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Sigurd Snørteland, that young software developer, has been turning out all sorts of cool apps for Windows Phone 7, including this latest one that is dedicated to just Channel 9 aka Microsoft's video repository of new tech and gizmos.

'myChannel 9' runs brings up the latest Microsoft info and streams the Silverlight content right to your device.  Basic yet very functional, seems like a great app to get when available. Like his other apps, he'll be publishing the source for others soon.

Very cool stuff. Make sure you check out his other offerings, like his Wall Street app.

[Thanks Sigurd, for the tip!]

Congratulations goes out to WMExperts.com member haggisgirl for posting the winning comment in our Wavetooth IPX8 Bluetooth headset giveaway.  Her post was randomly selected from the dozens made during the contest period.  We've dispatched a congratulatory email to haggisgirl and will be shipping her loot out shortly.

We would like to thank everyone who participated in this contest and don't give up hope.  We'll have another giveaway contest before you know it.

There are three types of people who visit this site:

1. Those with Xbox, LIVE & want Windows Phone 7
2. Those who are planning to get an Xbox + LIVE for Windows Phone 7
3. Those who never plan on getting an Xbox because you "don't game"

This post is for #1 and #2--we're cool. As for you number three'ers, you're dead to me, feel free to scroll down and read another blog entry.

Anyways, it costs something like $49.99 for the Gold membership, which allows access to all the cool online stuff, gaming, online multiplayer, Netflix, Last.FM, etc. (For those who don't have one, the Xbox is just as much a media center as a gaming machine--my usage for instance is probably 70% media e.g. Netflix/TV torrents, 30% actual gaming, usually Star Wars related.)

While not a bad deal, it's going up on November 1st to $59.99, which seems to be a curious time right when a certain mobile OS launches and Microsoft will see an influx of new customers. Oh and that Kinect thing is launching too.

The good news is that you can renew now for $39.99 to tap in that extra year and save 30%, which we suppose is a good deal (unless you membership just auto-renewed like 2 weeks ago, grrr).

Read up on the details and renew here.

[via WinSuperSite]

File under: Possibly interesting for a slow news day, we suppose

Starting the first week of October, Microsoft will start accepting applications into the Windows Phone Marketplace for review, presumably for that late October release.

We've seen what the store looks like already and we know about those Xbox LIVE games, but for those who really want the details, the full list of app categories has been finalized.

In a lot of ways, this is just obvious stuff but for those of us who are itching to try the new system and see how it all works, we'll take all we can get.

See the full list after the jump. There are 41 categories/subcategories total, making it pretty exhaustive. The best part is we can easily expect a few hundred apps on launch to fill the store, making this list quite more than wishful thinking (unlike the current Windows Mobile Marketplace, ahem).

[via Blogus Maximus]

Title says it all: the final version of the Windows Phone 7 Developer Tools is slated for a September 16th release, giving, we imagine, a good 4-6 weeks before the finalized hardware goes on sale.

Needless to say, for developers and the Microsoft team, this is a huge milestone. Seeing as there have been no delays so far, Microsoft's execution of WP7 seems to be almost unprecedented.

Also worth noting is that the beta developer tools have been downloaded 300,000 times. Not too shabby.

Check out Brandon Watson giving the details on Microsoft's Channel 9.

Just a follow up on that Hotmail with Exchange Activesync support--word is, it is now Active Live err...working.

The settings are pretty straight forward if you are familiar with setting up an Exchange account on your device. Simply enter this info and you should be good to go:

Server / URL: m.hotmail.com

Username: Enter full email address, for example: someone@example.com

Domain: Leave this blank

SSL: Enable this

Certificate: Accept the SSL certificate when prompted

Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Tasks: All can be enabled

[via LiveSide.net]

Well it's official.

AT&T and HTC have released an official update for the AT&T Tilt2. We saw an "unofficial" version surface back in July and our initial impressions were good. The leaked ROM had a little more bounce in its step.

The official update includes Sense 2.5, the ability to format the SD Card from the phone, and an assortment of hotfixes. The official version of the updated ROM is 2.10.502.4.

We're in the process of downloading the 226mb update and will be able to tell later today if it shares the same pep that the leaked version did.  If you've already downloaded and installed this ROM, feel free to share your impressions in the comments section.

Just remember, when updating your Windows Phone ROM the update wipes your phone clean and data backups are strongly recommended before you proceed.

You can find the official update here. A tip of the hat goes out to mvierling for alerting us to this update through our tip line.

In an interesting and somewhat unexpected decision, Intel has gone ahead and reportedly bought mobile-chip maker Infineon for $1.4 billion. Infineon makes mobile chips for all sorts of devices, including mobile phones. The latter business they got into after buying up LSI Corporation in 2007, with the Samsung Galaxy S series featuring their work.

The deal will let Intel use Infineon's mobile tech in "...Core processor-based laptops, and myriad of Intel Atom processor-based devices, including smartphones, netbooks, tablets and embedded computers". In addition, we can see Intel strengthening their "Wi-Fi and 4G WiMAX offerings".

All of this seems to set up Intel against Microsoft favorite Qualcomm, who's all-in-1 chipset solution seems to be very tempting for OEMs. The move, according to FastCompany, is due in part to off-set Apple's recent push in the mobile space with their A4 CPU which was developed in-house. Basically Intel is losing out in the mobile phone/slate area and is looking to cozy up with Microsoft through this purchase.

Of course, all of this is sort of funny knowing that Intel sold off their mobile division only a few years ago to Marvel for $600 million--while not 100% the same business, certainly Marvel and Infineon overlap quite a bit.

Will Intel succeed in cracking the mobile market and dislodge Qualcomm? Anyone want to ask Nvidia?

[Read Fast Company/Bloomberg]

We've mentioned in the past about 'Orion', the geolocation service/API for Windows Phone 7 which allows developers access to many forms of locating the phone's location extremely quickly.

Now that same service looks to be leveraged, eventually, for gaming.

Makes sense to us. Such a feature could be used to unlock levels or weapons by requiring the user to be at a certain location or establishment. Going further, the level-up could be time-constrained, requiring the player to be at a certain place, at a certain time.

Of course with our corporate overlords, we could also imagine commercially sponsored games by chain-stores, such as coffee shops or your local Best Buy. We're not too sure about the 'coolness' of the latter as we can't think of any hip corporate-branded games, but the potential at least exists.

Finally, the potential to leverage such geolocation gaming could result in 'flash mobs', at least according to  Microsoft's independent software vendor developer evangelist Paul Foster and OS and mobile product manager lead William Coleman, who in an interview detailed WP7s GPS potential. It should be noted that all of this is up to the developers to take advantage of and so far, only Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst uses such technology.

[the Inquirer via 1800PocketPC]

• Verizon says the Droid Incredible's Froyo update is rolling out, but we have a forum full of people still waiting on it.
• Verizon Fascinate finally coming Sept. 9, plus, some extra confirmation.
• Exclusive new details on the Motorola Flipout for AT&T

• CrackBerry Podcast 057: BlackBerry Torch and Tablet Extravaganza!
• CrackBerry App Awards to be presented live in San Francisco at BlackBerry DevCon 2010 - RSVP Now!
• RIM acquires Cell Mania

• Nokia 5250 runs Symbian^1

• Mode Switcher brings profiles to webOS
• HP's employee-developed apps coming soon
• PalmCast interview with HP's Rahul Sood

• Countdown to Apple's September 1, Special Music Event - iPod touch 4, iTV, iOS 4.1, and more!
• Netflix app updated to support iPhone, iPod touch
• Join us for iPhone live! podcast and iPad live! podcast, your weekly dose of news, reviews, and how-tos.

• Samsung Omnia Pro 4 released
• Meet the HTC T8788
• Exchange ActiveSync headed to Hotmail