updates

Torchbear, the popular social location based game for your Windows Phone, has been updated. Version 1.4 allows users to exchange with at least three of the nearest torches with no distance limitations. For those not familiar with Torchbear, you create a torch that is passed around from player to player to see who's torch travels the furthest. A torch is a message with a mission and purpose. For example, your favorite dessert is chocolate cream pie and you want to have others share what their favorite dessert is.

Other changes that come along with version 1.4 include:

  • Total Distance now displayed in the player summary screen
  • Players receive one point for unique torch exchanges greater than 10 miles
  • Maps now autozoom to show all torch positions
  • A menu option has been added to "Tell a Friend" about torchbear

You also have the customary minor bug fixes and game flow changes to improve the experience. Torchbear is a free application and does require member registration (free) to participate in the game.

You can grab your copy of Torchbear here at the Windows Phone Marketplace.

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If you are a Bell customer in Canada and use a LG Optimus Quantum or HTC HD7, you have reason to rejoice.  Starting tomorrow, Microsoft will start pushing out its 8107 update (7.10.8107.79), which most notably, fixes the "vanishing keyboard" issue on said devices amongst other fixes.  A leaked internal Bell Mobility document shows that the rollout will occur in two waves.  The first will come tomorrow, followed by wave 2 on January 25.

In addition to the keyboard bug, 8107 also addresses the following:

  • Email. Fixes a Google mail syncing issue.
  • Location. Fixes a location access issue. With this fix, the Me feature in the People Hub sends anonymous information about nearby Wi-Fi access points and cell towers to Microsoft only if you agree to allow the Check In function to access and use location information.
  • Security. Revokes digital certificates from DigiCert Sdn Bhd to address an encryption issue.
  • Email threads. Fixes an email issue related to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. With this fix, when you reply to or forward a message, the original message is now included in your response.
  • Voicemail. Fixes a voicemail notification display issue that occurs on some European and Asian networks under certain conditions.
  • There's no word on how the waves of updates get divvied up, so no telling who will get it when.

Source: MobileSyrup

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We reported a few days ago that Pandora once again changed their undocumented APIs thereby breaking Radio Controlled and MetroRadio. Luckily the "fix" was easy and both apps are back, fully working again as far as we can tell. In addition, both have some other fixes and new features on board:

  • Radio Controlled - Hitting version 2.0, this app has received many new features and changes including being more Metro-themed, Last.FM login for "scrobbling" and Driving mode. Driving Mode is perhaps the most exciting as it gives a large, finger-friendly UI for when using the app on the road. It allows you to like/dislike a song, play/stop or to skip. We found this part truly ingenious and tremendously useful. In addition, the new "more Metro" look to the app, artists-as-background and other options make this an awesome update. You can grab Radio Controlled here for free in the Marketplace.
  • MetroRadio - Now on v3.3, this update is mostly bug fixes and to address the API change from Pandora. Those fixes include getting songs, Live Tiles and MetroMP3 search service. That app you can also pick up for free in the Marketplace right here.

It's great to know that so long as Pandora remains obstinate, we have independent developers willing to give us what we want. QR codes after the break...

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Verizon is getting ready to roll out a firmware update for their HTC Trophy.  The rollout upgrades the radio to provide "improved data connectivity in certain scenarios when Connection Setup application is installed."  Little other detail is provided, nor a date in which the update will be made available.  The instructions simply note that users will receive a notification on their handsets.  You can see the update details here and keep an eye on the source link to see if further information gets added. 

Source: Verizon; Thanks for tip, Dave!

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Nothing like a few solid updates for some of our favorite apps on Windows Phone. First up is BBC News Mobile. We mentioned a few weeks ago they had a new beta version in the works and now that update has gone live. Changes include mostly how the app looks and speed:

  • Background Cache Service
  • Better Live Tiles
  • Faster Loading
  • Reworked GUI
  • Picture quality improvement

Definitely some nice improvements though some bugs did get into v2.9 so expect a fix-update soon to address those. You can read about those issues here. Pick up BBC News Mobile v2.9 here in the Marketplace for free.

WeatherLive has also been bumped to 3.5 with a big change to UI and information layout. It still has all the same information, including hourly, trends, moon phases, radar, maps and web cams, but you may have missed them in earlier versions due to being buried within the menu system.

Now, you can just swipe left-right and go to each section individually, resulting in a much more fluid interface. It is certainly more Metro with this panoramic view though it does veer a little from some Metro standards (font size). Still, we like the change. Grab WeatherLive here for $1.49 or free trial.

QR codes for both after the jump...

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A barrage of Xbox Live title updates hit last week: Fable Coin Golf, Farm Frenzy 2, Ghostscape, Gravity Guy, The Sims 3, and Tetris. After horror stories of updates getting stuck in certification for months on end, the sight of all these patches is enough to bring a tear to this cynical critic’s eye.

One update that we received a lot of questions about is the Plants vs. Zombies version 1.3 patch. After a little digging, we’ve discovered the effects of the patch: it changes the game’s description in the Games hub from PvZ to Plants vs. Zombies. Not terribly exciting, but then, PopCap has already fixed the game’s major bugs. It is surprising, however, that the update doesn’t add Fast App Switching support. Enabling this important feature (which rolled out with Mango) is supposed to be fairly easy for developers, after all. Hopefully PopCap has at least one more update in store for us.

Plants vs. Zombies is a tower defense game that happened to be one of the very best mobile Xbox Live releases of 2011 – see our review. The game costs $4.99 and there is a free trial. Get it here on the Marketplace.

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Good news to anyone who loves the Birdsong Twitter client for Windows Phone as much as the next person, as Red Badger announced last month the arrival of an intern at the company. Joe Stanton, a student at King’s College London (studying Computer Science), will be heading up further development on the app, which has received little attention since the Mango update hit handsets.

So what should we look forward to see in the (hopefully) near future? Trending Topics (both local and global), ReadItLater/Instapaper support for tweeted links, as well as large-scale improvements to the push service. Sounds like a solid plan. On a slight funny note, it'll be interesting to see what an apparent iPhone user (according to the above photo) can bring to the app.

You can download Birdsong from the Marketplace for $0.99 (79p).

Source: Red Badger

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Microsoft has come under fire more than once for the lack of communication between the team and consumers when it comes to updates rolling out for Windows Phone. Today Eric Hautala, General Manager Customer Experience Engineering, published an article on the Windows Phone team blog detailing changes that are in the pipeline that will change how we are kept up to speed on Windows Phone updates.

The Windows Phone website already details what updates are rolling out for each supported carrier (and country), but individual releases are also covered on the official blog and the "Where's my update?" page. In the coming months, Windows Phone users can keep up to date by checking the Windows Phone Update Central site for update information. Hautala explains, 

"There are also a few changes on the way for the blog and website. As we continue our growth, we won’t be individually detailing country, model, and carrier details on the Where’s My Phone Update? site any longer. And instead of my weekly blog posts, the official Windows Phone website will be the primary place for news and information about our updates, just as Microsoft Answers is there for your support questions."

Hopefully this move won't stimey the flow of information on our Windows Phone updates.

As well as the above alterations, Hautala took a moment to thank all Windows Phone owners for the feedback the team has received surrounding the update process, which has helped them perform tweaks and enhancements. He encourages everyone to keep the cards and letters coming via the WindowsPhoneTeamSite, Twitter and Facebook.

The future is set to be fairly bright. Roll on CES 2012.

Update: The direct link is dead for some reason, but the article is still up on the main site.

Update 2: Link fixed

Source: Windows Phone Team Blogthanks, ousooner314, for the tip!

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We're not here to choose which is the best 3rd party Pandora app, we're just here to tell what's new and what's coming.

MetroRadio v3.2 - MetroRadio has been pushing out many updates lately and 3.2 brings some nice changes. First off is the new feature called MetroMP3, a built in search engine that allows you to look for individual songs and stream 'em. It basically augments the Pandora funciton and is useful if you want to listen to a specific tune at the moment.

The Live Tiles also now update with each song and you can pin "Now Playing" to your start screen for quick and easy access, that's in addition to fixes for all known bugs. You can grab v3.2 now in the Marketplace for free here.

Radio Controlled v1.1 - The second Pandora app in the Marketplace, Radio Controlled continues to be refined and v1.1 goes a long way to making this app even better. We detailed this version a few days ago and it's not live. It includes new features including enable/disable auto play, artist song info in volume controls, Music Hub integration, History (view, rate, buy song), Stop command and bug and playback stability fixes. In other words, a pretty huge update.

What's more, we're playing with v1.2 right now and it has one massive new feature besides some UI changes: Last.FM support. Yup, with the next update you'll be able to login to your Last.FM account and do some 'scrobbling' on the go all within this app. Look for that in the coming weeks. You can pick up Radio Controlled v1.1 here in the Marketplace for free.

QR codes after the break...

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Ffffound update lands in the Marketplace

Ffffound was our first WPCentral App request, where we saw a need for an app and reached out to developers to make one. Ffffound is a client app for the website of the same name that is essentially a photo sharing site. Ffffound, the website, allows users to post and share their favorite images found on the web and also dynamically recommends inspirational images based on users tastes and interests.

Ffffound, the Windows Phone application, pulls all the image joy from Ffffound (the website) to your Windows Phone. Key features include:

  • Images can be save to your phone for wallpaper use
  • Share images via SMS, email, Twitter and Facebook
  • Images can be tagged as favorite for easy access
  • Live Tile support is present to view random images on your Start Screen.

Ffffound's (the app) update takes the app to version 1.2 and includes several fixes to saving images and Live Tile performance. The update also addresses speed issues and adds the option to load images sequentially.

There is a free trial version available for Ffffound and the full version is running $.99. You can grab your copy here at the Windows Phone Marketplace.

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WeatherMaster gets bumped to v2.0

WeatherMaster is a simple, yet detailed weather app for your Windows Phone. When we first took a look at WeatherMaster we found it to be a very nice weather app choice for your Windows Phone.  WeatherMaster was recently updated to version 2.0 to bring mango features into the mix.

Some of the key features to the update include:

  • You can add new cities/locations (unlimited) or use your current position (GPS) as well
  • Seven day forecast with detailed view and temperature chart
  • US and Metric units are supported (Fahrenheit/Celsius, mile/km)
  • Mango Live Tile support with current weather condition and two days forecast info for selected city / current location
  • Pin as many Live Tiles (with city weather) as you want
  • Weather Map with Weather/Cloud/US Radar layers to check out nearby locations quickly
  • Supports Dark/Light mode and Tile icon uses your Accent color as background to integrate perfectly
  • Intelligent caching of weather data to avoid unnecessary data transfer

You still can't animate the radar layer on the weather map view (maybe in the next update) but it's nice to be able to add locations to your city list from the map view.  There is a free, two-week trial version available that is fully functional. The full version of WeatherMaster is running $1.99 and you can find it here at the Windows Phone Marketplace.

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In the land of music identifying apps, we fall into the SoundHound camp (versus Shazam). Yes, we know Bing can ID music and it is pretty good, but SoundHound right now has the better library for IDing songs, making it more accurate for us--plus we dig that one-button tagging option.

While version 1.0 was pretty solid for a first-release, it did have at least one major issue: the Facebook posting did not work for many. That's now fixed in v1.1 which just hit the Marketplace. In addition, v1.1 brings "faster search results"  and "artist social channels" which allows to easily follow musicians on social networks...or something. Also, the quick Tile graphics have been updated wit a more identifiable look.

Pick it up for free here in the Marketplace.

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WhatsApp gets updated adds voice notes

WhatsApp, the cross platform messenger for your Windows Phone, has been updated to version 1.4. Along with the ability to text across platforms (available for Android, Blackberry and the iPhone) WhatsApp also gives you the ability to send pictures, video messages and now voice notes.

While no official change log is available, it is our understanding that text is larger and sending images is now problem free. If you're seeing additional changes with the update, feel free to share them in the comments section.

You can grab WhatsApp here at the Marketplace. Keep in mind WhatsApp is a mango app so you'll need to be running Windows Phone 7.5.

Thanks goes out to Jon B for the tip!

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Microsoft updates Terms of Service [Part Two]

Just a quick follow up on an earlier story about Microsoft updating it's EULA on the Marketplace.  If you are in the Windows Phone Marketplace Online shopping for an app and see a warning message that reads,

"It looks like there's a problem with your Zune Account or you haven't created one yet. You need a working Zune account to get apps from Marketplace."

Microsoft hasn't necessarily revoked your Zune Account.  You just need to accept the new terms before you can resume your online Marketplace activities.  Just scanning the rather lengthy and wordy Terms of Service document, it appears the changes concentrate on XBox Live services, legal terms and dispute resolution.

If you hit the "Edit or Create Zune Account" link you are sent to a summary of the update where you can review the changes and accept them. Once you accept the changes, your Marketplace account is restored and you can return to buying your app.  You can find the full TOS from Microsoft here.

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Nokia Drive, a free navigation app for the Lumia Windows Phones, has offline maps for regions and whatnot, which users can choose to download depending on what maps they wish to use - preserving space. For the actual turn-by-turn navigation the network connection is still used throughout the journey, and this could prove to be expensive for those on tight data plans or are travelling abroad.

According to Plaffo, Nokia has announced an update for Drive coming soon that should hopefully fix this issue.

Nokia Drive will receive an update in the near future that will allow navigation even offline.

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Dilbert Hub goes Mango

The Dilbert Hub has gone Mango.  For those not familiar with the Dilbert Hub it's a Windows Phone app that brings all the Dilbert comics you can handle to your Windows Phone.

The update, version 3.0, Mango features such as fast resume and Live Tiles into the mix but also the comic strips are now touch zoomable. While the Dilbert Hub supports landscape view which enlarges the strip somewhat, being able to zoom into the strip is a nice bonus.

The Live Tile support brings the "Daily Dilbert" comic strip to your Start Screen. Once pinned, there is a little bit of a delay (up to thirty minutes) in initiating the tile where it will display the "Daily Dilbert" tile.

The Dilbert Hub is still laid out nicely giving you access to over twenty years of archived comic strips, featured strips, and the ability to search the strips by keyword. Add the ability to share comics via Facebook, email or SMS and you've got a fairly complete Dilbert resource.

The Dilbert Hub is a free, ad supported app for your Windows Phone. You can download the updated, mango version of the Dilbert Hub here at the Windows Phone Marketplace.

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Brandon Watson: lessons learned a year on

If you're excited about the progress the team at Microsoft has made with Windows Phone for the past year since the release back in October last year, then you're strongly urged to read Brandon Watson's latest blog post. In this article the face of Microsoft for developers goes into great detail about what lessons have been learned. Of course, not all lessons are visible to the consumer, the two most obvious being update delivery and marketing, which we've witnessed improvements for in the past few months.

Watson continues to dive into how developers were considered every step of the way, with the software giant not needing anymore brand awareness so the focus could remain on keeping the spotlight clear for app submitters. Some interesting points the article covers:

  • Inspiring developers
  • Make developers rich and famous
  • Search and discover-ability
  • Simplicity and removing friction

Watson, as well as the other faces to the Windows Phone team, continue to go out their way to ensure that the experience for not only the consumer, but for developers, is kept at the highest standard. Unlike Google and Apple, we have public faces, not a brand, to have contact with. It's for this reason why developer interest in the platform is increasing, and why Windows Phone will take the market by storm in the coming years.

I think you'll join us in taking our hats off to Brandon and the team and saying "thank you".  Check out the full post at his blog below.

Source: Brandon Watson

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Torchbear is a social networking styled game for your Windows Phone where you see how far you can pass a torch between other Torchbear members. A torch can be a thought, idea or image and collectively, Torchbear torches have traveled approximately 86,750 miles. Working off the success of the application and feedback from users, Torchbear has been updated to version 1.2.

New features include:

  • Torch points have been removed, torches are now ranked by Number of Followers the torch has
  • Players now receive points for distance traveled whilst carrying a torch (1 point per 50 miles) and unique torch exchanges (15 points if exchange is less than 1 mile, 10 points if exchange is less than 5 miles,5 points if exchange is less than 10 miles)
  • New Leaderboards that now include leaderboards for both torches and players, each category is split up into Worlds Top 20, Nearby Top 20, and the Top 20 Players/Torches you are following
  • Torch Profile - ability to save any torch profile pic to your phone and the Ability to rotate torch profiles pics
  • Torch Details - You can now update torch details after you have created a torch
  • Torch Exchanges - we now allow players to make multiple exchanges with torches they have previously held
  • The "Around Me" list has been improved, we now visually show which torches you have already held, and which torches currently have pending torch requests either by you or by someone else
  • Photos - all photos including both torch & player profile pics can now be saved to the phone

Torchbear is a free application for your Windows Phone and you can find it here at the Windows Phone Marketplace. You can also check in on torches and view a world map of Torchbear activity at the Torchbear website.

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We're getting word that users in Australia on the Optus Network who are using Samsung Omnia 7's are getting a software update that brings WiFi tethering to their devices.

Reader Sri lets us know that his firmware, radio and even bootloader were all just updated, meaning there could also be a few other tweaks on board that add some features:

Firmware Revision - 2424.11.9.2 (from 11.8.2)

Radio Software - 2424.11.9.1 (from 11.7.2)

Bootloader Version - 5.9.0.6 (from 5.8.0.8)

What makes this interesting is the HD7, also in Australia, received an update but no word on if that brought tehtering to the table.

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