Today at Build 2015, Microsoft revealed some exciting changes to the Windows Store -- not least that it will soon be much, much easier for iOS and Android app developers to convert their creations into Windows 10 apps. But this is far from the end of the story, and there are also important payment and subscription options on the horizon.

Microsoft is introducing support for in-app purchasing of subscriptions, providing developers with new ways to monetize their apps. To help make it easier for devs to get money from customers, the ability to pay for purchases with a mobile phone is also to be added.

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Smartphones are essentially pocket-sized computers, packed with processing power. However, Microsoft sees its devices as actually functioning as full-blown (if somewhat underpowered) PCs, once Windows 10 for phones arrives.

At the Build developer conference, the company showed how Continuum can transform a Windows Phone into a tiny Windows PC.

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Microsoft has a four-fold plan to close Windows Phone’s infamous 'app-gap' problem. At its ongoing developer conference, Build 2015, the Redmond-based company announces that it is making it easier for developers to bring their apps to the Windows Phone platform.

The first way is to entice Web developers to wrap their sites into apps and release them on the Windows Store. The second -- arguably, the least exciting -- is to make Windows apps the traditional way -- using existing Win32, .NET WinForms and other Windows development technologies.

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Windows 8.x is a massive failure for Microsoft, with a usage share that’s well below that of Windows XP.

With Windows 10, Microsoft is hoping to put the past behind it, and produce an operating system that isn’t overshadowed by older Windows versions.

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Samsung is down but not out in the global smartphone shipments battle with top rival Apple. That is the conclusion from analysts at Juniper Research, which like Strategy Analytics released first quarter 2015 data today. Juniper sees sharp rebound from Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, which "reception" is stronger than their predecessors.

Quarter-on-quarter, Samsung smartphone shipments -- 82 million units -- rose by 23 percent but fell 29 percent year over year. By comparison, annually, Apple shipments soared by 40 percent, to 61 million, largely lifted by China. The country's importance to the fruit-logo company cannot be overemphasized for either manufacturer. But Apple reaped the big crop, with shipments up 71 percent that generated $16.8 billion in revenue.

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Satya Nadella’s Microsoft is a lot different from the Microsoft he took charge of from Steve Ballmer last year. It’s open, it’s bold, and it’s kicking. At the ongoing Build 2015 developer conference, the Redmond-based software mammoth announces the launch of Visual Studio Code, a cross-platform code editor for writing modern web and cloud apps. The interesting bit? In addition to Windows, the Visual Studio Code runs on Linux as well as Apple’s Mac OS X desktop platform. Also, it’s free and you can download a technical preview of it right here.

The full-fledged Visual Studio is still Windows-only, but with the new Code the company is opening up to other platforms. The idea is simple. A lot of people use Linux and Mac, so let’s make a development environment that could support their preferred platform.

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Google is life. Well, not really, but for some people it kind of is. For many of us, a Gmail account became a gateway to an entire Google lifestyle. One password logs us into numerous services, which is super convenient, but also quite scary. Over time, it is easy to let your guard down and fall for phishing sites that pretend to be a legit Google login. If your Google credentials are intercepted, you are going to have a bad time.

Today however, the search-giant releases an open source Chrome browser extension aimed to thwart these stinky phishing goons. Called "Password Alert", it will hopefully protect your credentials and keep the sun shining on planet Google.

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Businesses often use different applications to create, store and share content. Whilst most enterprise collaboration tools allow for some sort of file sharing it can involve additional time and effort importing data.

The Incentive platform is now making sharing information easier by adding one-click integration with Dropbox cloud storage.

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WindowsX has released Windows 10 UX Pack 3.0 and Windows 10 Transformation Pack 3.0, new builds for its Windows skinning tools.

Each tool allows users to emulate the forthcoming Windows 10 user interface on PCs running older versions of Windows from XP upwards, the difference being that the UX Pack is less radical and promises not to touch any system files, making it easier and safer to use.

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It's one thing to have your personal bank account hacked, you may lose a few dollars or worse a small fortune. However you would expect corporate accounts to have added security, preventing such a devastating event. That's clearly not the case. While we've seen point-of-sale systems hacked and customer data stolen, this time it was actually a company bank account that was robbed.

Irish airline Ryanair had its corporate account plundered by hackers to the tune of $5 million, or €4.6 million. The money apparently disappeared from accounts used to fund the fueling of the company's planes, not a cheap task and perfect for not immediately ringing alarm bells.

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According to a new survey of 2,000 people in the UK, one in seven say they've contemplated divorce because of their partner's activity on social media.

Nearly a quarter also say they have at least one row a week with their partner because of social media use and 17 percent say they argue every day because of it.

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Running your own local web server can make it easier to develop and test websites, but there’s one small obstacle to install first: you’ll have to find, download and install one, and figure out how to set it up.

Caddy is a simple but surprisingly capable server which cuts through the usual hassle and can handle simple sites with no configuration at all.

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Microsoft's Build developer conference kicks off today, and as you’d expect the focus will primarily be on Windows 10, although we’ll likely see new Windows hardware announced as well. Will a new Surface Pro 4 make an appearance? Probably not, but you never know.

The show, which takes place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, runs from today through to Friday, but it’s the opening keynote that promises to be the most interesting.

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In 2015, the International Data Corporation estimates that more than 45 million wearable tech gadgets will be distributed globally. Although that number reaches less than 1 percent of the world’s population, wearable technologies are situated to increasingly impact lives and industries as mobile leaders push digital boundaries.

One unique opportunity will be the integration of wearable technology into the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT is creating a more efficient digital ecosystem by augmenting how devices interact when connected. As a conduit for technological progression, wearable tech gadgets are a natural addition to this ecosystem. Even walking through just one day in a thought exercise, the opportunities for integration are abundant.

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As the workforce becomes increasingly mobile, setting up meetings and making sure time spent in them is used effectively becomes more and more difficult.

Israeli company Meeter is launching a 'smart meeting' solution that doesn't only automate the scheduling of meetings, but also provides a standardized framework for managing what happens during them and collects documentation on what happened.

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