Yesterday I wrote in a post about how the app situation on the Windows Phone 8 platform was steadily getting better. Today brings more evidence that the experience is only going to get steadily better. Both Foursquare and YouTube apps have been updated.

Foursquare

Word had leaked out and WPCentral even provided a brief hands-on at Mobile World Congress so we knew what the app looked like and that it was on its way once the kinks were worked out. The app has now gone live in the Windows Phone Store for users of WP8 devices to enjoy. Download it now

Version 3.0 brings a bunch of new features:

• Pin people and venues to your Start Screen
• Get notifications on your lock screen, and check-in and share using NFC.
• In this version, you can also use your voice to search, find, check-in and more.
• As you use the app, Foursquare fine tunes its recommendations for things to do and try in your vicinity.

YouTube

We have known for a while that Microsoft had a high quality WP8 YouTube app ready to be released. Google was speculated to have been denying Microsoft access to certain metadata and APIs that made releasing the app impossible. Today thankfully the app has also arrived in the Windows Phone Store. Download it now

What’s new? Lots.

• Pin videos, playlists, channels, and even search queries to Start as Live Tiles for fast access. The tile flips to show either the latest video from your subscriptions or the most popular one.
• A new and innovative playlist design gives you easy access to videos using a touch-friendly filmstrip.
• Just want to listen to a video? It now plays in the background even when the screen is locked.
• You can also pin YouTube to Kids Corner and activate YouTube Safety mode to protect the kids watching videos.

Source: Windows Phone Blog (YouTube), Windows Phone Blog (Foursquare)

Each month users of Windows Phone 8 platform have had new and popular apps show up to be consumed and enjoyed. I’ll borrow ex-Microsoftie Charlie Kindel in describing Experience as stuff/time (stuff over time). Basically a good user experience requires that value added stuff gets added consistently over time. We’ve all bought electronics that improved greatly as updates and patches were added bringing features and stability along with them. There are very few things that lack a downside and a good user experience is one of them.

Today wpcentral’s Daniel Rubino alerted fans of the WP platform that Hulu Plus was arriving today. Sure enough it went live and a mad dash to download and start consuming your favorite family guy episode ensued. Recently we had Pandora arrive to the delight of users. Pic Stitch made the jump over from the Top 35 iOS chart; OpenTable app has been refreshed; Skype has broken free from the beta tag; Tumblr perked people up, an official Fidelity app arrived too. I certainly don’t want to leave out the new United Airlines app that came in so handy as I flew back and forth across the US recently. Those are just a couple of the great apps that have added so much enjoyment and value to the WP8 platform. Wondering about the game situation? Well nevermind the fact N.O.V.A. 3 is supposedly coming this week but you already have Angry Birds get new levels; Ice Age Village provides hours of enjoyable family and kid fun; super competitive Ruzzle; totally addicting hit Galactic Reign, and a ton of other titles. If you’re looking for entertainment WP8 has you covered in spades. C’ome on. Tell me your eyes wouldn’t open wide seeing such great apps waiting to be enjoyed to your heart’s content. You can’t!

Yes apps still come to iOS and Android well before they arrive on Windows Phone but it needed to be pointed out that things are getting consistently better and the experience (stuff over time) is quite an enjoyable one. Speaking of things getting better over time popular twitter client Rowi just got a very nice update.

Image credit: Courtesy of @sayonical (Big Thanks)

If you’re a Star Trek fan, you’re probably ticking off the days till Star Trek: Into Darkness. I mean, Benedict Cumberbatch!

Well, if you haven’t gone and gotten the Official App in the Windows Phone store, the Windows 8 store, Google Play, Amazon’s store, or iTunes (but I can’t get there without logging in, so that one you’ll have to hunt for yourself), what are you waiting for? It’s pretty good (although I confess to only having looked at the WP8 one so far) – pretty good trivia questions, posters, and other tidbits. It’s free, so if you’re a Trek fan it’s worth a little of your time

Once you’ve done that, if you’re not satisfied, and don’t mind opening your wallet a teensy bit, how about a custom email?  That’s right, you can get a @toboldlygo.com, starfleet.com (although why the fan organization of the same name didn’t jump on that is beyond me), or a ussenterprise1701.com vanity email for $15/year. Yeah, not free. You can’t have everything.

You rely on your smartphone for many things. One area that is lacking is integration with your TV watching. At best, the smartphone was used as a simple remote control to change channels. New apps make use of your phone as a search tool and scheduler. Finally, the phone and TV might really work together.

DirecTV Taps Into Your Phone

This summer, DirecTV will release into beta its latest app, DirecTV Voice. They have been working with Nuance, creators of Dragon Naturally Speaking, to create a voice controlled app to search DirecTV channels for your favorite shows. Their goal is to finally get rid of scrolling through the program grid displayed on the TV screen to find programs.

By using voice recognition, they are trying to also get away from pushing buttons or sliding through nested menus. Nuance is the county’s premier voice recognition specialists so they plan this release to have a high rate of success with this voice-driven application. Think of it as Siri with infinite knowledge of TV shows and movies.

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Today is World Book Day. No, I can’t say I’ve heard of it, either, and I’m a bookworm.

But in any event, in case you’re in iPhone or iPad user, and you have kids, today ONLY you can get StoryToys’ apps FREE.

So GO! Share the love of books with your wee geeks.

(Note, since I don’t have iTunes on my laptop, and refuse to install that piece of junk, I copied the link above from totallytarget.com. You can find the original article here, and if my copy of their link doesn’t work, try it directly from their site.)

Yet another branded app makes the jump to Windows Phone 8. The platform continues to see steady progress and support by popular apps. There can be no mistaking that there is positive developer momentum for the platform that has nothing to do with other platforms. It should be noted this version supports Windows Phone 8 only.

The app lets you post just about anything from just about anywhere—pictures, quotes, music, videos, chats, links, and your random musings. It has full GIF support and works with speech recognition, so you can use your voice to create new posts.  The app plugs seamlessly into the Windows Phone 8 camera via Lenses, making it easier to share snapshots on the service. It can also let you know what people you follow are posting with Live Tile and lock screen updates.

You can get the app here: Tumblr For Windows Phone

or by scanning the QR Code below:

Source: Windows Phone Blog

Just this past week LinkedIn for Windows Phone was updated with bug fixes and minor improvements. Today’s release shows that the recent update served to prepare the app for Windows Phone 8 and marks a major update that users of the business inclined social network will certainly enjoy. If you’re like many of us on staff here at Mobility Digest who use and benefit from our social connections in the business world today’s update brings a few features that reinforces LinkedIn’s commitment to the Windows Phone platform. You can grab it here: LinkedIn

Here’s what’s new in version 1.5:

• Live Tile support: Three Tile sizes push updates right to your Start screen.
• Lock screen support: Set your lock screen to show images from LinkedIn Today.
• Speech recognition support: Press and hold the Start button to open Speech, then tell LinkedIn what to do with commands like “LinkedIn: Inbox” and “LinkedIn: New status.”
• Support for more languages, including French, German, Chinese, and Spanish.

Source: Windows Phone Blog

Saying you want something is one thing. Taking action to show you’re serious is another. Snapchat, the popular photo/video sharing app has opened up a survey to determine which platform will be the next supported. If you’re on Windows Phone and desire this app now is the time to let your voice be heard.

You have to go to Snapchat –> Support—>Technical Support—My Device Is Not Supported

From there you can select Windows Phone and enter your email to be notified when the app is available for Windows Phone. It is important that users fill out the form en masse and let the developers know that it is worth their time to support Windows Phone.

Source: MyNokiaBlog

No, we’re not talkin’ about some Jamaican beer, mon.

The Windows Phone blog just blogged about the Windows Phone Store team’s decision about making a Thursday sale tradition: The Red Stripe Collection.

Every Thursday, a new set of 3 apps and games (‘typically one Xbox game, one indie game, and one top-rated app’) will go on sale for at least 50% off. You’ll recognize that week’s Collection items by a red strip around the app’s icon in the Store.

This week marks the first Collection: Runtastic PRO, Assassin’s Creed:Altairs Chronicles HD, and King Oddball. Each one is on sale for $0.99USD. The Collection sale runs Thursday to Thursday.

I like this idea.

(Note: The blog post says “Stripe” 3 times, and “Strip” once. So I’m going with “Stripe.”)

If you’re a fan of SkyDrive but unsatisfied with your iOS version of the app hopefully this will make you happy. Version 3.0 has passed certification and is available in the App Store. This update includes:

• Support for iPhone 5 and iPad Mini
• Updated app icons and user experience
• Works better with your photos:
  • Download full resolution photos to your iPhone or iPad
  • Control the size of photos you upload and download
  • Photo metadata is retained when you upload to SkyDrive
• Opening and saving files to SkyDrive works better with other apps on your iOS devices
• Many other small changes, bug fixes and performance improvements

You can get the app or find the locate via iTunes HERE