Category: Tech

January is here, so it is time for another Consumer Electronics Show.  CES used to be an event I looked forward to every year.  Because it used to be the time all the major companies showed their latest crazy gadgets, but for the most part they all do that at their own shows now, so CES seems like it is more of the same every year.  Though I am still keeping an eye on it, so here are my impressions.

More Giant TVs:

If you thought TVs were already huge, then you better look away from CES.  50″ is now the small size with 105″ TVs becoming the show pieces.  The major reason for this size increase is that they need a reason to push the new Ultra HD 4K resolution on us.  With a smaller TV you could never tell the difference, but on a TV 80″ or over you defiantly can.  In five years or so you are going to need a very large wall for your TV set.

Wearable Everything:

Ever since there was rumors that Apple was releasing an iWatch, everybody had to make something to wear.  There are watches, glasses, fitness bracelets, and more.  Just about everybody has a high tech piece of jewelry for you.  Nothing I want or find useful, but it might make you feel more like James Bond.

Steam Boxes:

Valve came out with a new OS built around their popular online store Steam, creatively named SteamOS based on Linux, so this is their year to gain partners to try and get it out there to the public.  They are trying to bill this as a console alternative that plays PC games.  The only problem is that most of the games in their store only run on Windows, so you wouldn’t be able to use them on your Steam Box.  Plus there is no uniform architecture for a Steam box, so it is not any easier on developers to make games for the platform, and it looks like they are going to be way more expensive than the PS4 and Xbox One.  Still it will be an interesting idea to watch, but for now I would just spend the money to beef up your PC and hook it up to your TV.

Dual Booting Android And Windows:

This was one of the more interesting ideas at this year’s show, and it is being pushed by Intel.  The idea is that people want Android tablets, but they still want their Windows apps, so why not dual boot the two.  The problem is that Windows 8 is already kind of confusing in the way that it flips between the desktop and the new Start area, so to now flip again to Android sounds like a mess, but we will see.  If they can make so it is like Parallels for Mac, where your Windows apps can run seamlessly in Android, they may be on to something.

That was pretty much all the major trends from CES 2014.  There was nothing too exciting, but still, I do love new tech.  I just hope CES can find a way to bring back more of the major players from its past, so we can get back to seeing the really good stuff again.

Windows Phone App Studio is a new website from Microsoft for building easy apps.  It pretty much allows you to create static text apps, or appify your website or blog.  I was a little skeptical, but since I needed to sign up for the beta to get the developer update to Windows Phone 8 GR3, I gave it a shot.  I was surprised at how well it works.

The process is simple, you first upload a logo and give your app a name, and then you plan out the sections of the app.  For each section you have to give a data source: A Collection which is a bunch of info you punch in; A RSS feed to get info from your website; A YouTube channel for all you film makers; A Flickr account to share your photos; A Bing search because this is a Microsoft tool; Or lastly you can just write out some HTML.  Once you have setup your data source, you pick a template to display all that data on.  You can also create menu’s with subsections too if you have a little more information to share.

You than get to pick the color and the icons for your app, and do a few little design tweaks, but that is all there is to it.  When you are done it may look a little like the app below.

 

 

 

 

 

I would publish this app to the marketplace, but a full fledged developer license is $99.00 a year, and since no one pays me to blog, it will be just for me.  Though if they have a special deal on a license, I may put it on the store.  If I did have a business, and I wasn’t very tech savvy.  I would totally pony up the money to put my app out there.  It is fun and easy, and it is a good way to get your info out to your customers.

If you are looking for an easy way to make an app for your site or company, The Windows Phone App Studio is great way to do it.  Since it is still in beta, I will be checking in from time to time to see what improvements they make to the site.  If you have a developer unlocked phone and want a copy of my app just leave a comment below, and I will send you an email with it.

When Microsoft announced GR3 for Windows Phone 8, I thought I was going to have to wait forever to get it.  It always takes months to get through carrier approval, but they did something a little different this time, and decided if you wanted to void your warranty, you could go ahead and upgrade now.

To do so all you have to do is sign up for a free developer account here.  Then download the Windows Phone 8.0 SDK here to register you phone for development (you will need a Windows 8 PC or like me a VM in VirtualBox with USB pass through), and then download and activate this app on your phone.  Once all that is done, just check for updates on your phone and let it update.  Though since there is no uninstall you may want to take a backup before you install it.

Much like the last update, this is mostly for future phones with bigger screens and more cores, but there are a few things for us current Windows Phone users.  The ones I care about are:

1) This biggest addition is an ‘X’ on the apps in the multitasking screen, so you can quickly close multiple apps.  This is a very welcome addition.

2) Custom ringtones for text messages:  Windows Phone has had custom ringtones for forever, but finally you will be able to apply them to texts, and different ringtones to different text contacts.

3) Driving mode: this turns off everything on your phone except Bluetooth and GPS apps to keep you from playing with your phone while driving.  It can also send custom texts and messages on your behalf saying you are busy and you will get right back to them.

4) Rotation lock: so the phone doesn’t keep changing between landscape and portrait.

You can get all the changes here, but I think if you have a Windows Phone then getting the new update is a no brainer.  It seems stable and the improvements make the phone better.  The biggest bonus is that once you install the app from above you will get all future Windows Phone updates as they come out, not when your carrier decides you can have them, and that is a very good thing.

I can’t wait to get my hands on Windows Phone 8.1 sometime next year.  My phone is ready.