Tuesday, November 23, 2010

19 new stories on The Next Web today

19 new stories on The Next Web today

Link to The Next Web

Those &%$#* CAPTCHAs… [TNW Shareables]

Posted: 23 Nov 2010 03:42 AM PST

From savagechickens.com.



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Buildor Pro launches for powerful cloud-based web development [Invites] [TNW Apps]

Posted: 23 Nov 2010 03:14 AM PST

We’ve followed London-based startup Buildor since it first broke cover in March this year. Finally from today, the company’s professional cloud-based web development platform is available to try – and we’ve got 300 invites for The Next Web readers.

There was quite a buzz when Buildor Pro was demoed at The Next Web Conference this year. While Adobe Dreamweaver is the easiest comparison, the app is actually closer to what hardcore development tools Coda and Espresso do, but in the cloud.

Based in your web browser, the big advantage for web developers is that they’re not tied to one machine but have all the pro HTML and CSS editing tools they need wherever they are. The app allows you to start a new project from scratch or (most impressively) edit live sites just by pulling up the URL. You’ll need the FTP details for the site if you want to save the results though.

When it comes to designers, Buildor Pro is being pitched as a powerful way of creating HTML mock-ups with full interaction design and font rendering.

While it remains to be seen whether pro developers will take to browser-based development en masse, there’s a real chance of Buildor disrupting the market if it gains traction. To get a flavour for what you can do with Buildor, take a look at the video below and the others here.

For the time being Buildor Pro is invite-only, but we’ve been given 300 invites for our readers. To claim yours, quickly head over to this link before they’re all gone.



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Syrian Youtube Torturing Teachers Canned by Prime Minister [TNW Middle East]

Posted: 23 Nov 2010 02:51 AM PST

Trump You're FiredSyrian Prime Minister Naji Atri has issued the severance of service of two teachers severely punishing elementary students in a school in the Syrian Province of Aleppo that was caught on a phone camera and uploaded to Youtube.

Reported today by Syria News, the video began to create some buzz after a Facebook group was created condemning the act and calling on authorities to take action against the two teachers who were unidentified at the time.

Prior to this decision the Syrian Minister of Education had punished the teachers by  transferring them to administrative positions in remote facilities ‘not in direct contact with students’.

What’s really interesting about this incident is the fact a governmental official as high as the Prime Minister allow evidence taken from banned online services in official investigations.

Worthy of noting that both Facebook and YouTube are currently banned in Syria. Common Syrian government, don’t you think it’s time to end the ban already?Image



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Site Update: Introducing The Next Web Business Services [TNW Voice]

Posted: 23 Nov 2010 02:32 AM PST

We’ve got something special for you today, its name: TNW Business Services. It’s a spanking new section of The Next Web devoted (currently) to Jobs and Press Releases, in the future, much much more.

Press Releases you say?

Yep.

Founders and executives you can now submit your press releases to TNW Business Services to share with us but also the world. Of course, as ever, we’ll be sure to pick out the best for official coverage on The Next Web but press releases you submit will enjoy a space in our sidebar, high google rankings and with over 4 million page views a month and 2 million unique visitors, all tech-and online oriented, the platform enables a powerful and global podium for companies the world over.

With our Job Board, the same is very true. The job board will be home to online, social media and tech positions across the globe. With blogs and readership spanning continent, we believe we can provide a far more international focused recruitment option to companies looking to hire the world over.

As you might expect, we’re going to be expanding TNW Business Services into other areas but for now, give it a try. We’re offering readers a discount of 30% for 1 month when you use the discount code GIVEMEADISCOUNT.

More to come.



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Acer to unveil 10-inch Windows 7 and 7-inch Android 2.2 tablets today? [TNW Mobile]

Posted: 23 Nov 2010 02:15 AM PST

According to Digitimes, Acer is expected to unveil two new tablets at a press conference held in New York, making official a 10-inch Intel-powered Windows 7 model and a 7-inch Android 2.2 (Froyo), directly competing with Samsung’s new Galaxy Tab and trying to capture a share of the market from Apple.

It is thought that Acer has battled internal pressures in regards to its Android tablet devices – the company deciding whether it should delay the launch of its device to wait for the release of a more tablet-friendly Android firmware in Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) or Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) or push its device into the market to provide competition to Samsung’s 7-inch Galaxy Tab and Toshiba’s Folio 100.

Therein lies the dilemma. Tablet manufacturers are so worried about missing out on the upcoming festive sales period they are rushing out tablets even though Google itself has already confirmed that existing Android firmwares do not play well with devices that have larger screens.

By holding its press conference in New York, Acer is signalling its intention to take the fight to Apple in a country where its iPad enjoys a huge market share.

By rushing its product off the production-line, its highly likely that Acer could be crippling its future success in the tablet market. If Acer was to wait for the release of a more tablet-friendly Android OS, it could concentrate on incorporating industry-leading features, instead of releasing a “me-too” tablet that is purely aimed at capturing consumers cash instead of hearts.

Stay tuned, we will update you as soon as Acer releases any new information.Image Credit



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Kuwait DSLR Camera Ban Now in Effect [TNW Middle East]

Posted: 23 Nov 2010 12:01 AM PST

Mosque in KuwaitThe image you see could get it’s photographer in serious legal trouble in Kuwait after authorities there have banned the use of DSLRs in public places unless you’re part of the press. Which is just ridiculous.

According to Kuwait Times The Ministry of Information, Ministry of Social Affairs and Ministry of Finance have put the ban in place. Start burying your DSLRs in the backyard once the Ministry of Interior join the club.

If you’re not familiar with the term, DSLR cameras are Digital Still-Lens-Reflex cameras. For the lamen like myself that translates to big -mostly black- cameras with cool looking lens’. You know like the one’s paparazzi use in the US & UK.

But there is no paparazzi in Kuwait, heck the industry almost doesn’t exist in the entire Middle East. And even if it did, by being registered as part of the national press, they wouldn’t be affected by this ban.

That leaves us with one other affected party: Tourists and residents with a passion for photography. We all know what to do when in Rome, but that means hard luck for any of the 2.3 million expats in Kuwait who’ve dished out hard cash for their cams.

To tell you the truth, I wasn’t that surprised when I heard the news a couple of days back. But being the Arab optimist I am, I thought to myself maybe the public outcry will make the three ministries that implemented the ban retract.

The problem is, there is no outcry.

To those of you who don’t know this, the Kuwaiti society is generally a conservative one, at least while their in Kuwait for that matter. What I sadly discovered is that most of the Kuwaiti public actually welcome the ban.

Repercussions this will have on imagery taken by photographers (who are not members of the press) in the past is still unknown. But it’s safe to send your condolences to the Kuwaiti DSLR camera market.

The ban will not affect small ‘standard’ digital cameras, in theory. But in all honesty, who would be willing to go in public taking shots with a digital camera and risk having to explain the differences between DSLR and non-DSLR cameras to angry Kuwaiti authorities? I for one certainly would not.

In my opinion, the only reason the Kuwaiti authorities didn’t issue a full scale ban on all digital photography apparatus is because every self-respecting smart-phone these days comes with a couple megapixels strong built-in camera that would basically make the ban useless.

This is another sad story of regional governments slapping a ban on every kind of technology they simply don’t want to learn how to deal with. Who knows, maybe Flickr’s next.

Post Image, Image



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Video How to: Using iOS 4.2 on the iPad Part 3: Find my device [TNW Lifehacks]

Posted: 22 Nov 2010 10:38 PM PST

So far we’ve covered how to use multitasking and app folders on the iPad with iOS 4.2.1, now for something that is of use for all iOS device owners: Find my iPhone (or iPad or …). As we reported earlier today, Apple has opened up Find my iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch to all iOS 4.2.1 users. The set up instructions for find my device from Apple are easy and take only a moment to complete (and don’t forget to download the find my iPhone app from the app store), but what I thought I’d show you is how it actually works using my iPhone and iPad as examples:

Summary:

  • You can use the mobile app (as I demoed) or log into Me.com use authenticate with the Apple ID you used for the devices to find your devices
  • You can remotely lock, wipe, or send a message to a device from other devices or me.com
  • If you have a WiFi-only device like an iPod Touch or WiFi iPad, the message, lock, or wipe commands will be queued until the device surfaces online again.

Hope you enjoyed this video how to series…let us know in the comments what you’d like to see!



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Video How to: Using iOS 4.2 on the iPad Part 2: App Folders [TNW Lifehacks]

Posted: 22 Nov 2010 10:12 PM PST

Next on our tour of iOS 4.2.1 on the iPad is the App-a-holic’s favorite: App folders. Now that you have multitasking down from the last video how to, now it’s time to get that iPad organized with app folders! Until I got iOS 4.2 (granted it was the GM from before, but still) I had pages and pages of apps. My once well organized iPad had become a huge mess, kinda like my iPhone is now, well now with app folders…ah bliss!

Again, iPhone owners who have been using iOS 4 have been doing this for months now, but the days of cluttered screens are finally over for iPad owners now too! Here’s a short video showing you the ins and outs (and drags and drops) of making and using app folders on the iPad:

Summary:

  • Just like deleting apps, press and hold an app until they all jiggle
  • Drag on app onto another to create a new folder
  • Drag apps into existing folders to organize
  • Drag a folder to the dock to help move apps from several screens
  • Tapping an app folder lets you move apps from the folder or change the folder’s name.
  • You can have twenty apps in a folder on the iPad and six apps on the dock.

Last but not least: Find my iPhone (or iDevice since it works with the iPad too)



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Instapaper for iOS updated to support AirPrint and more [TNW Apple]

Posted: 22 Nov 2010 09:58 PM PST

One of our favorite services and iOS apps, Instapaper, has bumped up the iOS version of the app (the paid one) to 3.2.1 and one of the key new feature enhancements is support for AirPrint.

Marco has also updated the share panel to show the icons that you can share with…assuming you have them installed (I don’t seem to have any of the apps installed!). The list of apps you can share with has gotten pretty impressive:

  • Twitter apps:
    • Twitter, Twitterrific, Echofon, Twittelator, Seesmic, SimplyTweet, Birdhouse.
  • Sharing apps:
    • Tumblr, Shareables, Yummy, Delibar.
  • Reading apps:
    • QuickReader, GoodReader.
  • Productivity apps:
    • OmniFocus, Appigo ToDo, Firetask, Ideawell, Notitas, Notebooks, Terminology.
  • Utilities:
    • Pastebot, Print Magic.
  • Alternative browsers:
    • iCab Mobile, 360 Web Browser, Atomic Web Browser, Full Screen Browser, Sopods Full Screen Web Browser, Offline Pages.

This update also seems a little “peppier” than even the last update (which was supposed to have a noticeable speed improvement), so if you haven’t updated, hop on over to iTunes and update (or over over the air on your device). If you haven’t paid the $5 for Instapaper on the iPad, I think it’s worth the price. For me, Instapaper is an essential part of my workflow. Either here on my main machine to stash things for later or, and more importantly, on my mobile devices to use here when I need to write up the news.

Looking at how Instapaper is going, what would the next “Sent to/Share with” apps would be on your list?Instapaper, photo credit



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Google donates $100,000 to Bletchley Park to save Turing Papers in Auction [TNW Google]

Posted: 22 Nov 2010 09:54 PM PST

A report on Twitter is saying that Google has donated $100,000 to Bletchley Park to help them in their campaign to buy mathematician Alan Turing’s papers which are to be auctioned at Christies today.

I spoke to Christian Payne (aka @documentally), blogger and long time supporter of Bletchley Park who had this to say about Google’s donation.

“It’s a wonderful gesture from Google. They can obviously see the importance of choosing Bletchley Parkk as the home for such important & inspiring documents. If other benefactors follow Google’s example then the papers can be enjoyed by all. If the documents are snapped up by a private buyer, who knows if they’ll ever be seen in public again.

Bletchley Park and the code breakers work is something that should be studied, remembered and shared by everyone so that we can remember this important time in history.”

Unfortunately, the donation may be too little too late.  When Bletchley Park supporters contacted Christies the auctioneers about allowing them to make an offer on the papers before the auction, in the interests of keeping these historic documents at the museum, they received this response.

At this late stage, Christie’s would only consider withdrawing the lot from sale if the appeal were to make a serious offer. This would have to be at the high estimate, £500,000, and any offer made would be subject to Christie’s buyer’s premium (25% of the bid price up to and including £25,000 and 20% of the excess of the hammer price up to £500,000).

Bletchley Park, or Station X, was the top secret World War Two headquarters of the allied code breakers where the German Enigma codes were cracked by a team of mathematical geniuses, the most famous of whom was Alan Turing.  The site is also now recognised as the birth place of the modern programmable computer, with the Colossus, being built there towards the end of World War Two.

Bletchley Park was allowed to fall into disrepair by it’s previous owners.  Since the site’s true history was revealed, it has been turned into a museum to the code breakers as well as becoming the home to the National Museum of Computing as well.

The Bletchley Park Trust who run the site have had an ongoing battle to raise funds to stop the deterioration of the famous huts, originally built as temporary workspaces during the war.  They and their supporters have been very active utilising social media to advance their cause.image



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Chinese mobile operators’ war of words escalates [TNW Asia]

Posted: 22 Nov 2010 09:38 PM PST

The battle between China’s two largest mobile providers, China Mobile and China Unicom is hotting up as each tries to win over the lucrative iPhone market.

China Unicom, is still the only carrier licenced to sell the iPhone in China. Recent statistics, based on the alternative contact number required when signing up, show that about 73% of China Unicom’s iPhone customers have come to them from China Mobile.

The Chinese mobile market is still immature when compared to the west and users are unable to transfer their mobile number to a new provider.  While that situation is changing with new services rolling out in a couple of cities, most people purchasing iPhones from China Unicom have opted to keep their existing accounts and numbers with China Mobile as well.

China mobile have been quick to spot this opportunity in the market and have been offering services to users to cut down their existing China Mobile SIM cards to fit the new iPhone 4.  They have also set up a hotline to assist subscribers in getting an iPhone working on China Mobile’s network.

New reports today suggest that China Unicom are countering China Mobile’s moves by threatening to freeze the accounts of users who separate their iPhone and SIM card.  This will not have a significant effect on the users who have switched to China Mobile in terms of the use of their iPhone but it does mean that they stand to lose their deposit of 5,880RMB. (about US$885).  Of course, with grey imports of iPhone 4′s selling for about 6,000 RMB (about US$900), this move may just serve to drive more potential customers to the grey market instead.

If China Telecom, the third largest mobile operator in the country get the iPhone, as we speculated here, then things could get a whole lot more interesting.BusinessWeek, Mobinode, image



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News Corp acquires Wireless Generation. Is education the only goal? [TNW Media]

Posted: 22 Nov 2010 09:35 PM PST

Via Reuters, News Corp has announced that it has acquired privately-held Wireless Generation for a reported $360 million in cash. Wireless Generation makes educational apps for students and teachers to help build curricula and teach core concepts. News Corp bought Wireless Generation to bolster its offerings in the education technology sector. From the Wireless Generation site, here is how they describe what the company does:

Wireless Generation creates innovative tools, systems, and services that help educators teach smarter. With its mobile assessment software, the company invented a better way to give classroom assessments and make data-based instructional decisions. Wireless Generation has broken new ground with technology that analyzes student data and provides curriculum customized to individual learning needs. Wireless Generation also builds large-scale data systems that centralize student data and give educators and parents unprecedented visibility into learning. A Web 2.0 collaboration and knowledge network for educators propagates proven approaches across schools. Wireless Generation currently serves more than 200,000 educators and 3 million students.

According to the press release, the executive team in place at Brooklyn-based Wireless Generation and co-founder Larry Berger will stay at the helm and keep a 10% stake in the in company. Operating as a subsidiary of News Corp, this is a nice set of technologies coming into the fold. While, this acquisition is ostensibly for education technology, I just can’t help but to think that it also has something to do with the reported iPad Newspaper.

Don’t get me wrong, I think News Corp is very serious about education technology. Electronic textbooks alone could be worth billions in the coming years, and as students (and parents) expect high tech to be core to teaching, helping schools offer integrated solutions will be key. But I also had a look through Wireless Generation’s product line (I’m digging the writing apps) and saw things like the mClass device. Here is something that is designed to be toted around, connect with lots of other information centers, and is rather tough (as in can take a beating).

I look at the mClass device and see how it works with information and the classroom, and can’t help think that this technology could be adapted for newsrooms, consumers, or other platforms.

Maybe I’m just nuts, but I swear this is more about getting technology for other ends than it is about education.Reuters, photo credit



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Video How to: Using iOS 4.2 on the iPad Part 1: Multitasking [TNW Lifehacks]

Posted: 22 Nov 2010 08:22 PM PST

While iPhone owners have been spoiled with iOS 4 features like multitasking and app folders for months now (seems like an eternity to me), finally today iPad owners get the same coolness.

Instead of just writing out how to use multitasking on your iPad, we thought we’d show you how it works. But first a little tip I picked up recently, using microfibre cleaning cloths to polish your iPad or iPhone (or iPod Touch) screen:

No, I’m not going to be selling these on infomercials, I just thought you’d like to see this. My wife found them with other cleaning products and cloths.
Regardless, multitasking in iOS 4.2.1 (on the iPad) here’s the video:

Summary:

  • Remember double-clicking the home button doesn’t bring up iPod controls anymore, it brings up the multitasking pane
  • Press and hold (like deleting or moving apps) to close
  • Slide to the right to get to rotation lock and iPod controls

Not all apps have been updated for multitasking as yet, so I’d keep checking for app updates over the next few days (week?) for updates as they roll in.

Next up…App folders!



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Try This: FotoNote is the premier iPhone solution for converting an image to electronic text [TNW Apps]

Posted: 22 Nov 2010 08:12 PM PST

TNW Quick Hit

FotoNote is a super cool app for the iPhone and iPod touch allowing one to convert an image to electronic text using optical character recognition (OCR).

Hits: When reading a magazine, newspaper, instructions, receipts, business cards and receipts, FotoNote is a great way to capture an image from a printed item and store it electronically in using a variety of formats.

Misses: Lacks some cloud-based storage options such as SugarSync, Box.Net, and SpiderOak, which may be off-putting for some users.

Overall: 4.5/5

The Details:

Many apps exist which allow one to take images of documents using one’s iPhone.  Genius Scan (free) is a great one, but it lacks some important features, most notably sharing options which are limited only to email.  JotNot Scanner Pro ($.99) is a better option than Genius Scan in that it allows for scanning of multipage documents, receipts, whiteboards, business cards and notes into PDF files; email scans directly; fax scans to US fax numbers; or upload them to iDisk/WebDAV, Evernote, Box.net, Dropbox, or Google Docs.  Nice, but still not as full-featured as FotoNote ($1.99).

FotoNote converts an image to electronic text using OCR, widely used by business professionals.  One neat feature is that FotoNote brings this useful technology to the iPhone and iPod touch. Now even casual users can OCR their every day items like restaurant receipts for expense reports or tax deduction for example, or maybe take a screenshot in another app that you want to save the text.

Using the app is quite simple.  Download, launch, and choose a photo from your library or take a new photograph.

I opted to take a photo of a magazine  and the results were quite stunning.

Before:

After:

After cropping, erasing unnecessary items, rotating if needed, one can edit a FotoNote.

Options for editing include changing the captured image to color, keeping it in black and white, and converting it to text.

After you’ve made your desired changes, one can export a FotoNote to Email, Facebook, the great Evernote, the great Dropbox, MobileMe and more.

In addition to the aforementioned features, FotoNote automatically tags your FotoNotes to make them searchable in apps such as Evernote.

FotoNote is a really grand app for anyone needing to transform physical documents into electronic ones,  and  I’ve enjoyed using immensely.   Check it, and if you’re so inclined, get it now with introductory pricing of only $1.99!  You’ll be glad you did



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Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior VP for Worldwide Product Marketing verified on Twitter [TNW Apple]

Posted: 22 Nov 2010 07:16 PM PST

The social networks are buzzing today with the news that Phil Schiller, Apple’s VP for iOS is officially on Twitter.  Eagle eyed readers, will spot that his account was actually created over two years ago, but, it has only just been verified by Twitter today.

Looking at Schiller’s account, we can see that he is a follower of breaking news: @BreakingTweets, @cnnbrk, and @WSJ, a definite fan of comedy: @jayleno, @jimmyfallon and @stevemartintogo and a big New England sports fan: @GlobeCeltics, @realpatriots and @espn.

On the ‘we might not have guessed that’ front, he’s also clearly a fan of undersea exploration following the likes of @oceanexplorer, @JMCousteau and @WHOIExpeditions.

We do wonder however, what his boss thinks about him following Fake Steve Jobs though: @FSJ.9 to 5 Mac, image



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Google just made Street View browser navigation twice as fast [TNW Google]

Posted: 22 Nov 2010 06:27 PM PST

Google just took Google Maps Street View Smart Navigation and made it twice as fast. How? They changed moving around with the ‘pancake’ navigation from two clicks to just one click.

Google introduced Smart Navigation a year ago (it’s that semi-transparent spot that you can move around the screen in Street View to zoom in or move around) for browser-based navigation in Street View. As of yet, Google hasn’t rolled this feature – in either one or two click modes – to either Android or iOS. However, we beyond the the new ease of use of Street View navigation in a desktop browser, we certainly see this kind of one click interface as something that will be tremendously useful for mobile in the future.

Of course, Android phones have free turn-by-turn driving and walking directions, but that’s not really useful when all you want to do is explore an area that you’re not in while on the move. As far as the desktop interface at the moment is concerned (which is what today’s change is immediately about) the new one click exploration is super quick and in Chrome at least runs nearly flawlessly (and there is no reason to believe that it wouldn’t work the same in other browsers).

On the surface it wouldn’t seem like much news that Google took an interface and reduced the action from two to one clicks, but inside of Google Maps, with Street View on, it really does seem to be exactly what it now is: twice as fast.

Google LatLong blog



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Try This: WidgetBlock. Speed up Chrome page loads by killing the social widgets [TNW Apps]

Posted: 22 Nov 2010 05:36 PM PST

While we here at TNW are big fans of the social aspect of pages, we understand that there are some of you who aren’t. Not mincing words, social widgets often slow down pages to a crawl when the sites that they reference are having problems.

WidgetBlock is an extension for Google Chrome that simply does what it says — it blocks widgets. So, if Twitter is courting the failwhale you won’t be staring at a half-completed page. Rather, you’ll be browsing the content of your choice but you’ll have to share it the old way.

I did some testing with WidgetBlock and there are some obvious down sides to the process. While pages do indeed load faster, the extension can lead to a page having a “broken” look to it. Here on TNW, for instance, the missing Tweet buttons simply get replaced by a text saying “Tweet”. As you can see in the screenshot, it also leaves a pretty barren area around our RSS button where the Facebook and Twitter widgets should sit:

So the tradeoff is your call to make. It’s worth a look, regardless. While I did experience some faster load times, your mileage may vary.



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UFO or one crazy ass gadget. You decide. [TNW Shareables]

Posted: 22 Nov 2010 04:49 PM PST

This is why I love Shareables. I can share things like this with you. Skip to 4m 19s.

Reddit



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Silverlight is hardly over, Microsoft is bringing it to the Xbox 360 [TNW Microsoft]

Posted: 22 Nov 2010 04:18 PM PST

There has been so much talk about the future of Silverlight in the last few weeks that nearly no one has a clear idea as to if the platform has a future or not. Heck, even we’re not exactly sure what Microsoft has in mind, and we’ve read everything on the topic.

Mixed messages however do swing both ways, and while we have seen some negative signs for the platform, a new job posting from Microsoft today should put a smile on the face of every Silverlight fan.

Microsoft, it seems, is bringing Silverlight to one of its most successful product lines: the Xbox 360. Yes, “looking to hire motivated developers with a passion for creating ground breaking multiscreen platform experiences,” Microsoft is going to bring the power of Silverlight to its living-room behemoth.

What does that mean? This revelation combined with the prominence of Silverlight in the development process for WP7 gives the impression that Microsoft has not given up on the product at all.

There is a less enthusiastic interpretation of the hiring however. Microsoft could be merely looking to improve cross-platform compatibility between WP7 and Xbox 360 in the short-term, giving the hires no real long-term strategic importance if the Redmond giant plans on replacing Silverlight on Windows Phone 7 in the future. Time will tell, but tonight the legions of Silverlight developers can sleep a little easier.

This is the job posting:

Job Category: Software Engineering: Development
Location: United States, WA, Redmond
Job ID: 740317 29869
Product: Microsoft Silverlight
Division: Server & Tools Business
Silverlight is looking to hire motivated developers with a passion for creating ground breaking multiscreen platform experiences now targeting the XBOX.
Silverlight is a fast paced, fun and winning team that ships yearly and is making serious inroads in the marketplace. It is a cross-browser, cross-platform, developer platform that is based on XAML and already running on Windows, Mac, set-top-boxes and Windows Phones. Numerous industry partners are already using Silverlight to deliver high end and cutting edge internet and mobile experiences to millions of users, including Netflix, NBC Olympics, Seesmic, Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter. Microsoft teams such as Sql reporting services, Office Communicator are already using Silverlight and many more will be in the future.
One of the unique things about our team is how closely we partner with customers to make them successful with our technology – whether it's one of the thousands of applications developed for Windows Phone 7, social network applications such as Seesmic, or powering the largest premium internet movie service through Netflix. With our next wave of releases we are looking to increase by an order of magnitude our usage, customer base and reach.
As a developer you will be responsible for delivering features for Silverlight on the XBOX as part of the next wave.
Candidates must have 5+ years of professional development experience in C++ and a willingness to work on new operating systems and languages.

WMPoweruser, Techmeme, Image Credit



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Is the browser on Windows Phone 7 actually faster than Safari for iPhone 4? [TNW Microsoft]

Posted: 22 Nov 2010 03:22 PM PST

We love a good horse race, and there is no more apt a struggle right now than between the current (debatable, we know) smartphone champion, the iPhone 4, and the upstart Windows Phone 7 line.

We found a rather interesting test of a Samsung Focus (WP7 device) and an iPhone 4 duking it out for the speed crown in a browser competition. Our favorite element of this test is that this is Internet Explorer against Safari, hardly the two names that come to mind when you think about the leading browsers of the world.

Still, in the mobile world, they are two of the giants. Here at TNW we have seen an explosion in the number of hits we receive from Internet Explorer 7 Mobile, the browser employed on WP7 handsets. We don’t know how many WP7 handsets have been sold, but the people who did pick up a unit seem to dig TNW.

We have one question: which phone do you think should be called the victor in the following comparison? We feel that it could be called either way. Let us know in the comments.

Image Credit, Via WMPoweruser



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