A busy week for Windows apps

I’m always keen to have the latest and greatest apps on my Windows PCs and Windows Phone. The last week has been a busy one with a number of killer apps arriving.

First up is Flipboard for Windows 8 – an app that I’ve always admired on the iPad. As an information junkie, I love the way Flipboard brings to web in to a personal magazine and it’s terrific to see it on Windows 8. The question now is whether it will supplant the already excellent Nextgen Reader as my infodiet.

officeremote

Regular readers will know I’m a big fan of 3D printing and you may know that 3D printers are natively supported in Windows 8.1. Last week we added to that capability with the 3D Builder app. The app has a catalog of objects you can create from ornaments to toys and more – I was in the Microsoft Store in Seattle this weekend and saw some of the output on a MakerBot Replicator 2- it was incredibly impressive.

On Windows Phone is Office Remote, a collaboration between Microsoft Research and the Microsoft Office engineering team. The simple and elegant app allow you to control Word, Excel, and PowerPoint from across the room. For a “walker” like me during presentations it’s a killer app.

Next up on Windows Phone is Nokia Refocus. Tom Warren at The Verge calls it a “Lytro-like Refocus app” and he’s right. I bought a Lytro originally and sold it a few months ago. As cool as the technology was, I found it too much of a burden to get the device out, think through an appropriate shot and compose it. Now I have very similar functionality in my pocket on my Lumia 1020. Check out my first Refocus online to see what it gives you.

That’s my app haul over the last week…oh and Vine too.