Windows 9: One OS For Desktop, Mobile & Xbox

By Chris Smith at BGR:  


Unlike Apple, which thinks merging iOS and OS X would be a “waste of energy,” Microsoft wants one single Windows operating system to be available to all its device users, whether they’re Windows Phone handset owners, Xbox fans, or rely on a Windows computer for work or play. Business Insider reports that CEO Satya Nadella said on the company’s FQ4 earnings conference call that a future version of Windows will merge all current Windows versions, becoming an “operating system that covers all screen sizes.”

“In the year ahead, we are investing in ways that will ensure our device OS and first party hardware aligned to our core,” Nadella said. “We will streamline the next version of Windows from three operating systems into one single converged operating system for screens of all sizes.”

“We will unify our stores, commerce and developer platforms to drive a more coherent user experience and a broader developer opportunity,” he added.

Microsoft already revealed at Build 2014 in early April that it will let developers create apps that will work across devices, including Windows Phone smartphones, Windows computers and Xbox consoles, but the company is apparently ready to go even further.

However, that doesn’t mean Microsoft will have a simpler way of selling Windows products to users.

“Our SKU strategy will remain by segment, we will have multiple SKUs for enterprises, we will have for OEM, we will have for end-users,” Nadella added. “And so we will – be disclosing and talking about our SKUs as we get further along, but my statement was more to do with how we are bringing teams together to approach Windows as one ecosystem very differently than we ourselves have done in the past.”

Microsoft Launches Lumia 530 w/ 4-inch Display

By Ben Woods at TNW:  


Microsoft has today announced a new member of its Lumia range in the form of the low-end Lumia 530, which will arrive from the start of next month in Europe.

Priced at €85 before taxes or local subsidies, Microsoft said it expects the Lumia 530 to go on sale in European countries for a retail price of below €100 when it starts to roll out next month, putting it at the lower-end of the affordability scale for Lumia devices.

Key specs include the most recent version of Windows Phone 8.1, a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a 5-megapixel camera, a 4-inch FWVGA (854 x 480 pixels) display and a selection of interchangeable colored shells – available in bright orange, bright green, grey or white. The device will also be offered in single SIM and dual-SIM variants.

Alongside the phone, the company also introduced a new mini speaker designed with portability in mind. Priced at €19, the Bang by Coloud may not offer luxuries such as Bluetooth connection, but it does offer connectivity through a 3.5mm headphone jack and promises up to eight hours of playback. Microsoft said it would be available “in the coming weeks”.

Microsoft Reveals Siri-like Windows Phone Feature

By Anick Jesdanun at Yahoo Tech:

Microsoft unveiled a new virtual assistant for Windows Phone devices Wednesday as it seeks to gain traction in a highly competitive and lucrative market for smartphones.

The assistant, Cortana, is named after an artificial-intelligence character in the company's "Halo" video games. Cortana tries to be chatty like Apple's Siri, while anticipating information you might want, like Google Now.

Cortana is among the new features coming to a Windows Phone update called 8.1. The updated operating system will come with new phones in about a month, including three that Nokia announced Wednesday. It will also be available as a free download for existing phones a few months later.

Microsoft is also updating its Windows 8.1 system for tablets, laptops and desktops. Although Microsoft has been pushing touch-screen controls, the new update is designed to make it easier for those with traditional keyboard and mouse controls. The update, simply called Windows 8.1 Update, is available starting next Tuesday.



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Microsoft Pulls Fake Google Apps from Windows Phone Store

By Emil Protalinski at TNW:

Microsoft today pulled six fake Google apps from the Windows Phone Store, after we contacted the company about the issue. The apps in question were: “Hangouts,” “Google Voice,” “Google Search,” “Google+,” “Google Maps,” and “Gmail – email from Google.”

All of these are published by a “Google, Inc” (instead of “Google Inc.”) and priced at $1.99 each. The only app that Google offers for Windows Phone is its search app, and the publisher is “Google Inc.”

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BBM coming to Windows Phone

BBM is coming to Windows Phone. Nokia's Stephen Elop announced at his company's Mobile World Conference 2014 press event that the popular service will be available to Windows Phone users, but did not give a specific launch date. The instant messenger app first went multi-platform last year, when it appeared on iOS and Android in October.


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Why Microsoft Might Actually Release an Android Phone

Nokia’s “Normandy” Android handset has become something of a curiosity for many smartphone fans who see it as a “what-could-have-been” for Nokia if it had decided to not go exclusively with Windows Phone. ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley, however, thinks that Nokia’s Android phone is more than just a novelty, however — it might be a hint of what’s to come from future Microsoft phones now that it’s on the cusp of buying Nokia’s handset division.

Why in the world would Microsoft release an Android phone, you ask? As Foley explains, a heavily modified Android that incorporates a lot of Windows Phone’s design choices and that prominently features many of Microsoft’s mobile apps might be a great way of gaining a foothold into some emerging markets.

“Microsoft wants to be a devices and services company,” Foley explains. “If you buy a handset that runs at least some Microsoft services and apps, Microsoft is guaranteed to earn at least some revenues from that transaction. If a user foregoes Windows Phone as it stands now in favor of an iPhone or Android phone, Microsoft will likely make far less from that potential customer. Of course, Microsoft’s preference would be for that handset to be all Microsoft, with a pure version of Windows Phone OS inside. But an Android core with Microsoft apps and services is the next best thing, isn’t it?



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Android Is No Longer Enough For Sony

Sony has confirmed in an interview that a single mobile OS strategy is not good enough for its mobile goals anymore, even if the collaboration with Google has been fruitful, bringing several interesting Android-based Xperia flagship handsets to consumers in recent years. “We are continuing our discussions with other partners, including Microsoft, as part of our partnership with this company on the broader Sony spectrum,” Sony Mobile Europe head Pierre Perron told TechRadar in an interview. “We don’t want to be a single OS manufacturer, I don’t think it’s a viable position in the long term.”

However, Sony is also interested in what it can offer on top of the Windows Phone platform, the exec said. “[Working with Microsoft] is an interesting proposition for us in the PC environment, and we continue our engagement with them, Perron added. “We are exploring this as part of our discussion in mobile space too. One thing is using the platform [Windows Phone] itself, and another is ‘what can we deliver on top of it?’”



Read the full story >> 

20 Social Apps That Got Us Talking in 2013

By Ken Yeung at The Next Web: 

As we wind down the year, The Next Web compiled a list of some of the social apps that have made some significant moves in 2013. How did we qualify what a social app was? In our mind, it was a service that had a core functionality that enabled users to interact and engage with other people, either online or offline.


- Snapchat

Perhaps one of the apps that made the most headlines this year, Snapchat ends this year with a rather large valuation, coming off reports that the company entertained acquisition talks with Facebook. It was said that the social networking company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg had sought to purchase the ephemeral messaging service for north of $3 billion.

Snapchat functions as a messaging service, but in an “ephemeral” way. Messages can be sent to friends, but will only be stored momentarily — up to 10 seconds, in fact. Afterwards, they disappears from existence.

In February, Snapchat launched video messaging for its Android app. It then unveiled a new service specifically aimed at kids on iOS to help it expand its user base. The company has certainly been busy trying to justify its growing valuation. This summer, it said that 350 million messages were sent through the service each day.

Of course, let’s not forget that Snapchat recently hired away Instagram’s head of business to be its Chief Operating Officer, a sign that the startup is looking to stay independent and may help it to begin monetize its service. Will the new ‘replay’ feature play a role here?

➤ Snapchat for iOS | Android


- WhatsApp

WhatsApp recently announced that it has more than 400 million monthly active users, giving it an extra leg up in the mobile messaging battle. Available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone, and Nokia Symbian devices, the service has certainly been active both in the US and around the world. It ended 2012 saying that it processed 18 billion messages on the last day of the year alone, but found itself on the wrong side of the law when Canadian and Dutch authorities claimed WhatsApp violated international privacy laws.

In 2013, more activity took place on the mobile messaging service — in June, it hit a new milestone when it processed 27 billion messages in just one day.

➤ WhatsApp for iOS | Android | BlackBerry | Windows Phone | Nokia Symbian


- Line

Another messaging app that has made news in 2013, Line has been expanding rapidly around the world, but hasn’t quite made it to the United States. In November, it passed 300 million registered users and is known for its stickers, another popular thing of 2013.

Line’s stickers feature has become so popular that it has generated $188 million in gross revenue in Q3 2013, alongside other in-app purchases with its ‘connected’ games. In August, the company said that it makes over $10 million per month just from stickers.

With such a booming business, there are even reports that suggest Line is preparing for a US or Japanese IPO soon that could be worth up to $28 billion.

This week, the company revealed that it would be introducing video ads into its product, but would pay users to watch them through its Line Coins payment system.

In a fit of philanthropy, the mobile messaging service announced this week that it had raised $500,000 to help benefit victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines through the sale of ‘charitable’ stickers.

➤ Line for iOS | Android | BlackBerry | Windows Phone | Nokia Symbian


- Google+

Social networks have also been busy this year. Google+ has remained active, now with 17 comments. It has also become a hub for photos, something that Google has exploited with new services such as releasing an improved, Snapseed-powered editing tools, the release of Auto Awesome, and more.

Other updates to Google+’s iOS and Android app include photo sharing, auto ‘Locations’ updates, unified search, and other features.

As Google+ has become a haven for photographers, the company has been making significant changes, including new filters, better profiles, improved user flows, and more.

➤ Google+ for iOS | Android


- Foursquare

Yes, people still do use Foursquare and its seen a bit of a resurgence in 2013. In fact, just this week it raised $35 million in a Series D round. Although still fundamentally a location-based service, Foursquare has evolved its product so that it’s not about the check-in, but more about local recommendations and proactive learning.

Years ago, users were obsessed with checking into a location in order to earn badges or become the “mayor”. Now the app gives you smart recommendations based on friends’ data, and in 2013, the company began giving relevant, location-based information and tips to users, using push notifications (even for users who rarely – or never – actually open the app itself).

This year, the company also opened up its self-service ad platform to small businesses. With this feature, any company can pay to have a personalized promotion appear in a user’s feed in an attempt to garner more business. App users can also parse through 43 million menu items from more than 500,000 restaurants now with an improved Explore option.

In August, Foursquare released a new app to bring the location service to Windows Phone 8 devices.

➤ Foursquare for iOS | Android | Windows Phone


- Vine

In its inaugural year of existence, Vine has been a big player in helping Twitter move away from being just a text-based service to one expanding into other media. The company first launched its six-second video app in January before quickly being acquired by Twitter. Soon after, Vine quickly added Web embeds, Android and Kindle Fire versions, the ability to edit videos and save multiple drafts, and just recently added vanity URLs ahead of future Web-based user profiles.

This video app has also been at the top of Apple’s App Store charts earlier this year for free and social apps and counts more than 13 million users on its platform.

➤ Vine for iOS | Android | Windows Phone


- Waze

Crowdsourced traffic management app Waze hit it big time when it was acquired by Google earlier this year for a reported $1.3 billion. Before then, there was speculation that Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook were all in contention to grab the company.

The Israeli-based startup joins Google as part of its Maps team and brings with it the 50 million users that have signed up to help tell others where there are traffic delays.

➤ Waze for iOS | Android | Windows Phone


- Instagram

The photo-taking and sharing app made some big updates in 2013, including the addition of 15-second video technology and the launch of a pseudo-Snapchat-like feature it called Direct. In addition, Instagram began solidifying its monetization strategy by launching sponsored ads directly into users’ feeds.

The company’s ad product is still in its early stages, but Instagram says early testing shows “promising” results across various metrics like ad recall, awareness, and reach.

➤ Instagram for iOS | Android


- QuizUp

A popular game this year, QuizUp launched on the iPhone to give players countless hours of entertainment by participating in trivia games against their friends or random people. Created by Plain Vanilla Games, there are more than 100,000 questions across 300 categories. It still has far to go before it gets to the level of King’s Candy Crush, but it certainly has helped to provide countless hours of time drain.

It hasn’t all been good news for Plain Vanilla Games — in November, it was reported that QuizUp had privacy and security issues. It was said that the app was believed to be sending user data in plain text and even deceiving players, allowing others to exploit a weakness and cheat. In response, the company said that third-party server code had been patched in order to resolve insecurities and acknowledged that match-ups against ‘ghost’ players are used to improve the user experience when a small number of users are online.

Currently only available for iOS devices, the game’s developer says that an Android version is coming soon.

➤ QuizUp for iOS


- Circle

Circle has been around a while and focuses on answering the question “Who’s around you?” It raised $6 million from notable investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Zynga founder Mark Pincus, actor Ashton Kutcher, CrunchFund’s Michael Arrington, and others.

Instead of telling you when other users are nearby like Foursquare or Highlight, Circle instead hones in on those in your network like your friends, family, and close acquaintances. While apps like Highlight almost allow you to virtually stalk who’s around you, whether they’re friends or strangers, Circle doesn’t retain that creepiness factor, and you can dictate what you’re interested in around you, not what’s happening across the country.

Earlier this month, the mobile-first ‘local network’ released an update for its iOS and Android app that allows users to share photos with each other and gave the ability to post content based on specific topics.

At last count, the company said that it has more than 10 million users and is receiving more than a million new members each month. However, its user acquisition techniques have been called into question by some.

➤ Circle for iOS | Android


- BlackBerry Messenger (BBM)

Here me out for a second … yes, we all know that BlackBerry is in a bit of trouble and disarray. However, 2013 was a good year at least for its BlackBerry Messenger app. The company finally launched the iOS and Android versions of the app, but it wasn’t without a bit of drama — a leaked app preempted the official release that probably prompted some users to simply roll their eyes.

When it was released, BlackBerry forced interested users to queue up. But amid all the criticism, the phone manufacturer said that 5 million users downloaded the app in the first eight hours of its release.

➤ BlackBerry Messenger for iOS | Android


- Candy Crush Saga

Still as addictive as ever, Candy Crush makes it on our list because it’s the game that made the most revenue in 2013, according to Apple’s App Store. It has been downloaded more than 500 million times and played 150 billion times across the Web, Facebook, and on mobile. Chances are that you have a friend that’s hooked on the game — it might even be you.

Earlier this week, the game’s developer, King, announced a new expansion to the game called Dreamworld that is available to those players that have advanced beyond level 50.

➤ Candy Crush for iOS | Android


- Viber

Free, Skype-like app Viber has been in the news as it expands its service. Already available for iOS and Android devices, this year it launched on BlackBerry, Windows Phone and Windows 8. It currently stands at over 200 million users with 500,000 downloads each month, and has updated its apps with new features, such as group messaging and stickers.

➤ Viber for iOS | Android | BlackBerry | Windows Phone


- MixBit

The latest creation from the YouTube founders, Steve Chen and Chad Hurley, MixBit dives into the ever-crowded marketplace of video creation and social sharing services. Available for iOS and Android, it lets anyone capture video clips of up to 16 seconds each and then build a longer video (up to 1 hour) from other collaborators.

Earlier this week, MixBit’s iOS app was updated to enable users to respond to any video with their own. It also increased the size of an individual clip rather substantially. Instead of 16 seconds, it’s now 60 seconds. However, this is only for iOS only.

MixBit is a product of Chen and Hurley’s San Mateo-based incubator AVOS, which they founded soon after they left Google-owned YouTube. You can check out our deep dive here. Similar competitors include JumpCam and Montaj.

➤ MixBit for iOS | Android


- Flipboard

Flipboard has seen the number of magazines appear on its publishing platform grow pretty rapidly in 2013. It now has more than 85 million registered users, thanks to its one of its biggest features. In March, the company released updates to its apps that enabled users to create their own magazines. No longer did available magazines need to be curated by Flipboard itself — now anyone with an interest could generate their own. This became so popular that within the first two weeks more than 500,000 magazines were created.

Soon afterwards, another update saw Flipboard adding profile pages, SMS sharing, and the ability to collaborate with one another. But if this wasn’t enough, later in the year, it made its magazines accessible via the Web browser and then added new functionality that let anyone add product listings directly to their magazines.

Flipboard also became available on Windows 8.1-supported devices, complete with Live Tile support and native gesturing. It also added Reuters, TIME Magazine, and other new publications to its roster.

Of course it wasn’t a perfect year for Flipboard as it faced increased competition from the likes of Clipped and Zite, and even rumors of a Facebook social reader. It also had a couple of outages in July and was even blocked in China in August.

➤ Flipboard for iOS | Android | Windows 8.1


- App.net

2013 marked the one-year anniversary of App.net, the latest incarnation of a social network created by Dalton Caldwell. The service launched as a social platform that puts more of a focus on developers than generating revenue. And while it still has a bit of a way to go before it finds itself on a level playing field with Twitter and Facebook, App.net does appear to be creating a community vibe quite yet, despite its ecosystem of third-party apps.

To help move its mission forward, App.net added 10 GB of storage for every one of its users and opened up its File API in order for developers to create apps that can store and share images on its platform. In order to entice developers, the company increased its incentive plan by 50 percent, giving out $30,000 each month — developers like Hootsuite and Ohai have already created apps for Caldwell’s creation.

A free tier option for users was also unveiled this year in an effort to get more customers to sign up. Available by invite only, these free accounts will allow users to follow up to 40 accounts and receive 500 MB of storage.

➤ App.net for iOS | Android


- Pinterest

Pinterest ends 2013 with plans to a monetization plan, a new API and functionality to support travel interests. It also released a redesigned app for the iPad to accommodate iOS 7, along with a new menu, long-press board sharing, and improved discovery.

The interest-based, visually-focused social network continues to expand its accessibility throughout the world. Pinterest has said it had plans to launch 10 new countries this year — it has a 125 percent growth rate internationally. Earlier this month, it localized its service for those in Russia, Poland, Turkey, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. The month prior, a similar version was available for those in the Nordics.

Its mobile apps have received functionality like improved pin discovery, profile editing, push notification support, predictive search results, and friend mentions.

➤ Pinterest for iOS | Android


- Oggl

Hipstamatic unveiled a brand new standalone app this year called Oggl. When it launched, it had more than 4 million users and was a blend of Instagram and 500px. The company hoped that it would offer a new way for fans of Hipstamatic’s filters to connect with others in the community.

Trailing behind Instagram in the photo-sharing market, Oggl tries to take the experience beyond just snapping a photo and applying a filter. Instead, it functions almost akin to what you would find on a point and shoot camera.

Months after its debut, it released a version for Windows Phone 8 devices, beating Instagram in landing on Microsoft’s platform. It became one of the first supported apps on Nokia’s Lumia 928 smartphone. This was a good move for Oggl, especially as Microsoft had been touting the performance of the device’s camera. However, in August, it was said that fewer than 100,000 people had downloaded the app.

Oggl does have a subscription model where users can pay $2.99 per quarter or $9.99 annually in order to access new lenses and filters — an entirely different model from the original Hipstamatic app.

This month, Oggl’s iOS app was updated to provide an Instagram feed and a Pinterest-style Collections and Discovery tab.

➤ Oggl for iOS | Windows Phone


- YPlan

YPlan is a mobile app that helps you find out what to do around you, similar to WillCall and Sosh. It focuses on giving you last-minute access to a small number of hand-picked events happening tonight. The company launched its second city and expanded internationally all in the same move. Originally centered around London, in September, it touched down in New York City after being installed on over 15 percent of iPhones in London and being downloaded more than 300,000 times.

The company released an Android and iPad app this year as well.

➤ YPlan for iOS | Android


- Quora

The question-and-answer platform makes it onto our list as it spent this year making updates to its service to help curate knowledge from its users. It added a blogging feature to its social network allowing anyone to publish long-form thoughts about any topic. Additionally, recognizing that mobile devices like the iPhone and Android device are the best for reading and responding to questions, Quora released app updates that included a rich-text editing component.

Other improvements made include a new save option for draft answers and a predictive question suggestion capability. As more users begin to create content and share their knowledge on Quora, the company wants to make sure that everyone knows how impactful it is. In November, the social network revamped its analytics service to now measure content distribution, views, upvotes, and shares.

Quora even rebuilt its iOS app to work with the latest operating system. While it’s currently available for iPhone and Android smartphones, an iPad version is coming soon.

➤ Quora for iOS | Android




Via TNW.

Windows Phone 8 Gets Xbox Video, Xbox Music

Are you a Windows Phone 8 user that desperately needs official Microsoft apps for everything in your life? Well, the last two holdouts – video and music – are finally getting official apps.

Microsoft announced today that Xbox Video is finally available on Windows Phone 8. Like the app on PC and Xbox One, Xbox Video for Windows Phone 8 allows users to stream or download any number of movies and TV shows to their device. The app also pulls Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic ratings for those who just aren’t sure if they would like Pacific Rim (Spoilers: You will).

As for TV shows on Xbox Video, Microsoft touts the ability for users to purchase a season pass. This allows to pay a single upfront fee and download each new episode of a TV series as soon as it airs.

inally, Xbox Video for Windows Phone 8 offers SmartGlass functionality with Xbox 360 and Xbox One. You can use the app as a remote or to pull information about the film while watching it on your TV via your console.



Read the full story >>

Instagram Lands on Windows Phone

Instagram is launching a Windows Phone app today, enabling more people to share their photos on the Facebook-owned photo-sharing social network. The move comes less than a month after company CEO and co-founder Kevin Systrom teased Windows Phone users that it would be arriving in the “coming weeks”. But while it’s great to see the app on Windows Phone, it initially ships without support for videos, along with other missing tools.


In its move to bring the popular app to Windows Phone devices, the company says that it spent time focusing on creating “an awesome experience” with Instagram’s core features. However, while the fundamental app exists, it’s not without some differences.

So we know that it’s a somewhat subdued app, but what else is missing? As Engadget reports, some features have not yet been added, including photo tagging, viewing geotaxis, and taking a photo from within Instagram — yes, that’s right. Windows Phone app users can only import photos taken from another app and then import it.


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TripAdvisor Scores Deep Bing Integration, Launches Windows 8.1 App

TripAdvisor puts a nice notch in its belt today with a Bing integration deal that places its results front and center on search results pages. The deal marks the first time that TripAdvisor has lent its Metasearch data, gathered from over 125M reviews across 3.1M locations, to a search engine.

In conjunction with the new Bing integration, TripAdvisor is also launching a new Windows 8.1 app that allows Hotel Price Comparison (what it calls Metasearch), a touch-based interface and dynamic maps that populate rooms, places to see and eat in real time.

The Bing integration is by far the biggest deal for TripAdvisor here, and fits in with its overall efforts to leverage its Metasearch data beyond just its own site. If you’ve seen Bing’s sidebar content before, then you’ll be roughly familiar with how the TripAdvisor data will be presented. If you search for a hotel name and city, for instance, you’re presented with a map of its location and an address and contact details. That’s all fairly standard for Bing. But now, below that, you’ll also get ‘reservations’ and ‘reviews’ sections powered by TripAdvisor. You can blast in dates and smack the ‘find rate’ button to be delivered booking options from the options that TripAdvisor indexes.

The Metasearch infrastructure, which is used by the new Bing integration, was a ‘major undertaking’ for TripAdvisor, involving integrating over 100 different APIs from travel data sources and many partnership deals. Currently, TripAdvisor also powers Yahoo Travel’s hotel search, but the Bing deal will be the first straight up search engine deal. TripAdvisor is also building out a platform that allows independent venues like B&B’s, the incredibly long tail of fragmented inventory that doesn’t have its own APIs, to participate in its Metasearch program.

“At this point, we’ve partnered with over 260 Internet booking engines, or IBEs, representing approximately 200,000 independent properties,” Kaufer said during its Q3 earnings call. “Over 70 IBEs have completed the integration which, as of last week, allows more than 40,000 hoteliers to sign up and start bidding for leads.”



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Nokia Reportedly Sells Record Number of Smartphones

Nokia is gearing up to launch a slew of new devices at Nokia World in Abu Dhabi this week, and it seems that the company’s flagship Lumia smartphone series is gaining momentum after the Wall Street Journal reported that sales hit a record of “at least eight million” units between June and September.

For comparison, Nokia sold 7.4 million Lumia phones in the second quarter of this year, and that 8 million figure is more than double the volume sold one year ago.

This promising figure — while not confirmed by the company — follow recent research which estimated that Windows Phone accounted for 8.2 percent of smartphone sales across five major European markets between May and July.

Nokia is still some way behind iOS and Android but the signs suggest it is entrenching its position in third place.


Via TNW

Microsoft To Merge Windows Store and Windows Phone Store?

Terry Myerson, the Microsoft executive VP who is in charge of the software firm's operating systems, reportedly told employees on Thursday that the Windows Store and Windows Phone Store will be merged into one app store. The store will be available with the next version of Windows Phone 8.1 and a special update planned for Windows 8.1. Both updates should be out by next Spring. No comments were made as to how the unified store would work or what it might look like.

Another one of the questions not answered for now is whether this will mean that Windows Phone apps will work on larger screened Windows devices. Microsoft might borrow a page from Apple and allow apps for larger screened devices to run on those devices only, while Windows Phone apps run on handsets and are scaled up to run on devices like tablets.

source: TheVerge via SlashGear

New Google Technology Aims To Make Apps Run Everywhere

Writing an app that will run on more than one software platform—think Windows, OS X, Linux, iOS, Android and Windows Phone—has usually been an exercise in frustration for developers, because it meant creating separate versions for each respective operating system.

This week, on Chrome's fifth anniversary, the team introduced a new twist known as Chrome Web Apps that aims to solve the two main shortcomings of "traditional" Web apps.

Built with HTML5, JavaScript and cascading style sheets, Chrome Web Apps open in their own windows, not the browser. But these apps will work offline and can use hardware (memory cards, cameras, drives) connected to the device they're running on—something that traditional Web apps can't do. The browser itself doesn't even have to be running, although the apps will tap into its native functionality.

Read the full story >>

How To Build an App: 45 Great Tutorials

Whether you want to build an app for iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows or Facebook, these app tutorials will help you on your way...
In a world where smartphone use is rising exponentially, the opportunities to make a name for yourself, not to mention a ton of money, by turning your app idea into reality are huge. But most designers don't know how to build an app - so where do you start?


Continue Reading >>

Microsoft’s Antitrust Lawyer Has Some Words For Google About The Windows Phone YouTube App

Microsoft and Google are still fighting about the Windows Phone YouTube app. This has been going on for months, with no apparent resolution on the way.

Back in May, Google sent Microsoft a cease and desist letter for building a native YouTube app, claiming that it violated its terms of service in three areas. It allowed users to download videos, it prevented the display of ads in YouTube video playbacks and it played videos that Google’s partners had restricted from playback on certain platforms (like mobile devices).

“These features directly harm our content creators and clearly violate our Terms of Service,” Google said.

Since then, the two companies have actually been working together to deliver a suitable app that would both please Windows Phone users (and Microsoft) and meet Google’s conditions. Microsoft thought they had reached that point. Earlier this week, it released its new YouTube app, after addressing the aforementioned issues. Then, Google blocked it.

The Verge quotes a Microsoft spokesperson before the app was blocked:

We’ve released an updated YouTube app for Windows Phone that provides the great experience our consumers expect while addressing the concerns Google expressed in May, including the addition of ads,” says a spokesperson. Microsoft says it appreciates “Google’s support in ensuring that Windows Phones customers have a quality YouTube experience and look forward to continuing the collaboration.”

Then it quotes a Google spokesperson, and again a Microsoft spokesperson after the app was blocked:

“Microsoft has not made the browser upgrades necessary to enable a fully-featured YouTube experience, and has instead re-released a YouTube app that violates our Terms of Service,” says a Google spokesperson. “It has been disabled. We value our broad developer community and therefore ask everyone to adhere to the same guidelines.”

Read more >>

#Path, #Vine, #Flipboard and #Hipstamatic are all coming to #WindowsPhone 8

As Nokia lifted the lid on its new Lumia 1020, a 41-megapixel beast of a camera smartphone, a number of app-related news nuggets piggy-backed on this announcement in New York earlier today.

First up, Path – the private social network with a 150-friend limit – has revealed that due to uber-popular demand, it’s finally coming to Windows Phone, working directly with Nokia to make it happen.

“This is a platform that we are especially excited to build on because it has been one of the most requested platforms by our users from all corners of the globe,” the company said in a blog post.

“We’ve worked closely with the team at Nokia to build Path for Windows Phone, with a special focus on the new Nokia Lumia 1020 device.”

Indeed, photo-sharing is a core aspect of Path as a social network, so the 1020′s 41 megapixel camera, alongside Nokia’s Imaging SDK and premium filters, should work well for it. No date has been set yet for the launch.

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#Nokia And #Path Partner To Bring The Private Social Network To #WindowsPhone

Path is preparing to cross to the Windows Phone mobile platform — one of the more ‘private’ mobile OSes currently in play, with its marginal market share compared to the dominant duo of Android and iOS. Which sounds like a perfect fit for a private social network. Path co-founder and CEO, Dave Morin, confirmed to TechCrunch the network is ”coming to Windows Phone in full partnership with Nokia”.

Path was named one of the forthcoming apps at the launch of Nokia’s new Windows Phone flagship, the Lumia 1020, taking place in New York today, as Nokia announced a new imaging SDK specific to that device. At this point it’s unclear whether Path will be exclusive to the Lumia 1020 — the only Windows Phone to sport a 41 megapixel camera — or whether it will be made available for download to any Windows Phone handset. We’ll update this post as soon as we confirm.

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Microsoft Previews New Touch-Friendly MSN And Bing For Windows 8

By Anthony HA at TechCrunch:
Microsoft just gave a quick sneak peek of the redesigned version of MSN at the IAB MIXX digital ad conference. It’s optimized for Windows 8 (in fact, it will be the default homepage for Internet Explorer 10 on many Windows 8 devices), and it will be launched on the same day as the new Windows, October 26.

The MSN homepage’s new layout is reminiscent of the Metro design that we’ve already seen on Windows and Windows Phone 7. It’s a clean, tile-based design, with big type and images, with a new News section.
And it’s optimized for navigating with touch screens. One of the cooler new features is the ability to “flip ahead,” where you basically swipe across the screen to flip the page and read the next article. Another new feature is the ability to “snap” content to the side of the screen. For example, you could look up financial information on MSN Money, snap that content to the side of the screen, then open a PowerPoint presentation and copy the information over.

Microsoft also offered a preview of new Bing apps for search, news, and travel. Again, there was a new layout, and you could snap content to reference later. And yes, space is saved for big, glossy ads.



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