The Midweek Download: April 13th Edition – Get a glimpse of Internet Explorer 10 and the new Windows Phone dev tools at MIX

Microsoft is making big news at the MIX 2011 Web developers show in Las Vegas this week. On Monday, the company gave developers their first glimpse of Internet Explorer 10 as well as a new set of developers’ tools for the Windows Phone platform.

Raising the curtains on IE10. Just four weeks after the release of Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft unveiled the first platform preview of Internet Explorer 10 at MIX11. In his keynote, Dean Hachamovitch, corporate vice president of Internet Explorer, outlined how the next version of Microsoft’s industry-leading Web browser builds on the performance breakthroughs and the deep native HTML5 support delivered in Internet Explorer 9. Read this press release and watch this video demo of the IE10 platform preview on the Microsoft News Center for more detail. If that isn’t enough for you, read this post on the Exploring IE Blog.

Windows Phone developers – now is the time. Big news for Windows Phone developers coming out of MIX this week – the next version of the Windows Phone platform will ship later this year and the tools developers will need to create the next groundbreaking apps and games for the phone will be ready in May. Read the Windows Phone Blog for more detail on the new set of Windows Phone Developer Tools. As Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in February, the next version of Windows Phone (code named Mango) will ship later this year and introduce some significant new features like hardware accelerated IE9 with HTML5, enhanced multitasking capabilities, Twitter in the People hub and better support for Office documents in SkyDrive to name just a few.

Coding on the go with your Windows Phone. Hey, Windows Phone developers! So jazzed about coding on the WP7 platform that it’s all you think about? Well, now you can create new applications on the go with the TouchStudio App, a radically new software development environment on the Windows Phone. Its typed, structured programming language is built around the idea of only using a touchscreen as the input device to author code. It has built-in primitives which make it easy to access the rich sensor data available on a mobile device. Want to know more? Watch this video that shows how you can script on your Windows Phone with TouchStudio:

Foursquare, IE9 and HTML5 pack a powerful visual punch. Are you a fan of location-based social networking service Foursquare? If so, you’ll probably dig this video demo showing off a new application that combines the power of Foursquare, IE9 and HTML5 that gives users a slick visual rendering of their surroundings. The demo made its debut at MIX on Tuesday.

Windows Azure updates unveiled at MIX. Microsoft announced several updates to the Windows Azure platform Tuesday at MIX11. These new capabilities will help developers deploy applications faster, accelerate their application performance and enable access to applications through popular identity providers including Microsoft, Facebook and Google. Check out the Windows Azure Blog for more information.

Bing Business Portal aims to help your business grow. On Monday, Microsoft launched the Bing Business Portal beta, a new service from Bing to help business owners create and control their online listing, making it easier for their customers to find them on Bing. With it, owners can even create deals and promote the offers on both the Bing desktop and mobile experience – for free. Read this post on the Bing Search Blog for more details.

Five reasons IT Pros need Windows Intune. Windows Intune is a cloud service that helps you centrally manage and secure your PCs through a simple web-based console. No matter if your IT staff or end users are in the main office, at a branch office, or on the road, domain or non-domained joined, Windows Intune will provide the functionality you need. Here are 5 reasons why IT pros should consider using Windows Intune.

Thanks for reading this edition of the Midweek Download!

Posted by Jeff Meisner
Editor, The Official Microsoft Blog

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