Slammed until PDC – Here Are Some Links

I’m totally slammed until PDC, but I need to make a mental note for the cool stuff that has come up over the last couple weeks.

• Josh Smith and Crack.Net – Josh Smith has a release of a free developer tool for .Net applications. Wildly popular around the office.
• Opacity Masks in Silverlight – Imran Shaik has a good post on using Opacity Masks. I’ll have something up on using a vector mask (known as a “clipping” mask in Silverlight) soon.
• A collection of XAML Gradients – if you’re looking for some colorful starting points, Imran Shaik has a set of good Silverlight-y gradients.
• If you haven’t seen it yet, the Microsoft Patient Journey Demonstrator has been upgraded to Silverlight RTW. Do yourself a favor and check it out.
• Looking for some nice looking Silverlight control templates? Dave Crawford has some spectacular designs up and running. Very slick.
• Silverlight Contrib has a new Silverlight Color Picker that is pretty slick as well as a “Mac Style” menu that is interesting. Go here to sample and here to download the source.
• Jesse Liberty gives as great jumpstart guide to Silverlight. (What tools, skills, technologies and books are good for learning… it’s all there.)

There’s stuff coming, but Veracity (the company I work for) is having a huge push right before PDC, so it’s back to the salt mines.