Overwolf review: How successful gaming apps are being built
Tuesday, February 9, 2021 by Andre Liverod
I am an in-game creator. This may be a career title you haven’t heard before, but in-game creators and mod authors are a fast-growing community of passionate gamers who build products and services around video games like apps and mods.
In-game apps are basically extensions for games that provide tools that allow players to access rich data, stats, and analytics...
PlanGrid for Windows is out of beta
Monday, February 6, 2017 by Rebeca Ayala
PlanGrid, developer of construction software for the field, is used by tens of thousands of contractors, designers, owners, and architects to finish their projects on time and under budget. Lightning fast, easy to use, and loaded with shortcuts, it delivers thousands of plans right to users’ fingertips - helping field teams edit, share, and manage blueprints, spec...
Windows No Code App Studio Platform Receives New API Functionality
Tuesday, August 2, 2016 by Stuart Parkerson
The Windows development team has released new updates to its no code Windows App Studio platform that provides the ability to offer a wider range of information into Windows apps. The highlight of the update is the API Gallery and the Custom API Sharing that powers it.The API Gallery offers a new data source that builds upon the REST API Data Source while decreasing the...
Embarcadero Releases New C++ Compiler for Windows
Monday, July 18, 2016 by Richard Harris
Embarcadero Technologies has released its latest C++ compiler for Windows which supports developers with a modern, Clang-based tool for Windows. The compiler allows developers to develop software directly with the tool, add support to libraries or test code and find bugs that are only visible when using multiple compilers. The C++ compiler is the foundation and cor...
Windows App Studio Release Includes New REST API Data Source
Sunday, June 12, 2016 by Richard Harris
Microsoft has added several updates to its Windows App Studio platform including a new REST API data source.The new REST API data source continues to be open ended, providing the ability to connect it to most open REST API services. With this initial version of the release Microsoft is supporting GET commands for REST APIs (meaning it only pulls information) and include...
New Universal Windows Platform Tools Offer Significant Updates to .NET
Friday, April 15, 2016 by Stuart Parkerson
At Build 2016 Microsoft announced the availability of Visual Studio 2015 Update 2 which offers a significant update to the tools for building Universal Windows apps for many new classes of Windows 10 devices such XBOX, HoloLens, and Surface Hub (in addition to Phone, PC, and IoT)On the heals of Microsoft’s announcement of its Visual Studio 2015 Update 2, the company is ...
Docker for Mac and Windows Released in Beta
Friday, March 25, 2016 by Richard Harris
Docker has released in beta Docker for Mac and Docker for Windows which offer software architecture changes made to optimize Docker for an OS-native experience. As a native Mac and Windows app, Docker can now be installed, launched and utilized from a system toolbar just like any other packaged application available in native App Stores.Docker for Mac and Windows includ...
Latest Windows App Studio Beta Update Provides App Design Improvements
Monday, January 4, 2016 by Stuart Parkerson
Windows App Studio Beta is a free, online app creation tool that provides a simple way to quickly build Windows and Windows Phone apps as well as generates source code ready for Visual Studio. With this latest release, Microsoft is providing new features, design related improvements, and new templates. Among the new features are:- WordPress Data Source: There is a ...
Microsoft Releases No Code Windows 10 App Studio Out of Preview
Wednesday, November 4, 2015 by Stuart Parkerson
Microsoft has released the Windows App Studio with Windows 10 Store Support Release out of preview providing the access to a free, online app creation tool for those with no coding experience to create and publish a universal Windows app with no code required. App Studio Windows 10 was released in preview in July. With the general release, users can now direc...
New Functionality for Windows 10 IoT Core Released Through Windows Insider Program
Wednesday, November 4, 2015 by Richard Harris
The Windows 10 IoT Core was first publically released in early August and Microsoft continues to add functionality to the platform. Among the most recent enhancements include new Windows 10 IoT Core support for the Qualcomm DragonBoard 410c offering additional capabilities of the DragonBoard 410c’s including onboard WiFi and Bluetooth and DirectX graphicsEarlier this ye...
You Can Now Noodle with Windows 10 IoT Core for Embedded Devices
Friday, August 21, 2015 by Richard Harris
Microsoft has released Windows 10 IoT Core, a new edition for Windows targeted towards small, embedded devices that may or may not have screens. The first public preview of Windows 10 IoT Core was released at the /build/ conference, and since then expanded functionally has been added including support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.Microsoft designed the IoT core ...
Microsoft Provides First Look at Windows Bridge for iOS
Monday, August 10, 2015 by Richard Harris
In its continuing effort to encourage app developers to embrace cross platform development, Microsoft continues to roll out its bridging technologies to allow developers to bring existing code and skills for iOS, Android, web and desktop to the Windows Store.As part of that effort, Microsoft has released an initial version of the Windows Bridge for iOS (previously known...
Top Five Ways to Get Your Apps Ready for Windows 10
Friday, July 10, 2015 by Brian Alexakis
With the full release of Windows 10 right around the corner, now’s the time to ensure your app is ready for Microsoft’s biggest release ever. And here’s how you can do it.Expect Big Consumer Adoption Rates for Windows 10Microsoft expects that Windows 10 will see huge adoption rates by its millions of worldwide customers, from home users to small business and large enter...
Visual Studio 2015 and Windows 10 SDK Release Dates Announced
Monday, July 6, 2015 by Richard Harris
This month will see a lot of activity for Windows developers as the releases of Visual Studio 2015, Windows 10, and the Universal Windows App Development Tools, which includes the Windows 10 SDK, will all hit in July. Here are the release dates:- July 20: Visual Studio 2015 (“VS 2015″)- July 29: Windows 10, the Windows 10 SDK, and the Visual Studio Universal Window...
Resources to Help You Make Mid Year App Marketing Adjustments
Thursday, June 11, 2015 by Stuart Parkerson
Can you believe it, we’re almost at the halfway point of 2015! And for me, that means taking a quick peak at business operations to see if there are any tweaks/adjustments we need to make in response to the overall business environment we operate in.One of the things that I noticed from an editorial standpoint is that since the beginning of the year, we’ve tended to gra...
Windows App Store Announces Latest App Download and Monetization Trends
Saturday, December 27, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
The Windows Development Team has released its latest report in a recurring series that provides details about recent Windows App Store trends across categories, markets, and more. Data from the Windows Store is included with Windows Phone Store, to provide information about apps regardless of the devices targeted.This latest update includes several new analyses includin...
Windows Mobile App Ad Mediation Solution Now Available
Tuesday, November 11, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
The Windows Mobile team has announced the availability of Windows Ad Mediation, a solution designed to help Windows Phone developers manage multiple in-app advertising SDKs.The solution allows developers to increase fill rates by deploying multiple ad networks in a way that when one ad network is unable to deliver ad inventory, the app calls a second or third ad network...
New Microsoft MSN Offers Enhanced Marketing Opportunities Across Windows, iOS and Android
Monday, September 8, 2014 by Richard Harris
Microsoft has announced the launch of the new beta edition of MSN. The new MSN combines premium content from media outlets with personal productivity tools that help users better access the information.The new ‘Me Stripe’ at the top of the page that integrates both Microsoft and third-party platforms that people use both in and out of work. The new experience is availab...
Home Hunting, App Edition: How to Effectively Launch Your Localized App
Friday, September 5, 2014 by Dawni Jacobs
In the previous installment of this series, your "baby" (localized app) was shepherded onto the path to success by passing through the right quality assurance process. It now looks good to the folks in its new locale, it speaks the right language, and it functions like a native (in fact, it is a native) app. All it needs now is to find a new home - ideally many, ma...
Microsoft Announces Availability of Azure Resource Manager Tools Preview
Friday, August 22, 2014 by Richard Harris
Microsoft has made publically available the Azure Resource Manager Tools Preview for Visual Studio.At Build 2014 Microsoft announced the new Azure Portal and Azure Resource Manager. The Azure Resource Manager enables the ability to create reusable deployment templates that declaratively describe the resources that make up an application (for example a website and a SQL ...
Microsoft Releases Developer Updates for Visual Studio 2013 and Windows Phone 8.1
Monday, August 4, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
Visual Studio 2013 Update 3 and Windows Phone 8.1 Update emulator package are both now available for mobile developers. Visual Studio 2013 Update 3, is the latest full-featured update to the Visual Studio toolset. It contains many new features, including Application Insights updates, Git repository support in CodeLens and Release Management support for Windows Desi...
Syncfusion Introduces New ASP.NET Suite Driven by HTML 5 and JavaScript
Thursday, July 17, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
Syncfusion has released Essential Studio Enterprise Edition 2014, Volume 2 which offers several updates, including a new set of ASP.NET controls driven by HTML 5 and JavaScript, and introduces the company’s suite of universal Windows app controls.The new version of Syncfusion’s ASP.NET suite is fully rendered on the client side to improve user interaction and perfo...
New Version Released of Windows App Studio Beta
Sunday, June 15, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
According to the Windows Phone dev team, more than 1.1 million people have downloaded the Windows App Studio Beta. And Microsoft continues to tweek the platform offering up the newest version this week.This latest release adds new functionality including the ability to create an app and select Publish Package, which will get a .zip file that contains Store-ready pu...
Microsoft Introduces Brokered Windows Runtime Components Templates
Friday, May 9, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
At Build 2014, Microsoft introduced features of Windows 8.1 Update that help enterprise developers move apps to modern, touch-enabled, mobile devices while still receiving the value of long-term investments in existing business logic code. Brokered Windows Runtime Components make this possible by allowing side-loaded Windows Store apps to interoperate with des...
Developers Can Test Out Windows Phone 8.1 with New Windows Phone Preview
Wednesday, April 16, 2014 by Richard Harris
As of this week, developers can now install Windows Phone 8.1 on their dev phone through the Windows Phone Preview for Developers and try out a lot features that were announced at Build a couple of weeks ago. Along with the tooling delivered in Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 RC, developers can now get everything they need to start building and testing Window...
Microsoft Announces New App Developer Opportunities at Build, Along With Windows Phone 8.1
Wednesday, April 2, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
Microsoft continues to woo the app development community and announced several new new developer opportunities at Build 2014. The emphasis was on the Windows platform as a common platform across devices, a single toolset, a common infrastructure across the Windows and Windows Phone stores, and a clear commitment to interoperability. The company also annou...
Equal Access App Development: Create an App with Assistive Technology
Monday, March 31, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
You probably have not thought about making sure that your app is accessible to everyone, even those users with some type of disability. Not to worry, the Microsoft App Builder team has been thinking about it and have provided a number of things to think of, no matter what operating system you are using.As they point out, by designing apps with assistive techno...
About Publishing Enterprise Apps for Windows Phone
Friday, March 7, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
Interested in learning more about how to publish applications for Windows Phone for the enterprise? Microsoft’s Matthijs Hoekstra, Sr., Product Marketing Manager in the Windows Platform Developer Marketing Group, has just outlined different options on how to do so on the Windows Phone Developer blog.While there are a few different ways to distribute ...
Android Market Too Big to Ignore so Nokia Debuts Nokia X Android Platform
Tuesday, February 25, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
Microsoft might own Nokia, but Android rules for mobile apps (sorry Apple) and thus Nokia has debuted new smartphones running the Nokia X software platform based on the Android Open Source Project.Nokia’s recent announcement included a number of new details, which made it somewhat confusing unless you paid close attention, which we did. The Android OS is obvio...
Microsoft Offers Unity Game Developers New Incentive Program to Develop Windows Apps
Saturday, February 22, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
In an effort to continue to populate its Windows app market, Microsoft is incentivizing Unity developers to create Windows apps. Developers who qualify will receive complimentary Windows store registration, a Microsoft Windows 8 license, a Windows device (phone/tablets), a promotional package and technical assistance.Any Unity developer using Unity 4...
Amazon AppStream SDK Streams Resource Intensive Apps and Games from the Cloud
Thursday, January 30, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
The Amazon AppStream SDK was created to help developers manage streaming an app from AWS to local devices. Currently in limited preview, CPC games has been using Amazon AppStream to improve the new-user experience for Eve Online science fiction game.Halldor Fannor, CTO of CCP Games, noted the use of AppStream could allow new users of Eve Online to st...
Another Positive Sign for Windows App Development as Windows Phone Store Arrives on App Annie
Wednesday, January 8, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
Windows continues to gain traction in the mobile industry. Last year at this time the vast majority of app development industry providers concentrated on iOS and Android with Windows Phone an afterthought. Now that Microsoft has proven itself as a serious mobile player with staying power those providers have had to readjust their thinking. And so App Annie&nbs...
StartApp Provides 2014 Predictions on Mobile Industry Trends as They Relate to App Developers
Wednesday, January 8, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
This is the time of year app development industry insiders put on their prognosticator hats and give their opinions on what app developers can expect for the upcoming year. Cassidy Smith, Social Networks Manager at StartApp, recently posted the company’s insight into 2014.Following is an excerpt of her predictions.In the year 2013, we saw several mobile markets mat...
Windows App Developers Can Now Access New Emulators for Windows Phone 8.0 Updates 2 and 3
Wednesday, January 8, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
The Windows Dev Center crew has announced on its blog that app developers can now download new emulator images for Windows Phone 8.0 Updates 2 and 3 from the Microsoft Download Center, and install them on existing Windows Phone SDK 8.0 installations.
The Windows Phone 8 Update 2 (8.0.10322) emulator images have been updated to support development enviro...
Windows App Developer’s Beta Apps No Longer Facing 90 Day Deadline
Wednesday, December 18, 2013 by Stuart Parkerson
One of the benefits offered through the Windows Phone Dev Center is the ability to test apps prior to submitting them to the public catalog in the Windows Phone Store. However one of the downsides was that after 90 days, those beta apps expired.
As the Windows Dev Team explains, “We’ve spoken with many of our developers to learn more about how they use beta apps. Many ...
