News letter on 3 month mark since Spelling Champion was first released

Since Spelling Champion was first release on Jan 29th, I have made 4 more releases. The app is now loaded with more features and is a very user friendly app.

up to today, the app  have received downloads from the following countries:

United States
China
Singapore
India
Mexico
United Kingdom
Australia
Canada

 with the majority of the downloads from the US market. 

the app received 5 stars or 4 stars rating from the market. the general feedback is if this app were in iOS platform, it will be adopted much more in the market.

I have decided to jump in to iOS development and made investment in the development plan in iOS platform after the 2 months of un-success attempt of looking for business partner to port the app to iPad.

Right now, I have been spending late nights and weekends on my Mac book Pro and X Code learning iOS app development. Hopefully, I will be able to release Spelling Champion in iPad soon..

Thank you all for your support! your adoption is the best motivation keeping me going.

Spelling Champion 1.2.2.10 is in store now

Last weekend, I was pleased to present Spelling Champion to a group of loving mothers in Dublin area. During the presentation, I discovered a bug in the app.  With this bug in place, when there is no internet connection, the app will offer an exception message and then function as pre-normal.
This does not affect the usage of the app, but it does negatively impact the overall experience with the app.

Upon returning home, I rushed to my computer. After a few hours of working, I figured out the root cause of the problem and fixed it. Before went to bed on Saturday night, I made an submission for a new release.

This submission also update the server name to the new server address, with this change, I have completed Azure migration for the server.

Besides, I also updated the promotional images I got from my graphic designer, Chris Wang.

This morning, I realized that the submission is certified my the store and it is. Now in the store. The new version number is 1.2.2.10.

Enjoy it.

Spelling Champion 1..2.2.7 is in store now

This morning, I found that my submission has passed Microsoft certification and it is in store now. (1.2.2.7). In this release, I incorporated a new set of logos designed by the talented Graphics Designer from Singapore, Chris Wang. The new set of logo is much beautiful and works well with Windows Tiles design.

The second change is Windows 8 "Share". First of all, you can share the screenshot or the app list URL to any app that was designed to be the target of the Windrows Share. Microsoft Mail is one of them. to list a few, FaceBook, Twitter, Fresh Paint, OneNote are some other share targets you can choose. In this Release, I add a sharing feature in Modules page, for you to share your Spelling Champion experience with your friends. On the Lesson page, upon completion of your lesson, you can share your practices report with other apps. the common usage of that could be sending your practice result to your parents or your teacher.

The is a small change on the lesson page as well, based on the feedback, I enlarged the font size of the hint text.

Finally, I discovered and fixed a bug related to app license. the bug only surfaces in debug mode, when it is in release mode, the app works as it should. Since it is a bug, I just fix it.

This release also establish a good foundation for orientation changes of the app. With this release, I will be able to work on all pages to make them response to the orientation changes of your device to have better user experience with the app when the app is installed on a tablet device like Surface.

As always, if you have some suggestions comments on the app, please feel free to drop me a note, I will look into it whenever my schedule allows.


thank you for your support, let's keep Spelling Champion move on...

 Click here to Install Spelling Champion  from Microsoft Store

  

  

Spelling Champion received "Editor's pick" award from BestWindows8Apps.net

Hi, All,


I am pleased to announce that Spelling Champion received  "Editor's pick" award from  BestWindows8Apps.net.

The following is the email I received from BestWindows8Apps.net:

Congratulations!

Your app "Spelling Champion" has been tested and rated by the BestWindows8Apps.net. Feel free to use Editor's pick award on your web page to show your visitors how highly we value your app.

Award:

http://bestwindows8apps.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/editors_pick.png

Your app:

http://bestwindows8apps.net/spelling-champion

Best Regards,

Eric Manco

BestWindows8Apps.net

Coincidentally, Spelling Champion is also listed in Great Windows Apps

click on here for detail.

Thank you for your support!

Spelling Champion 1.2.0 is released

I just submitted another release to the store, this release is a accumulative on top of 1.2.1.2. The new version number is 1.2.2.1. I am going to list down these new features starting from 1.2.1.2

These are the new features / fix included in this release:

1) Migrated Champion Service and its databases to Azure for better  reliability and availability.
2) Pin/Uppin Modules to/from Start on Module Page
3) In App Upgrade from trial version on Modules Page ( starting page)
4) Fix for a memory related bug in Lesson Page
5) Changes related to MS Ads control for better appearance.
6) Toast Notification using Azure Notification Hub
7) Drag and drop in Edit Lesson Page for better touch experience
8) Search a specific word on Edit Module Page for trouble-shooting purpose
9) Read all words and sentences in Edit Module page for review purpose
10) Live tile for better Windows 8 user experience
11) Improved logo images for better Windows 8 visual experience
12) From kindergarten to 5th Grade, total 10 modules about 3,000 words are available for free download.
13) Provide current app version number on About page for better production support
14) Provide logic to handle all unhandle exceptions to provide exception detail for better production support
15) Improved visual effect of About page and Preference page by adding theme color to the page header

Click here give it a try.

http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/spelling-champion/7ddd99ae-fd09-492f-9fd3-3e78639d7fae

Champion Service is in the cloud

I am pleased to announce that Champion Service has been migrated to Microsoft Azure (the cloud computing solution from Microsoft).  With this migration, the performance, readability, availability and scalability are all improved greatly.

The URL address for the service is now http://championservice.azurewebsites.net/


Thank you Mike Wood from Cerebrata and Samidip Basu, the organizer of Columbus Windows app developer Interest group.

There was a wise man 2000 years ago in Chinese History, named Xuin, (荀子，Chinese Master Zen). he once said " Moments of learning is far beyond days of thinking."    Indeed, I spent days try to figure what I need to migrate Champion Service to Azure with no luck. When last Saturday I went to Microsoft office to attend DevUnleashed Kackthon, I met Mike Wood, an expert in Microsoft Azure and Samidip, another expert in microsoft platform. I subscribed to Azure with Mike sat with me side by side. And today I spent about 2 hours to migrate the web site and 2 databases used by the site to Azure with no incidence.

Azure, I love you!


Peter Lu

Spelling Champion is Released to Market

I just got off from an online chat with Microsoft Windows Store Help desk. I was told Spelling Champion has passed Windows Store certification process and be released to the markets. The app will be available in English markets like US, UK, Canada, and Chinese markets like China, Taiwan, HK and Singapore.

I was told it will take 1-2 days for the app to reach out to all its targeted markets. If you have school age children and wanting to help them improve their English spelling. please install the app and give it a try.

Spelling Champion

You valuable feedback is deeply appreciated...


Thanks

Peter Lu