The Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 app ecosystems are slowly starting to build steam, although you may have noticed a lack of participation from one of the biggest developers out there: Google.

If, however, you were in the hopes that Google may in fact be working on addressing this, then you are mistaken, because Google has chosen not to develop for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 for the time being. Read more »

Microsoft has just added a useful new feature to the Windows Phone Store that lets you install apps from the microSD card, if your device supports one. This is convenient for those who don’t have a data connection on their phones.

Now, when you go to an app page on the Windows Phone Store web page, you will see an option to download and install the app manually. Click on that and the app starts downloading automatically to your computer. Once done, you can then transfer the XAP file to a microSD card and then install it on your phone. Read more »

Google recently incorporated the ability to recognize songs in the latest Google Search update. Now they have released a standalone app that can be installed on Android.

Called Sound Search for Google Play, the app takes the form of a widget that you can keep on your homescreen and tap when you want to find out what song is playing near you. Other than guessing which song it is, the Sound Search app also provides a link to purchase it on Google Play and maintains a list of your searches, that can be synced across your Android devices for future reference. Read more »

MediaTek, a Taiwan-based fabless semiconductor company, has announced what they call the world’s first quad-core SoC – MT6589 – based on ARM’s new Cortex A7 CPU. Although Qualcomm was actually the first to do this, MediaTek’s chip will be the first to be commercially available in handsets, starting Q1, 2013.

The MT6589 uses four Cortex A7 cores based on 28nm process, which ARM says is their most power efficient processor yet. It combines them with a PowerVR Series5XT GPU and MediaTek’s multi-mode UMTS Rel. 8/HSPA+/TD-SCDMA modem. Read more »

Google has updated the Google Currents application to v2.0, which brings with it some really nice changes. First of all, the UI has been changed and looks nothing like the previous version. It now has more in common with some of the other recent Google Android apps, such as YouTube and Google+.

The application features a new editions list that can be accessed from swiping from the left side of the screen. You see all your categories and the selected sources within. You can customize this list by adding or removing the sources. Read more »

Recently, the developers of the popular VLC Player started a Kickstarter project to fund the development of their Windows 8/RT application. So far, their progress has been pretty good and they have managed to raise over $20,000.

Now they have announced that they are also working on a version of the app for Windows Phone 8. Thanks to the new common kernel shared by Windows RT and Windows Phone 8, porting the app from one platform to another has become quite easy. Read more »

If you have the Microsoft SkyDrive app on your iOS device, you may have noticed that it hasn’t been updated since June. It’s not because Microsoft hasn’t been working on an update for the app but because Apple has been holding it back.

The reason for this is due to a major change Microsoft has added to the SkyDrive app in the form of a subscription model that lets users upgrade their storage by purchasing extra storage space. This is where Apple’s in-app purchasing guidelines kick in and where the main point of contention between the two companies is. Read more »

Lenovo has announced a touchscreen version of their ThinkPad X1 Carbon, called the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch. We reported in the past about it when it had briefly been spotted on Lenovo’s website but it wasn’t officially announced back then.

The 14-inch Ultrabook has been optimized for use with Windows 8 and supports all the basic gestures. The X1 Carbon Touch has a 14.4-inch, ‘HD+’ display, weighs 3.4 pounds and is 20.8mm thick. In fact, Lenovo calls it the world’s thinnest 14-inch touchscreen Ultrabook. Read more »

You may remember during the keynote when the MacBook Pro with the Retina display was announced, Apple briefly mentioned the Adobe Photoshop application being optimized for the new display. But as it happens, the Retina version of the application wasn’t quite ready back then.

Now, six months after the MacBook Pro was announced, Adobe has finally updated the Photoshop CS6 and the Illustrator CS6 applications for the Retina display. The update should now be available to all the legit users and will take care of all the blurry fonts and icons. Read more »

Twitter and Instagram haven’t been the best of pals lately. After the latter was acquired by Facebook, Instagram quietly pulled the ability to display image previews on Twitter, making people view the images on their own new site.

Since then, there have been rumors that Twitter might introduce a newer version of its own official app for iOS and Android, that adds the ability to use image filters for photos taken within the app before uploading them. And the update has now become official. Read more »

It’s no secret that Apple’s new Maps application that debuted with iOS 6 has been an unmitigated failure. Outside of a few key locations in the US, the mapping data has been woefully inaccurate in most places around the world and although it is improving, it’s still pretty bad.

Providing further proof of its incompetency is the latest news from Mildura, Australia, where the local police are expressing concerns over Apple’s mapping data and asking users to be careful while using it. Read more »

Samsung recently released the first video demonstrating the Android 4.1.2 update for the Galaxy S III that brings with it Samsung’s Premium Suite of applications, which are basically features that were previously exclusive to the Galaxy Note II.

Now they have released the second and what seems like the last video in the series, that showcases a few more features in this rather feature packed update. Read more »

We have reported in the past that Valve, creators of the popular game distribution service Steam, is now planning on entering the hardware segment.

It wasn’t clear what this hardware would be like but in a recent interview with Kotaku, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell confirmed that Valve is working on a living room PC that will offer a console like experience and will compete with the PlayStation and the Xbox. Read more »

Splice, as the developer likes to call it, is an experimental and artistic puzzler. The game has been out on the iPad, Steam and Mac App Store for a while but made its Android debut through the Humble Bundle 4 for Android.

Now it has finally hit Google Play and can be purchased separately. We decided to give it a try and see how well it fares on the small screen. Read more »

Samsung has released the new Galaxy Muse music player in the US. The device acts as a companion music player for your Galaxy S III, Note II, Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note, and is one of the most confounding devices I have seen in recent times that almost seems like an April Fool’s hoax.

Unlike all the other music players on the market, the Galaxy Muse cannot be connected to your computer to transfer music files to the device, even though it has a decent 4GB on board. In order to transfer music to the Muse, you will have to connect it to your Galaxy S III or Note II. Read more »