i just put up my latest screencast featuring a sample on how to create your own user control in silverlight version 1.0.  this is about a 24 minute screencast that walks through creating the XAML as a user control (not the primary focus) quickly, and then consuming this user control in a silverlight 1.0 application, creating the control dynamically using createFromXaml.

i also realized that in the screencast i mentioned that i was using the 'open as web site' feature in visual studio 2008 instead of just right-clicking the project in blend and choosing 'edit in visual studio' -- but then didn't remember to explain why :-).  here's the skinny.  in my sample i'm using the downloader object in silverlight.  in the release candidate of silverlight there was a change to the downloader disallowing the use of the file:/// schema for downloads for security reasons.  unfortunately in visual studio 2008 (beta 2), the default project type for silverlight is a file-based project instead of a web site project.  this will work fine most of the time, but not when you are using a downloader object (you'll get an AG_CONTROL_NETWORK_ERROR).  so because of this i simply opened the same project as a web site and all is well (because it then uses the built-in asp.net development web server for rednering).

this is a part 1 screencast, which part 2 will demonstrate consuming the same user control in silverlight 1.1 which provides us an added benefit in the user control model.  you can view the screencast by subscribing to the feed (located on the left as well -- the all option has ipod format as well).  additionally i posted it on channel 9.

part 2 will be hopefully posted later on monday.  the code for part 1 is associated on this blog post at the bottom.

Screencast source code: GlassButtonControl.zip

well, it looks like my efforts with facePhone were short lived.  i started out creating a better mobile UI for facebook on the iphone.  i was challenged, however as the API didn't provide essentially everything i needed/wanted, so i got a limited functionality, but for me, was fine (getting status updates):

well, the guys at facebook (presumably joe hewitt -- i actually contacted him about my efforts and never heard back...maybe this is why :-)).

i haven't tried on edge, but they are loading a lot of content there.  looks good though.

i've been subscribed to a blog called 'foo theory' for a bit now and their content keeps getting better and better.  bennie is now on part 5 of a series on new language features in c# 3.  his recent part 5 talks about lambda expressions but does a good job of walking through some history and defining delegates, anonymous methods, etc. for us minions.

you should check out the foo theory guys...good stuff.  main feed here.

there were some issues with the blend 2 august preview tool when used with the silverlight 1.1 alpha refresh-refresh :-).  you could probably see some issues on the forum or if you launched blend 2 and didn't have the .net project types, you were probably frustrated to.

in case you haven't heard, i thought it was valid to repeat the echo here on my blog.  the blend guys have refreshed their build to help alleviate this.  i guess it should be called blend 2 august preview refresh edition?  anyway, you can download the update here.

while chatting with someone earlier commenting about television, i mentioned that 'if you have a tivo setup the season pass' -- his response was priceless:

show me a tech guy who does not have Tivo and I'll show you an AOL user

priceless.  thanks for the laugh kevin.