Author: Clinton

The Windows 8.1 Start Screen has a lot of customization that you can do to arrange your icons into logical groups to find things quicker on your PC or tablet.  Did you know however that you can name these groups as well?  While it isn’t required, it is another way that you can personalize your Start Screen a little bit more to your liking.  In this How To I will show you just how to do this and it is literally a single click.

Let’s start first with the basics to make sure everyone is up to speed.  To add an app to your Start Screen, go to your Apps list and the right click it (or tap and pull down) to highlight it.  You will then see the menu at the bottom of the page where one option is to Pin it to your Start screen.  Once on your Start screen you can drag and drop the apps into logical groups to your liking.

The long rollout of Lumia Denim on Windows Phone continues but is finally starting to gain some carrier steam.  UK provider O2 has released the latest update for the Lumia 635, Lumia 930 and Lumia 1520 on their network.  For those of you who are on O2 and have these devices, you can go to Settings>phone update on your device to check for the update if it has not already been pushed down to you.

The news of O2 rolling out Lumia Denim is welcome as more carriers globally are starting to roll it out after it was released in December.  Just last week UK’s EE network released the update for their customers using the Lumia 930 as did Brazil’s TIM network.  As for North American carriers, the wait continues.

As a reminder, you can read my Guide to Lumia Denim and my Lumia Denim Rollout Guide for more detailed information on the release and the rollout process.

Could we be looking at the future of the Windows Store?  Microsoft has updated a link to the Windows Store that points to a completely redesigned, modern app style look and feel that could be the precursor to what we can expect to see in the Windows universal store under Windows 10.  While there is no way to know this for sure – only time will tell – it is certainly an exciting and much different look to the Windows Store and Windows Phone Store that you see online and in their respective apps today.

The latest update to the Foursquare app for Windows and Windows Phone (Universal) brings an interesting twist to once hugely popular location check-in app.  You can now get personalized recommendations from the app on your devices without actually having to have a Foursquare account.  It is a significant shift for the app as Foursquare continues to focus on their main app as being personalized local content while their other app, Swarm, is for checking and more of the social networking side of the business.  Foursquare is shifting to a service instead of something you do.

This shift has not been received well by hardcore Foursquare users (Clinton raises his hand too) but it is clear that Foursquare wants their app to be the one that you get recommendations around you, even if you aren’t a registered Foursquare user.

Foursquare for Windows Phone – Free – Download Now

Microsoft has just released a new update to the Extras Info for Windows Phone app.  The new update, version 3.14.16 for those keeping score at home, brings… well, actually I have absolutely no clue what this release brings because there are absolutely no release notes.  🙂  So what was changed, what was fixed or what was added is a mystery to everyone in the world other than those at Microsoft.  There is of course the generic “general fixes and improvements” noted so my guess is that this is a bug fix for the app on certain devices.

It could also be that this is an interim release of the Extras Info app before the release of the Windows 10 for Phone preview which is expected in February.

Extras+Info for Windows Phone – Free – Download Now

Lumia Denim has started making its way to devices locked to carriers in South American and the United Kingdom, starting what hopefully will be a rapid release on other carriers globally.  As you may remember, Lumia Denim was released back in December but it is up to carriers to test and release it for specific devices on their network.  Those who have Country Variant version of Windows Phones have already received Lumia Denim by-and-large.