Weekend Reading: Aug. 31st Edition – Atari Classics Get Re-imagined for Touch Screen & Friends’ Facebook Photos Come to Bing

In this edition of Weekend Reading, we’ve got stories on classic Atari video games being re-imagined on Internet Explorer, the new Friends Facebook photo feature on Bing, and, just in case you missed it, the first Windows Phone 8 device from Samsung.

Touch Centipede, Asteroids bring nostalgia roaring back. Before casual games like “Bejeweled” and “Text Twist” came along, there were Atari classics such as “Pong,” “Combat,” “Centipede” and “Asteroids.” Many Gen X’ers spent Saturday afternoons at the arcade blowing their week’s allowance on the latest game, all for the thrill of seeing their initials on the top score list. Thursday, Atari and Internet Explorer brought eight classic video games to the touch screen in Atari Arcade. Visit the Microsoft News Center and the Exploring IE Blog for the rest of the story and screenshots of the old-school classics reimagined on Internet Explorer. Check out the short promo video below featuring some of the games in Atari Arcade.

Search and browse your Facebook friends’ photos on Bing. Looking for that epic shot from last winter’s ski trip? Or the I-could-die-laughing photo of your roommate’s cat dancing? Bing now lets you quickly find that special photo (out of your friends’ thousands) on Facebook with the new Friends’ Photo feature. Now, with Bing, you can easily search and browse your friends’ photo collections—whether you’re looking for a specific moment, or just want to see what your friends have been up to. To learn more and try it out, head over to the Bing Search Blog.

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Formula 1 team races with Microsoft Dynamics. Blink during the next Formula 1 race, and you might miss the Microsoft Dynamics logo zooming by at 212 mph. But if all goes as planned, everyone will have a much better view of the Microsoft Dynamics logo on the Lotus F1 Team car when it’s parked in the winner’s circle. Read this Microsoft News Center story to learn how the Lotus F1 Team is fueling its bid for the 2014 Formula 1 Championship using Microsoft Dynamics AX to help manage every aspect of its business, from the drawing board to the racetrack.

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Microsoft launches more expansive Imagine Cup 2013. Students ages 16 and older can now register for Microsoft Imagine Cup 2013, the world’s premier student technology competition, in its 11th year. To inspire more students and encourage a wider variety of aspiring innovators to participate, Microsoft redesigned Imagine Cup around three new core competitions — World Citizenship, Games and Innovation — and more than doubled the prize money to US$300,000. For the complete story, read this press release on the Microsoft News Center.

Back to school with new devices? Lesson #1: mobile safety. Unlike their parents who went back to school with new notebooks, pens, pencils, and binders, today’s young people are likely readying for the coming academic year with laptops, tablets and mobile phones. But, before parents arm kids with the latest Internet-enabled devices, it’s a good idea to share some do’s and don’ts about online safety. When it comes to Internet safety, some practical advice can go a long way toward helping kids stay safer and more secure when they’re online on the go. This Aug. 28 Microsoft on the Issues blog post shares some surprising statistics and useful safety tips for both adults and kids.

Happy 9th birthday, Skype. On Wednesday, Skype celebrated nine years by creating a timeline infographic recounting some of its many important moments. Among the many things, they highlight when the company opened its doors in August ’03; the arrival of Skype on a mobile phone introduced by 3, a mobile carrier in the United Kingdom in October ’05; the launch of video calling in January of ’06; the launch of Skype on TVs in January ’10; the acquisition by Microsoft in October ’11; and more recently, hitting 250 million connected users per month in June of this year – testimony to our users’ enduring loyalty and love of communicating with their friends and family across the globe over Skype. Read more about Skype’s nine-year history in The Big Blog.

Four how-to’s on finding stuff in your inbox. A stream of messages most likely flows into your inbox from co-workers and friends, and from all those newsletters and notifications you signed up for. You need a quick way to track down specific messages without having to wade through all of them. To help you cut through the clutter, the Office Blog team compiled four tutorials that show you some ways search in Outlook. Head over to the Outlook Blog for these helpful tips.

This is the Samsung ATIV S, the first of many amazing Windows Phone 8 devices coming this year. In case you missed it, Wednesday at IFA in Berlin, Samsung lifted the curtain on its first Windows Phone 8 device, the ATIV S. This is just the first in a big lineup of new hardware that’s coming with Windows Phone 8, but it’s a seriously impressive opening salvo. Samsung built the ATIV S with the latest and greatest technology, especially for anyone who want a superphone that’s equal parts powerhouse and head turner. Get details and images in Ben Rudolph’s post on the Windows Phone Blog.

That’s it for this edition of Weekend Reading! Thanks for stopping by The Official Microsoft Blog!

Posted by Jeff Meisner
Editor, The Official Microsoft Blog

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