Posts Tagged ‘windows’
Windows Phone 7 Gets Its First Twitter App: Twikini
A few days ago we wrote about Mel Sampat, a member of the Windows Phone 7 development team who had chosen to leave the team to pursue his own endeavors, part of which included making third-party apps for the very platform he helped make. You might assume that his history with the platform would make developing things for it a bit easier — and, well, you’d probably be right.
Just two days after the general availability of the Windows Phone 7 development tools, Sampat’s company Mist Labs has just announced their first Windows Phone 7 application: Twikini. Besides being the company’s first app, it also gets to claim to be the first Twitter client announced for the platform.
Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>
New HD webcams from Microsoft
Attention citizens! Your benevolent overlords have released three new entries in the LifeCam series. Now all of your long-distance correspondences can be in glorious 720p.
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New HD webcams from Microsoft
The Digital Storm BlackOPS PC gets the Core i7-980X treatment
These Core i7-980X CPUs are everywhere now. First it was Alienware , then Maingear , now Digital Storm, and there’s still at least one more announcement coming today.
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The Digital Storm BlackOPS PC gets the Core i7-980X treatment
The Astro A30 headset is for the rich or insane
How much are you willing to spend on a so-called portable gaming headset?
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The Astro A30 headset is for the rich or insane
Shorthand Mobile Launches TextApps To Bring Web Content To Basic Mobile Phones
TechCrunch50 2008 DemoPit company Shorthand Mobile (formerly Smart Touch) aims to help consumers who don’t use mobile data plans to access SMS and web content. Upon launch in 2008, the startup had developed a suite of basic widgets for mobile phones that visualize SMS services, allowing users to navigate through an intuitive menu. Today, Shorthand Mobile is launching TextApps, a new category of apps that deliver content from websites via SMS in a rich, interactive interface, aiming to expand the capabilities of non-smartphones and provide access to web content for mobile users without data plans.
Launching in beta today on select Motorola and Nokia handsets on AT&T and on Windows Mobile phones, Shorthand TextApps use SMS to expand access to top brands and mobile content including social networks, local search, sports scores, weather forecasts, movie times, news and entertainment. TextApps is an app you download which then creates a more intuitive UI for text-based apps.
Once you download Shorthand, it uses your SMS text messaging plan to connect you to the web content you want. Apps in the TextApps library include CitySearch, Netflix, Facebook Mobile, Twitter, The New York Times and Yelp. Of course, Facebook, Twitter and others have independently integrate with SMS for their sites but Shorthand claims to add more functionality by almost recreating a basic smartphone app. Shorthand is also now available in India on all major carriers and will launch in Brazil this spring. The starup will offer localized TextApps for these countries. Shorthand is free to download, but you will be charged for SMS messages via your SMS plan with your carrier.
As we wrote in our initial review, year, the technology behind is very basic so users shouldn’t expect to see a iPhone like Facebook-app on their phone with TextApps. That being said, the fact that Shorthand has struck deals with Nokia and Motorola to include its offering on their phones and could become a useful way to incorporate extra functionality into basic mobile phones.
Microsoft Employees Leave The Windows Phone 7 Team…To Make Windows Phone 7 Apps
All naysaying aside, people are pretty excited about Windows Phone 7. Our readers are excited for it. I’d be outright lying if I said I wasn’t excited about it, too. Know who else is excited? The Windows Phone 7 team — but perhaps not for the reasons you’d expect.
With a few years of work finally coming to a head, some of the folks on the Windows Phone 7 team are taking a step back, looking at the fruits of their labor… and leaving. Not because they’re ashamed, and not because they’re being poached by the competition — but because instead of making Windows Phone 7, they want to make things for Windows Phone 7.
Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>
Seesmic Launches App For Windows Phone; Rolls Out New Silverlight-Powered Desktop Client
Startup Seesmic has perfected the art of developing compelling Twitter clients on a variety of platforms. Seesmic offers a web client, an Adobe Air-powered desktop client, an Android app, a BlackBerry app, a brand friendly Twitter client and a native Windows desktop client. At developer conference MIX today, Seesmic founder Loic Le Meur is announcing a new Silverlight-powered development platform and Seesmic for the Windows Phone.
The new desktop platform from Seesmic is built based off of Silverlight, which is a refreshing change from the buggy Adobe Air platform. The design itself is similar in look and feel to the Windows client, and includes functionality for integrating your Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin accounts. You can also personalize your background of the app. And the new platform works on both Macs and PCs.
But the most compelling feature of the new desktop platform is that it was designed with plugin features, which will now allows developers build features or integrate their services in Seesmic’s suite of Seesmic clients. One example of a plugin feature is a Bing mapping control plugin, which not only allows you to track geo-location but integrates trackable links at Bing.com
The Seesmic Desktop SDK includes an Extensibility layer as well as a set of utility classes, and the accompanying documentation. Seesmic is also launching a Twitter client app for Windows phones, similar to the BlackBerry app, that will integrated Bing maps and geo-location together.
Le Meur has told me in the past that he has invested in the Windows platform because 80 percent of Seesmic users use a PC. But with the new Silverlight-powered client, both Mac and PC users will be able to experience the client. I’m curious how the client will far against rival technology Adobe Air powered clients, which include Seesmic, and Tweetdeck. And Le Meur is wise to create an ecosystem around his applications, allowing developers to create plug-ins for Seesmic clients.
Disclaimer: Michael Arrington is an investor of Seesmic; I am not.
Digital camera is half-inch thick, costs $25
Welcome to the future of digital photography, friends. This $25 camera measures 13.5 millimeters thick and takes what I can only assume to be mind-blowingly detailed 640
Review: AVerMedia AVerTV HD DVR video capture card
Short Version: The AVerMedia MTVHDDVRR is a PCI Express video capture card with HDMI, component, S-Video, and composite inputs. The card retails for around $100 (you can find it for close to $90 online) and is capable of capturing up to 1080i video
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Review: AVerMedia AVerTV HD DVR video capture card
doubleTwist’s iTunes Alternative (That Works With Android) Adds Podcast Support
Over the last six months, doubleTwist, the iTunes alternative that lets you manage your music, videos, and photos, has really been stepping up its game. In October the company integrated an Amazon-powered MP3 store, allowing users to download and sync their music directly with any of hundreds of compatible devices, much as they would with the iTunes/iPod combo. And today it’s adding a new feature that makes it an even more viable iTunes competitor: support for podcasts.
Co-founder Monique Farantzos says that doubleTwist has built and integrated a podcast search engine with 20 times as many podcasts as iTunes offers. Rankings are based on popularity (as opposed to a simple listing that would grow unmanageable with that much content). The new feature is launching on Windows now, with Mac support for podcasts coming next month. Later this year, doubleTwist will offer an API allowing other applications to tap into the podcast search engine. The company is also planning to launch a client for Android (which would presumably allow users to stream content) over the summer.
Farantzos says that doubleTwist is also going to start offering more cloud-based services. In May, users will be able to store the podcasts they’re subscribed to server-side, so they’ll be able to use the same subscriptions on their desktop and mobile clients without having to dock them together.
While it supports many devices, doubleTwist is becoming increasingly popular as an ‘iTunes for Android’. In January, it forged a partnership with T-Mobile, which promotes doubleTwist and has pre-installed it on some devices. Now, 53% of doubleTwist users are using it to sync with Android phones. The application also supports syncing with many other devices, including WebOS, BlackBerry, Sony PSP, and digital cameras.
doubleTwist is still missing some of the functionality that iTunes has, like the ability to download TV shows and movies. But the podcast functionality will add some video content, and 1 in 5 users are using it to manage video content they already have. And some people may even appreciate the added simplicity if they’re just interested in music. In any case, it probably isn’t worth holding your breath for doubleTwist to add movies and TV downloads any time soon — content owners are still set on wrapping that content in DRM.
Also see Songbird, another iTunes alternative (you can see our past coverage here).
