Windows 8 Consumer Preview: The Developer Tools March 1, 2012
Posted by John Ruby in Beta, BlogoSphere, Downloads Links, Paul Thurrott.Tags: APIs, Basic, Beta, Click, Consumer, Developer, developers, development, editions, environment, Foundation, Here, installation, Last, Metro, Microsoft, Note, platform, Premium, Preview, Professional, Server, standpoint, Studio, team, Test, tools, Ultimate, user, version, versions, Visual, Windows
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Windows 8 Consumer Preview: The Developer Tools
Microsoft included a pre-release version of Visual Studio 11 in the Windows 8 Developer Preview, of course, giving developers the tools they needed to get started on Metro-style app development. But with the Consumer Preview, these tools are available as a separate Beta download.
Last week, Microsoft provided a sneak peek of Visual Studio 11, though it didn’t speak much about Windows 8 developer issues specifically. I can tell you, however, that the Windows 8 platform–the Metro-based environment–was finalized about two months ago, so the versions of the APIs and platform we see now with the Consumer Preview is pretty close to complete. Too, the Visual Studio 11 Beta is close to final from a user experience standpoint.
So before we discuss anything else, you’ll want to get that download (and installation) going.
Click HERE to download the Visual Studio 11 Beta
(Note that the Beta will include separate downloads of Visual Studio 11 Ultimate, Premium, Professional, Test Professional, Team Foundation Server, Express for Windows 8, Express for Web, and Team Foundation Server Express. Visual C++, Visual C#, and Visual Basic Express editions are not available for this release.)………
Windows 8 Consumer Preview: The Windows 8 App Previews March 1, 2012
Posted by John Ruby in BlogoSphere, Paul Thurrott.Tags: Apps, BUILD, coincidence, Consumer, Developer, developers, Essentials, event, example, fact, Live, Many, Metro, Microsoft, Pinball, platform, Preview, Previews, Rather, Solitaire, system, testers, versions, Windows
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Windows 8 Consumer Preview: The Windows 8 App Previews
There’s been some confusion about the apps that are included with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Many of these apps resemble Metro-style versions of apps that Microsoft currently includes in Windows Live Essentials, and that’s not a coincidence, as they too "complete" the Windows 8 experience. But they’re included only to provide testers with this more complete experience. They’re not part of Windows. Rather, most of these apps will ship with Windows 8 on most new PCs, and will be available separately, and for free, from the Windows Store.
So what’s an App Preview? According to Microsoft, its own internal apps developers began work on these apps at about the same time that external developers received the Developer Preview code at BUILD. And with the underlying Windows 8 platform only complete for about two months, these apps are not as far along as is the OS. So they’re branded as App Previews to differentiate them from the underlying system, which is more robust and mature.
To be clear, not all of the apps included with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview are App Previews. For example, the two included games, Pinball FX2 and Solitaire, are not. I think the naming here is telling, though, and not just for the fact that each app is incomplete.
In any event, here’s a quick rundown of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview App Previews…….
Windows 8 Consumer Preview: Improvements to Mouse and Keyboard Navigation March 1, 2012
Posted by John Ruby in BlogoSphere, Microsoft, Paul Thurrott, Software, Windows 8.Tags: complaints, Consumer, Developer, Folks, improvements, interface, Keyboard, mice, Microsoft, mouse, Navigation, paradigm, platform, Preview, users, version, Windows
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Windows 8 Consumer Preview: Improvements to Mouse and Keyboard Navigation
While I probably had more experience with the Windows 8 Developer Preview than almost anyone–I used it as my primary PC platform for several months until the release of the Consumer Preview–it didn’t take much time with that version of the OS to realize that something was missing. And that’s because it was missing. Yes, Microsoft had nearly fully realize the touch experience for Windows 8 in the Developer Preview, because that was essentially a new interface paradigm for most users and the company wanted to get it right. But users of PCs with traditional keyboards and mice–i.e. almost everyone–noticed that the Developer Preview was quite lacking. And the complaints pored in as expected.
Folks, it’s all fixed…….
iOS loophole gives developers access to photos, sources say a fix is coming | The Verge February 29, 2012
Posted by John Ruby in News and politics, Privacy, Security.Tags: Another, Apple, Bilton, Bits, confidence, data, developers, device, iOS, location, loophole, news, Nick, notification, paper, permission, photos, platform, Times, Verge, York
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iOS loophole gives developers access to photos, sources say a fix is coming | The Verge
Another day, another iOS security concern. Today’s confidence-defeating news comes from Nick Bilton at the New York Times. Bilton writes at the paper’s Bits blog that a loophole has been discovered in iOS which allows third-party developers access to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch’s photo and video location data… as well as the actual photos and videos themselves. It appears that if an app asks for photo location data on your device (and you approve the request for permission), that application will also be able to slurp down the photos and videos stored on your phone without any further notification. The Times report mirrors an earlier story from 9to5 Mac which detailed security issues on the platform.
We reached out to Apple about the issue, but the company declined to comment.
This story has clear echoes of that controversy, which came to light when a developer discovered that the app Path was downloading all of your device’s contact information to the company’s servers. In a follow-up report, we discovered that Path wasn’t the only app grabbing your info.
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