Joyce Huang

[caption id=“attachment_12254” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Windows 8 Game Development Opportunities and Training at Games Solution Center. Register Now.”][/caption] The fact of the matter is; Windows is huge. There are 1.2 billion Windows users globally, with 690 million currently on Windows 7 who can upgrade to Windows 8 for a great price on October 26th. This is just the PCs. When you factor in the plethora of other devices from slates and phones to ultra-books and tablets on offer from a variety of manufacturers, Microsoft included, this is where the potential ecosystem gets even more exciting. The idea of taking one device from home and leisure to work and enterprise with seamless continuity and the ability to sync content, system settings and app settings over multiple devices is also a tantalising thought. Developers who are ahead of the pack can get unparalleled exposure for the forthcoming launch of Windows 8 on October 26th”, the arrival of Surface in the region and considering the exciting changes in the OS and the accessible upgrade price point – uptake is expected to be notably high. Come join us on November 8 as Microsoft Singapore’s Developer and Platform Evangelism team takes you through the Windows 8 game development process. ...

[caption id=“attachment_12247” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Click here to register for #WOWZAPP Singapore.”][/caption] Registration has launched for Microsoft’s WOWZAPP 2012, Worldwide Hackathon for Windows students, developers and entrepreneurs across countries and other types of developers across countries including Singapore, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Turkey, Finland, Chile and Greece. Developers will work in teams to develop apps that will be published and available for download in the Windows Store. WOWZAPP 2012: Worldwide Hackathon for Windows is an event that allows you to take part in a truly global experience – developers and designers all over the world coming together to build apps for Windows, Windows Phone and Windows Azure. WOWZAPP 2012 is on November 9-11, 2012, timed to celebrate the launch of Windows 8 and immediately after the Build conference to take advantage of all that fresh new information that will be delivered at that time. It’s also on the weekend before Global Entrepreneur Week so that startup developers can kick off that week with a bang. Expert Help, free resources Microsoft app experts, developers and trainers will be available to assist your learning and coding. Download the developer tools and resources now and get ready for action. Download at no charge to students and BizSpark members: Windows 8 Getting Started Guide Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows 8 ...

App of the week is a weekly showcase of an awesome app developed on Windows 8 or Windows Phone. Got an app you love that you want us to talk about? Leave us a comment and tell us which app and why you love it! Skype has become a service that I can’t live without. And the new Skype experience on Windows 8 is great. [caption id=“attachment_12237” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“The new Skype for Windows 8 will be available come October 26th.”][/caption] Skype for Windows 8 places recent chats and calls front-and-center, as they’re the first things you’ll see when the app goes live. You can also build out a list of favorites, and these then appear on the app’s homescreen with big thumbnails next to your full list of contacts. To begin a call or chat, you simply tap or click on your friend’s profiles. These contacts are also integrated with Windows 8?s native People app, so all of your Skype’s contacts will display in this central address book, even if you had not created contacts for them. You can kick off Skype calls from the app itself, too, as contacts’ info will be updated with their Skype details when the app is installed. Note that this requires you to log into Skype using your Microsoft account. [caption id=“attachment_12239” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“The Skype Home Screen”][/caption] Skype for Windows 8 also now includes an integrated dial pad for calling landlines, and shows the amount of Skype Credit you have remaining as well as your active subscriptions, if any. Recent calls display next to the dial pad, so you can easily phone your regular contacts again. [caption id=“attachment_12238” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“The dial pad is right next to your recently made calls.”][/caption] With Windows 8 Skype is alive with your most important calls and conversations, whether on the start screen, snapped alongside your browser or full screen immersing you in a video call sharing an experience with someone you love. [caption id=“attachment_12241” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Snapped view makes it easier to chat and share information”][/caption] Skype for Windows 8 is simple, fast and beautiful. View the video below to see a sneak peek of the experience:

Behind every successful entrepreneur, is a couple of failed attempts. Bill Gates will forever be remembered for starting Microsoft, but this was actually not his first business venture. Before Microsoft, Bill Gates and Paul Allen built a company called Traf-O-Data. They wanted to build a “computerized machine for processing paper tapes from traffic counters.” They planned to sell this computerized data to state and local governments, but failed because the product was unacceptably buggy. The experience gained in this venture would later be used to write Altair BASIC for the MITS Altair 8800 computer and start Microsoft. Paul Allen now refers to it as his favourite mistake. ...

If you loved Angry Birds, my guess is that you’re gonna love Contre Jour, a puzzle game that’s been recently very popular on iOS. The IE team has cooked up with the developers of Contre Jour to bring the popular game to the Web with HTML5. The Web-based version of Contre Jour, available now at Contrejour.ie, includes the first three chapters of the game, or 30 levels. It offers the same look, feel, and performance of the native app, complete with 10 levels exclusively for modern browsers that support multi-touch, like Internet Explorer 10. Contre Jour, which was named the 2011 iPad game of the year, is based on the French phrase “against daylight.” Set to an orchestrated soundtrack from composer David Ari Leon, the game challenges you to navigate and survive a dark and dangerous game world. Using your finger, you morph the landscape — by pulling, swiping, and tapping tendrils, air geysers, and pulleys — to complete clever puzzles and propel a mysterious creature named Petit to safety. ...

Build is Microsoft’s Developer Conference that happens at our HQ in Redmond, Washington, USA. It’s the second year that we’re going to do Build. Tickets were sold out in less than an hour. And there’s good reason why. [caption id=“attachment_11725” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Live Streaming for Build happens on 30 October, 2012”][/caption] This year’s Build is going to have a strong focus on - wait for it - yup, Windows 8! At Build, we’ll dive deep to cover all the areas you care about. How to design and build beautiful Windows 8 apps. How to sell your apps in the Windows 8 Store and make money. And much more. Live streaming will be starting on October 30 at 9:00 am PST - which means October 31, Midnight - Singapore time! Tune in at http://www.buildwindows.com/ . Agenda will be updated soon! ...

Mobile devices are becoming the prevalent computing platform for most people. Not every has access to a PC, which is why it’s important for us to come up with new ways for them to develop apps for themselves and the problems that they are facing in their countries. A cool new research project that the researchers here at Microsoft have been working on is called Touch Develop. TouchDevelop is a new mobile development environment that enables anyone with a Windows Phone to create new apps directly on the smartphone, without a PC or a traditional keyboard. At the core is a new mobile programming language and editor that was designed with the touchscreen as the only input device in mind. Programs written in TouchDevelop can leverage all phone sensors such as GPS, cameras, accelerometer, gyroscope, and stored personal data such as contacts, songs, pictures. Thousands of programs have already been written and published with TouchDevelop. It’s been amazing looking at the apps that some of the students from all over the world. [caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“320” caption=“Pacman Evolved by Chris Kurhan”][/caption] Check out more of the apps created by Touch Develop on the Windows Phone 7: https://www.touchdevelop.com/apps Visit the Touch Develop website to find out more!

Only 16 more days before Windows 8 is officially launched! We know you’ve got some amazing app ideas and dreams for Windows 8. To celebrate, we’d like to know what they are and reward you with some adorable prizes for sharing them with us! Here’s what you gotta do to win these adorable Fruit Ninja Plush Toys (worth $15 USD each.) Follow these 3 simple steps to win these adorable Fruit Ninja Plush Toys! Step 1: Like our Spiffy Facebook Page [http://facebook.com/gospiffy] Step 2: Share this picture on your Facebook Timeline. Step 3: Leave a comment on this picture. Starting with the sentence: My idea for a Windows 8 app is to … [complete the sentence with the purpose of your app]. ...

App of the week is a weekly showcase of an awesome app developed on Windows 8 or Windows Phone. Got an app you love that you want us to talk about? Leave us a comment and tell us which app and why you love it! One of my favourite apps to read news on the web is Pulse.me. Pulse started as a beautiful app which pulls content from thousands of news sources and blogs bringing together a customized view of your favorite content in one stunning experience. The success of the app was, and continues to be, phenomenal. With Internet Explorer and HTML5 that beautiful app experience has come to the web – all without compromising the performance, or the award winning UI. And because IE10 and Windows 8 are perfect for touch – the Pulse touch experience on a Windows 8 device surpasses anything you can do on today’s tablet. The Pulse site is part of an exciting new trend we’re seeing: companies that have built successful apps are looking to expand their reach even more through the web, without compromising the experience their customers have grown to love. Tapping into the capabilities of a modern browser, like IE10, and advancements in web standards, companies like Pulse are able to provide users with an experience that meets, and may even exceed, what is possible in an app. Check it out: For quick access to the pulse.me application, all you need to do is to pin the app from your IE browser. That way, you can access it as an app on your Windows 8 Start screen. Have fun reading everyone!

A new platform always means a great deal of opportunity for game developers. Windows 8, is that new platform. So you want to build a game for Windows 8? Well we want to make it as easy as possible for you to do so. That’s why we thought it would be a good idea to compile all the resources we could into one place, so you can spend your time coding, not googling. We’ve got everything you need to get going, from initial guides to the platform, to detailed guides on making the most of DirectX. And not forgetting that final important step, making some money from your hard work. ...