Here are the list of requirements you need to run the Windows Phone 8 emulator:

Visual Studio 2012 requirements

64-bit Windows 8 (x64)
1.6 GHz or faster processor
4 GB of RAM
4 GB of available hard disk space

Windows Phone 8 Emulator requirements

Windows 8 Pro edition or greater
Requires a processor that supports Second Level Address Translation (SLAT)
To check your processor SLAT support, download and run this tool: http://slatstatuscheck.codeplex.com/

Enable network

The emulator comes with 3 virtual machines for 3 screen resolutions: WVGA, WXGA, HD 720P. Each one will use a different MAC Address and virtual IP, so in case you are working inside a secure organization, you may need to provision the MAC addresses to enable emulator to access the internet. 

Publishing your app

Before you submit your app to the Store, you will need to test your app on the 3 emulators and produce 3 different screenshots for your app to upload to the store. (Lumia 920 is 720P and HTC 8X is WXGA)

These are the app models that are supported in Windows Phone 8:

• WP7:
  Apps built for Windows Phone 7 will run in Quirks mode (which is a compatibility mode to run old apps without breaking changes)
• XAML:
  This is the most common choice for most apps. XAML apps are similar to apps built for Windows Phone 7. They have access to the same APIs (old .NET namespaces that are not available in Windows 8) plus a subset of WinRT APIs (that are available on Windows 8). This choice makes it easy to migrate apps code from both Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8 store apps.
• Direct3D:
  Direct3D app development is an attractive choice for developers who want the graphics capabilities of Direct3D. It is primarily used by C++ developers to build games that require high performance.
• HTML5 (Not supported):
  HTML5 & javascript apps like in Windows 8 are not supported in Windows Phone 8. A workaround can be done to create a XAML app and put a web browser control that shows the HTML5 app. However this solution will not allow javascript access to the WinRT APIs and controls, which have to be handled from the XAML code.

I started submitting my first Windows 8 apps to the Store and here is the few issues I faced until now. I'll keep updating this list as I go on.

• App description should be entered for each supported language in the app manifest.
• The app must have a privacy policy link inside the settings charm and in the store page.
• The app must have a support link in the store page.
• The app must provide value to the target markets. For example an Arabic only app will not be accepted in non Arabic speaking countries.

I've been working on this for the past few weeks, and it's out there now.

An open source library, sample application and documentation for creating robust Windows 8 apps.

Check it out on github: https://github.com/LinkDev/Windows8StartKit#windows-8-start-kit

Read the wiki, use the sample application code in your apps, and contribute back.

Features

• NewApp project that uses the library features and will give you a fast start.
• A set of classes for common applications data.
• Auto saving/loading for your app data in local cache.
• Read multiple feeds including RSS or customize your own.
• Schedule feeds to refresh every time interval.
• Show live tile notifications.
• Enable content sharing.
• Show progress bar when a feed is being loaded.
• Preserve memory usage by disposing images after closing a page.
• Helper classes for easy XAML data binding.

You can choose between Dark and Light theme by changing RequestedTheme in the App.xaml file, like below:

<Application
   x:Class="HelloWorld.App"
   xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
   xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
   xmlns:local="using:HelloWorld"
   RequestedTheme="Light">

When using ScrollViewer control, the default behavior is ZoomMode="Enabled" which allow the user to zoom in and out with touch gestures. If you don’t want this behavior (because it may ruin your design or user experience), make sure that you set ZoomMode=”Disabled” for all ScrollViewer controls.

This is the second article in my Windows 8 best practices series.

To change the colors of the default theme, add the following keys anywhere in the StandardStyles.xaml and change them accordingly:

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="ApplicationPageBackgroundThemeBrush" Color="#FFFFFF"/>

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="ApplicationForegroundThemeBrush" Color="#333333"/>

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="ApplicationSecondaryForegroundThemeBrush" Color="#FF991100"/>

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="ApplicationPointerOverForegroundThemeBrush" Color="#AAAAAA"/>

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="BackButtonBackgroundThemeBrush" Color="#00000000"/>

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="BackButtonForegroundThemeBrush" Color="#FFFFFF"/>

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="BackButtonPressedBackgroundThemeBrush" Color="#00000000"/>

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="BackButtonPressedForegroundThemeBrush" Color="#CCCCCC"/>

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="BackButtonPointerOverBackgroundThemeBrush" Color="#00000000"/>

This is the first article of a series of Windows 8 development best practices.

This is a detailed how to convert a new project template to an Arabic right to left ready project.

1. Change FlowDirection="RightToLeft" in all pages root element.
2. Change the back button arrow direction by applying the following changes in StandardStyles.xaml:
   
   Put the following instead of the first part of the file:
   
       <ResourceDictionary.ThemeDictionaries>
           <ResourceDictionary x:Key="Default">
               <x:String x:Key="BackButtonGlyph">&#xE0AA;</x:String>
               <x:String x:Key="BackButtonSnappedGlyph">&#xE0AC;</x:String>
           </ResourceDictionary>
           <ResourceDictionary x:Key="HighContrast">
               <x:String x:Key="BackButtonGlyph">&#xE0AA;</x:String>
               <x:String x:Key="BackButtonSnappedGlyph">&#xE0AC;</x:String>
           </ResourceDictionary>
       </ResourceDictionary.ThemeDictionaries>
   
   Find: BackButtonStyle, and put &#xE0AB; in the ArrowGlyph Text value.
   Find: SnappedBackButtonStyle, and put &#xE0AD; in the ArrowGlyph Text value.
   
   
3. Increase the font sizes to be appropriate for Arabic text.

Try it and tell me your feedback :)