I grew up with Star Trek.  THIS made me laugh.

Bing Translator (in cooperation with Paramount Pictures’ “Star Trek:Into Darkness” of course) will now translate to and from Klingon. And they even had Marc Okrand’s assistance.

qapla’!

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)

Yes, I know, its been posted already, but 2.8 million views later and well on the “viral” train, we’re going to watch it again damn it! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a technology commercial this funny and accurate! And how about the punch line? “engadget’s reader’s choice award for smartphone of the year.” BOOM! That’s it, just watch the video!

Oh look at Microsoft failing all the way to the bank. You hate Windows Phone? Think Windows 8 is a flop?  Maybe somewhere between Azure, Office, Xbox and the fact that they have tons of cash, profits are up across the board in most divisions (all while expectations of raking in lots of money from those Android patents are high) are starting to get investors taking a second look at how dead the PC is.

This is the 10 year. You can see that on a 5 year run they’re at a high. In the 10 year run there’s only been one period of time that was above today’s  value.

Play on player…

Stephen Mesik: Outlook blog: Skype comes to Outlook.com

Robert H: I will never use Skype again. Malware is running like wildfire on Skype. PCMag: New Malware Propagates on Skype, Mines Bitcoins

Ramon Trotman: How? What’s the process to get infected?

Robert H: Most Skype malware is by clicking links like in Facebook but there is one virus (worm) is by drive by…..meaning you are talking to a friend and the friend has the virus on their machine…..then the worm will jump to your pc. Let me get the name of the worm and will send a new reply. Securelist: An avalanche in Skype

Doug Simmons: I hear that the Chinese version of Skype has awesome extra features including neat tricks whereby if you say one of a few thousand key words relating to topics of dubious intrigue, like tankman, BBC News, human rights,  HTC, Tibet and so forth, you’ll automatically get red flagged and enter a contest to meet awesome agents of the government for an exciting mysterious adventure, brought to you by Redmond (though they blush and try not to take the credit for the work of their pals in the Hong Kong office, noting they must comply with laws and yada yada). Microsoft / Skype has gone four years (since it was published in the WSJ and many other publications) without having patched a vulnerability that lets anyone easily figure out and track the IPs and locations of any Skype user whether their signed on or not. What’s up with that?

Matt Anderson: Unpublished feature. ;-)

Looks like another leak has emerged regarding the new Xbox slated to be “Revealed”  on May 21st. This rumor, not the first, has to do with what the new name will be for the Xbox. It had been speculated that it would be called the 720, but sources on Reddit have now named it Infinity with some obtained images. I will say that Infinity sounds a lot better than 720 but enough about the names, let’s just hurry up and get to May 21st so we can see the new Xbox first hand!

[read]

Yes the prices are fluctuating up and down like a yoyo. Yes Windows RT tablets got off to a chilly start. There is no disputing these things. Still it seems consumers have been quick to jump on good deals when they have had the opportunity. A Strategy Analytics report on the tablet market has revealed that Windows tablets account for 7.5% of devices shipped in Q1 2013. That isn’t so bad for a fledgling platform delivering a completely new OS and UI.

Exhibit 1: Global Tablet Operating System Shipments and Market Share in Q1
2013 (Preliminary)^2

Global Branded Tablet OS Shipments (Millions of Units)  Q1 '12 Q1 '13
Apple iOS                                               11.8   19.5
Android                                                 6.4    17.6
Windows                                                 0.0    3.0
Others                                                  0.5    0.4
Total                                                   18.7   40.6
Global Branded Tablet OS Marketshare %                  Q1 '12 Q1 '13
Apple iOS                                               63.1%  48.2%
Android                                                 34.2%  43.4%
Windows                                                 0.0%   7.5%
Others                                                  2.7%   1.0%
Total                                                   100%   100%
Growth Year-over-Year %                                 146%   117%

The bad news is the report cites very limited distribution, a shortage of top tier apps, and confusion in the market, are all holding back shipments. The good news is that Microsoft has already seen twice the amount of success in the tablet market as it has in the smartphone market. This should also be enough to kickstart a second wave of developer support in creating apps for the Windows 8 & RT platforms. The introduction of $200 priced tablets and devices at the end of 2013 will only serve to continue Microsoft’s growth in the market.
Source: Bloomberg

Mark your calendars because Tuesday May 21st Microsoft will reveal the Xbox! Even better news is that live from the Xbox Campus, Microsoft will globally stream the event on Xbox.com. It will also be broadcast on Spike TV in the US and Canada.

On Tuesday May 21st, we’ll mark the beginning of a new generation of games, TV and entertainment. On that day, we’ll be holding a special press event on the Xbox campus and we invite you to join us via the live global stream that will be available on Xbox.com, Xbox LIVE and broadcast on Spike TV if you are in the US or Canada.

On that day, we’ll share our vision for Xbox, and give you a real taste of the future. Then, 19-days later at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, we’ll continue the conversation and showcase our full lineup of blockbuster games.

We are thrilled to pull back the curtain and reveal what we’ve been working on

It has been a long wait and rumors like all things in the tech industry have been floating around for some time now. Whether it will be called the Xbox 720 or just plain Xbox. All things will be revealed on Tuesday May 21st so stay tuned!

[via Major Nelson]

Finally! I spent 24 hours searching the Windows Phone Store for Indigo-the cross-platform personal assistant app-hoping to bring the news of its availability to the masses. If you’re not familiar with Indigo you can check out the video below that explains it quite well. Its like Siri for iOS except its all grown up and gets social. Indigo brilliantly delivered their app for both Android and Windows Phone on the same day, yesterday. The only misfire was that the app took a day longer to be published in the Windows Phone Store so it just became available. Still, the intent and plan was evident that they wanted both platform users to discover and fuel the growth of the app and I applaud their vision.

The big thing that separates Indigo from other personal assistants is that it allows users to continue conversations across devices. So if you pull up directions on your computer or Windows Phone you can continue the conversation on your Android tablet and all you’d have to do is ask Indigo to “take me there”. Indigo will reference your earlier conversation on previous devices and bring up the directions.

Video: WPCentral

Source: Indigo