Tumblr for Windows Phone now supports 11 languages.

Tumblr, the popular micro-blogging service which was recently launched on Windows Phone, today got an update that adds 11 additional languages to the app. Chances are your main language is now supported. If the Windows Store tile is not showing any update yet, use this download link to force it onto your phone.

Tumblr supports Windows Phone 8 only.

Source: Tumblr

Deal: Bubble Trouble free for a week.

What about starting the week with a good deal. Bubble Trouble is a fun and challenging game that is currently free for the next 7 days. The classic game initially cost $0.99, which is cheap for a simple game where your task is to shoot three similar matching color bubbles. It's as simple as that as long as you keep the bubbles from the taking up the entire screen. 

Bubble Trouble has more than 20 levels with 6 difficulty levels and endless mode. The game can also be configured to randomly generate arcade mode.

Bubble Trouble is currently free. But the deal will end in 7 days. Get your copy from the Windows Phone Store.

Use your Windows Phone to remote access your PC with Splashtop 2.

Now with storage in the cloud being so common and free, it was difficult for me to come with a situation where Splashtop 2 would be useful. Splashtop 2 is an app that lets you remotely access a computer to retrieve files you forgot on it using your Windows Phone. The app itself is free for a limited time on the Windows Phone Store. But in order to access your computer, Splashtop Streamer is needed on the computer. The latter is a free software that can be downloaded on Splashtop website. So far so good. But...

...There is always a but. Splashtop 2 is free when you use it to access your computer on the same local network. You are on the couch watching TV and want to remotely access your computer using your Wi-Fi network? No problem. Now, it's another story if you are on the go and forgot a document on your computer and use Splashtop 2 to retrieve it via the internet. This option, while a lifesaver in this case, is not free and requires a monthly subscription costs of $1.99. Of course, your computer must on and accessible. 

So what do you think? Is Splashtop 2 really worth it?

Microsoft releases Live Video Player app for tomorrow's Xbox Live broadcast.

Tomorrow Microsoft will unveil the new generation of Xbox. You can use your Windows Phone 8X by HTC to watch the live broadcast with Live Video Player app released by Microsoft today. The app is free of course.

Download here

Lumia exclusive Ringtone Maker now supports WMA, M4A, M4R and AAC.

Ringtone Maker is a Nokia Lumia exclusive app that lets you create ringtones on the device. The process is quite simple and requires selecting your favorite song. The editing tools are there so you can crop the songs to your liking. The update published today by Nokia adds support for WMA, M4A, M4R and AAC along with MP3.

Ringtone Maker is a Windows Phone 8 app for Nokia Lumia devices only and can be downloaded free in the Windows Phone Store.

Nokia updates #2InstaWithLove again with new PureView filter.

Another filter, PureView, has been unlocked in the #2InstaWithLove app by Nokia today. The filter looks like just a black and White or gray filter to my not-even-amateur eyes. PureView brings the total of filters to 6. Note that you won't find an update per se in the Windows Phone Store on your phone. Instead, launch the app and the notification will inform you of the addition of another filter. If you haven't got it yet, I'm adding the download link to #2InstaWithLove below.

Download: Windows Phone Store

Press Release: Nokia introduces Nokia Lumia 925

New interpretation of world's most innovative smartphone captures the best low light images

London, UK - Nokia today introduced the Nokia Lumia 925, a new interpretation of its award-winning flagship, the Nokia Lumia 920. TheNokia Lumia 925 introduces a metal design and showcases the latest PureView camera innovation, new features and third party applications coming to the Nokia Lumia range.

The Nokia Lumia 925 includes the most advanced lens technology and next 
generation imaging software to capture clearer, sharper pictures and video, including the best low light images. The Nokia Lumia 925 also introduces the new Nokia Smart Camera mode, coming as an update to all Lumia Windows Phone 8 smartphones. Nokia Smart Camera offers an easy way to capture ten images at once and edit the pictures with options like Best Shot, Action Shot, and Motion Focus for creating the perfect high quality image.

YouTube app for Windows Phone 8 gets major update; WP7 update in the works.

Finally Windows Phone 8 gets a decent YouTube client, courtesy of Microsoft of course. Until now, I was using MetroTube as my YouTube client; the only viable option for the Windows Phone platform. 
The redesigned app gets all the goodies Windows Phone 8 has to offer in terms of 3-tiles support. The app can be added to the Kids Corner without risk of the kids watching non-appropriate videos thanks to the YouTube Safety Mode settings.
The Youtube app for Windows Phone 8 is currently available in the Store for free. Owners of Windows Phone 7 will not be left behind as an update is in the works and will be made available soon.

Key Features: 

• Pin any video, playlist, channel, and  search queries to Live Tiles
• Manage your YouTube profile with your unique My YouTube page
• Manage your playlists, uploads, and video lists
• Find channels, videos, and playlists with the quick access search bar 
• Share videos to your social networks, e-mail, and text messages
• Let your kids watch safe videos in Kid’s Corner and keep their own profile

Source: Windows Phone Blog

Download: Windows Phone Store

Chronos Calendar updated with support for Google Calendar sync.

Chronos Calendar is a calendar app that I use as a replacement to the default Calendar app by Microsoft. And two reasons why it's my preferred calendar: 1) Chronos Calendar by default has a split view which lets you see the daily and monthly view on one screen and 2), the wide tile shows more than one current and upcoming events. Chronos is more than just an alternative, it IS the best calendar app $1.99 can get. It works very well with Windows Phone default calendar and Microsoft account.

The app has now better to support Google Calendar. The change log has more:

• Google Calendar Sync
• Italian language support
• German language support
• Welcome cultures South Africa, Argentina, Romania, New Zealand, Mexico, Venezuela
• Private/Public added in event for editing
• Lock symbol in tile and in event when private
• Alarm bell symbol when reminder enabled in tile and in event
• Switch for showing private/ reminder symbols
• Selector in general options for default reminder time
• Now it remembers all offline changes create/update/delete and sends them on next sync

Source: Windows Phone Store

Emoji Plus for Windows Phone is free for a limited time.

I'm not a fan of Emojis, hardly even using smileys. But Emojis are quite popular out there. Fans can now download Emoji Plus on the Windows Phone Store for free. The app which usually cost $1.29 is free for a limited time. Actually, the deal is set to expire in about a day. So do not wait anymore and hit the download link to get your free copy. Enjoy!

Download

Angry Birds free until May 15.

Just a quick note about Angry Birds for Windows Phone is currently free for a limited time. You have until May 15 to download and enjoy 300 levels of flinging birds to destroy greedy pigs. After that the game will cost $0.99.

Download your free copy on the Windows Phone Store.

#2InstaWithLove gets two more filters: Lumia & Nightshot.

                                Nightshot                                        Lumia

I'm telling you, at this trend, #2InstaWithLove will soon become an "Instagram" of its own. Nokia has added two more filters: Lumia and Nightshot, bringing the numbers of filters to four. #2InstaWithLove is very simple to use and sharing to social networks is just a tap away. With Windows Phone sales on the rise, #2InstaWithLove could prove to be a wise investment. Check out the two samples above. To update #2InstaWithLove, simply launch the app. 

Microsoft launches Facebook for Windows phone beta program.

This is the news of the week. Microsoft is indeed launching a beta program for the redesigned Facebook app for Windows Phone 8. The app new look is more in line with its Android and iOS counterpart. It features support for high resolution photos, post sharing and Facebook timeline.

With this release Microsoft expects users to provide feedbacks and bug reports to Facebook and Microsoft engineers working on the new app. Since it's in beta, you will not find it in the store using search. Instead, use the link below to download Facebook beta. There are two ways for users to report bugs and provide feedback, The first is through the store by leaving a comment or in the Settings of the app itself.

After installing the beta, the speed does not go unnoticed. The redesign is also obvious with the left side menu to access the navigation bar. Very convenient to access groups, newsfeed, apps etc. The right bar reveals your online friends; tap to initiate a chat session. The latter takes place within the app instead of "calling" the messaging hub.

Facebook Beta runs on Windows Phone 8 only and can be downloaded in the Windows Phone Store.

Source: Windows Phone Blog

Familiar looking "FallingBirds" game free for a limited time - new levels coming soon.

FallingsBirds is a funny puzzle game where you help a familiar blue bird reach his nest. To help you, there are a bunch of tools such as trampolines, walls, and rockets to help you progress towards the nest. Easy right? Nah, it would not be fun without some bombs to dodge as well as collecting some stars and points. Sounds like fun.

FallingBirds is currently free and runs on Windows phone 7.5 and 8. Hurry up and get your free copy. The publisher has already announced new levels to be added soon.

Really, doesn't that bird look familiar?

Download: Windows Phone Store

Red Stripe Deals: Mush, My Stock and Ruzzle at $0.99 for a week.

It's that time of the week again where Microsoft offers a selection of apps at discounted prices for Windows Phone. Three games/apps are available this week at $0.99 only.

Mush

The first game is a Xbox live title called Mush. "Discover the emotions in this award-winning exclusive, a quirky puzzle adventure that lets you change how your character feels! Touch, tilt, rotate and shake up Mush to alter his mood. Gain new abilities, evade beasties and solve puzzles as you tumble through unique and beautiful worlds!".

MyStocks Portfolio+

As it's name implies, it is an app that helps you keep track of your stocks and markets. MyStocks Portfolio+ provides real-time quotes from most market and syncs from various sources.

Ruzzle

Ruzzle is fun  and challenging word game. You have two minutes to makes as many words you can. It's even more fun when you play against friends.

Source: Windows Phone 

Nokia releases Nokia Chat beta for Windows Phone 8 Lumia devices.

Nokia Chat is another Lumia exclusive app currently in beta. The app, released today, is a multi-platform messaging software that lets Lumia users connect to friends who use Asha, S40 and Symbian devices. Nokia Chat beta also supports Yahoo Messenger, thus expanding the app reach to other platforms as well. While exclusively available to Lumia devices, the app is also limited to some countries. Users can download the beta in the United State, United Kingdom, Ireland, India, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Nigeria. More countries will be added later.

Check out the features of Nokia Chat for Windows Phone:

Person to Person Messaging: Reach millions of Nokia Chat and Yahoo! Messenger users across different mobile and computer platforms.

Push Notifications and Live Tile Updates: Receive new message notifications, preview new messages, and see how many notifications you’ve received - even when Nokia Chat isn't running. 

Share a Place: Send information about a restaurant, store, or other point of interest.  If the recipient is also using a Lumia, they'll see details, directions, and reviews inside the HERE Maps app. 

Broadcast Your Location: Optionally include your city or neighborhood in your status message, so your friends and family know when you're near or far away.

Find Contacts: Scan your phone's address book to find friends and family who already use Nokia Chat and Yahoo! Messenger.

Using a Nokia Lumia with Windows Phone 8?

Take advantage of these additional features:

Speak Your Message: Compose a message by pressing speak, and what you say will be translated into text.

Voice Commands: Start Nokia Chat by long-pressing the Windows key and saying "Chat with" and the name of an existing contact: for example, "Chat with John".

Lock Screen Notifications: See how many Nokia Chat notifications you have on your lock screen.   Start the built-in Settings app and select "lock screen" to begin.

Source: Nokia Labs

Tumblr makes debut on Windows Phone 8.

Tumblr today made its official appearance in the Windows Phone Store. The app which lets you post anything from anywhere is beautifully designed around the Windows Phone modern UI. Unfortunately, the app has been designed for Windows Phone 8 devices only. But it does take advantage of the different tiles size and, obviously, the lock screen feature.

Features:

 - Find and follow the things you love
 - Share photos, gifs, video, quotes, chats, links, and text
 - Jump between your dashboard and Explore with just one swipe
 - Display the latest images from your dashboard on your lock screen and live tile 

- GIFs play as you scroll 

Source: Windows Phone blog
Download: Windows Phone Store

Red Stripe Deals: Monster Pinball HD, Sonic Cd and Polygot.

Each Thursday, Microsoft offers some nice discounts on one or more Xbox titles, an app and a game. This week features:

Monster Pinball HD

An action packed Pinball game with stunning graphics is now at $0.99 only. Whether you're a fan or not, you will love Monster Pinball HD, which by the way have some very nice sound effects.

Sonic HD

Who's Sonic??? Who doesn't know Sonic, really. Sonic the hedgehog is back on a new mission to put an end to Dr. Eggman's nefarious plans for just $1.99. That's a great deal for a game that features "16:9 widescreen, achievements, leaderboards and both the US and Japanese soundtracks, experience the adventure through time that introduced the world to Amy Rose and Eggman’s most evil creation, Metal Sonic".

Polygot

A multilingual translation app, Polygot is $0.99 and will translate any of the 30 supported languages you throw at it. Not only, it translates text, it also provides playback audio and voice-to-text. A must-have if you're a frequent traveller.

Enjoy! More next week.

See how Windows Phone can help unlock children's imagination.

Back in February, the Windows Phone team celebrated the Kid's Corner feature. The latter is unique to Windows Phone in that it lets parents create a corner for kids that they can populate with apps and games they want their kids to use without messing with emails, social networks, SMS etc. Once the Kid's Corner is activated, it is accessed from the lock screen by swiping from right to left. A neat feature that prevents your kids from sending unwanted emails to your boss or posting stuff to social networks. In February, the Windows Phone team decided to showcase the Kid's Corner by asking parents to submit their children's drawing based on the following questions: "What do you wish your Windows Phone could do? How do you imagine yourself, your family and others using your phone?".

A month later the winning drawings have been posted on the Windows Phone team's blog. Artist Dave DeVries painted the drawings "as realistically as possible". "The results and their accompanying stories are below, and I think you will agree that they are a mix of striking, dramatic, cute, and remarkable."

Check out the blog post on the Windows Phone blog for the kid's drawing and the artist's work.

#2InstaWithLove gets a new filter.

I'm not sure why Nokia is craving so much for Instagram on Windows Phone. Remember they launched an app called #2InstaWithLove that came with a Polaroid filter as a way to incite Instagram to work on an official app for Windows Phone. Since we haven't heard of any progress, Nokia has published an update to its 2InstaWithLove app that adds a second filter called HandCam. I have no idea what it does, so let me know if you ever find out. Again, I'm not where Nokia is going with this, but if it keeps adding filters to #2InstaWithLove , it will end up having a Instagram of it's own.

Get #2InstaWithLove here.