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! EXTREME HANGMAN Hangman is a great game. Not only does it train your deductive skills, but also exercises those vocabulary muscles of yours. Our app of the week Extreme Hangman, developed by Lim Cheng Lei, is here to help you become a master of the game. You get a total of 8 minutes to complete the entire game - which consists of 10 words in each game. You get 8 chances for each word and are allowed to use the total of 3 hints throughout the game. For parents who are looking for apps that can help your children to learn words and their meanings, Extreme Hangman is a fun and interesting way to get them started! The trial version include all features of the application and expires in 7 days after installation. ...

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!

Windows Dev Center RTM updates are now live! Two weeks ago we announced that Windows 8 released to manufacturing (RTM). Since then we’ve been preparing builds for distribution as described in the Windows 8 has reached the RTM milestone post on Windows Team blog. I’m happy to let you know that we are now ready with early access builds for developers. In this post I’ll give you some pointers on the best way to get and install the RTM build and I’ll also point you to resources you can use to get your apps up and running on Windows 8 RTM. ...

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!

2 weeks earlier, Microsoft announced the new Outlook, which has more than 10 million sign ups till date. Today, Skydrive too has been given a makeover with a modern web design. It is designed with a new modern design for desktop and tablet browsers with instant search, contextual toolbar, thumbnail multi-select, drag-and-drop organization and HTML5 sorting! It also integrates social networking similar to outlook.com so you can easily share content with your friends. That’s not all! More refined SkyDrive apps have been launched for PCs and Macs, which allow faster uploads for users after tons of bugs and performance improvements. Windows Phone and iPhone users can access SkyDrive via their mobile phones since December 2011. Now, a new SkyDrive app will soon be introduced for Android devices, which will allow Android users to upload, share and retrieve content from SkyDrive. Developers too, have not been forgotten. Using SkyDrive’s API to build apps, developers can now store or access any type of file in a person’s SkyDrive. There’s also a newer and easier to use file picker API for websites, which will be familiar to our users who used the Windows 8 apps file picker. There will no longer be a restriction on the types of files that an application can upload to SkyDrive! Be sure to check out the full “Inside SkyDrive” story on the Windows Team Blog by SkyDrive group program managers, Omar Shahine and Mike Torres_,_ which includes full coverage, videos and screenshots.

Background: Primarily as a developer, I always wanted an online service which is free for me to put my projects under source control. I could find few paid TFS hosted services but I was not ready to put sample projects or source code which has no real dollar value associated under a paid service. Secondly, I used to give sessions on TFS & source control and main problem for my students was to perform hands on practice when they are not at the lab. I used few alternatives like CodePlex by using community projects, VPC and Handson Lab environment at MSDN etc. but all those were/are still workarounds. Lastly, deploying & implementing TFS is a relatively big effort for companies who want to ’test the water’ first before diving deep. It sometimes becomes a real challenge to coordinate TFS implementation and promote usage among teams without a ’test’ or ‘dogfood’ environment. Team Foundation Service: TFS as a service by Microsoft at http://www.tfspreview.com This is a positive step towards developer empowerment. Specially - this will be helpful for all small, medium and large enterprises where developers and IT teams struggle to set the working environment for learning TFS and source control practices. Also not only this, it will be a boost for all freelance developers who struggle to maintain source control for their code & delivery while keeping the cost to the client low. While the service is in preview mode, the feature-set is still very rich and most importantly users can get started for free. The website has a mention that when the service is out of preview mode, the free services will still continue(* - may have reduced functionality or may be not) and there will be paid services as well. I sincerely hope Microsoft will continue to offer free services at least for Source Control and Continuous Bulds. Learn: The website also has a menu named “learn” and the content are amazing. It is mostly step-by-step and easy to understand and practice. Here is a direct link for ‘Learn": http://tfspreview.com/en-us/learn/start/connect-to-vs/

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! This week, our contributing writer, Steven Neo explores cooking with a few Windows Phone applications. I love good food. I love it more when I can cook great food at home to share with my loved ones. Here’s a simple recipe for the perfect roasted potatoes which I adapted from Chef Heston Blumenthal’s recipe . Step 1 Pre-heat the oven at around 200 *C. Step 2 Boil a pot of water for cooking the potatoes. Add a pinch of salt in the water. When the water is boiling, add around 1kg of potatoes into the boiling water. You can leave the skin on the potatoes if you don’t mind it. Cook the potatoes till they are soft. When a potato is cooked, its edges will start to break up. [caption id=“attachment_10699” align=“alignnone” width=“240”] Download My Unit - Converting units of measurement in recipes.[/caption] You can use MyUnit Windows Phone App to easily convert units of measurement in cooking recipes. After cooking the potatoes, drain out the water and we are ready to fry the potatoes. Frying the potatoes will help to coat each potato with a thin layer of oil which will help the potatoes to become crispy during the roasting process. Step 3 When the frying pan is hot, add olive oil with lots of chopped garlic and chili (optional). When the garlic is golden brown, add the potatoes. Fry the potatoes for a couple of minutes till each potato is coated with a thin layer of oil. You can use the Cooking Timer Windows App to time the cooking process and ensure that the potatoes are not overcooked. After the potatoes are ready, place them in a baking pan. Ensure that the potatoes are evenly spread out in the baking pan so that each potato can be roasted to perfection. Step 4 Place the potatoes into the oven for around 45 min to 60 min, at around 200 *C. Now it’s time to sit back and relax while the potatoes are roasting. [caption id=“attachment_10707” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] Recipe planning fun for the whole family.[/caption] While waiting for the potatoes to be roasted, you can plan your next culinary cooking adventure with your little ones using the fun Sesame Street Big Block Party Windows App. Step 5 When the potatoes are roasted to a nice, golden crisp, take the potatoes out of the oven. Add chopped herbs, spices, and salt for bags of flavors. [caption id=“attachment_10709” align=“alignnone” width=“240”] Taking great pictures of your culinary creations.[/caption] You can use the Fhotoroom Windows App to take a series of beautiful photos of your culinary masterpiece and share it with your friends and family. Now it’s time for you to try this simple recipe at home! Here is a recap of the Windows App that you can use to make cooking fun and simple: ...

Big Data has become one of the latest buzzwords of the industry. But few people actually understand what it is and how it’s applicable to our daily lives. For this week’s Infographic Friday, we’d like to explain to you what Big Data is about through this inforgraphic. Simply put, Big Data is data that is too large, complex and dynamic for any conventional data tools to capture, store, manage and analyze. The right use of Big Data allows analysts to spot trends and gives niche insights that help create value and innovation much faster than conventional methods. Check out this inforgraphic from WIPRO to find out more! [caption id=“attachment_10688” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“BigData - Click to view the larger version”][/caption]

Mobile devices have truly evolved to become popular casual gaming devices. Just hand any crying baby a smartphone these days and they’ll instantly stop once they open popular games such as Cut The Rope and Angry Birds. For budding game devs, the incentive to learn is huge, it’s an interesting process, extremely creative, not to mention really fun and I can only imagine the truckloads that you can earn if your game becomes a hit. As an amateur game developer, it’s helpful to know some of the popular game engines out that can help you in the process to build the next Angry Birds. Here are a few of the popular gaming frameworks out there that can help you build the next superstar game! 1. CoCos2D Cocos2D is an open source 2D game framework. The original Cocos2D framework is written in Python but has since been ported to other languages and platforms (and yes it’s available on Windows as well!) Cocos2d hides implementation details of OpenGL ES, thus making it easier to learn. Cocos2d includes popular physics engines Chipmunk and Box2D. [caption id=“attachment_10669” align=“alignnone” width=“600” caption=“Popular casual game Fishing Joy is built on Cocos2D”][/caption] Download: Beta release: http://cocos2d-x.googlecode.com/files/cocos2d-x0.11.0-win8-0.9.1.zip Github repository: https://github.com/cocos2d-x/cocos2dx-win8 Inheriting the open source spirit from cocos2d, this branch is also open & free under MIT License. Features and Release: ...

PayPal’s recent study revealed that Australian retailers with an online presence have experienced a 5 percent increase in sales as of July 2012. On the other hand, brick-and-mortar stores have experienced a 4 percent decrease in sales for the same period. This development is representative of the global trend and highlights the importance of having an online presence for continued business growth. However, having an online presence is only half the story. User-friendliness has been cited as one of the major barriers in the growth of mobile commerce in Singapore. As such, having an interactive and attractive website will definitely help to contribute directly to your bottom line. Here is a list of open source JQuery plugins that can help to improve the look and feel of your website: JQuery TOOLS http://jquerytools.org/ ...