Thomas Nigro, designer/developer for Videolan who is working on the Windows Phone version of VLC, has tweeted that the app is ready for the Windows Store, writing:

His tweet was accompanies by the above picture, showing the prominent VLC tile.

He did however caution that the app will not hit the Windows Phone Store next week, as he will be busy showing the app at the Microsoft product fair tomorrow.  The app is now a universal app, working on both Windows and Windows Phone, which should help keep the app maintained going forward.

VLC for Windows 8 and Windows Phone was the result of a kickstarter which raised more than $40,000 from the Windows community more than a year ago, and the company has also received some technical support from Microsoft also.  While waiting for the app however more multi-format video players have arrived on the market however, reducing the excitement around the arrival of the app in the Windows Phone Store.

With the developer preview of the Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 Microsoft is planning to release next week, they are also planning to release new emulators, said Cliff Simpkins, Product Manager for Windows Developer Platform at Microsoft.

The news is good news for developers who have been caught in the recent WP8.1 Dev Preview/Cyan bind, and who do not want to risk being trapped on the preview again.

Via Twitter.com

Microsoft today announced that John W. Stanton, wireless industry pioneer and chairman of Trilogy Equity Partners has been appointed to the company’s board of directors, increasing the board’s size to 11 members. John W. Thompson, Microsoft chairman said that “John brings extraordinary experience in the mobile communications industry and deep business acumen, and we are delighted that he is joining Microsoft’s board of directors.”

Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella commented the following regarding John,

“John’s insights into mobility around the globe and his expertise in working with organizations as CEO and as a board member will be invaluable as we transform Microsoft for growth and leadership in the mobile-first, cloud-first world.”

Stanton will join the Compensation Committee of the Microsoft board.

In addition to Stanton, Microsoft’s board of directors consists of John W. Thompson, Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer of Virtual Instruments; Steve Ballmer, former chief executive officer of Microsoft; Dina Dublon, former chief financial officer of JPMorgan Chase; Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and technology advisor; Maria M. Klawe, president, Harvey Mudd College; David F. Marquardt, general partner at August Capital; G. Mason Morfit, president, ValueAct Capital; Satya Nadella, Microsoft chief executive officer; Charles H. Noski, former vice chairman of Bank of America Corp.; and Dr. Helmut Panke, former chairman of the board of management at BMW AG.

Read the full press release here.

Microsoft is planning to port the 1996 hit arcade game Killer Instinct 2 to Xbox One. This information was revealed when this game was submitted to Korea Game Rating Board. This game will be branded as Killer Instinct Classic 2 in Xbox Store. Microsoft has already brought 1994 game Killer Instinct to Xbox One.

Killer Instinct for Xbox One:

 The legendary fighting game franchise is back with next-generation visuals, over-the-top action, a wild cast of combatants, rocking reactive music, and C-C-C-COMBO BREAKERS! Choose from amongst a wild cast of combatants each with fluid animations, unique combat tactics, and flashy special attacks. Utilize an open-ended combo system to rack up huge combos as your opponent looks for openings to break you and turn the tides of battle. Go online and test yourself against players from all over the world, or brush up on your combat skills in detailed tutorials. The downloadable version of this game supports English

From Joystiq,

Developer Iron Galaxy Studios revealed earlier this month that Killer Instinct 2 star Maya will joinKiller Instinct‘s playable roster this fall as part of its second season of content. Microsoft has not confirmed Killer Instinct Classic 2‘s existence or a release date, but given the publisher’s previous release schedule for Killer Instinct content, the port could surface as part of a second-season bundle.

via: joystiq

We reported few hours back that popular display research firm DisplayMate rated Surface Pro 3 display as one of the very best and most accurate displays available on any mobile platform and OS. They came to the conclusion by analyzing various lab measurements in the following categories: Screen Reflections, Brightness and Contrast, Colors and Intensities, Viewing Angles, LCD Spectra, Display Power. They called it “an excellent top tier display for professionals that need a very accurate and high performance display for their work, and for consumers that want and appreciate a really nice and beautiful display.”

Microsoft Surface Display team today highlighted this accolades in their blog post and offered a detailed look on how Microsoft improved the Surface Pro 3 display on various factors.

Reflectivity and Ambient Contrast:
For Surface Pro 3, the team wanted the images displayed to appear clear and with pure color, like the sky to the star-gazers in the countryside. Building a great display isn’t a simple task, and for a touch-screen device, this challenge increases because there are materials, e.g., glass, plastic films, air, adhesives, etc. required to create that experience that are all potential sources of “light pollution” that will get between the stargazer and the sky. To accomplish their goal, the team reduced ambient reflected light by engineering a screen with 10% less reflection – both diffuse and specular (mirror-like) – than competitive 10” and 12” touch-screen tablets. The result is great contrast ratio in bright office environments where it’s needed for maximum productivity. When contrast is measured in an actual 500 lux ambient lighting environment (equivalent to what you would find in a bright office) the Surface Pro 3 offers 20% greater contrast ratio than a competitive 12” tablet.

Optical Bonding

From the beginning, the screen on each and every Surface has been optically bonded. This means that the pieces (glass, LCD…) that make up the screen are bonded to each other and that there is no empty space. Optical bonding has three main benefits – increased contrast (reduced glare/reflectance), reduced parallax and increased touch accuracy (described below), and increased mechanical strength and rigidity. Contrast is increased by the fact that there are fewer distinct surfaces to reflect light back at you on an optically bonded display, so images look better as shown in following images.

Read more about it in detail at surface blog.

order surface pro 3 from microsoft store today.

Zen Studios earlier this month announced that “Pinball FX2” game is coming for Xbox One on July 31, and it will be available for free. The game will feature all new graphics running at 60 frames per second and in stunning 1080p. There will be playable demos of each table so you can try before you buy. Today, they announced that game got delayed to next month. The main reason is that they are implementing a feature that will allow Xbox 360 gamers to import their tablets to Xbox One version.

First of all, we’d like to thank the Zen Studios community for their feedback on our announcement of the Xbox One version of Pinball FX2. We cannot underestimate the importance of your support, insight, and yes, even criticism regarding our projects. Zen Studios has a few announcements to make affecting Pinball FX2 fans and particularly the Xbox One version of the game. Microsoft and Zen Studios have taken your feedback to heart, and seeing that many of you were very upset with the news that table transfers between Xbox 360 and Xbox One would not be happening, we have some good news for you! We will be able to implement table transfers on Xbox One starting from Pinball FX2’s launch. Any available table on Xbox One that was previously purchased for Xbox 360 can be imported to the new version free of charge.

However, as this process will take a bit more development time for the game, Pinball FX2 version of Xbox One will see a slight delay from its original release date this week to next month. We apologize to any fans affected by this delay, but we pledge to make it up to you by incorporating this highly desired feature. Once again, we cannot thank you enough for your support through this process, as well as Microsoft’s, who took your feedback very seriously and worked with us to implement this feature. And again, we do apologize for the delay while we create the Pinball FX2 experience that our fans both want and deserve.

We’re excited to bring Pinball FX2 to Xbox One owners, to have their previous purchases honored and transferred, and we can’t wait to share with you what we’ve got coming in the future. We thank you for your continued support

Source: Major Nelson

Joe Belfiore posted this great-looking selfie today on Weibo in China.

Besides looking his great youthful self, the picture quality suggests the photo was taken by a pretty good camera, suggesting we may be looking at a photo taken from the Nokia 730, codenamed Superman, a rumoured Windows Phone 8.1 handset with a 5MP front cam and a 4.7-inch HD screen that is expected to be released during the later part of 2014.

Now I personally believe selfies are the result of a narcissistic generation, but there is no arguing with the quality of the picture. Does it make the Superman a bit more attractive to our readers? Let us know below.

Via Twitter.com

HTC has sent out invitations for an event on the 19th August in New York.

The company has not provided any clues to the identity of the device being launched, with rumours ranging from the Nexus 8 tablet to an HTC smartwatch.

The company is however known to be working on a high end Windows Phone which even Microsoft has teased as coming soon,  so Windows Phone fans can cross our fingers for a new Taiwanese handset also.

Unfortunately the HTC One for Windows Phone is expected to be an Verizon exclusive, so most of us will have to rely on Nokia as usual for our Windows Phone fix.

At the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in June, Ubisoft announced that the next installment of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Assassin’s Creed Unity, will be released worldwide on October 28. Set in a once-magnificent Paris, Assassin’s Creed Unity plunges into the terror of the 1789 French Revolution and features the most dense and immersive Assassin’s Creed city ever created. It may be the grittiest, biggest, deadliest “Assassin’s Creed” ever. At a special San Diego Comic-Con 2014 panel last week, fans were able to talk with the creators of the game, and get some cool behind-the-scenes info.

Fans were treated to a demo of the game, the first time the public has gotten to see it running in-person. The in-game city of Paris is huge, and filled with crowds of people, large buildings that you can enter, and massive cathedrals. And once you’re in the game, there are no load times; Amancio promised that Unity will never pull you out of the experience with a loading screen.

Ubisoft also released a new story trailer, directed by horror icon Rob Zombie and The Walking Dead co-creator Terry Moore which you can watch above. Are you getting more excited for Assassin’s Creed: Unity ??

Pre-order from the below links,

• “assassin’s creed unity” (ubisoft) microsoft store.
• assassin’s creed unity xbox one – amazon

via: xbox wire

Microsoft/Nokia has posted some new promotional videos for their new Windows Phone 8.1 handsets.

In the above somewhat low content video directed at professional users we have Nokia showing off the similarity in experience between the Nokia Lumia 930 and Windows Phone 8.1.

In the video after the break Microsoft is addressing a very different audience, showing that the Nokia Lumia 530 has all the cool apps which the youth expect on their smartphone.

Microsoft today updated the Facebook beta app for Windows Phone devices. This new update v8.3.0.5 does not include any new features. But it includes performance improvements and bug fixes. The last major update included the following new features.

v5.3 Additions:
•Updated design
•Improved performance
•Video upload
•Support for additional languages
•Messenger support
•Post detail page

Download the app here from Windows Phone Store

If you are using very slow connection to access facebook Download: Facebook Fast Basic for WP to provide faster Facebook Access

Mouth for hire Robert Scoble, who briefly worked for Microsoft in the early 2000’s as a developer evangelist, and clearly did not do a good job given the doldrums the company was in then, and who currently works for Rackspace as an evangelist (that company is in takeover talks) has decided to give Microsoft the benefit of his sage industry advice.

The albatross currently around Rackspace’s neck is convinced Microsoft needs to drop Windows Phone and “embrace and extend” Android, noting:

“The problem is that Microsoft has 4 percent market share for mobile. The reason for that is that they have no apps, and there’s no love for developers of apps. When you go to hackathons in San Francisco — and not Seattle, because San Francisco is the center of the world, not Seattle. Sorry, that’s the way it is.

Thoroughly mixing his metaphors, Scoble told Geekwire “That train has sailed. The real answer is, give up Windows Phone, go Android, and embrace and extend like you did with the Internet. But they don’t listen to me.”

Scoble, who’s job as startup liaison may be threatened now Rackspace has given up challenging Amazon, Microsoft and Google for the cloud computing market, was convinces its the safe company culture and Seattle bubble which is to blame for Microsoft’s mobile ills.

“The problem with Microsoft is that it’s so committee-driven and slow. It’s not a startup anymore. It’s a big-ass company with a lot of people. And let’s be honest — you work at a big company because it’s comfortable. You don’t have to work 80 hours per week and you get paid, have nice benefits, and the family is all happy. It’s collected a lot of those kinds of people and they are all in committees. Committees don’t do anything. I don’t know if Satya will change that. He’s trying. He did a hackathon today, that seems cool.”

He continued:

“But if I was a Microsoft strategist, I would not be living in Seattle right now. I’d be living in San Francisco or Beijing or Tel Aviv or London or Berlin or New York City. I would get out of the bubble here. There is a culture here that is different than the rest of the world and it is a Microsoft company culture.”

“The minute I get off the plane, I see Windows Phones. I do not see Windows Phones anywhere in the world except Seattle. You got to get away from this culture where you don’t understand the market. You need to understand why the developers don’t like you. You got to hang out at a hackathon — not the Seattle hackathons where there are Windows Phones because it’s a Microsoft world. Go to some place else in the world where there’s a hackathon and convince them to get a Windows Phone. Then I’ll start saying different things about Microsoft.”

Scoble does have a lot of experience with failing companies, with his last 2 jobs prior to Rackspace all seeming to have failed (Podtech.net and Fastcompany.tv), but we suggest Scoble gets around a bit more, but not look in Seattle for his next job.

Mega Cabs is an on-call Taxi service available in Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkatta, Ludhiana, Amritsar, and Chandigarh cities in India.They have released their official app for Windows Phone devices recently.

This application allows you to book a cab in a convenient way for any of the above 7 cities. You can select the location where you want to avail the cab service in the map and even receive traffic updates near your pickup location.

Download it here from Windows Phone Store for free.

In the recent screen shots of Windows Phone 8.1 GDR1 published by Microsoft the company may have been hiding a secret in plain sight.

Vietnamese site Techrum.vn note Microsoft appears to be showing Chat on Facebook in the pictures, a feature which has been absent since the 8.1 update.

Facebook has recently moved the Chat feature out of the Facebook app into a dedicated Messenger app, to enable it to monetize it separately.  It seems unlikely that they will allow Microsoft to move it back into the OS again, but then the pictures above speak a 1000 words.

Even though the info page does not say so yet, the Lumia Cyan update is now available for the Nokia Lumia 1520 in Germany, according to Dr. Windows Martin Geuss on Twitter and his website.
I am yet to verify this - since I am on the developer preview I need to downgrade my phone first – and will update this article when I know more. (EDIT: Downloading Cyan on my Lumia 1520 right now)

The Lumia Cyan update brings all the Windows Phone 8.1 features to the Lumia 1520 together with a new firmware . This means features like a start screen background, a notification center, improved UI rendering and an improved photo algorithm are finally coming to the biggest Windows Phone device to date and the update also includes support for Dolby Digital audio recording or Motion Sense.

Check availability with All Lumia Updates Tracker app: click here

Today, Microsoft announced the Windows Phone 8.1 Update that will be rolling out as developer preview next week. This update includes many improvements and some new features as well. Find the list of new features coming in this update below,

1) Live Folders:

We have seen folders concept for organizing apps in many other smartphone platforms. Microsoft bringing the same to Windows Phone platform to help you organize Live Tiles. Microsoft is calling this as Live Folders because the live tiles of apps appear in the tile of the folders, so you won’t miss tile updates because you group apps in a folder.

To create a Live Folder, just drag a tile over another tile and then name the folder. Open the folder to change the folder name and arrange and size the tiles however you want.

2) Updated Xbox Music App:

With Windows Phone 8.1, Microsoft replaced the old Music+Video app with the new Xbox Music app. But this app fell short of expectations due to poor performance and lack of features.  The Xbox Music app has been updated to deliver much better performance in areas like app load and list scrolling. Microsoft is updating the app every two weeks, and recently added  background sync of your collection, to swipe to advance and more. They will be adding a “quickplay” of recent playback activities, and support for Kids Corner.

3) Store Live Tile:

You will be wondering why Microsoft took so many years for delivering this feature. Yes, Windows Phone Store has now added support for Live Tiles which makes it easier for you to see the latest info about the latest apps and games available in the Windows Phone Store through its Live Tile. If you have the Store pinned to your Start screen on your device, you’ll get updates on the newest titles – refreshed every 6 hours – streamed dynamically to you throughout your day.

4) SMS Improvements:

Microsoft has now added the ability to select multiple SMS messages for deletion and forwarding, making it easier to manage your text messages. It will come handy for messaging junkies!

5) App Corners:

This is a cool enterprise focused feature. With the new Apps Corner, enterprise can specify which apps are displayed in a special “sandboxed” mode (like a protected Start screen) that restricts which apps are used. Apps Corner can be used to setup retail demos. Retailers can export the profile of Apps Corner on one device and import it on to other devices. There are several other scenarios where this App Corners can be used.

6) Enhanced privacy and security:

Microsoft has also made some improvements in the Windows Phone 8.1 Update regarding privacy and security. This update has added the ability for you to send and receive data through a virtual private network (VPN) when connecting to Wi-Fi hotspots giving you another layer of protection. And If you’re on your home wireless, you can now create a VPN that provides anonymity to help shield your device from being identified by other devices on the network.

Apart from these, Microsoft has also added several hardware related improvements like support for Smart Covers, qHD displays, and more.

What do you think of these new features?

Source: Microsoft

Microsoft today updated their Xbox Video app in Windows Store and this update brings in all new UI to use the app. Xbox Video app brings you the latest HD movies and TV shows on your Windows 8/Windows RT device and makes it easy to watch what you love wherever you are. Rent and buy new blockbuster movies and favorite classics, or catch up on last night’s episodes of the hottest TV shows. Xbox Video also brings you instant-on HD to get you watching right away. Plus, explore your video collection and play your own videos.

Key updates include:

• Welcome to the updated Windows Video app!
• This update includes a redesign of the entire app, making it easier to find and play the content you want
• All of your owned content and personal videos are still available in your Collection
• Minor fixes and improvements

Download it here from Windows Store for free.

GSMDome reports that Joe Belfiore has announced the Chinese version of Cortana at an event at the Conrad Hotel in Beijing last night.

Joe is quoted as saying:

“Cortana just came on stage to announce the good news of China! Cortana is the first and currently the only mobile operating system built-in personal assistant! I am very proud of the work we have done Chinese team, please give us a lot of attention and valuable comments and suggestions!”

The name was also announced on Microsoft’s Weibo account.  Microsoft is Huna pronounced Hianna (“Xiao Na”).

Joe said that the work done with the Bing team on Cortana was quite specific to China, and now the company is forming a Beijing-based team to focus on China-specific work for PCs, phones and tablets.

Google Now is not available in China,

Read more about it after the break and at GSMDome here.

From Windows team blog,

The huge Chinese market has a bunch of different expectations and needs than the US or other countries—so while Cortana (nicknamed “Xiao Na”) generally works the same way in China as the US and the rest of the world, China did get some “special features”. As you’d expect, in her notebook, she displays what she is tracking for you, so you can see and control it. You can set reminders and quiet hours with her. She understands the whole internet so she readily helps you find anything you need. But our team in Microsoft China developed a number of additional features specifically for China. She has an alternative form which has a different visual appearance, animations, and sounds. She supports Chinese (Mandarin) in voice, text, and speech. She also has specialized suggestions tuned specifically for people living in China, like air quality information in weather cards, information about driving restrictions, and the ability to track local TV shows and celebrities. She can look up English words in the Bing Dictionary for people looking to brush up on their English.

Long time Microsoft watcher Paul Thurrott has posted on Windowsitpro.com that he expects Microsoft’s new version of Office designed for Touch to come to Windows andWindows Phone “in coming months”.

The updated software is courtesy of Microsoft’s new Universal apps initiative and he notes that this app will be a superset of the Office for iPad app, featuring even more functionality, and will be ideally suited for the coming even larger 6-7 inch Windows Phone phablets.

Calling the iPad version of Office “Office Mobile”, he said “Windows Phone will soon catapult past them with the same full-featured Office Touch that Windows tablet and PC users will get.”

He notes the work is part of a new focus on Microsoft on Windows Phone for work, with the updates OS now a lot more manageable and filled with new enterprise-friendly features.

We have seen many readers complain about iPad and Android getting updated versions of OneNote while Office for Windows Phone has not been really updated in 4 years.

The Windows Phone India Enthusiasts Facebook Group has brought us this video, which is a preview of #1Weather with Live Lock screen support.

The app is by the same team as #1 Toolkit and the video shows that the new Live Lock Screen API is much more powerful that we expected, and in the end may be a great contribution to Windows Phone.

See another demo of the great looking app after the break.