Matthew Baxter-Reynolds (@mbrit)

Independent software development consultant, speaker, author, and trainer

Mobile and HTML5 clients, Microsoft server stack, open standards | Author of "Cracking Native Mobile Development: Cross-platform Apps Without the Kludge" | Occasional contributor to The Guardian's technology section

ENGAGE! I work with small to medium-sized technical business based in the UK, helping them to get the best value from their investment in software.

My Articles

My Tweets

  • By me on Kindle: Introduction to Amazon Web Services - http://t.co/BtC9nRLH. #aws #s3 #ec2 (It's free if you get my newsletter)
  • What's worse? Being charged £6 odd per ISBN number (+£50 registration), or that the process is entirely paper-based.
  • Anyone know this? On Kindle self-publishing, an ISBN is *not* required. On iBookstore, it *is*? Is that right?
  • BOOOM! iTunes Connect account improved. Time for for iBooks Author action.
  • I hate rolling out this piece of software... have to do it manually across the farm, can't automated it. #bah
  • Question 1: Do iPad users like gaming? Question 2: Is XNA easier to write games in than DirectX? Question 3: Why is XNA missing from Win8?
  • XNA for me was a standout brilliant feature of WP. (For me, the only standout win). Yet it's not in Win8? #facepalmcontnues
  • Using a £5 micro-SIM punch. Before: http://t.co/gOo7ckun and after: http://t.co/jcdbdJyM // cc @charlesarthur
  • By me @ Guardian Why Microsoft needs to get Michael Bublé working on Windows 8 http://t.co/Yxa6gugj
  • Ha! My @winrtppl bot picked up my new Guardian article on WinRT before me! #botsftw
  • Re the DropBox syncing - @edent has an answer (for geeks): http://t.co/2jIuX8Oy
  • Is there a network appliance that syncs a DropBox account onto a NAS? Would totally buy that for DR.
  • Seven days into waiting for Apple to approve my iBooks account with no comms. Yeah so lovely thanks very much for that guys.
  • By me on Kindle: Introduction to Amazon Web Services - http://t.co/BtC9nRLH. Buy it from Amazon, or sign-up to my newsletter and it's free!
  • Option a) Do proper work. Option b) Do proper work, but involve CoffeeScript.
  • After nearly a year of using a Mac every day, as opposed to 20 years of using Windows, the Mac needs rebooting *much* more often. #ducks
  • El Reg bit on Red Hat running on Azure, Node.js goodness: http://t.co/6ujSdIB6
  • No idea why, but the ideal backing music for the code hackery I'm doing this morning in Tori Amos. O_o
  • Visual Studio needs a "Break into Debugger" on the test runner. (Start test without debugging, attach debugger to that process.)
  • Always interesting to read about plumbing... this is Reddit's infrastructure: http://t.co/GDTdz85D
  • Struggling to explain this - police radar gun registers 300mph during routine operation. Comedy ensues: http://t.co/XTLIuXQd
  • Anyone else have a sort of sense of "Black Mirror" re Twitter's reaction re #savetheintern?
  • Like data? Like maps? Like helicopters? Like custom software, in a helicopter, saving lives? Check out: http://t.co/SDUKJoE5
  • Recommendations for a basic image editor for OS X that's a bit like FIreworks, but free? (e.g. Paint.NET on Windows.)
  • Nokia's results show MS giving them quarter-of-a-billion dollars towards the end of last year: http://t.co/BgL0ESjI
  • By any chance does anyone know how much it might cost to print an A0 size poster, full colour, DPS bleed, *big* run (e.g. 10,000+) Ta!
  • It took 10 years, but I'm calling it a day on dynamically building markup on the server. No more.
  • RT @getwired: HTC to focus on 'hero' phones, downplay tablets in 2012 | Electronista http://t.co/zMroP9KS << *downplay tablets*
  • Remaining Monty Python members regroup for new film: http://t.co/APx0E9oz
  • Trying out CoffeeScript. Not sure I can understand a language without semicolons.
  • I'm a little bit sad that I find this funny: http://t.co/JVoQaYma
  • .@maryjofoley got me thinking about RedHawk references in Win8. Ended up here: http://t.co/f2ms62aH. Worth reading if you like Win8 stuff.
  • RT @maryjofoley: @mbrit: Another attempt to redo the Win8 arch slide via @josefardo: http://t.co/WkidwGXq #winrt
  • Everyone - listen up, it's 76 minutes to Thursday (by my watch).
  • At WinRT People: Problem with RSS item ordering now fixed: We’ve had a problem with the ordering of items in our... http://t.co/8ZegqtZ6
  • Wow... @gruber is posting a lot this evening.
  • Oh no no no no no no: http://t.co/VkyoXaJn. Nooooooo... #yikes
  • People retweeting a tweet where I misspelt "achievement"? Achivement (sic) unlocked.
  • HP announces the schedule for webOS licensing. http://t.co/Yt8UAQpR. Full system out by September.
  • Ah, IRS. You really, *really* make everything as hard as you possibly can, don't you.
  • Went out for dinner. Had haggis.
  • “@RoryBecker: Dear Twitter, since you're clearly not using the original Tweekdeck (air version) any chance you could open source it?” <<+1!
  • Daily Mail now has the widest reach online of any paper in the world xmbr.it/zK8K0a. Further evidence that we're living in The Matrix.
  • That O2 problem was probably caused by one character uncommenting a line in a whitelist file. Go careful out there, people.
  • LEGO does Minecraft. http://t.co/Kcrxp5Wu <whimpers>
  • Comment from O2 on the leaky number thing - http://t.co/HqCAckL8. @kenstechtips suggested whitelist failure - think he's right.
  • So, how long have fictional characters been writing for the Guardian: http://t.co/K1JKnqWQ?
  • Just got an email from a recruiter with "XYZ is a British candidate", with "British candidate" in bold. That's gotta be illegal, right?
  • "RT @kenstechtips: @mbrit I think they only meant to send it to their own websites, probably a whitelist failure." << Yes, smart thinking.
  • O2 being able to switch off the number coming through to the sites means that nothing important was *needing* that data.
  • You know before when I said about Apple's profits for 1/4 being more than Google's revenue for the year. Ignore me. #getshiscoat
  • Have actually managed to make a Kindle ebook look pretty decent using Scrivener. Much easier than in Word.
  • Apple's last quarter profile exceed Google's last year revenue. Well, obviously you can make more money building stuff than selling adverts.
  • Oh, this is funny! http://t.co/07xAtLBA // via @stroughtonsmith
  • Twitter! Recommendations for venues in Central London for running technical seminars, 30-40 people, catered, all day affairs...
  • OK, so I did a thing that shows you your phone number on O2 *and* your location: http://t.co/gxkZpbMq // @adrianshort @charlesarthur
  • This O2 phone number thing reminds me of Apple removing the UDID. http://t.co/9r5GVCom. Which identifier would you rather broadcast?
  • Via @tomwarren - O2 sending the device's phone number in the HTTP header - confirmed for my device: http://t.co/MFdmlmK2
  • Just to put some pressure on, @giffgaff rebadge O2 so my giffgaff'd iPad also sends through the phone number. // cc @tomwarren
  • I thought about doing a PhD this morning, but I decided to use the same mental effort trying to make a self-published Kindle look decent.
  • All this talk about iBooks... Do we all know that Amazon takes 65% commission on non-US Kindle sales?
  • Even if you know your mobile device market onions, this is well worth a read: http://t.co/g1DKDf8u
  • Via @grumpusnation - WOW - this is an awesome thing for kids: http://t.co/AA8DNpz0
  • Via @maryjofoley - MS replacing Mix conference: http://t.co/b24URace #winrt
  • WTF... so I can't run AdWords for "WinRT" because Google says that it mentions a trademark and is therefore not allowed...
  • Building C# custom controls in #WInRT: http://t.co/Cn9C1DhW
  • "How I learned to stop worrying and love the iBA EULA": http://t.co/a9Y7TZck
  • I'm now waiting on approvals from AdWords, Amazon, and Apple for various bits. This isn't the brave new world I was looking for...
  • Is there anyway to check the status of an iTunes Connect approval, or do I just have to sit here like a lemon for days...?
  • I hate this HTML5 "what to use when tool", but I also love it as well. http://t.co/MDIDGEX8
  • Drive C:. Free space: 0MB. #dammit
  • Siri really is pretty flaky.
  • Bill Turnbull's cello identification skills are weak this morning.
  • Cooling superconductors with lasers: http://t.co/HNHeMgaW. As you do.
  • Another history question... Which version of WIndows experienced the end of it's mainstream support on 31st December 2001?
  • Without looking, what month and year was the iPad announced...
  • Close, January 27th 2010.
  • RIM's new CEO says he'll be "more consumer driven". http://t.co/Zhadr8KP. RIM in enterprise = HUGE success. RIM outside enterprise = meh.
  • Yum...that was a delicious "off by one" bug. Made my entire day!
  • An unofficial app store for apps banned by Google: http://t.co/DtEurGEq
  • Hadn't thought of this problem with URL shorteners: http://t.co/KjzRFKMv
  • Hang on... the guy who ran MegaUpload was actually called "Kim Dotcom". http://t.co/1YN3KiUg (That article is worth a read! Wtf all round.)
  • *sigh* my iTunes Connect account still isn't active ... #ibookswaiting
  • (Leaked) bit about the changes of the XAML team at MS: http://t.co/8THAxYj2
  • I'm at a children's a party. A four-year-old has been given a laser pen as a present. He's test driving it... #terrified
  • Terrifying. http://t.co/AMquyDNJ
  • Kids are playing outside, but I think it's 0 deg K outside. Must be more though as they're moving about.
  • Um. SIM free Lumia 800 £120 from Argos. http://t.co/eWicK94v via @MattFitchett
  • Great bit by @getwired on "premature innovation": http://t.co/x4ym2Nnx
  • In other news, 20+ tools of using DTP tools on Windows has rendered iBooks Author baffling in the extreme.
  • Does anyone else find that iBooks Author is extremely hyphen happy? #justbreakitontoanewlineforgodssake
  • Oooh... @maryjofoley did a lovely bit on Windows 8 devs experience on WinRT thus far: http://t.co/ITvJeziF
  • OK, so this is frustrating. First iBooks book is ready to go, but can't publish it as my accounts not active. :-/
  • Am hacking away at an ebook in iBooks Author. Only problem - iTunes Connect account not yet approved.
  • It appears you can't signup for iTunes Connect using an email address with a plus sign in it. Lovely.
  • iBookstore/iTunes Connect signup keeps failing - grrr
  • Prediction - iBooks Author + iTunes just did for niche writers what iPhone + App Store did for cottage industry developers. Huge, huge, huge
  • That said, good but from @mattgemmell about niche authors using iBooks.
  • ...and I'm late.
  • Lazy web - anyone got a steer on where I can find stock photography for use in a self-published ebook?
  • I can't believe with this iBooks stuff yesterday no one said: "So, this is DTP, right?"
  • Playing with iBooks Author. Looks good, but the UX really messes with your head. #applestuff
  • Maybe they'll be more events when the Win8 beta hits, but MS UK has no upcoming WinRT developer events? http://t.co/zcZP5cmb WTF?
  • The new iBook EULA stuff is not looking good thus far. Hoping for Hanlon's Razor on this one... http://t.co/ik0GyQb6
  • In financial news - Google misses its quarter and shares dip 10%, Microsoft reports record revenue.
  • RT @daringfireball: The Audacious iBooks Author EULA: http://t.co/gK6OXjRr << Um... really Apple?
  • Google autocorrecting "WinRT" to "winter" really is not helpful...
  • Had never heard of MegaUpload... #ohwellgonenow
  • Wha... One of the VS achievements is "code on a Fri/Sat night". People won that *yesterday*.
  • I love it when you sit through 120 seconds of ads on 4od and then it comes up with an error rather than the programme...
  • I can't believe the VS achivements plug-in has only had 12500-odd downloads. Come on guys!
  • Big question about textbooks on iPad - a lot of students sell their books at the end of their course...
  • Engadgets new liveblogging platform is the nuts.
  • In related news, the Engadget Apple event liveblog is here:http://t.co/tqEM0WZs
  • That moment when you've been ripping the guys out of something refactoring for over an hour and you get a stack overflow when you run it...
  • Activity X leads to Effect Y - just donated to Wikipedia for the first time.
  • Ha! IT Crowd on 4od has got a "Sponsored by Reynholm Industries" as an advert on the page!
  • Turns out I bought a wedge of Via coffee from starbucks last week and left it in there when I left. Grrr.
  • I'm in a shop. It's unpleasant, crowded, noisy, confusing and expensive.
  • 10 years ago I used to sit in Starbucks without an iPhone or twitter. what did I do for entertainment?
  • What could be described as "software engineering standup comedy" - http://t.co/Mubl9svW via @mattfitchett
  • Lazyweb - 10 Internets to the person who can direct me to an OSS tool for editing NDEF data for the OpenNFC simulator... No, 20 Internets.
  • Gargh. That's the second time today I've actually needed Wikipedia.
  • In related, related news the person who buys tea in this office bought Tesco own brand tea-bags. I can get no comfort from a nice cup of tea
  • This, my friends, does not feel like winning: http://t.co/tJk1vY0j. Plus, actually, now it's doing this... http://t.co/DbCL8XbO
  • *bangs head on desk* and *does a little yelp-like scream*
  • This is why, in related news, it's a good idea to backup your entire dev VM now and again.
  • That really odd feeling of using your own book to remember how to do something...
  • At WinRT People: Twitter integration – Phase 1 complete!: You can now logon to the site using your Twitter accou... http://t.co/XyPpFee3
  • If you were feeling conspiratorial, you'd read something into the fact that AdWords will not accept "WinRT" in ad copy. (Capitalisation.)
  • Amazon's managed NoSQL database - http://t.co/4fLfWm56 // via @mattfitchett
  • I'm using Eclipse. God I love using Eclipse. It's just do dirty and wrong.
  • Dealing with a world of client-side JS, JSON and Web Forms creates a world that can be only be described with expletives.
  • RT @jkendrick: Best SOPA blackout landing page, bar none. http://t.co/VXe4iVkC << HTML5 ftw. Clever.
  • I used to have one of these old school tablets. http://t.co/tqd09A6O. Terrible device. Really, really awful.
  • Why does VS let you create files like "Handler1.ashx". In every ... single ... case... that's the user making an error.
  • You would think transferring a pension would be easy. It turns out that it is not. Thanks, pensions industry!
  • RIM selling to Samsung: http://t.co/WRIY3ykO. Um... selling BBM and having that on Android could be the biggest win of all.
  • Ah, the joy that is moving a Jira installation from one server t'another.
  • Oracle v Google - judge has something to say re numbers being "obviously calculated to reach stratospheric numbers" http://t.co/VahuZsCh
  • Rumour that Windows 8 tablets will go for between $600 and $1000 - http://t.co/GtoaWkU0
  • Yum - SharpNLP, open source natural language processing tools: http://t.co/tiHDMaly
  • OH: "Ah yes, the walls have eyes."
  • The question is not how Sherlock faked his own death. The real cliffhanger is how he'll restore his reputation... :-)
  • Pretty sure I can think of better things to do with £60m than buying a boat.
  • At WinRT People: Rough edges – mid-January 2012: We’ve had a good first week with WinRT People – a decent number... http://t.co/bmZ9H4LX
  • Amazon's doing Windows on its free-usage AWS tier now: http://t.co/1Fdhucz0
  • This morning I'm spending some time doing VBA. #rockandorroll :-)
  • Just @m4tt Ow.
  • What would happen if Microsoft got a chance to rename CES? This: http://t.co/gmdooTqZ
  • RT @hubmum: BBC Micro working :) http://t.co/2vyN1J6m << Wow!
  • RT @asymco: A brief history of personal computing platforms. http://t.co/PYILgkz0 << WORTH A LOOK
  • NARGH who the hell designed this thing?!?! x1000
  • To the kids to see Happy Feet Two. One of the worst films I've seen in my life.
  • Cold. http://t.co/S8Fujebp
  • Girl is complaining that boy is playing Peppa Pig on the iPad while she's stuck with the iPhone. Go back four years and there'd be neither.
  • OK, so it's not Sherlock, but the new series of Hustle is on at 2100.
  • Leeds, I am in you.
  • “@HAL9000_: sudo retweet this” << I had to. :-/
  • Doh. Just filled out a bunch of forms for a US company and used a UK date format. December 1 2012, anyone?
  • Happened a while ago, but ever so glad that PhoneGap was re-renamed from Apache Callback to Apache Cordova.
  • Mr @mattfitchett has just had a billion dollar idea.
  • Wow. That's not friendly: http://t.co/RVWK2XL2
  • If you want to find content on WinRT, or people tweeting about WinRT, follow @winrtppl.
  • Prediction: This new generic TLD stuff will be an *utter* disaster.
  • I didn't know log4net was an Apache project... http://t.co/tEQJfKcF
  • There's a car dealership down the road with a Starbucks franchise in it. This can go one of two ways.
  • Apparently the Sherlock Season 1 DVD has the "previously unseen pilot episode" on it. Didn't get that with the iTunes version.
  • Waiting for @EdwardBehan. But then, I am very early.
  • Love this @gruber bit on Android/iPhone market share: http://t.co/EMv5L78j
  • Tonight, there will be sashimi. It will sit there in front of me for a little while, and then it will be eaten. #delicious
  • He's watching you - lenticular Steve Jobs. http://t.co/SaVetQCw
  • Three foot long HDMI cable for $1,100 dollars. http://t.co/MujGfL0z
  • Intel, Ultrabooks, faking... http://t.co/cN8qztRz - nope. Hanlon's razor.
  • Did you learn HTML in the 90s? "Doing layout without tables". http://t.co/LUyBDUnk
  • Anyone got any view/stories about anti-spam provision on Office 365 (for a client of mine).
  • Do you think as a society we can agree that we already have the appropriate number of Android app stores? No more, plz http://t.co/HWmK2ErG
  • Steven Hawking's New PC: http://t.co/3ZCJS7ey
  • Right. So with Aspose Cells, to set the background colour of a cell you use the ForegroundColor property.
  • Did Microsoft demonstrate anything new at CES last night?
  • Lots of IT fail this morning. Intermittent DHCP failure, then VM'd Windows bluescreened, now won't come back up.
  • Plus also left my iPad in hotel. On the plus side, have confirmed that Find my iPhone does indeed "find an iPhone/iPad".
  • Playing the "Showcasing IE9" version of Cut the Rope on Chrome... on a Mac... http://t.co/n53VXlo4
  • Geeks throughout the UK this morning will get a bit weepy-eyed at @charlesarthur's homage to the BBC Micro: http://t.co/54dfTXsa
  • Lumia 900 claims to have a 300 hour standby time. http://t.co/wLu2jvyP #dropsdeadlaughing
  • The net result of CES today is that I really fancy trying an Ultrabook.
  • I mock "Inbox Zero". Got 67,041 emails right here.
  • This isn't the answer for why iPad sells bazillions per year and Androids sell 4 or 5 units total: http://t.co/elZcfsi8
  • Someone removed a reference to my GDN Lumia bit from the Lumia Wikipedia entry: http://t.co/JfSpMmMv cf. http://t.co/TdKsAEVU
  • Weird "doing it wrong" edge case. You have to buy the Metro font (Segoe) if you want it on a (for example) Mac: http://t.co/aFl84vMV
  • I have tons to do, yet the maximized application on my desktop is TweetDeck. #mustescapethevortextoftimesuck
  • Fab article on Android virtualisation by @getwired. Do not get sucked into the vortex of crazy! http://t.co/S4fYbobF
  • Now that CES is hopping, my regular tweeter feed is scrolling faster than an "#xfactor" feed during the X Factor final.
  • Now *this* is proper CES: TI demos chip for Windows 8 on ARM: http://t.co/FsKUiAPl
  • Pocket-lint appears to have the most grokkable CES content thus far: http://t.co/cbnxnSjs
  • I can save £12 a year by going with Lovefilm as opposed to Netflix. Oh, the power of the markets. http://t.co/yrzU3O2P
  • Brain has now melted trying to comprehend the new gadgetry from our friends at CES. Buy all the things, apparently.
  • Is there a "Mute CES chatter" option in TweetDeck...?
  • Wrong place, wrong time - prehistoric creatures trapped in amber: http://t.co/3k5XlDKd
  • Windows 8 timeline leaked? http://t.co/jrAWCCfP
  • PhoneGap Training

    Want to learn more about PhoneGap (aka Apache Callback)? My three-day course will teach you how to build PhoneGap applications that target iOS and Android developers. More
  • Half-day Fridays

    Once a month I spend a day, free-of-charge, with a company I haven't worked with before to discuss a new project, new technologies, a new way of working - in short, anything they want. More

My Books