• Series

One-Hundred and first in a series.  Welcome to this week's selection of the best apps and games that were published to Microsoft's Windows Store.

Big news this week was the release of the Windows 10 Technical Preview. It introduces two changes from an apps point of view that are noteworthy. Apps can be run in windows now and the Start menu displays live tiles.

Continue reading →

One-Hundredth in a series.  Welcome to this week's selection of the best apps and games that were published to Microsoft's Windows Store.

This week saw some strong releases, mostly games though, such as the excellent strategy game Cloud Raiders, the car game Asphalt Overdrive or the football game Fifa 15: UT.

Continue reading →

First in a series. Now that the initial excitement surrounding the launch of the new iPhones has calmed down, most of us new iPhone owners have had a chance to play around with our new devices a bit.

So what’s there to love about the iPhone 6 lineup? What do we hate? In this first article we’ll take a look at the positives. No doubt, ten million phones sold over the weekend indicate that most consider this a significant step forward for the iPhone itself, so I think it’s only fair to you and Apple to wax poetic about the good things first. Note this is not a review, but more just musings on the device itself. Every tech publication known to man has already written how "game-changing" and  "revolutionary" it is, so here we’re going to give equal time to both the fanboys and naysayers. Both camps have valid points.

Continue reading →

Ninety-ninth in a series. Welcome to this week's selection of the best apps and games that were published to Microsoft's Windows Store.

This week saw some strong releases such as Star Wars: Commander, another official Star Wars game that looks to become as successful as Star Wars: Assault Team.

Continue reading →

Ninety-eighth in a series. Welcome to this week's episode of the best new apps and games for Microsoft's Windows 8.x operating system. This week saw the release of several high profile apps in store including the official New York Times Crossword application and the simple but addictive game Dots Out.

Both are not 100 percent free however, which explains why no app was awarded the best app of the week title.

Continue reading →

Ninety-seventh in a series. Welcome to this week's episode of the best new apps and games for Microsoft's Windows 8.x operating system.

This week saw the release of several high quality applications and games for the Windows 8.x platform. App of the week is the deck building game Order & Chaos Duels which features great gameplay and graphics.

Continue reading →

Ninety-sixth in a series.  Welcome to this week's installment of the best new apps and games for Microsoft's Windows 8.x operating system.

Microsoft  removed 1500 apps from the store this week that did not meet quality guidelines and resulted in a bad user experience as a consequence. Users who purchased these apps are eligible for a refund according to Microsoft's announcement.

Continue reading →

Ninety-fifth in a series. Welcome to this week's episode of the best new apps and games for Microsoft's Windows 8.x operating system.

This week has been rather uneventful. Microsoft did release an update for its OneNote application that adds options to print notebooks and pages to the app among other things.

Continue reading →

Ninety-fourth in a series. Welcome to this week's episode of the best new apps and games for Microsoft's Windows 8.x operating system.

Microsoft released the August Update for Windows 8.1 this week which offered minor improvements and fixes only.

Continue reading →

Ninth in a series. User experience is an ongoing series of surprises -- discovery of something unexpected and useful when positive and discovery of annoying glitches when negative. Both evoke emotional responses. The latter is devastating as little frustrations build to crescendo. That's the state I near with my "Microsoft All-In" experiment. Dissatisfaction grows.

I started this journey on July 1, after buying Surface Pro 3. The tablet-hybrid promised so much, and my overall experience with the hardware is excellent. I can't say the same about the operating system, web browser, or supporting services. Clunky is good word. Think old car that runs well on the highway but sometimes stutters and stalls at stoplights. The overall UX is nowhere as smooth as Chrome OS or OS X.

Continue reading →

Ninety-third in a series. Welcome to this week's selection of the best new applications and games for the Windows 8.x operating system.

This week has not seen many new releases which is why the list of apps below is rather short when compared to other weeks.

Continue reading →

Ninety-second in a series. Windows Store saw some great releases this week, including three Runtastic fitness applications and the official NFL preseason application.

Several core applications such as the Xbox Video application have received updates this week. The app features a full redesign which, according to Microsoft, should make it easier for users to find and play contents using it.

Continue reading →

Ninety-first in a series. Windows Store saw some great releases this week, including a fantastic looking shooter from Gameloft, a cute racing game in the style of Micro Machines, and an excellent action RPG optimized for touch-input.

In other news, the notebook app Bamboo Paper has been released for Windows 8. To celebrate this, all premium writing and drawing tools are free of charge for the time being. Make sure you download them while they are free if you like the application.

Continue reading →

Eighth in a series. What goes around comes around. It's cliché but describes my return to Nokia after abandoning the brand five years ago. I never expected to come back, and the app experience, while a backwater compared to Android or iOS, is little different than when I left. Cameras are great and app selection limited, but it's hugely improved because of Microsoft.

Nokia was in 2009 still the world's mobile handset leader, except for one major market: The United States. As such, Symbian dominated mobile app development, even as iOS rose in prominence. (Remember: Apple opened its app store in July 2008, and the first Android phone shipped a few months later.) But the majority of apps and supporting services, developed by Nokia and third-parties, best suited the rest of the world. Americans had limited choices on the company's handsets.

Continue reading →

Ninetieth in a series. Welcome to this week's selection of the best apps and games that have been released in the past seven days for Windows 8.

Several important applications were updated this week. The official Skype application for Windows 8 supports free group calls in the latest version while the popular Twitter client Tweetium better filtering of blocked users and discounts if you subscribe for a year.

Continue reading →