Archive for

September 2011

 

Is 'The Social' Dead? (Update: No, It's Not)

Update: After nearly a week of downtime, apparently somebody found the error and fixed it. Thanks guys.

For anyone who's familiar with the Zune service & devices, one part that's largely unused, but still present, is the Zune Social. Recording everything you play and part of the engine that helps you find new music, it's essential to the service.

There's one problem. It's down. 

Image202011-09-2020at2010_50_3820am

Its been down. For five days or more.

@ZuneSupport replies with essentially non-responses.

Zunedown

That's great, but truthfully, I'd love to hear something out of you guys to explain this. Our servers failed and we're recovering data. The application is broken and we're working on a fix. Everything was destroyed and we're in the end times. Anything.

It's working online; I can see my profile online is having its play count updated, but no sign of it working in the application in sight.

Come on!

Filed under  //   Zune   microsoft  
Posted September 20, 2011
 

//build/ing a future

Wow. I think that sums up the Windows 8 Developer Preview in a nutshell.

Released on Monday this week from Microsoft, we got our first chance to really look at Windows 8 in our own hands and it's quite a change.  As anyone would, should, or could expect of a Developer Preview, bugs and quirks run wild in the software, but truth be told, it's overall a fascinating experience to really see Metro on the Desktop.

Right from the beginning, seeing a Windows Phone-like start screen (top) is a mighty big change from the Windows we're used to. (bottom)

Screenshot_startscreen_web
Image202011-09-1520at202_23_3220pm

Featuring tiles over icons, the real push on the new Start screen is this idea of, alike on the phone, information right at your fingertips, or in this case, in sight.

Jump into applications, and you get the feel that you do on the phone, or even a Zune: Clarity.

Screenshot_ie10_web

Internet Explorer is seen above, not truly an app as much as a window to the web, but still, the UI is hidden away on top and bottom in this situation, only visible with a finger swipe or a right click of the mouse. It was one of the best words of the keynote, but there is something great about a "completely [Chrome]-less browsing experience."

There's a lot more to mention here, including the swipe-from-the-left approach to multi-tasking, as well as the "charms," but I'll post more once I get more time to experiment.

Until then, gah, I dunno, try it out yourself if you have a spare PC around, get a virtual machine working, or what-have-you else. It's an interesting experience, by no means for regular use, but definitely a sign of the future.

Filed under  //   UI   Windows 8  
Posted September 15, 2011