Microsoft just launched an iOS news app for some reason
News apps aren’t anything new these days, but that’s not stopping Microsoft from taking a shot. News Pro for iPhone and the web comes fresh out of the oven from Microsoft Garage, the company’s experimental project group. Its goal? To make it easy for you to follow work-related news using suggestions from Bing. That, at least, gives News Pro a different spin than more general news apps like Flipboard and Feedly. But from some brief testing, it still feels pretty familiar.
After snagging News Pro from the App Store, you’re prompted to authenticate with LinkedIn or Facebook. I went the LinkedIn route, which holds most of my professional connections, and logged in without any trouble. The app is made up of three main sections: A Home tab that lists popular stories; an Explore tab for choosing new topics to follow; and a simple profile tab.
On the surface, News Pro doesn’t look too different than most other news apps. I was also unimpressed with its initial roundup of top stories, which included some commentary on Facebook’s upcoming earnings and news about Indiegogo’s CEO stepping down. Beyond that were several articles that weren’t of much interest. Nothing about Sony’s surprising decision to create a PlayStation-only company was listed, even though it’s one of today’s most intriguing stories. It’s unclear how, exactly News Pro is choosing which stories to display, but I’d imagine it’s partially based on the stories your friends are sharing.
When you click into a story from the Home tab, you’re sent right to a normal web page. You can also choose to load a stripped-down “Speedy” version of the page, similar to what you’d get from a bookmarking tool like Pocket or Instapaper. At the bottom of every article are buttons to comment and “Like” an article, as well as your typical sharing options.
While most news app try to simplify the process of choosing which news to follow, News Pro gives you extensive options. In its Explore tab, you can choose from a large list of industries, companies, skills and products to follow. There’s also a “Pilot” mode that lists some recommended topics to follow. I was both impressed and overwhelmed with News Pro’s customization capabilities. I’m sure some users would love tweaking how, exactly, their news appears. Personally, the list of options made my eyes glaze over.
I suppose it was inevitable that Microsoft would jump into the news app fray, but I wish it tried a bit harder to make something different. Apple News, on the other hand, launched with a strong sense of design, plenty of media partners, and a decent selection of features. Sure, it also did pretty much the same thing as other news apps, but you could see why iOS users could actually do with it. At this point, I’m not sure why anyone would use News Pro.
Via: Microsoft-News
Source: iOS App Store, News Pro
Microsoft’s iPhone keyboard has a one-handed mode
Microsoft isn’t just porting its Windows smartphone keyboard to iOS verbatim — it’s spicing things up in the process. Both Windows blogger Paul Thurrott and The Verge understand that iPhone users will get a fan-shaped one-handed keyboard. Based on the early peeks (including a few Verge pictures), the new mode resembles the touchscreen keyboard you got back in the Windows Vista days. Windows 10 Mobile already has a single-hand mode, but it only shunts the keys to one side — this is designed more explicitly to fit your thumb.
Besides that, you’re looking at a largely faithful rendition of the Windows keyboard, complete with Word Flow (swipe-to-type) and suggestions. The add-on still isn’t publicly available — you’ll have to wait a few months for that. Look at this way, though: you’ll at least know what you’re likely to get when this new input method arrives.
Microsoft to Bring Windows Phone Keyboard to iOS With Unique One-Handed Mode
Microsoft is working on bringing its Word Flow Windows Phone keyboard to iOS devices and new images shared by The Verge offer a look at some of the included features, such as a one-handed mode for larger phones like the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus.
To enable one-handed typing, the keyboard has an arc-like design with letters radiating out from the iPhone’s display to be reached with just a thumb. The keyboard can be used this way on either the left or right side of the device, so it works for both right-handed and left-handed users. Microsoft’s own devices have a one-handed mode, but it shrinks the letters down to one side rather than rearranging the keys.
Microsoft’s upcoming iOS keyboard also has a standard view like any other third-party keyboard, and it’s said to be similar in design to the Word Flow keyboard used on Windows 10 Mobile devices. The Word Flow keyboard, first introduced with Windows Phone 8.1, is seen as a defining feature of the mobile Windows experience.
It features swipe-based typing like the third-party Swype keyboard on iOS, and it also features a built-in word prediction engine, automatic word corrections and shortcuts, multi-language support, emoji recommendations when typing, and more.
News of Microsoft’s work on a third-party iOS keyboard first surfaced earlier this month after Microsoft began sending out beta invites to select people for testing purposes. It is not known when the keyboard might be ready to launch to the public, but The Verge says it will be available “in the coming months.”
Third-party keyboards have not yet been widely adopted on iOS devices due to ongoing issues with slowness, crashing, and other bugs, so it remains to be seen if Microsoft’s one-handed mode will win over iOS users.
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Cortana helps you keep deadlines by scanning your email
Remember telling Ted in accounting that you’d get the Tuttle figures over by Wednesday morning? No? Well, Cortona does — it can now read your emails and remind you of any written commitments. Microsoft revealed that the new tweak, and others, are now available in a new Windows Insider release. If you email your spouse promising to be cinema tickets, for instance, then Cortana will pop up to tell you so the next time you open up your PC. The feature works much the same as Microsoft’s flight and package tracking, and data is kept locally unless you ask for a reminder. You can also opt out.
The other new features is calendar management. Should Cortana notice that someone has requested a meeting outside your regular working hours, it will tell you so and ask if you want to reschedule.The assistant will also keep on top of any last minute meetings, to help you juggle things and leave on time. If you’re used to Google’s reminder cards based on emails, reservation confirmations and more, none of these features are new. However, they may prove handy to business users who are more likely to be logged onto Windows 10. If you’re in the Insider program, you should see the features soon, otherwise, they’ll roll out during the next big Windows 10 update.
Source: Microsoft
Patriot’s Surface tablets break down during AFC title match
Microsoft paid the NFL a fortune to have teams use its Surface Pro 3 tablets on the sidelines, but it likely wasn’t thrilled with the publicity it got on Sunday. During the AFC championship game, the Patriot’s devices stopped working for an excruciating 20 minutes before Microsoft managed to fix them, according to a CBS sideline reporter. Microsoft chalked it up to “connectivity issues,” saying that the Broncos’ tablets were working just fine. The Surface is only used to view formation photos of previous plays, so it likely didn’t handicap the Patriots too much. Unfortunately, they went on to lose the game by a tight 20-18 margin, so they clearly needed every advantage they could get.
Naturally, the internet noticed and unleashed a storm of mocking tweets. Last year, Microsoft spent a lot of time and effort to get players, coaches and announcers to stop referring to its tablets as “iPads,” or worse, “knockoff iPads,” as Jay Cutler put it. However, in the past year, sideline cameras have showed players tossing them in disgust after making bad plays and even smashing them against their heads.
Second time this season I’ve personally heard the @Microsoft tablet getting crushed during an #NFL game pic.twitter.com/Bz9vu4YRQ2
— Sean Jensen (@seankjensen) January 24, 2016
when they work they’re called iPads, when they don’t they’re called Microsoft Surface Tablets (TM)
— Matthew Zeitlin (@MattZeitlin) January 24, 2016
Can’t believe Belichick knocked out the wrong team’s tablet network.
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) January 24, 2016
https://vine.co/v/elZOMPFAbnl/embed/simple
Source: CBS
5 Android apps you shouldn’t miss this week! – Android Apps Weekly
Welcome back to Android Apps Weekly!
Sponsored by: justAnote
[Price: Free]
This week’s episode of the Android Apps Weekly show is sponsored by justAnote. This is a simple note taking application that works in tandem with your dialer app so you can take quick notes after any phone call. Just place your call as normal and when you’re done, the app should open right up so you can jot down notes if need be.
Notes can be done with text or with your voice by pressing down on the mic icon and talking. You can also customize the theme of your notes and the whole thing is wrapped up in beautifully done Material Design. You can also add phone call notes to your calendar for quick reminders, manage your call logs, and more. It’s also available in eight languages! It’s great for never forgetting what your phone call was about ever again. Give it a shot and show your support for the Android Apps Weekly show!
Get it now on Google Play!
Here are your headlines for this week:
- The Google Play Store is once again giving folks rentals for up to 75% off. With this, you can rent a single movie for up to 75% off so if there’s a title you’ve always wanted to watch, this is a great way to do it. This is likely to promote the video streaming side of the Play Store and you can take advantage of this rental until March 31st.
- WhatsApp has had an interesting week. First, it was announced that WhatsApp will be dropping their yearly subscription charge. Now, it has been revealed that WhatsApp will begin sharing details about its users with Facebook in order to, and I quote, “improve Facebook experiences”. We suppose it was only a matter of time before this happened and you’ll have a whole new terms of service to read as well.
- A while back, renowned indie developer Chris Lacy sold Link Bubble and Tap Path to an unknown entity that would be revealed later. Later is right now. The company is called Brave Software and Lacy’s apps are being used as framework for a browser that will pay you for the advertising you see. The idea is to get rid of large, annoying ads and replace them with ads that don’t compromise the experience, but also doesn’t screw over publishers like ad block does. We’ll see how that turns out.
- Roadhouse Interactive, developers of the popular Warhammer 40,000: Carnage game, has announced that they’re working on an Iron Maiden game. This isn’t the first time a musician or artist has used a mobile game to promote their work, with artists like Avenged Sevenfold and iamyank doing similar titles to promote their work. It’ll be out this summer and it should be interesting.
- The latest Humble Bundle is now live! After announcing that the mobile exclusive ones would be discontinued, a new Humble Bundle materialized out of nowhere and we couldn’t be happier. This one has a few Pac-Man games, Puzzle Quest 2, Flight Control, and a few other games. You get three games for a buck and every game in the bundle if you pay more than $5.
For even more Android apps and games news, headlines, and releases, don’t forget to check out this week’s newsletter. We had a metric ton of news that we didn’t have time for this week. If you want to, you can subscribe to the Android Apps Weekly newsletter using the form below and we’ll send it to your email every Sunday afternoon.
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Loot and Legends
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Loot and Legends is a new game that was made for the nerd in all of us. It was designed by Richard Garfield who is known for creating Magic: The Gathering and includes enough pop culture and nerd references to fill a large boat. It’s technically a card collecting game mixed with a board game but you’ll still have plenty of opportunities to collect loot and more. It’s a unique experience that feels fresh in a genre that’s been overloaded the last couple of years.
Get it now on Google Play!
Crashlands
[Price: $4.99]
Crashlands is a fun little action adventure game where you play Flux, a trucker who gets stranded on an alien planet. Your job is to deliver packages while outwitting bad guys, crafting all kinds of things from random stuff that you find, and then defeat bosses. There are over 500 items that you can craft, an infinite inventory that manages itself, and RPG elements for character development. Best of all, there are no in-app purchases which means no ridiculous pitfalls!
Get it now on Google Play!
Mimicker Alarm
[Price: Free]
Mimicker Alarm is the latest application to come out of the Microsoft Garage Project and it’s going to wake you up. It’s a well designed alarm application with Material Design elements that makes you play games with it in order to turn off the alarm. Sometimes it’ll ask you to make faces into the camera, speak various phrases, or actually get out of the bed. If you don’t, the alarm will sound again. It’s well done and it definitely works.
Get it now on Google Play!
LEGO The Lord of the Rings
[Price: $4.99]
LEGO The Lord of the Rings is the LEGO take on the epic fantasy adventure and one of the few LEGO games that actually costs money. This is a point and click, hack n slash game that retells the epic story of The Lord of the Rings except with a few fun little LEGO twists. The graphics are pretty good and the mechanics are solid even if they take a moment to get used to. It features 90 playable characters, various control schemes, and tons of stuff to do. There are also no in-app purchases.
Get it now on Google Play!
Kickstarter
[Price: Free]
After a very long time, Kickstarter has finally graced the Google Play Store with an official application. Thankfully, the extra time seems to have paid off because the application is everything it needs to be. You can quickly browse and search through various categories, quickly log in and back projects you want to contribute to, and despite having a ton of information, the app does a good job of not getting overwhelming. It’s a free app and Kickstarter fans should definitely have this.
Get it now on Google Play!
Related best app lists:
If we missed any big Android apps or games news, tell us about it in the comments!
Microsoft Selfie app now shares your iPhone self-portraits
The whole point of Microsoft’s Selfie app for iPhones is to share your pretty face (albeit an ideal, algorithmically-modified version of it) with the world, but you haven’t had an easy way to make that happen for most of the app’s existence. A bit ironic, don’t you think? Microsoft agrees. It quietly updated Selfie with a sharing feature that makes it almost trivial to indulge in a little public vanity. You can tap one button to post your latest shot directly on Facebook, or another to bring up the iOS sharing dialogue and spread the joy through other apps.
The app also brings in a few interface tweaks, although you aren’t about to get lost if you’ve been trying Selfie already. As for versions on Android or (logically) Windows 10 Mobile? There’s still nothing concrete, but Microsoft is promising to bring Selfie to “more platforms.” The iOS edition was just the first app out of the gate.
Source: App Store, Inside Microsoft Research
Microsoft Considering Smaller Xbox One as Potential Apple TV Rival
Microsoft may be gearing up to launch a new Xbox One gaming console in 2016, with a download-only device that would be noticeably smaller than the current Xbox One and enter the market as a potential rival to the new Apple TV. According to a report from Petri IT Knowledgebase (via Business Insider), the console would also see a price cut to match the current market of streaming-centric devices.
Keeping with the Xbox brand, the slimmer Xbox One would be able to download games from the Windows Store, but the power restraints of a smaller box would likely prevent access to the full Xbox games store. This casual-leaning app marketplace is another category in which the Xbox would compete directly with the new Apple TV, which introduced a similar App Store for the first time on Apple’s living room device when it launched in October. The report gave no mention as to whether the Siri-like Kinect would be integrated as well.
Microsoft is said to be looking at a late 2016 launch for the new Xbox One, which would be sold in concert with current models akin to the slimmed down Xbox 360 S that launched five years after the original 360. The company has introduced design refreshes and low-tier prices on its gaming consoles in the past: as low as $199 for the 256MB Xbox 360 Arcade and 4GB Xbox 360 E. Although the Xbox One has seen multiple price cuts, it’s yet to have a major hardware overhaul.
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‘Halo: Reach’ runs poorly on the Xbox One
The Xbox One’s backwards compatibility with Xbox 360 games has largely worked as promised, but there’s now one glaring exception. Microsoft has confirmed reports that Halo: Reach (aka one of the 360’s biggest titles) runs much slower than you’d expect. While talk of it being “unplayable” is extreme, Bungie’s shooter fell from a largely steady 30 frames per second on the original hardware to the mid-teens — enough to throw you off during intense action scenes. Others report audio glitches, too.
Microsoft says it’s working on a fix, but it’s not certain when that will arrive or how well it’ll work. Either way, the debacle illustrates the challenge of emulating highly customized console hardware: even if you largely get it right, there are bound to be a few games that slip through the cracks. It’s no wonder that Sony is being cautious with its own compatibility plans.
Microsoft’s Xiaoice AI becomes the first live TV weather host
Even though machines can now generate clickbait headlines and automatically write earthquake news reports in the name of journalism, live television has remained shielded from artificial intelligence. That hasn’t stopped Microsoft from trying to influence proceedings with its machine learning software, known as Xiaoice (or Little Bing), which became the first AI robot to host a segment on live TV last week.
The Chinese live program, “Morning News” introduced Xiaoice as a trainee anchor last Tuesday, where it took charge of the daily weather report. Microsoft says it calls upon smart cloud technologies and big data to learn about and interpret weather readings and then deliver reports with her “unique artificial intelligent style of emotional comments.” The AI is also more human-like than any other system of its kind, scoring 4.32 out of 5 in linguistic naturalness tests. For comparison, humans have an average score of 4.76.
Before it got its new gig on Chinese TV, Xiaoice started life as an advanced personal assistant for messaging apps Line and WeChat and social networking service Weibo. On Line, the bot appeared as a young character called Rinna, who would reply to users’ questions with human-like understanding and an abundance of emoji.
For Microsoft, Xiaoice is about proving that AI concepts can be made available to everyone, rather than serving in “sci-tech concepts.” While the bot capable of hosting on its own, its creators see it playing an important role in working alongside presenters, allowing it to “bring more bliss to human beings.”
Via: IB Times
Source: Microsoft (PR Newswire)
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