May 7th, 2013 AppLab for Windows*8 on mobile platforms

Well, just last week I returned from one of our first Application Development Labs (AppLab) devoted to development on the Intel Platform on Windows* 8 for touch, sensor, and HTML5.  The event took place in Los Angeles (LA) California in the United States.   The presenters were drawn from Intel - including two of our brightest Technical Marketing Engineers - Meghana Rao and Gayathri Murali- and yours truly, Paul Steinberg, as host and emcee.

Also in attendance was UX/UI specialist Dr. Jorge Toro from Integrated Computer Systems (ICS) who brought information both on the new Windows* 8 store design model as well as practical information on how best to implement this in modern applications. Finally, we were joined by Garth Wolfendale, MicrosoftPremier Senior Consultant who broght in-depth guidance on Windows* RT APIs.

The AppLab day was a long one, we spent more than six hours going over the content.  These are developer events and we try to include as much sample code and application examples as possible.  We also spent quite a bit of time on UX/UI best practices led by the experts from ICS and Microsoft. We covered new models for distribution, covering certification and windows store side-loading. Finally we wrapped up with an quick overview of our Intel Developer Zone program resources to design, build, test, and market application in target segments. See the agenda below for full details.

Intel AppLabs have an industry vertical focus usually Education, Health Care, Financial Servics, Retail and the like.  The LA AppLab had an audience drawn from a number of industry sectors, but we used examples drawn from education for the most part.  We recently held an AppLab in New York which had a strong Financial Services orientation. 

Just in case you are wondering, we have two flavors of AppLabs.  The one I am describing here is Windows focused but we have similar offering for Android* developers as well.

So how do you access an AppLab? Typicaly, AppLabs are offered to developers at companies with dedicated Intel account coverage. AppLabs are held worldwide, so if this matches your company profile, talk to your Intel account representative. We also do offer regional AppLabs from time to time - the LA one was a good example.  Checkout our Applab page to see if soemething is scheduled near you.

If neither of these work, never fear.  I have attached a subset of the AppLab content to the bottom of this blog.  Feel free to download it and use it to your advantage.  Also, we will be taking much of the AppLab content and broadcasting it via live interactive webinars. These will be availbale worldwide.  We are workig on content and schedule now, so stay tuned for that this summer.

In the meantime - leaving a comment on this blog is a great way to get in touch with me if you have feedback on AppLabs or any other issue. I'd love to hear form you.

Typical Windows AppLab Schedule 

Other Resources

• Ultrabook™ Community on Intel Developer Zone
• Sample Applications with Touch / Sensors on Windows* 8 Desktop and Windows* 8 UI modes
• User Interface Guidelines for Ultrabook applications
• Perceptual Computing SDK