Sullivan reiterated.

3)Developers cannot take their Windows app binaries and just run them on Windows Phone 8. However, there is a high degree of code reuse possible, Sullivan said.

4)We know Windows Phone 7.x apps can run on Windows Phone 8, according to Microsoft. But what about the reverse? Can Windows Phone 8 apps run on existing devices? Short answer is no.

5) "The Silverlight-based Windows Phone developer environment is going away in Windows Phone 8, and is being replaced by WinRT-based APIs like those in Windows 8. Why? Two reasons. First, Silverlight is dead, cancelled internally by Microsoft. And second, Windows Phone 8 is Windows 8 for all intents and purposes."

6)Microsoft has decided not to include XNA support for WinRT/Metro in Windows 8. It's only supported on the Desktop. With Windows Phone 8, according to one of my tipsters, Microsoft still will support XNA in the Windows Phone 8 software development kit, but will be pushing developers to write games for the platform using DirectX and native code, not XNA -- just like the case with Windows 8.

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Microsoft's advice to phone developers going forward, just like it is for Windows 8, is to use native code, meaning C and C++

It is beyond me why Microsoft keep the bits out of our hands even after OS is ready and frozen. Apple start sharing years before release and this is a way to go, IMHO. 

Some folks take Zombicalips literally: they stock up on guns and ammo and Twinkies, using Zombiland DVD as interactive video manual. But how you charge your iPhone when all goes down?! BioLite stove is coming for your rescue. First, it does not need any real camp stove fuel: twigs you can find nearby may be quite enough, assuming you stocked on fire starters. Second, it can charge USB powered gadgets if you are ready to keep this fire going :) biggest question is internal battery - how long it will survive in post - apocalypse world? I like my camping gas Primus and use it on every camping trip - but BioLite is very promising and I will keep on testing it. It does work, but you need keep adding twigs and there are only two power settings - hi and lo - not a problem for boiling water, but may be more problematic with pancakes. We will see. So far it is very promising.