update

Smartboard Calculator isn't your run of the mill Windows Phone calculator app. Inspired by the old school blackboard where you calculator acts like a blackboard where you can scroll around by touch to review all your calculations.

Smartboard Calculator was recently updated to address a few usability and performance issues and tweak the free version. The free version is now a fully-functional, ad-supported version.

A reimagined Skype client is on the way

Update: As we suspected this video was is no way sanctioned to be released publicly and as such, a copyright claim by AOL/Engadget has had it removed. Translation: this was suppose to be under wraps but was made public on accident.

Update 2: We found a second source of the video, catch it while you can

Skype for Windows Phone 8 has been demoed by Derrick Snyder, now head of mobile marketing at Skype. In the video, Snyder runs viewers through what we can all expect from the new client. Now, before we crack into what's shown in the video, it's worth noting that this is a brand new application for Windows Phone, though many of the new features have been covered before.

We looked at NewsSpot back in September and have since been contacted by the developer to advise that version 2.7 is now available.

The Google Reader client was well received by us and we were looking forward to seeing the updates trickle through so we’re glad things are now on track. To get the update you will need to hit a new link in the marketplace which you can find below.

This morning we woke up to a few app-updates on our Windows Phone but before we were able to process them, we were prompted with a new pop up from Microsoft.

Filed under ‘Setup Account’ the new agreement centers on ‘Personalize my Music’ and simply says "Send us your music playing and rating data to tailor the Zune experience to your interests". Of course there is no mention of Xbox Music, the new service that is replacing Zune Music, but it is clear that Microsoft is starting to roll out some features for consumers.

Now what makes this interesting is as far as we know, Zune always had this feature of rating music and songs you liked, then giving you recommendations under the Zune Desktop client. But from what we remember that would only happen when you manually synced with your desktop—but now it seems as if your recommendations will go over-the-air.

What we still don’t see though is a ‘Recommendations’ section on the phone in the Windows Phone Music Store, which is an odd omission (unless we’re missing it). Currently you have to use the Desktop sync client to get personalized choices, something that we hope comes to our phones directly in the future (we don’t really sync that often with our computer these days).

Although the Lync 2010 app was MIA yesterday in the Store it evidently was due to the fact that it was getting an update.

Indeed heading to the Store you can now find version 4.3 ready for download. Unfortunately, there is no change log to go with it and since we don’t use Lync ourselves, we can’t do our normal compare and contrast. The app was last updated in March with version 4.1.

But if you’re a Lync fan, you’ll want to go ahead and grab the update here. Notice some changes? Let us know in comments.

Guess who's back, back again? It's not Eminem.

Viber has had an interesting time on Windows Phone since it launched itself onto the platform. The app is presently available for all Windows Phones but is limited to messaging and sports no voice capabilities. This was to change for Lumia owners with the release of Viber HD in the Nokia Collection of OEM apps last month, which boasted VoIP functionality.

Unfortunately, due to bugs and performance issues, Viber HD was subsequently pulled from the Windows Phone Store and those who wished to download the communication solution for their Lumia Windows Phone were unable to do so. We expected an update to be released for those who already have Viber installed, as well as the app being made available to download once again after all issues were ironed out.

Speaking for ourselves, we love DoDonPachi Maximum (see our review)—it’s fast, it has great graphics, it’s challenging as hell and we love the ‘Presented by…Cave!” at the beginning.

Having said that, let’s focus on the “challenging as hell” part. Yes, the game is hard and even overwhelming for some. For old school ‘shoot ‘em up’ fans, it’s great. For casual gamers though, it’s just often too hard.

The good news is the folks behind the popular title, that’d be the aforementioned Cave, have a big Windows Phone update in the works that will practically re-invent the game for many of you.

Reports are coming in that Nokia has released an update for its Reading app, which was made available for Lumia Windows Phone owners earlier this year. The app is unfortunately not available in the US, but for those who are able to download and make use of the service it's a worthy reading companion.

Should you not be able to access the likes of Amazon's Kindle service, Nokia Reading offers a variety of books available to purchase and / or download. With the latest update, which we've not yet been able to apply ourselves, users will be able to import DRM-free books (EPUB and PDF formats supported) from SkyDrive.

If you use the Accuweather app on your Windows Phone, you'll notice an update being pushed through this morning. Version 2.2 doesn't bring any new features to the weather app but instead is more of a maintenance update to address a few bug fixes.

We have noticed that after updating, whatever fixes that are put in place seems to give Accuweather a little more zip. Pages load faster and navigation smoother.