Viber For Windows Phone Update Brings Photo Viewing A Swipe Away

For those of you who are use Viber as your text and messaging app, there is an update today that makes photo sharing a little bit easier.  The updated version of Viber for Windows Phone brings two new features with the biggest one being the ability to easily view all photos in a chat by Swiping in a chat session.  It is a quick way to go find that photo from a few days ago without having to do long scrolls back up the message feed.  The update, version 4.5 for those keeping score at home, is available now in the Windows Phone store.

If you aren’t familiar with Viber, it is a cross platform text, messaging, video sharing and photo sharing app.  If you are thinking it sounds a lot like Skype, you would be correct.

Viber for Windows Phone – Free – Download Now

What Exactly is Project Spartan – And What is it Not?

With the release of the Windows 10 Technical Preview Build 10049, we get our first public glimpse of Project Spartan, the all new browser that will be coming in Windows 10.  Project Spartan has been talked about and teased since January but it has taken them until now to get a build of it that they felt was stable enough to use.  In the life of the Internet though, two plus months is a long time so I thought I would give everyone a refresher of what Project Spartan is exactly and equally as important, what it is not.

The is not part of the list is actually small.  Project Spartan is not killing Internet Explorer.  In fact, Windows 10 will ship with Internet Explorer and Project Spartan both.  However, IE will essentially be there for legacy apps and pages only with the focus and future development on Spartan.  Paul Thurrott over on his site has a great write-up on the Microsoft browser strategy and it is well worth the read.

Microsoft Issues Windows 10 Build 10049 with Project Spartan To Fast Ring Windows Insiders

It took nearly two months for the Windows 10 Technical Preview to be updated after the initial release but the Fast Ring is apparently very fast right now.  Windows Insiders on the Fast Ring of Windows 10 have now had Build 10049 pushed out to them.  This update has a lot of fixes but it also is the first release with the all new singing-and-dancing Project Spartan web experience.  The update will only be available to those who are on the Fast Ring so if you are wanting to see Project Spartan and are on the Slow Ring, you will have to wait or move to the Fast Ring.

Also, if you are a developer and using Visual Studio 2015 Preview, you should not upgrade to this build.  More on why after the break.

Track Your Exercise and Diet With The MSN Health & Fitness App and a SensorCore Enabled Lumia

If you follow me on Twitter or know me personally, you know that I’m a big user of Fitbit and MyFitnessPal.  In 2009 I weighed in at just under 300lbs while today I’m a healthy 195lbs and I credit my Fitbit (One and now a Flex) as well as MyFitnessPal as part of my success in losing the weight and keeping it off.  That said, there are some out there who do not necessarily want to have a wearable device to track their activities let alone have another app they have to go to so they can log their food and caloric intake.

With the introduction of the Lumia 1520, Nokia introduced SensorCore, a sensor and software application built into certain Lumia devices that will allow you to track activities such as walking and running.  Couple that with the free MSN Health & Fitness app for Windows Phone, you now have a way to keep track of your steps, runs, diet, and calories burned all in one app and you don’t have to wear any other devices other than your Lumia in your pocket – which is where it always is anyway, right?  Setting up your Lumia to use SensorCore is easy and it automatically configures MSN Health & Fitness so you can get to tracking things straight away.

Lumia 1520 No Longer Available At The Microsoft Store

The Lumia 1520 appears to be gone from the Microsoft Store online.  The last Windows Phone flagship device, which had been offered on AT&T, has been pulled from all pages on the site either under the AT&T section or the overall Windows Phone pages.  I discovered this doing some research for a post that I will be posting tomorrow and was surprised.  As of Friday afternoon the Lumia 1520 was still available directly from Microsoft on a contact from AT&T or without a contract for $549.99.  Now it appears the only flagship device remaining is the Lumia 830 which is $49 on contract or $399 off contract from AT&T.

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