Jason Chee

Windows 8 has made its debut in Singapore as well as making its presence felt in countries worldwide. It is now available in stores nationwide, including Challenger, Courts, Harvey Norman, and Newstead. Launching together with Windows 8 are the new Windows 8 devices that will soon be filling the shelves of stores. There are over 50 new devices sporting the new Windows 8 from various manufacturers to launch in Singapore (with the exception of the Microsoft Surface RT), many of them with extraordinary features such as touch-enabled ultrabooks and convertible tablets. [caption id=“attachment_12261” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“http://windows.sg/"][/caption] Microsoft has launched 3 different versions of Windows 8 in Singapore comprising of Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, and Windows 8 RT. Windows 8 RT will only be available on newer devices and existing devices will not be able to upgrade to it. You can find a comparison chart between the 3 Windows 8 editions here: Users with older versions of Windows, including XP, Vista, and 7, will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 with an upgrade going for S$49.99, available at http://windows.microsoft.com/. If you had purchased a Windows 7 PC between the 2nd of June, 2012 and the 31st of January, 2013, you will be able to download Windows 8 Pro at a discounted price of S$17.99 due to the Windows Upgrade Offer which is available at http://www.windowsupgradeoffer.com/. Windows 8 itself will retail at S$89.00. Apps are a major part of the new Windows 8 ecosystem. Beautifully constructed apps make up the Windows 8 ecosystem, with an amazing 4,433 apps available in the Singaporean Store at the time of writing. Some top apps available for Singaporeans right now are Channel NewsAsia, The Straits Times, SG Deal, MerlionWords, Photo Monkey, STOMP, Razor TV, SG Cab, NomWhere, My SingTel, StarHub, Wego.com, and iProperty. Over 900 people attended the Launch Party at the Esplanade, an overwhelming response to the invitation. There was a brilliant showcase of new devices on the Esplanade’s Roof Terrace, and many devices caught my attention with their aesthetic beauty and unbelievable specifications. [caption id=“attachment_12265” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_12263” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“ASUS VivoTab RT TF600”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_12262” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Acer Iconia W700”][/caption] Developers will be able to leverage on the easy and beautiful design principles that come with Windows 8 to get their apps ready to compete in the market. It is heartening to see Windows 8 launching with so many local apps already available, reflecting the hard work of our Singaporean developers that have been working so hard over the past few months, especially during the HackWeekends that were organized. I look forward to more apps coming up to populate the Windows Store, especially since Windows 8 is now readily available for everyone! See here for more information on developing for Windows 8 and why it’s “Not to be Missed”. If you have an idea for an app and would like to start developing, please join us at WOWZAPP, an upcoming worldwide Hackathon for Windows!

Achieving that Spiffy, Modern User Interface. [caption id=“attachment_10786” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Facebook for Windows 8 Concept from The Verge”][/caption] Some time ago Joyce posted about designing the new user interface that comes with Windows 8 and Windows Phone. Here are some elements that are key to the new interface. Typography. Type is beautiful. Not only is it attractive to the eye, but it can also be functional. The right balance of weight and positioning can create a visual hierarchy. Additionally, well placed type can help lead you to more content. Motion is what brings the interface to life. Transitions are just as important as graphical design. By developing a consistent set of motions or animations, a system is created that provides context for usability, extra dimension and depth and improves the perceived performance of the whole interface. Content not Chrome is one of the more unique principles of Metro. By removing all notions of extra chrome in the UI, the content becomes the main focus. This is especially relevant due to the smaller screen size and gesture-based interactions. Honesty. Design explicitly for the form factor of a hand held device using touch, a high resolution screen and simplified and expedited forms of interaction. In other words, be “authentically digital”. Today I will introduce some prototyping tools, and finally one awesome resource for those modernized icons. If you use Adobe Illustrator you’ll love this: Windows 8 Vector Templates. The nice folks at migration.mobi have created a beautiful Illustrator .ai template with lots of Windows 8 vectors that you can use to make beautiful app wireframes. [caption id=“attachment_10787” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“ItemsViewPage”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10788” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Plethora of Vectors”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10789” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“One of my earlier app wireframes”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10790” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Made just using AI and PS!”][/caption] Check it out and get the Illustrator files here. To those who love traditional sketching, however, check this out: UI Stencils’ “Windows 8 Stencils Kit” and “Windows 8 Sketch Pad”. This kit was co-developed by the design team over at Microsoft. Using both the Sketch Pad and the Stencils Kit helps one to make amazing designs, and it does allow one to see what is readily available in the Modern UI design. [caption id=“attachment_10791” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Stencils Kit and Sketch pad”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10792” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Windows 8 Sketch Pad”][/caption] A word of warning though, shipping is not cheap. Recently Syncfusion Metro Studio was updated to version 2, which saw 800 new icons being added. This brings the total number of icons to… Not 500, not 1000, but an amazing 1700! The best part about Metro Studio 2, it’s FREE. All 1700 icons are free, no strings attached. They’re easily to use too! [caption id=“attachment_10798” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“So many icons!”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10794” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Easy to search for icons”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10795” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Simple customization, multiple ways to export”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10796” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“New in Metro Studio 2 – Projects”][/caption] Getting Metro Studio 2 is easy. Visit their website here, then register for a download. The installer will then be downloaded and a free product key will then be sent to your email. Now get out there and start prototyping!

We had a very special HackWeekend on National Day which saw several quality apps and the first meet up of the year for the Microsoft Student Partners team. It was definitely an amazing experience to have a chat with the mixture of developers and students with a flow of brilliant ideas, with everyone mingling with each other. The day started off with the Microsoft Student Partner Kick-off for FY13, where we were introduced to the responsibilities and perks of a MSP by Yizhe, our Academic Developer Evangelist. After the briefing, we had a short prize presentation to our Champ Programme Graduates who all received Xbox 360 consoles. We then had an amazing buffet lunch and time to talk with each other in preparation for Dream . Build . Launch. Terence also brought us all on a tour of the Microsoft Technology Center. [caption id=“attachment_10749” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Playing with the Microsoft Surface”][/caption] The demonstrated apps this HackWeekend were much more polished than the first and second. It’s definitely encouraging to see the hard work developers are putting into their apps, working towards the launch of Windows 8 this October. [caption id=“attachment_10753” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Video Draw - an app that helps you to annotate directly on e-learning resources such as videos.”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10741” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Best Health Care”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10743” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“eZ-MRT helps you to decide the quicker route to take on the MRT”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10742” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Drop Zone is a casual game by Tianyang from Tyler Projects!”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10752” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Photo Narrate helps you organized your photos and tell a clear story!”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10754” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Xin Videos lets you catch up on TV from XinMSN”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10751” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“My Little Pony Portal for all MLP fans out there!”][/caption] Once that was over, we had a Live Telecast of the National Day Parade where everyone gathered around the screens that were set up while we ate dinner. As the day drew to a close, we had a brilliant view of the National Day fireworks from our window. Our Hackweekends are coming to a close - but you can still work on your Windows 8 applications. Look out for our upcoming events!