The Midweek Download: Aug. 15th Edition – A Look at the New SkyDrive, Windows Photo Gallery & Movie Maker

In this edition of The Midweek Download, we’ve got stories on the new SkyDrive, Outlook.com and some of the work we’re doing with our hardware partners to bring you high-quality Windows RT and Windows 8 devices.

A new modern SkyDrive.com, updated apps, and Outlook.com at 10 million users. Since we launched the Outlook.com preview two weeks ago, we have been truly humbled by the reception. We’ve received hundreds of great comments, participated in thousands of threads on @reddit, @gizmodo, @neowin and are excited to share that, as of today, more than 10 million people have signed up and started using Outlook.com. Now, we’re updating SkyDrive with a new, more modern Web design, refined SkyDrive apps for PCs and Macs, a new SkyDrive app for Android devices, and improved developer offerings. You can read more about it over on the Inside SkyDrive Blog. Check out the video below introducing the new SkyDrive:

Collaborating to deliver Windows RT PCs. Windows 8 and Windows RT each reached the RTM milestone, and we are hard at work in collaboration with ecosystem partners, including PC manufacturers, Silicon partners, and other component suppliers, to complete high quality Windows RT and Windows 8 PCs that we think you’ll love. We’re very excited about the designs PC manufacturing partners have built on the foundation of Windows 8 and Windows RT. The breadth of Windows 8 Intel- and AMD-based designs from our PC manufacturing partners will continue to push the envelope with powerful computing and innovative design. You can read more about it over on Building Windows 8.

Introducing the new Windows Photo Gallery and Movie Maker. We’re happy to announce new versions of Movie Maker and Photo Gallery for Windows 7 and Windows 8. We’ve added a few new capabilities while also taking advantage of some advances in Windows 8. Movie Maker and Photo Gallery are two essential Windows applications hundreds of millions of people have come to rely on for making the most of your photos and videos. And with this release, we’ve given you a few more reasons to enjoy them even more. Head on over to the Windows Experience Blog for the whole story.

Answering your top 10 Windows Phone Dev Center questions. Last week, we launched the Windows Phone Dev Center. Since then, we’ve received a number of questions about the Dev Center via community forums and Twitter. Head on over to the Windows Phone Developer Blog to see a list of the top 10 questions we’ve received about the Dev Center.

Data entry made easy. In Access 2013, there are lots of improvements to help you quickly make a great user interface for your Web databases. With this interface, the people who use your app will have easy time entering data. You can read more about it on the Access Blog, which features a short video. Also, don’t miss this Office Next Blog post on new file formats in the new Office.

Bing Fund welcomes Buddy Platform Inc. and Pinion Tech LLC. We originally announced Bing Fund on July 12, 2012. It is an angel fund with an incubator program that gives startups access to Microsoft technology assets and expertise, and funding. The team has been hard at work seeking talented entrepreneurs who are innovating online to solve big problems and create new, breakthrough experiences. We’re off to a strong start with the enrollment of two amazing startups into the program. The Bing Search Blog has the rest of the story.

Liven up your app with location and sensors. If you’re developing an app for Windows 8 tablets or convertibles, you have access to cutting edge hardware and software services for sensors and location. By tapping into these hardware capabilities, you can add value to your apps and also make them exciting and useful. Imagine an app that automatically loads a 3D environment based on the user’s current location, and then allows them to navigate the 3D world (pan, tilt) by moving the tablet around in 3D space. Read the rest of this story on the Windows 8 App Developer Blog. Also, don’t miss this Aug. 6 post on building your own Windows Runtime components to deliver great Metro style apps.

Microsoft SmartScreen & Extended Validation (EV) Code Signing Certificates. On Tuesday, two Certificate Authorities (CAs), Symantec and DigiCert, announced the introduction of EV code signing certificates. Their announcement is a positive development for users and businesses because it helps both sides reduce fraud and increase trust. We want to provide some more details about what this means for Microsoft’s SmartScreen and the Windows 8 application ecosystem in general. For more detail, read this Tuesday post on the IEBlog.

That’s it for this edition of The Midweek Download. Thanks for reading.

Posted by Jeff Meisner
Editor, The Official Microsoft Blog

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