Monthly Archives: August 2015

Windows support added for Niagara Border Crossing app

wp_ss_20150823_0002The Niagara Border Crossing app has been released for Windows Phone and Windows tablets and desktops. Any Windows devices running either Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 can download the app for free. As with the BlackBerry version, this app shows wait times for border crossings over the Niagara River between the United States and Canada.

Wait times are shown for all four of the bridges between Western New York and Southern Ontario. These include the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, the Rainbow Bridge, and the Peace Bridge. Separate times are shown for cars, trucks, and also for those using the Nexus lanes.

Links & Information

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Niagara Border Crossing, Windows

Forcing a dark theme on Windows Phone Universal Apps

While the introduction of Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 has done a lot to clean up the look of apps, Windows Phone still allows you to give your phone a light theme which can make your app look weird. This requires you to do additional testing for your apps and optionally hard code colors for some elements on the screen.

In 2013, I described how to force a dark theme on Windows Phone silverlight apps, but things have changed when it comes to the newer universal apps.

The ApplicationBar has been replaced by the CommandBar, and is fortunately rather easy to theme in XAML. The following code will force your CommandBar into a dark theme.

<CommandBar Background="#1F1F1F" Foreground="White">
</CommandBar>
code, Windows

Niagara Border Crossing app released

IMG_20150814_160322The Niagara Border Crossing app has been released for BlackBerry 10. This app shows wait times for border crossings over the Niagara River between the United States and Canada.

Wait times are shown for all four of the bridges between Western New York and Southern Ontario. These include the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, the Rainbow Bridge, and the Peace Bridge. Separate times are shown for cars, trucks, and also for those using the Nexus lanes.

Links & Information

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BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Niagara Border Crossing

Pixelated updated for BlackBerry 10

z10Pixelated and Pixelated Plus have been updated to version 3.6.5 for BlackBerry 10 users. This update speeds up the application’s launch speed, and also fixes a font related bug.

About Pixelated

Pixelated is an addictive puzzle based strategy game that requires a mixture of skill and luck in order to accomplish. The object of the game is to change the colour of the squares until the entire screen is a single solid colour. Starting with the square in the upper left corner you can change the colour of the blocks in order to match that of the surrounding squares. This is done repeatedly until the entire screen is a single colour. The object of the game is to clear the screen in as few moves as possible. Under the default settings you must do so in under 22 moves in order to win. The game is controlled by the large colored blocks at the bottom of the screen.

Links & Information

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BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Pixelated

Slow start for 10.3.2 rollout

The month of July saw the use of BlackBerry 10.3 continue to slowly climb. Verizon and a few other wireless carrier who had been dragging their heels finally released an OS update, but one out of five users are still on older operating systems. 10.3.2 is not really any different from 10.3.1 and has only been officially released by a few carriers and as a result appears to be getting very little interest from users so far.

Overall 78.5% of Pixelated users and 80.9% of Stuff I Need users were running some variant of OS 10.3 in July.

2015July-Pixelated-BB10OSVersions

2015July-StuffINeed-BB10OSVersions

This data was collected by BlackBerry World for downloads of the free strategy game Pixelated and the free checklist app Stuff I Need. Data shown on the chart is from the beginning of July 2014 through the end of July 2015.

BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Statistics