Nicholas Tan

*Disclaimer: Facebook might make massive changes to its ad platform (they like to revamp it every once in a while and confuse people) - this guide is correct as of December 2013. So you’ve finished developing your app and it’s now published in the Windows Phone Store. Now, the next critical phase of your journey as developer begins - how to get end users. If you’ve got a bit of spare cash to buy some ad space online to promote your app, why not consider buying ads on Facebook? It’s relatively affordable compared to other forms of paid media marketing, and self-serve ads make it easy for the average individual to purchase ad space on the social media platform. Just follow the 5 steps below: 1. Click into the Ads Manager function on your Facebook home page’s left-hand menu column. You’ll need to add a payment method where your ads will be charged: Facebook coupons, credit and debit cards, Paypal or debit. 2. Click on the ‘Create an Ad’ green button on the top right hand side of your Ads Manager page. 3. Select ‘Clicks to Website’ as your objective for the ad buy and insert your Windows Phone App URL in the field. (The ‘App Installs’ function isn’t integrated yet for Windows Phone apps) 4. Upload images that will show as your ad. Try to crop your images 600 pixels x 315 pixels for optimal viewing and a more professional look. You can also select stock images from Shutterstock via ‘Find Images’. 5. Now this is the crucial point: Under user targeting in ‘Create Your Audience’, be sure to select the subcategories of Windows Phone > Nokia Device Owners. Feel free to add other targeting subjects under ‘Precise Interests’ to target users who might be more likely to download or purchase your app. For example, for the Radio SG Windows Phone app, I would use interests such as #music and #radio. Remember, the more targeted your ad, the better the response! According to Facebook, there seems to be 84,000 Facebook users in Singapore who are Windows Phone users. Adding more interests will lower the ad’s potential reach, but will result in a better click-through and install rate. And that’s it! Choose between bidding for clicks or impressions and you’re done. Facebook usually takes less than 24 hours to vet and approve your ads for public consumption. Feel free to let us know in the comments below how your Facebook ads perform.

AppCampus is a mobile application accelerator program managed by Aalto University in Espoo, Finland. This is an 18 million euro joint investment between Microsoft and Nokia to foster mobile application development on Windows Phone and any other Nokia platform. To drive innovation and business opportunities in Finland’s mobile ecosystem and beyond, Microsoft and Nokia invested 9 million euros each into the “AppCampus” program - a newly established mobile application development program at Aalto University during the next three years starting from spring 2012. The AppCampus program has been set up to foster the creation of innovative mobile applications for the Windows Phone ecosystem, and in addition, Nokia platforms, including Symbian and Series 40, to create a new generation of self-sustaining mobile startups. Kicked off in May 2012, AppCampus is led and managed by Aalto University, which has a growing reputation as a hotbed of new startup companies. AppCampus is intended to attract thousands of application proposals from students and entrepreneurs from all over the world. Successful applicants will receive awards varying from 20.000, 50.000 to 70.000 euros, depending on the complexity of the app. In addition, AppCampus also provides training in mobile technology, design and usability, coaching and marketing support. Windows Phone Marketplace and Nokia Store offer local and global business opportunities to program participants via distribution to consumers around the world. AppCampus doesn’t take any equity or commission from the investment. The only requirement is that successful applications are expected to be available exclusively on Windows Phone Store or Nokia Store for the first 90 days. Got an app idea? Apply today and send in your submission here!

Big data has been a buzzword of the tech landscape in recent years, with apps being one of the key mediums where the average consumer can make sense of real-time trends and other interesting insights often obscured by big data. [caption id=“attachment_16673” align=“aligncenter” width=“610”] Image from www.visibletechnologies.com[/caption] So here, we have compiled a list of the top 5 free APIs in Singapore to create your next bestselling app! 1. Government: data.gov.sg http://data.gov.sg/common/developer.aspx This is the first-stop portal to search and access publicly-available data published by the Singapore Government. Launched in June 2011, data.gov.sg brings together over 8,600 datasets from 60 government ministries and agencies. Key datasets include: ...

In this Developer Feature series, Spiffy talks to up-and-coming developers to learn what makes them tick. For December, we have 35-year-old Ben Goh, a software engineer at Autodesk. He created Asher’s Maze for his son’s birthday, a game released exclusively on the Windows 8 and Windows Phone Store that took a year to develop. Describe yourself in three words. Approachable, funny, nonsensical. What motivated you to start building Asher’s Maze? I tried to build many things before: MP3 player, isometric web game, UI skin engine, 3D turn-based game… but none of those got completed. I realized that they didn’t get done because of a very simple reason – I was building them for myself, but I got attracted to different technologies all the time. Obviously having a moving target did not go too well with delivering something. Until a year ago, I found the “right reason” for me to do the next project – my son Asher. ...

In this Developer Feature series, Spiffy talks to up-and-coming developers to learn what makes them tick. This is part 2 of our interview with 16-year-old Yan Zheng Hao, a first-year Game Design & Development student from ITE College Central (tertiary student) in Singapore. What is your app about and how did you come up with your idea? The first few apps published on the Windows Phone Store are admittedly quite gimmickly such as Metal Detector, & Nokia Lumia Ringtone as I’m still trying to get used to C# and Silverlight. Those 2 apps are perhaps my foundation to building better apps. A few months later with much support from the Nokia Developers community when Nokia embraced the Windows Phone platform. That is when my third app is released, with the hope of bringing xin MSN video (Localized version of MSN for Singapore market) to Windows Phone. As MSN video at that point of time only supports Flash and Silverlight, and neither one of them could be watched on Windows Phone. I used techniques such as HTML parsing to retrieve the data off the website since I do not have access to the APIs. http://www.windowsphone.com/en-sg/store/app/xin-videos/7c906b24-e928-47e0-a911-f682ed89f203 It was rather encouraging to see myself actually accomplishing it, something that I once thought it was impossible without the APIs. A Windows Phone exclusive app to watch xinmsn video, where Android and iOS couldn’t. – Something I can tell my friends, this thing is only on Windows Phone and do you have it on Android or iOS? Then came BUILD 2012 that got me excited. I knew Windows 8 it is going to be a huge ecosystem, and I really want to get into the market as soon as possible in terms of apps. That was when I started joining events hosted by Microsoft Singapore such as Hackathons, Talks, Workshops, & etc with much support from the team (Joyce Huang, Chun Siong, Yizhe Shen and many more) as the new WinRT APIs were really quite unfamiliar to me. Those events are rarely held by Apple and Google, Singapore is mostly neglected and I have never considered building apps for those platforms. The process & tools needed to building apps for the Windows platform is unmatched too! One of the app that was released a 3 weeks after Windows 8 was launched was MegaTube, which is a third party YouTube client for Windows 8. It is again something that I got the idea when I need to download a YouTube video for offline use, and many websites out there have enormously long delay (advertisements) before you get your video or requiring you to install software that cannot be run on the Windows RT platform such as Surface RT. I was rather reluctant to create a third party YouTube client at first, as this space was rather competitive with established players such asPrimeTube, YouTube+, MetroTube (Windows Phone), & YouTube Player. Starting out & focusing as a ‘downloader’ really gave me an entry to the market, gradually I improved the app to a full pledged YouTube experience. I was glad that I have made the right choice as it was well a success, with the app currently sitting on the top 100 free apps under the US store and over 1.4 million downloads to date. One key marketing strategy was AdDuplex that really propelled my app to the top since its release, with over 100 million impressions served and 200,000 users acquired all for free. Great deal, considering that there will be times where there is no ads available from Microsoft PubCenter. AdDuplex is a fall back to advertising. It proved that there is a market for Windows 8 even for individual developer like me that is not too saturated yet. What’s your process for designing the user journey? In terms of designing the user’s journey, I always start with my needs. As a Windows Phone & Windows 8 user, it is relatively easy to identify what the users are looking for. I typically ship just 1-2 weeks right after I got the idea of what I want to do next and it is gradually improved over time. App reviews are a crucial part to that improvements, often I spend more than 10 minutes each day reading it and iron out issues or the things that they demand. The other aspect of my process of designing the user’s journey is to be the user myself. I tend to constantly use the app that I make over and over again to look for flaws, and ways I can improve it even further. What’s next for you? I am always looking out for new opportunities, there are certainly emerging technologies and ecosystem that I’ll be willing to try out. For instance, the Xbox One that I’m looking forward to. With Windows NT kernel on board and probably some pressure from Apple TV, PS4 that Microsoft may one day open the platform for indi developers like me. Or perhaps the smart watch, glass, etc. At the moment, I’ll be writing more apps for Windows 8 and Windows Phone as and when there is a gap that needs to be filled. Such as#2InstaWithMassiveLove that I am currently developing. (A fully featured Instagram app for Windows Phone, as Facebook is reluctant to make one)

If you’re looking for a list of Windows 8 apps you can’t live without, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve compiled the top five apps that give you access to your favourite local and international content right on your Start Screen. In the vein of all things Singaporean, they also happen to be completely free. 1) Turn up the radio. Listen to 17 local stations such as Class 95, Kiss 92 or 987FM on your Windows 8 device with SG Radio. Streaming continues in background mode, allowing you to use other apps or your desktop. Other useful functions include lyric search, Live Tile display of the currently playing song, and a saved favourite stations function. Audio quality varies with station. 2) Endless hours of fun. Growing up, who can forget reading about the escapades of this famous lasagna-eating cat on Life!’s comic strip section? Garfield’s awesome adventures are now in a physics puzzle game Feed Garfield! Experiment with various tactics to feed your favourite hungry fat cat. A perfect casual game for long trips on the MRT, or a handy tool to keep the kids occupied. (Free trial version) 3) Travelling made easy. Singaporeans made more than 8 million overseas trips in 2012. Plan your next one by searching millions of routes on over 1,000 airlines and find the lowest priced flights in seconds with the free Skyscanner Windows 8 app. Save money, save time. 4) Bargains at your fingertips. Top online local shopping mall Qoo10 Singapore is the one-stop shop for your dose of retail therapy. The app provides a detailed overview of daily discounts & special offers. 5) Print and scan on the cloud. Own a Dell Laser printer? Dell Document Hub is a convenient cloud service that simplifies document collaboration. The app is compatible with Win 8, 8.1 and RT devices and allows users to scan to, share, and print from a variety of common cloud document platforms. Easy to use, this free app enables digital collaboration through the cloud and offers convenience print settings configuration and information on printer and toner status. Got any other favourite Windows 8 apps you can’t live without? Tell us in the comments below.

In this Developer Feature series, Spiffy talks to up-and-coming developers to learn what makes them tick. We talk with with 16-year-old Yan Zheng Hao, a first-year Game Design & Development student from ITE College Central (tertiary student) in Singapore. What is your background and how did you get here? My background in programming started with mainly on the assembly side. Admittedly I was quite a heavy gamer back then when I was 12 years old, its this fascination for the things you can’t do normally (‘hacking’) for the game that I’m playing which is MapleStory. Rather than how most people started in programming with a Hello World app, I got to learn techniques like memory editing with CheatEngine (http://cheatengine.org) to change the game’s instruction according to what I want. (Schools in Singapore don’t teach programming until the age of 16 as a tertiary student) This soon became my foundation for programming when the first MapleStory game emulator, ‘odinms’ was released and open sourced back on 2008. I immediately downloaded it and start playing around with the source file written in Java 6 and Javascript. Again, this fascination and even addiction to the game that got me into learning Java and JS in order to customize it to my needs. It took around 1-2 years of copy and pasting, or rather the term ’leeching’ before making a breakthrough as I get to learn more things over time gradually. Every single emulator that’s publicity released was made for the global version of the game, and as a player for ‘MapleSEA’. I wanted to make one that’s based on the local edition, and that just took a month to successfully update the files for it. I soon got quite a lot of attention from other developers in this field and a public server was even opened at one point in time with a partner that lasted for 2.5 years. We have gotten over 1200 concurrent players at some point in time at peak. I learned even more during this process as I was really the only developer to handle everything on the game play. Me and my partner is reluctant to trust anyone out there after the source code was leaked once. For instance, the switch to Linux CentOS to save cost on hosting fees instead the usual Windows Server 2003/2008, security issues (dealing with constant DDOS/DOS attack), server side programming, emulating techniques to keep the game up to date with the official ones, database management & etc. However it have to be shut down due to some issues in June 2012 that I am unable to disclose. I am just an average scorer during my secondary school life, but the internet changed my life completely. In Singapore where the mentality of our society are towards education exclusively for a good future, why can’t anyone strike it on their own? What motivated you to start building apps? The shutting down of the server also means losing a source of my only revenue stream. That is when I made the switch my focus to mobile apps instead. Being already a rather passionate Windows Phone user with a HTC Trophy 7 and with Silverlight/.NET language available for development(means I am able to use my current Java knowledge and apply it, given that both languages were quite similar). I have chosen Windows Phone 7 as the platform. On top of that, as an early adopter of Windows Phone (Bought right after its launch in Singapore) there were a lot of missing gaps in terms of application required by me everyday. It can also be annoying at times when there is a lot of peer pressure from my friends, when at that point of time the trend is towards iPhone 3GS and I’m considered to have a ’low end’ or rather inferior phone without apps. I wanted to change that, and build it for myself as a start. ...

Everyone has a point of view - from the recent flooding in Singapore to the latest scandals on social media - people are eager to share their perspectives. It establishes them as subject matter experts, expands their professional reach and gives them an opportunity to build a personal brand online. But I don’t have the time, you say. I don’t know what to write about. Never fear, we’ve put together some tips and reasons for you to join our growing team of crazy-smart spiffy contributors. From Rwanda to Tokyo, our writers share tech trends and updates from around the globe and in our own backyard. Here are three reasons to write with us: 1. Instant local techie audience with notable overseas impact In 2012, weshipcode.com got over 37,000 unique hits to our main site, with the bulk of our readers coming from Singapore, the United States and Australia. Content that generally performs well include product reviews, technical how-to articles and event coverage. In particular, our how-to articles have an incredible lifespan online, with returning hits in the hundreds even months after the article is published from search engine traffic. Our average reader spends around 2 minutes on each article with a very low bounce rate (percentage of people leaving landing page without clicking through) of 1.08%. On social media, we’re popular among the 25-34 crowd with a potential social outreach of half a million eyeballs. We publicise our writers’ articles to our active online communities with an engagement rate (calculated via shares, comments and likes) almost twice the ratio of the average social media site. 2. Introvert? No problem. Write what you’re passionate about - and build your portfolio with us Blogging - one of the best ways to share thought leadership - is one of the rare platforms where natural introverts may have an advantage. Take your time and build your personal brand on the value of your ideas alone. You can advance your professional reach by sharing your thoughts with the local tech audience base via spiffy. Whether it be product reviews, tech trends or how-to guides - your opinion matters, and our articles range from the hyper-technical to the completely random. Regardless of genre, we believe quality content about the fascinating world of tech, like the industry itself, transcends category. And if you ever encounter writer’s block, we also have a list of article kickstarters for you to use as a starting point. 3. Access to exclusive tech events We occasionally organise or have partner events, and would love for you to join us and write about what you learnt. People often say that even a bad idea is better than a good idea unshared. So we’ve told you all the reasons why you should leverage on us - the next step is up to you. To find out more, send an email to a-nitanz@microsoft.com. ...

Known as JSCamp.Asia last year, the revamped JSConf.Asia is back from 28 to 29 November 2013. These two days are the dates that the web development community in Southeast Asia is putting up its 2nd installment of their largest independent gathering to discuss and learn about the latest advances in modern web technology. After JSCamp.Asia in Singapore, this year’s event will be hosted at the H2O Hotel and Ocean Club in Manila, Philippines. Over 2 days, 20+ of the best developers and speakers from around the world will share, educate and inspire the Asian audience. Some of them are: ...

In this Developer Feature series, Spiffy speaks to up-and-coming developers to learn what makes them tick. We talk next with Lim Cheng Lei, the Singapore Lead of the Microsoft Student Partner Programme. What is your background and how did you get here? I studied Information Technology back in Singapore Polytechnic, where I joined the Microsoft Student Partner Programme (MSP). During my role as the Singapore Lead in MSP, I had been exposed to various Microsoft technologies. Windows Phone and Windows 8 were some of those which I spent my time learning from other developers out there. What motivated you to start building apps? Being a Windows Phone and Windows 8 user myself, there were times where I was unable to locate applications which fit my needs. Hence, I took up the chance to start working on applications to fill up the gaps I had, and to share them with others - I have to add that one application just led to another. What is your app about? StockFolio is an Windows 8 application which allows users to build up and track stocks that mean the most to them, and track them closely in multiple markets. Moreover, it allows the user to create various portfolios for individual markets. It also provides other key information such as news related to the stock or market and other key statistics. At the current stage, it only supports multiple markets in Asia. In time to come, StockFolio will bring support to other market regions such Europe and America. How did you come up with the idea? The idea came when there was a lack of a stock tracking application in the Windows 8 Store. At the same time, the built-in finance application powered by Bing has its own limitation, such as the unavailability to create customised, personal portfolios and carry personalised information. Hence, I thought that having a stock application on the Windows 8 Store to address this limitation would be good. Where did you get the inspiration from? I have gotten inspiration from consultation with my friends and family members who are into stock trading. They help in me in understanding the key concept of what they are looking for in a stock tracking application, such as what are the key information they would like to see at a glance. More importantly, what is the decisive factor to commit a spending on getting a stock tracking app. What’s your process for designing the user journey? In the designing of the UI, I have researched various stock-related applications out there in the market. These application come from both the mobile platform and tablet platform. All these apps out there allowed me to get more ideas and identify their pros and cons in their designs. These were extremely important, as I had to take into consideration how these controls would like good and meaningful in a touch-friendly and mouse-friendly environment. Feedback from close friends also allowed me to better alter my UI, to allow the mass audience to understand how to use the app at the initial launch. What’s next for you? I will be developing more applications for the Windows 8 and Windows Phone platforms. At the same time, I will continuously updating my existing applications to bring greater collaboration between those which are available on both the Windows Phone and Windows 8 platform. Check StockFolio out here.