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Time to go BIG with Lumia! The Nokia Lumia 1520 and Lumia 1320 arrive in Singapore The first 6” Lumia smartphones featuring the latest imaging innovations from Nokia enhance productivity with built-in Microsoft Office for easy sharing and editing Pre-orders Starting from 27 November 2013, Nokia will begin accepting preorders for the Nokia Lumia 1520. Consumers can simply go to Nokia Stores and Nokia Solutions Partners to order their Nokia Lumia 1520. SINGAPORE – Continuing to redefine smartphone innovation, Nokia introduced two large screen Lumia smartphones, the Lumia 1520 and Lumia 1320 in Singapore today. With a 6-inch screen and the latest software advancements for Windows Phone, the Lumia 1520 and Lumia 1320 are perfectly suited for entertainment and productivity. A new third column of tiles on the home screen means people can see and do more on a larger screen. Bringing larger displays to the award-winning Lumia design, the new format is coupled with some of the most advanced camera innovations so people can capture and share the world around them. “Mobile devices are at the center of consumers’ lives as they look to capture and share experiences on the go,” said Vlasta Berka, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Nokia Pan Asia. “Today we’re inviting people in Singapore to switch to Nokia. With the Nokia Lumia 1520 and 1320, our first 6-inch Lumia smartphones, we’re delivering industry-leading design and imaging innovation to bigger devices, with experiences that are unique to Lumia and Windows Phone.” The Lumia 1520 offers a 6-inch screen and a vivid 1080p full HD display for outstanding outdoor readability. The Lumia 1520 offers the latest imaging innovation from Nokia – a 20MP PureView camera with optical image stabilization (OIS) enabling sharp images even in the dark, as well as oversampling and zooming technology – similar to the Lumia 1020. Building on the experiences introduced with Lumia 1020 and now optimized for a larger screen, the Lumia 1520 comes with the new Nokia Camera. Nokia Camera integrates the most popular imaging modes – Pro, Smart and video – into one seamless picture-taking experience. As with the Lumia 1020, the images can tell several stories with the camera’s zooming, reframing and cropping capabilities, and dual capture of low and high resolution pictures. For outstanding video experiences, the Nokia Lumia 1520 camera captures full HD video with crystalclear audio. It also includes Nokia Rich Recording with four microphones, providing directional stereo recording capabilities to capture distortion-free audio from the preferred direction for accurate and clear sound. The Lumia 1320 features many high-end Lumia innovations on a large 6-inch 720p display and extends the Nokia Camera app to another price range. With a range of imaging apps available, the Lumia 1320 comes with Nokia MixRadio for free streaming of ad-free music and HERE maps and location services, so people can experience the most popular Lumia experiences at a more accessible price. ...

Microsoft Singapore recently hosted AppHack Singapore 2013 which attracted over 300 participants for the hackathon. I was fortunate to be able to interact with tons of great developers and entrepreneurs, and to learn about the latest technology developments and start-up ideas for mobile platforms. Event registration started at 9am and I was excited to see a great mix of experienced and junior developers gathered for the hackathon. After an ice-breaking round of conversations over breakfast, participants gathered for the opening address by Guscloud’s CEO, Vincent Ha. Event partners took turns to share their entrepreneurial experiences (such as the revival of inSing.com from the “Valley of Death”), the latest technologies (such as Pearson’s developer platform and Microsoft’s Open Technologies), and potential development ideas for the hackathon (such as audience engagement for the 28th SEA Games in 2015). The Microsoft booth managed to attract a lot of attention with the promotion of Microsoft Open Technologies and a special giveaway of limited edition t-shirts for tweeting about the event and Open Technologies. After the morning presentations, participants eagerly gathered in their teams and started working on their mobile applications. Numerous breakout sessions were held throughout the day to introduce various technologies and platforms to assist participants in the development of their mobile applications. Microsoft Singapore Technical Evangelist, Chun Siong, gave a special presentation on the ease of developing mobile applications using Windows Azure. Participants had access to a variety of toys to serve as fun distractions from the stress of designing and developing applications, such as Nerf guns, a Parrot AR Drone, and a claw machine that dispenses M&M’s. As night approaches, some participants got ready for the long coding journey ahead, while others took a well-deserved break. I had a great time at AppHack 2013 meeting old friends and making new ones. Hopefully, I will be able to participate in future AngelHack events in Singapore. What do you think of AppHack 2013? Do you have other great events to recommend for us to participate? Do share with us your recommendations in the comments below and we might just do a special report based on your recommendations! ...

Edit: Added “Publish New Apps” section Hi Folks, Microsoft and Nokia is running a campaign from 26th November 2013 till 31st December 2013 to encourage developers to Update your apps or Publish New Apps. We have great prizes to be won. Here are the different category of “Update your apps”: 1. Competing Categories for “Update your apps”: Operational - Major overhaul of UX/UI, including improved operation of app, improvement in speed, implementation of user feedbacks and conversion to latest OS capability such as Live Tiles, Speech, NFC, Lock-Screen, Push Notification etc. ...

Photo-sharing service Instagram, which has more than 150 million users around the world, has landed in the Windows Phone Store cialis online and is now available for download! Instagram can transform everyday moments into shareable works of art. Just grab a picture from your Photos Hub, choose a filter to transform its look and feel, then post to Instagram (or share to Facebook, Twitter,Tumblr and Foursquare). As with many other Windows Phone apps, Instagram for Windows Phone will have a Live Tile which updates with data on the Start screen as well as support for fast-resume. Together with some of the best smartphone cameras on the market, Instagram will truly feel at home on Windows Phone. In addition to Instagram, Windows Phone today also sees another top app joining its ranks: the popular traffic and navigation app Waze. Waze isn’t your typical navigation app. Instead, Waze makes it possible to join forces with other drivers and crowd source real-time road conditions, saving time and petrol money. For example, you can both report accidents and hazards and see road problems on your route. Community-shared fuel prices make it easy to pinpoint the cheapest gas station. With Waze riding shotgun, it’s also fun and simple to meet up and coordinate with friends on the road. For more information, please read the blog post on the Windows Phone blog. cialis online

When we announced a program for startups called BizSpark, the idea that “Microsoft cares about Startups” was new to the Startup Community. That was November of 2008. This month, BizSpark celebrates its 5th Anniversary. In five years, more than 85,000 startups have participated in the BizSpark program from 165 different countries around the world. 100,000+ developers have become BizSpark members and we’re partnered with over 1,500 organizations who, like us, are striving to help startups every day. It has always been our goal to help startups succeed and over the years, BizSpark startups have been involved in big success stories, like Yammer being acquired for $1B and just last week, BizSpark grad, Criteo, raising $250M from their IPO. But, just as meaningful, are the many stories we have highlighted in our Featured BizSpark Startup Series. Through these interviews, we get the chance to hear, first-hand, about the journey of these startups and how they are making their dreams come true. These founders also share valuable advice for other startups. We have recently created The BizSpark Show – interviews with startup founders and investors from around the world with a focus on BizSpark members who are building the next great companies from the ground up. We are inspired and fascinated by the ideas, tenacity and sheer will startups possess and we invite you to share your own BizSpark story with us: bizspark@microsoft.com. In Singapore, we have 800 startups that are currently on BizSpark or are BizSpark Alumni. To celebrate 5 years of BizSpark here as well, we decided to tell the story of two of our startups, TradeHero and MoveCorrectly. We hope you enjoy the videos as much as we have watching our startups grow together with us. BizSpark Plus startup TradeHero is ranked #1 Finance app in 75 countries and runs on top of Windows Azure. CTO Dominic Morris talks about his journey with Tradehero, Windows Azure and the future of Tradehero after raising $10M Series A For Its Stock Market Trading gamification app. ...

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)

Danny Choo was back in town for the recently concluded Anime Festival Asia (AFA) and Culture Japan Night 2013. Collateral Damage Studios (CDS) was invited to share their experience of creating Inori Aizawa for the launch of Internet Explorer (IE) 11 at AFA 2013. There was a huge turnout for the event as anime enthusiasts gathered to share their passion and love for anime. With the rising popularity of Inori Aizawa amongst anime and Microsoft fans, the CDS booth was bursting with activity as fans admired the beautiful artwork and purchased art books. Before the CDS presentation on the making of Inori Aizawa, Danny Choo went on stage to discuss about his journey in realizing his dream of making Mirai Suenaga dolls. I am especially touched when Danny shared his lessons learnt in making Mirai Suenaga dolls a reality. Despite disappointments and hurdles that we may encounter along the way, we need to stop waiting on our dreams and start acting on them. We should use our knowledge and networks to build the best products that we can make. After an exciting presentation by Danny, it was time for CDS to present on the making of Inori Aizawa for Internet Explorer (IE) 11 at AFA 2013. The idea for Inori Aizawa was actually seeded at Culture Japan Night 2012 as CDS representatives interacted with Microsoft staff over Surface tablets. When Danny presented the different personification of the various internet browsers, CDS artists noticed the glaring absence of Internet Explorer in the lineup and decided to try their hands at creating one themselves. Inori was an instant hit and drew more than 20,000 likes and comments. Her immense popularity caught the attention of Microsoft Singapore, who decided to collaborate with CDS to feature Inori at AFA 2013 to coincide with the launch of Internet Explorer (IE) 11. Microsoft Singapore also collaborated with Nanyang Technological University’s CACANi Animation to develop a special promotional video introducing Inori. The video was a huge success as it gathered more than 2 million views within three days of its launch, and created strong demand for promotional videos and television series featuring Inori. [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHTUlF7NA2o[/youtube] The presentation ended with a lively Q&A session where several fans won limited edition Inori Aizawa t-shirts by answering simple questions about Inori. With the huge success of Inori Aizawa at AFA 2013 and Culture Japan Night, I am sure that we will be seeing more of her in the future. In the mean time, you can find out more about Inori and access exclusive content at the following links: ...

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.

Singapore’s premier anime convention, Anime Festival Asia (AFA), was back in town and anime fans were treated to Microsoft Singapore’s exclusive unveiling of a new anime heroine, Inori Aizawa. Inori Aizawa was created by local art enthusiast group Collateral Damage Studios (CDS) in March 2013, and drew more than 20,000 likes and comments. Her immense popularity caught the attention of Microsoft Singapore who decided to unveil Inori especially for AFA 2013 to coincide with the launch of Internet Explorer (IE) 11. Microsoft Singapore also collaborated with Nanyang Technological University’s CACANi Animation to develop a special promotional video introducing Inori. The video has been a resounding success with fans, gathering more than 2 million views within three days of its launch and fans requests for a 24 episode television series featuring Inori. [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHTUlF7NA2o[/youtube] Day 2 of AFA, Saturday morning 9:30am and Microsoft Singapore’s experiential booth for Inori Aizawa was already buzzing with activity as everyone queued up eagerly to experience Internet Explorer (Inori Version) on Surface tablets. Lucky fans who visited the Microsoft booth early were rewarded with a limited edition Inori Aizawa Internet Explorer t-shirt. The Microsoft booth was full of attractive displays featuring Inori which were extremely popular with fans and shutterbugs. Creative fans had a lot of fun with Inori by striking interesting poses with the character. At 2pm, the booth was graced by the presence of Valerie from Asian Pop Collective (APC) who is the voice of Inori. Her photo session drew huge crowds of people and even attracted the attention of a cute Iron Man cosplayer. Inori Aizawa has been a huge success at AFA and I am sure that fans will be seeing more of her in future Microsoft promotional events. Stay tune to Spiffy for more news about Inori! In the mean time, you can find out more about Inori and access exclusive content at the following links: ...

With AngelHack Singapore Fall edition drawing nearer, I decided to find out more about the history of the hackathon and the various perspectives of hackathons. Brief History of Hackathons [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZbtzTIuvqw[/youtube] Oxford dictionary defines a hackathon as “an event, typically lasting several days, in which a large number of people meet to engage in collaborative computer programming”. Personally, I prefer the definition given by UC Berkeley’s The Daily Californian: “Hackathon = programmers’ gathering (but more efficient)” “Hackathon = any other CS project (with potential awards)” “Hackathon = there’s food (usually)” “Hackathon = venture capitalists (they look for cool ideas)” “Hackathon = you can leave whenever (no one stops you)” [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/68314739[/vimeo] Jon Gottfried, Developer Evangelist at Twilio, gave a brief presentation at Open Tech NYC 2013 on the history of hackathon. The first hackathon was OpenBSD which occurred at Calgary from June 4 to 6, 1999. Interestingly, the term, “Hackathon”, was first used to refer to an event at the JavaOne Conference from June 15 to 19, 1999. According to Jon, the mother of the modern hackathon was created in 2005 with Super Happy Dev House that involved developers and technical expertise gathering to “build things, simply for the love of building”. It was a public community event that people could meet their friends, socialize, work on projects, and find collaborators. Since then, the hackathon has evolved into various formats that can be largely categorized into startup hackathons, open source hackathons, competitive community hackathons, brand hackathons, and non-technical hackathons. Are Hackathons Worth Your Attention? Critics feel that hackathons might not be focusing on the social good. Jake Porway, founder and executive director of DataKind, wrote a Harvard Business Review article titled “You Can’t Just Hack Your Way to Social Change” which acknowledged that hackathons “give the technology community great social opportunities and reward them with money and fame for their solutions, and companies get free access to a community of diligent experts they otherwise wouldn’t know how to reach.” However, they “are not ideal for solving big problems like reducing poverty, reforming politics, or improving education and, when they’re used to interpret data for social impact, they can be downright dangerous.” NewTechCity did an unofficial poll from 40 hackers and found that individuals primarily attend hackathons to make connections that can eventually lead to job opportunities and startup investments. More importantly, hackathons provide an opportunity for individuals to “solve a problem and to change the world”. It is a great platform to get media exposure on issues, such as Hack//Meat for sustainable agriculture and FWD.us hackathon spearheaded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for undocumented immigrants. Despite criticisms that “nothing ever happens to their ideas” generated at hackathons, these events are a great way for individuals to learn more about themselves and to socialize with other like-minded people to “keep their creative juices flowing”. It provides a great opportunity for potential entrepreneurs to learn to handle unexpected situations during a startup, such as technical failures and team conflicts, and to test their ideas and collect feedback from potential users, collaborators, and investors. Personally, I am excited about attending AngelHack Singapore to catch-up with old buddies and to make new friends while picking up great ideas on the latest trends in the industry. Interested in joining AngelHack Singapore? Sign up at https://apphack13singapore.eventbrite.com/ Keep track of the latest event news at AngelHack Singapore Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngelHackSingapore Stay tune for our coverage of AngelHack Singapore Fall 2013 at the end of the month!