Microsoft showcases PayPal, Dropbox and other apps for Windows 8

Call it the week of Windows 8: Microsoft wasted no time luring developers to the new OS during its Build 2012 conference in Seattle Tuesday.
Among the showcasing going on, the Softies focused on W8 apps for the Windows Store, including ones for PayPal, ESPN and Dropbox.
Microsoft also revealed that 4 million people have made the switch to Windows 8 since the OS was made available Oct. 26, a number that's sure to peak developers' interest.
The company did not, however, make mention of Surface tablet sales.

What the W8 apps are all about

Dropbox's new app "offers cloud based storage and synchronization service for photos, documents and videos on Windows 8," Microsoft wrote in an official blog post.
Look for it in the Windows Store soon.
With the ESPN app, news, scores and videos are all aggregated, plus ESPN The Magazine, podcasts and photo galleries all make the cut.
For sports-specific fans, W8 lets users pin whatever sport they choose and their favorite teams to their Start screens, too.
With PayPal, the Windows 8 API lets devs use the service within any Windows Store app to actually get paid.
Microsoft also announced in its blog post that Twitter is also working on a Windows 8 app, a tidbit the social network later confirmed with a tweet. However, that app won't see the light of day for a few months.

Microsoft updating built-in Windows 8 apps

Microsoft updating built-in Windows 8 apps ahead of October 26 release

New Delhi: Microsoft has announced in its official blog its plans to update some built-in apps for Windows 8. As the world is getting ready to witness the launch of Windows 8 OS, Microsoft is busy updating certain apps.

Leading up to general availability for Windows 8, Microsoft said that the company will be releasing updates for many of the apps that were included with the release to manufacturing (RTM) build of Windows 8 that was delivered to PC makers and to MSDN and TechNet subscribers in August.

"Naturally, these app updates will also be available to PC makers to include by default with their PCs shipping in the future, but for those of you who have already installed Windows 8 RTM, it is super easy to get the updates from the Store app," said the company. The Store tile will notify when updates are available.

The Bing app is the first application to get the update. Other updates will roll out up until October 26th.

Here is the list of apps getting update and some highlights of the changes that you will see:

1. SkyDrive

Search within SkyDrive

Rename and move folders and files

New first-run experience

Custom sort order

2. Mail, Calendar, People, and Messaging

Conversation view of your inbox

Complete IMAP account support

Accepting and declining invitations in email

Capturing and updating your account picture

Improved search

Search for a contact within the Messaging app

3. Photos

Crop and rotate photos

New auto-curated collage slideshows

View photos and videos on network locations in your Pictures Library such as Windows Home Server, network shares, and HomeGroups

Move through photos in your Pictures Library even when you open them from the desktop

3. Maps

Bird's eye view

3,000+ indoor venue maps

Driving directions hints

Improved navigation and layout

Improved customisation, including custom pushpins and roaming options

Integration with Bing and Travel apps

4. Bing

Richer search results for local content and images

Bing rewards integration

Use zoom on your search results to see related queries

Use the file picker to select an image from Bing to use on your lock screen or in your other apps

5. Finance

Additional news and magazine content

More market exchanges enabled

Finance videos

6. News

Additional news content from partners such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal

Enhanced article reader, including font customization, zoom, pagination, and more

Improved offline reading experience

News videos

Slideshows

7. Sports

Additional news and magazine content

Sports videos

Slideshows

New soccer leagues, including MLS, J. League, and Brazilian League

8. Travel

Additional news and magazine content

Improved flight search and new flight progress indicator

Improved hotel listing page

Interactive 360-degree panoramas (gyroscope supported)

9. Weather

Improved default location usability

Hourly weather forecasts, up to 10 days

Day & evening high/low temperatures

10. Video

Purchasing in local currencies

Closed captioning

Search by actor or director

11. Music

Expanded music services

Rich "Now Playing" experience

Discover more music with SmartDJ

12. Games

Exciting new games

In-game purchasing

Invites and turn notifications

SDK enhancements for the new OS

Kinect gets Windows 8 update and releases in China

Microsoft announced an update to the Kinect for Windows' software development kit, or SDK, in preparation for the launch of Windows 8.

A number of enhancements to the SDK will provide developers with new data in the API for their Kinect applications.

For example, API access to accelerometer data will allow developers to determine the Kinect sensor's orientation, and extended-range depth data will allow Kinect to return data from objects more than four meters away.

Developers will also have access to the Kinect camera's brightness and exposure settings, as well as infrared stream exposure settings, opening up new environments such as low-light settings.

The updated SDK will also better support multiple Kinect sensors working together, with faster infrared sensing and improved skeletal tracking.

Windows 8 compatible

In addition to the Kinect's new technical capabilities from the update, the new SDK makes Kinect sensors compatible with Windows 8, allowing developers to create Windows 8 desktop applications using the 3D camera.

Kinect applications support Visual Studio 2012 and Microsoft's .NET Framework 4.5. With the updated SDK, developers can also create Kinect applications for virtual machine environments, including Microsoft Hyper-V, VMWare, and Parallels.

Microsoft also launched the Kinect sensor for Windows in China, with launches to soon reach Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Poland, and Puerto Rico.

Kinect is still gaining support from various fields, used in applications for manufacturing and even medical purposes, and the new SDK features will help to further expand those uses.

Microsoft has not given up on Kinect for gaming yet either, as recently leaked images hint at an even more accurate sensor in store for firm's next console, commonly referred to as the Xbox 720.

Windows 8 Tablet – Review: Acer Iconia Tab W500

When it comes to tablets, Windows is likely the last option you'd ever choose.
Windows tablets started as slates and convertibles around the beginning of the millennium, but due to the bulky nature of the hardware and Windows' awful performance with touch technology they've never really taken off.
Recently though Microsoft has introduced its newest version of Windows, which includes a brand new start-menu replacement, Metro.
Metro is a touch-optimized interface that includes everything we've come to expect in mobile operating systems, including a marketplace.
With Windows 8 Beta just around the corner, now is a great time to start looking around for the right tablet for both testing purposes and ultimately the upgrade to the full commercial version of Windows 8.
Today we take a look at the Acer Iconia W500, a unique hybrid that includes a 10.1-inch tablet and a separate keyboard dock, which together gives users a netbook-like experience.
The W500 includes the following specifications:

• 10.1-inch LED-baclkit TFT LCD with a resolution of 1280x800
• an AMD Dual-Core C-50 1066MHz Processor
• 2GB DDR3 1066MHz RAM
• 32GB SDD with mini-SATA
• 2-in-1 memory card reader
• Dolby Advanced Audio
• ATI Radeon HD 6250
• 2 USB 2.0 ports
• HDMI
• RJ-45 port
• 3-cell li-ion battery (capable of up to six hours life)
• Weight: 2.14lbs
• Dimensions: 10.83x7.58x.063-in

I personally am a huge fan of the Iconia Tab a500 Android tablet, and so I was hoping to find just as great of an experience with the Window-side of Acer tablets.
I understand that Windows 7 isn't the best touch-experience but I still had great expectations for the hardware.
Unfortunately, the W500 has plenty of great ideas but is plagued by a frustrating design. Docking and undocking is ultimately a difficult situation that makes it hardly worth it, and the overall slate/dock combination is a bit on the bulky side.
While in the docked/hybrid mode, you get the form-factor of a netbook but honestly the performance in this tablet is highly more refined than what you normally would see in a netbook.
First off, you have a Dual-Core AMD processor versus the lower-powered Atom and the Radeon HD 6250 provides a much better graphics experience than most budget tablets.
Of course if you plan to switch back and forth between tablet and 'hybrid', good luck. The dock doesn't come on and off without a bit of difficulty and you will have to resist the natural urge to want to fold the unit shut.
Looking at the unit without the dock, it actually is a pretty impressive piece of hardware. Again. The specs are much better than what you would expect from many other basic tablets and even with heavy use of multiple videos and browsing you can expect about 3 hours of battery life.
The W500 is well-rounded and feels very comfortable in your hands, though the downside is that it runs Windows 7 Home Premium and not a truly touch-optimized experience.
For those that plan on putting the Beta on the hardware, this likely isn't a deal breaker. If you are interested in getting the tablet now though, you will have to get used to using Windows 7 on a tablet.
Luckily, Acer has included several custom programs that are designed to make the experience much better than you would expect, but it is still no Android, iOS, or Metro.
Overall, the Iconia w500 is a good option if you are looking for a device that can be used for productivity in a docked mode, but also has a full tablet experience for those situations when portability is a must.
While the docking feature might not be as intuitive as I would like, it is worth putting up with if you really need a machine that can provide the best of both worlds.

What I’m looking for in the Windows 8 Beta

As we race right into 2012, I'm starting to get excited about the prospect of testing the Windows 8 Beta.
I'm looking for very specific things in this latest release of Microsoft's new Operating system.
First, I got myself an ExoPC tablet from the Microsoft store which arrived and looks pretty sweet.
I'm not even going to bother putting the Windows 8 Development Preview on it, I'll just wait for the Windows 8 Beta.

Once I install Windows 8 on the tablet, I'll go over the checklist of Windows 8 features.
I'll do a detailed review of all the features of Windows 8 on this blog and of course I will use those features as my criteria but at the end of the day, there is one metric that will tell me what the future of this Operating System (on tablets) will be.

The 2 year old test

You see I have a 2 year old son.
He loves my Ipad ( he calls it the "pah"). It's sweet. He grabs the Ipad, swipes it open, swipes to his favorite application (Elmo), taps once to run it and taps away at the different letters of the alphabet.
Then, once he gets bored of that, he clicks on the one Ipad button to go to the home screen, swipes to go to another page and then clicks once on his other fave app - Toy Story 2.
Then, sometimes in the middle of that, he'll double click on the button (just like he's seen dad do) and switch between open apps to get to what he wants.

HE's 2 YEARS OLD!
Sorry Microsoft but that to me is the real test. The user interface on the Ipad is so simple a  2 year old can use it and in fact he started using the Ipad at 14 months. I blogged about that here.
Ultimately, Windows 8 has to be easy to use. It has to be stupid simple.
No charms that are hidden, no funny "swipe up left and then right" combos. This is not Mortal Kombat.
It has to be easy enough for grandmothers to use. For babies to want to use. That will be the real predictor for success. When families see that their children are interested in Iphones, they buy them Ipods so they can play their own apps etc.
Believe me I am thinking of getting my kid an Ipod so i can get my Ipad2 back.
If Windows 8 is not smooth and seamless and intuitive, then it's game over. You can't beat something with nothing - it just doesn't work.
The other thing that Microsoft must know about this is that it's all or nothing. There will not be a service pack to fix the major UI issues if they come up. It will either work or it won't and I suspect that within 3 months of using the Beta, we will all render a verdict.
I am reminded that my friend Marc said to me that Android was not innovative because in so many ways, it's a bad copy of the Apple UI. Microsoft get tremendous credit for doing something that is if nothing else original.

What Would Be the Perfect Price for a Windows 8 Tablet?

So, the market leader of tablets right now is the iPad and they start at $499 for their cheapest model which has 16 gigabytes (GB) of flash storage and just WiFi as the wireless communications radio.
But you can get one at as much as $829 that has 3G (from either Verizon or AT&T) and 64 GB of storage. In my opinion, $829 is way to much for a tablet. You could get a MacBook Air with more power and a bit more memory than that from BestBuy for the same exact price.
It runs Mac OS X Snow Leopard instead of Lion, but the operating system is irrelevant when comparing the two products (Snow Leopard would win anyway.)
So basically what I’m saying here, is that you can buy a low-end computer for the same exact price as a high end computer. That just doesn’t seem to make sense to me. I think the $499 starting price is great for a high end tablet like an iPad, but $829 just seems like way too much.
The lowest priced, well known tablet was the HP TouchPad at $99 when it went on sale before it got discontinued. Actually, according to CNet as of 9:45 EST, December 11, 2011, the TouchPads are going on sale again for $99 and $149 for one last time, but that’s getting off topic.
The TouchPads are basically gone, which leaves the Nook Color and the Kindle Fire competing for the lowest price. The Nook Color and Kindle Fire both start at $199 which is a great price for anyone that wants the experience of a tablet, but not the costly price. Neither of these tablets are as advanced as the iPad, after all they are basically advanced eReaders, but they have enough features to be considered a tablet.

Now that we have looked at these two options, what do you think that a good price for a Windows 8 tablet would be? It would have to be somewhere between these two prices, the price range would be $200-$498.
It would have to be higher than the low-end ones because Windows 8 is a full fledged computer operating system, not a lite version like they use on tablets, so the Windows tablets would be really advanced. The tablet manufacturers would also have to make a profit, and Windows isn’t free, unlike Android. But they would have to be lower than $500 to even stand a chance against the iPad.
So right now I’m thinking that a good price range would be more like $300-$400. It would allow enough money to come in so that tablet manufacturers can make a good profit, but it also allows Windows 8 tablets to have a slight advantage over the iPad. Some tablets will probably be priced higher than this, and some may be priced lower, but I think most of them should fall under this price range.

Four Reasons Why Microsoft IS NOT Too Late To The Tablet Market

Opinions regarding Windows 8 have to be some of the most mixed and scattered I’ve ever seen. People say they love Metro, people say they hate it. You hear about how Windows is too late for tablets and then you hear that a burst of tablet sales will arrive in 2012 sometime and that the Windows release is right on track.
Sorting through all the bi-polar news regarding Windows 8 can be a little confusing but you have to understand why. Windows 8 is very different from past offerings thanks to Metro and their idea of unifying platforms through ARM/x86 support.
This means that Windows 8 is a gamble, and like any gamble the odds can often be about 50/50 (unless you are at a casino, in that case the odds are much lower). Calculating the odds of Microsoft’s chance of success with Windows 8 isn’t easy and this is likely why there is such a large variety of opinion surrounding it.
Now here comes an article from PC World that states we shouldn’t be worried.
Unlike the other article I reported on today, this article doesn’t claim Windows 8 will be a wild success, it simply says Microsoft isn’t too late to the party.
Here are the reasons he states:

People Are Clueless

This doesn’t apply to tech-saavy types like those reading Windows 8 Update and other similar publications, but the average man on the street has no idea what Windows 8 is all about. When you ask them about a tablet running Windows they likely will think of the same plain old version of Windows slapped onto a touch screen.
This isn’t what people want and so no wonder people with their narrow understanding of what Windows on a Tablet looks like, don’t want it. The average person doesn’t understand Microsoft is rebuilding the entire interface to make it more touch friendly, app friendly, and a great mobile experience.
When tablets running Windows 8 finally arrive and people check them out, it seems likely their opinion could change.

Windows is Huge, and So Is the Market

Those who argue that Windows 8 is running out of time are overlooking the vast number of people who have yet to adopt a tablet.
Microsoft has license over 450 million copies of Windows 7 versus Apple’s iPad 40 million sales. If you add in the few million that own Android tablets you still see that there is a vast untapped market that Windows could reach out to.

Late to What Market?

“Windows 8 looks like it’s going to be a good product,” Gownder told the New York Times. “It’s just going to be so late to the market.”
According to PC World, Gownder’s comment implies that being early to the market is an advantage, but this isn’t necessarily true. As an old example, the Dreamcast reached the console party for its generation in 1999, and the rest of its competition (Playstation 2, Xbox, Gamecube) didn’t arrive for another 1-2 years. The Dreamcast failed horribly in the market, and so being first means little.
The market is still growing and offering a solid product is what is really going to matter.

Cheap Tablets Are a Different Product

Forrester notes that cheap tablets like Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet have reshaped consumers’ expectations, and this is honestly true. Still the iPad was also initially a consumption device and blossomed into a powerful computing device.
Kindle and Nook will NEVER be powerful laptop replacement units. PC world contest that Windows tablets will more than likely go up directly against iPad and not the Android options. This is likely true and although Apple fans will stick with iPad, Windows fans will likely flock instead to W8 tablets.

Overall Opinion

Windows 8 will certainly have its place. Android is starting to settle in as a budget option thanks to the success of devices like the Kindle Fire. If Microsoft can dominate the mid-range and compete in the high-range with the iPad as well, it will have a place in the market.

Nokia Tablet Could Be A Strong Competitor For Apple And Amazon

Windows 8 is shaping up to be the greatest offering yet, with faster installation, download based installs, faster startup times, and its Metro desktop that gives PCs a new tablet-like feel.
The biggest news involved with Windows 8 though is that it will be the same PC on a desktop or tablet and will feature support for ARM processors this time around.
With Windows 8 around the corner, many companies have been talking about the tablet offerings they will be bringing out in 2012 and 2013 that will run on Windows 8.
Nokia is certainly one of the companies that is focusing on tablets, which they consider part of their integral strategy for regaining US market support.
Nokia now promises that such a tablet could be out as early as June of next year and according to the head of Nokia France such a tablet could give Apple and Amazon a run for their money.
Additionally they have also started really focusing on Windows Phone 7 smartphones as well.
There really was no solid information behind their claim to compete with Apple and Amazon, and it sounded more like ordinary marketing hype. Still, let’s consider what it would take for Nokia to make a tablet that could really take on the competition.
I recently released an article on Windows8update discussing how Microsoft could actually do very well in tablet market if it played its cards right.
One of the ideas I talked about was Microsoft creating a ‘flagship’ device that would demonstrate the best of Windows 8.
Nokia has recently expressed bringing its partnership with Microsoft to new heights and is also showing plenty of interest in regain US market pull. So would Nokia make the perfect partner for such a flagship device?
Honestly, yes. Nokia doesn’t have the pull in the states that it used to have, but it is certainly still a solid brand.
If Nokia wants to put its money where its mouth is,  their competing tablet should have specifications that allow content creation but at the same time have a low enough price point for more casual users.
Amazon is doing well against Apple, at least so far, because it offers a great content consumption service while still keeping at a fair price.
Part of Amazon’s strategy involves selling at a loss and making up for it with its online content sales, unfortunately such a strategy really wouldn’t work for Nokia, or would it?
If Microsoft created a  partnership with Nokia where it would give a small percent of content sales to the company, this could possibly work. Would Microsoft ever enter into such an arrangement? Probably not.
So what should Microsoft and Nokia focus on to be a success? Microsoft should focus on Zune integration and updating several of its big-hitting Windows x86 programs over to Metro.
This means that productivity and content-consumption would be present in such a Nokia flagship model.
As for Nokia? They need to develop a tablet that has modest yet capable specifications that can turn heads while offering a bit of both iPad and Fire features.

Here are the top 16 Tablets that Windows 8 will have to compete with

So Windows 8 will be here sometime next year and of course, we’re all expecting to be using Windows 8 tablets with the Metro interface.

I write so much about Windows 8 and the tablets etc and I realized that I hadnt really paid attention to the competition i.e. the tablets on sale now in the market place.
I hunted down all the tablets and vendors that I could and here they are just for you. As you can see, it’s a really crowded field and Microsoft are going to have to work really really hard to make Windows 8 stand out.
You can get more information about each Tablet from Amazon from clicking on the titles (they open up in a new window).
My personal favorite is the Samsung galaxy. Has a really sexy feel to it. On a separate note – Samsung seem to be kicking ass in the hardware department these days. Stay tuned for a separate post on that.
Anyway, let’s do it.
Here are the top 16 Tablets that Windows 8 will have to compete with when it hits the market next year.

 1. Acer Iconia Tab A500-10S16u 10.1-Inch Tablet

 2. Kindle Fire, Full Color 7″ Multi-touch Display, Wi-Fi

3. ARCHOS 101 Internet Tablet 16GB

4. ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF101-A1 10.1-Inch Tablet

5. Blackberry Playbook 7-Inch Tablet (16GB)

6. Coby Kyros MID7015 7-Inch Android Internet Touchscreen Tablet

7. Cydle M7 MultiPad Tablet PC – White

 8. Dell Streak 7 Wi-Fi Tablet

  

9. HTC Flyer 5MP,16GB,Android OS,AD2P 7inch WIFI Tablet

10. MOTOROLA XOOM Android Tablet (10.1-Inch, 32GB, Wi-Fi)

11. Barnes & Noble NOOK Color eBook

12. Samsung Galaxy Tab (10.1-Inch, 16GB, Wi-Fi)

13. Sony SGPT111US/S Wi-Fi Tablet (16GB)

14. Toshiba Thrive 10.1-Inch 16 GB Android Tablet AT105-T1016

 15. Velocity Micro T301 Cruz 7-Inch Android 2.0 Tablet (Black)

16. ViewSonic gTablet with 10″ Multi-Touch LCD Screen

How Windows 8 Compares to Other Tablet Operating Systems

Windows 8 is starting to really shape up as a contender in the tablet market, but how do the features really compare to other tablet operating systems? Let’s take a look at just a few reasons why Windows 8 is a different ballgame altogether than competitors like iOS and Android.
Live tiles
With Windows 8 we have a brand new interface, named Metro. This simplistic design is not only easy to learn and a low resource consumer, but offers live tiles that really set it apart from other similar UIs.
Although notification systems exist in iOS 5 and all Android versions, but with Windows 8 we have Windows Phone 7-like tiles that offer snippets of information in a consistent format that can be updated without ever having to launch the application. This gives us an interesting way to take a look at information while providing a uniform, basic setup.
The simple grid of icons in the iOS homescreen is almost an icon in itself, but it only provides the basic functionality to manage and launch applications. On the other hand, Honeycomb’s homescreen allows for interactive widgets but the lack of consistency between them makes for a very jarring experience.
From what we’ve already seen of Windows 8, it will feature the same live tiles from Windows Phone 7. Live tiles can offer snippets of contextual information in a consistent format that can be updated without actually launching the application. Developers can also differentiate similar applications by exposing better live tiles.
Application diversity
As long as your processor is an x86, with Windows 8 you have the convenience of touch-optimized apps that add an element of convenience and entertainment while still offering legacy Win32 support for the applications people and businesses depend on day-to-day. A tablet running an x86 processor offers an experience that not only can replace your laptop but also offer you the convenience that we’ve come to expect in mobile apps.
Peripherals support
Although Android has recently done a good job at trying to add support for a variety of different peripherals, it still has a long ways to go. With iOS you certainly can’t argue that support for add-on devices is a weakness. With Windows 8 you will likely have SD card readers and the wide support of thousands of existing Windows drivers for any kind of add-on device you can think of, from webcams to keyboards.
With Windows 8 you can add-on needed accessories while at home to turn your Windows tablet into a true productivity machine, at the same time you also have a highly portable tablet for your consumption, entertainment, and mobility needs.
Hardware diversity
With iOS you only have one choice and that’s the iPad. With Windows 8 and Android you have a much larger choice of options when it comes to hardware so you get the machine that meets your needs without paying too much for features you will never use.
One area in hardware where Windows 8 has Android beat, is x86 support. While most Windows 8 tablets will probably utilize ARM processors, business tablets will certainly have the option of using x86 and by proxy opening up your tablet to full support of all your favorite Win32 apps through desktop legacy support. Just keep in mind that you MUST have an x86 processor to get legacy support out of Windows 8.
Social integration
While Apple has recently started adding better social integration with Twitter functionality and some of the same features exist in Android, you are still going to find a deeper social experience with Windows. It seems likely that Windows 8 will have the same deep social integration with a variety of programs such as Facebook, Twitter, Windows Live, and LinkedIn.
The Bottom Line
Windows 8 might not be the tablet choice of everybody, but for those who really love CHOICE it is hard to beat the flexibility and versatility in Windows 8. You can choice a very basic Metro experience through ARM or even receive full legacy support with x86 tablets. There will be DELL, HP, Acer, and many other brands to choose from.
It’s possible you will even find some creative companies that might offer Android/Windows 8 dual boot solutions.