media

Nokia Mexico has released a rather awesome advertisement for its Lumia family of products. Uploaded on to Facebook, the video highlights some features of both Lumia and Windows Phone with a superb backing track. Be sure to have a gander after the break.

The popular media player VLC is setting its sights on Windows 8 and beyond. The developers are calling for donations to be sent forward to fund further development into hiring third-party aid. This will help create a top quality experience on Microsoft's latest platforms. At the time of writing the project has a backing of £4,532 pledged so far with 252 donators.

Microsoft has never been shy about supporting Apple users with their software and that is especially true with Windows Phone 8. For instance, Microsoft announced that importing iTunes DRM-free music will be much easier on PC now, not requiring a conversion/import process.

Tonight, Microsoft has released ‘Windows Phone’ for OSX. The software, previously known as ‘Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac’, has undergone a substantial rebranding and has received numerous new features. The naming may seem odd—Windows Phone—but it matches the Windows 8 sync app’s name and it actually makes sense. When you look at your PC or Mac and see the icon, it says Windows Phone because it is your Windows Phone. Microsoft has simplified syncing by making it very minimalist and barebones: just drag and drop whatever media you want...

Enjoying music collections while on the go is a breeze with Windows Phone. Simply synchronise selected media onto a device and either Zune or the Windows Phone Connector for Mac will do the rest. But what if you wanted to organise music into moods, easy-to-sync lists or to quickly extract favourite music? This is where playlists come in.

Many make use of playlists in media players already. Sorting through 30,000 songs to build a collection of favourites is a task majority of music fans go through when wanting to take their sounds on the move. Most devices and smartphones have a limited capacity for media, so until we have 1TB storage options for Windows Phone, it makes sense to move across said playlists.

How does one go about achieving this?

Xbox SmartGlass is Microsoft’s strategic move against Apple’s Airplay system (and preemptively against Google TV); it’s an evolution for your Windows Phone, Windows Desktop and Windows 8 Tablets. Why is it the evolution? Because Microsoft’s ecosystem is growing and they are focusing on inter-connectivity with all of their devices (and even those outside of their branding).  No phone left behind, no tablet ignored, no Desktop chained down. Windows 8 is bringing a fresh look and giving users a better feeling experience while they use these devices. 

Microsoft is effectively making their move to make your involvement a complete one with any of their devices. It’s a smart move because Windows 8 may be challenging for some people to learn and get used to. SmartGlass will give people the confidence in Windows 8, that it will not be another Vista, it is changing for the better. It's a straight up consumer feature.

Here’s the breakdown on how each device will pair with Xbox SmartGlass:

• If you are using a Windows 8 tablet, and are watching a video, you can pause on your tablet, and continue on your Xbox. The Tablet then becomes a companion device streaming live information about the movie you are watching, giving you access to the behind the scene details
• When you are playing a game, like the new Madden for Kinect, your Tablet can be used to make plays and actually play the game
• Your Windows Phone will do the same as the tablet, but there wasn’t any information that you will be able to control games with it, which is a little disappointing but I am sure more information will be released as we get closer to Windows Phone 8
• Use your phone to scroll web pages when using Internet Explorer for Xbox
• Your PC will be able to put up content to your Xbox, via video hubs, and also act as a companion device as well (but there was no demo, so we must assume there will be a few limitations when comparing using your windows phone or windows 8 tablet with SmartGlass)

Everyone knows about Apple TV and Airplay, but you need to buy separate devices and even then it is limited on how they interact. Airplay only mirrors your iPhone or iPad device but with SmartGlass your devices are much more than a mirror they become another opportunity for anyone to gain more content and control your Xbox. Everyone has an Xbox, and if you don’t, you’ll be needing one because SmartGlass is giving you what you always wanted; any Windows 8 Device to control and give you more information about what you’re watching on your Xbox.

This is great to see since Microsoft is adding more and more content to the Xbox Live experience, enhancing it to be your only multimedia device in your living room. As our culture gains more momentum in consuming content through the internet people are okay with paying for streaming services instead of traditional cable or satellite. Microsoft is giving the consumer the opportunity to have any kind of connected device they want, and their content will be available on all of it.

It's a smart step by Microsoft for growing their brand, and using it to its fullest potential. Needless to say, we like the future...

We broke the news just the other day that Plex (see site), a popular application for Home Theater PC users, was about to release their official app for Windows Phone which would enable users to stream movies, music and photos to their devices on the go.

That app is now live in the Marketplace and user reviews so far have been quite high for the app although some users are reporting a few errors. Still, due the popularity of Plex and the responsiveness of their developers, any issues present in a 1.0 release will surely be worked on soon enough. From the app description:

"The Plex application allows you to use your Windows Phone to browse and play your media (video, photos and music) using the Plex Media Server installed on your PC, Mac or Linux system. You can also view online media from a variety of sources.

YOU MUST HAVE THE PLEX MEDIA SERVER (version v0.9.6 beta or higher) INSTALLED AND RUNNING TO STREAM LOCAL MEDIA: http://www.plexapp.com/getplex"

The app fetches for $4.99 although there is a free, fully-functional trial that is limited to 30-second playback of media. You can pick it up here in the Marketplace.

Read more on Plex media and their desktop server apps at their site: http://www.plexapp.com/ Thanks, Bearach, for the tip

We mentioned the Windows Phone "Ghost Hotel" publicity stunt back on December. At the time, we were a little unclear what exactly the event was, though we surmised it had to do with regular people being a part of some live role-playing/mystery event. Turns out, we were pretty spot on as WP7App.de confirmed with us at the time:

"That windows phone hotel was a PR event where you had to chase ghosts (ghostbusters-style) with an app on a Lumia."

In fact it was more than that as they were basically recreating the classic 1984 movie 'Ghostbusters' but with a Windows Phone twist. The teaser video was fun but now we have a longer video posted by Microsoft Germany that sheds light on the whole Windows Phone-Ghostbuster media event. And it looks like it was a lot of fun.

Well, it is in German and features a lot of QR codes, but you'll get this gist. Once again, kudos to Microsoft and Nokia for another ingenious show.

Source: Microsoft.DE; Thanks, Andrea M., for the link--sounds like you had a great time!

Next Monday is a big day. First off, there's a mini-press event which we'll be going to, meeting with Microsoft's Andy Lees and Joe Belfiore. Segueing into that is this publicity stunt that Microsoft is evidently doing but not revealing too much about just yet:

"If you live in or around New York City, you might want to find an excuse to wander past Herald Square sometime during the day next Monday—noon would be an especially good time—for a fun surprise we’re putting together. All I can say is we’re bringing Windows Phone to life in a big, big, way. Curious? Stay tuned…."

We think we actually know from an insider what (some) of it involves: If you're familiar with Herald Square, there's a certain historically relevant area that is known for, ahem, displays nearby. Hint, hint...

Well anyways, we'll be there all day covering the event, so don't worry--you'll get some photos and video if needed. And don't forget that night is the Windows Phone party where you can get some drinks, food, see a band and play with some new Winodws Phone hardware. We'll see you there as well.

Source: Windows Phone Blog