Apps

Oni has published a new blog post covering the most recent update to the company's Windows Phone app. Should you not be aware of what Oni: Light Control is all about, we last looked at the app back in February. It's a solution for those of us who happen to have Philips Hue bulbs installed throughout the home. Think home lighting, but more fun.

The rather expensive lighting equipment supports a variety of colours and is wireless enabled, making it easy to control the output using a smartphone. This is where Oni (www.oni.io) and its Light Control Windows Phone comes in. Unfortunately, the Philips bulbs are rather expensive, so this is only suited for those who can afford to throw money at the home.

Update: Pricing alterations for Windows 8 apps should now be live for the next 24 hours (note that Windows Phone apps offer has passed).

To celebrate the launch of Unification, Liquid Daffodil's answer to a notification center for both Windows and Windows Phone platforms, the developer has altered pricing for numerous apps so consumers can download highly rated content that are Unification ready and prepare themselves for when the Unification app is finally listed on the respective stores.

By now you should know that we’re not big Facebook users around here. Hey, if everyone can critique the stupidity of Instagram, we can do the same for Facebook. Regardless, we know many of you love the service and rely on it to stay in touch with friends, family and colleagues. So it’s exciting to see the app get a nice 0.1 update to version 4.2 today (last update was for 7.8 in December).

Unfortunately there is no change log with this update, as it instead relies on the old update info from when the app got some Windows Phone 8 features. Also a cursory look around the app did not reveal any major new features but figuring out the labyrinth like feature-set of the world’s largest social network is never easy to begin with.

Last night we cruelly teased about a potential way for Windows Phone 8 users to post to Instagram right from their devices. To be honest, we did that because it was just too late (too dark) to shoot video and yes, it was a good warm-up.

The good news is no, it is most definitely not a (late) April’s Fools’ joke. It’s 100% legitimate and yes, it will be submitted to the Windows Phone Store very soon.

Read past the break for our video walkthrough and images to serve as a teaser...

The popular lockscreen app, Lock Buster has been bumped to version 3 to introduce yet more ways to customise the Windows Phone lockscreen. Following in the footsteps of Hello Friends, users will be able to add more unique personalised elements to the display. So what's new in the latest release?

The First Tech Federal credit union has released an app for Windows Phone. Enabling consumers to remain in control of deposits wherever they may be, the app matches other mobile banking solutions in terms of features and available functionality. The highly rated app will be a great addition to the arsenal of apps on Windows Phones owned by those who hold accounts.

LockWidgets 8, the side project by Jaxbot from the site Windows Phone Hacker, has been bumped to version 1.1 after being out for just a few days. The app has had numerous bugs fixed with this update and the big feature: added Celsius support.

Yes to the dismay of many, the original version only had Fahrenheit, meaning a good portion of the globe was not inclined to use the otherwise stellar app. That has now been fixed with an override function found in the settings menu for the app. [Edit: see Jaxbot's comment below for clarification]

ProShot is a feature rich camera alternative for your Windows Phone 8 device. The app adds more control over key camera settings such as shutter speed, ISO, exposure compensation, and white balance.

ProShot was recently updated to version 2.6 which adds a handful of features into the mix that includes the option to share pictures to social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, etc. Once you capture the image, if you slide over to review the photo you'll see a share button that gives you access to your Windows Phone share options.

The Skype team has released an update for Windows 8, announcing the changes in an official blog article. Version 1.6 implements a number of improvements to further enhance the user experience. A notable feature addition is the ability for consumers to better control who can contact them by blocking contacts. 

Happy Easter weekend everyone, fancy winning a free Lumia 920? Of course you do! Which is why you should be following Microsoft's Next App Star competition, where every vote gives you a chance to win one of Nokia's flagship devices. What you may not have realised is that you can vote once every round, so with round 4 voting starting up today you can head over to Facebook and vote for your favourite app in the quarter finals.

With round 4 the prizes for developers get big. The apps that win this round will all be featured on Microsoft's channel 9 show, and the 2 that win the next round will have their developers sent to Microsoft's developer conference with hotel and flights paid for (huge prize!). Round 4 is the quarter finals of this competition for which the end is very much in site, and you can find a full listing of the apps which have made it this far after the break.

The popular Tunein Radio app for Windows Phone 8 has been updated (or so it seems) with some minor alterations. It's a strange release, as the version number reported on the store listing is 2.2, but the app is reporting 2.3. If you're up on your Tunein Radio knowledge, you'll know that we covered the version 2.3 update back in December. So what's new in this "latest" build? Well it's not good news if you're a Windows Phone 8 owner.