June 28, 2013
Windows Phone apps MyFitnessPal, Bloomberg, NY Times, NBC News, Shazam and Best Buy are all freshly updated in the Store

It’s been a big week for Windows Phone apps, and the news keeps coming: the Windows Phone Blog reports that six more popular apps are freshly updated today in the Windows Phone Store, including a new version of NY Times with Live Tile capabilities and more free content, as well as Bloomberg, which now offers on-demand streaming of Bloomberg TV and Radio. NBC News is also updated to add closed captioning and voice commands.

June 28, 2013
Take a look at the design principles behind Visual Studio 2013

In Visual Studio 2013, we are continuing to remain true to the Microsoft design principles that helped shape Visual Studio 2012 while making refinements and improvements based on feedback. “We have made broad but incremental changes, some of them subtle. Our overall aim is to have VS 2013 feel familiar to VS 2012 users, but better,” writes Eric Zocher, director of design in the Developer Division.

June 28, 2013
Aston Martin discovers the beauty of Windows Intune

Aston Martin sports cars (of James Bond fame) are world-renowned for their luxury, heritage and craftsmanship. They’re a quintessential icon of European design for us Americans. So how does the carmaker that’s the synonymous with high performance and perfection operate from the inside? This week at TechEd Europe 2013, Aston Martin shared a glimpse of how they use Microsoft cloud technologies and services like Windows Intune to create an IT infrastructure that’s on par with their brand.

June 28, 2013
Skype team shares its mobile plans for the road ahead

When you ask people “What’s Skype?” the answer you’ll often get is, “It’s a free video calling app for your PC or Mac.” The Skype team likes that answer up to a point, but wants people to realize Skype is a great mobile experience as well. Here are a few things you may not know.

June 28, 2013
Visual Studio 2013 Preview helps make good apps great

As Build 2013 wraps up, we got to see some exciting developments, including the preview releases of Windows 8.1 and Visual Studio 2013. A lot of attention is going toward the latter over on The Visual Studio Blog (naturally). In this post, those folks want you to know how this update brings forward significant advances for authoring XAML-based Windows Store apps for Windows 8.1. These tips will help take good apps to the next level of great.

June 28, 2013
More new features in Visual Studio 2013 Preview

It’s been an eventful week of preview releases thanks to Build 2013, including Windows 8.1, Visual Studio 2013 and Team Foundation Server 2013. In a blog post from Brian Harry, you’ll find insights and tips about the new cloud load testing experience.