Mobile

12 Days of Deals, Day 4 Surface Pro 4 for $649

12 Days of Deals, Day 4: Surface Pro 4 for $649

For Day 4 of its 12 Days of Deals promotion, Microsoft is offering its base…

Full Windows 10 on ARM? RIP, Windows Phone (Premium)
Premium

Full Windows 10 on ARM? RIP, Windows Phone

Remember Satya Nadella's claim about the "ultimate mobile device"? Surprise: It's a PC, not a…

Pebble Shuts Down, Team Joins Fitbit

Pebble Shuts Down, Team Joins Fitbit

Pebble announced today that it is shutting down and will no longer make wearable devices.…

Cache is a secretive Microsoft Garage project that first leaked a few months ago. This week, I was allowed to join the beta, so here's a quick peek at this new app. First, a quick history: Cache---"a visual bookmarking tool"---was first revealed by Twitter's WalkingCat back in late August. [As Brad wrote at that time](https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/77343/microsofts-cache-app-internet-clipboard-everything), Cache works on both Windows 10 PCs and iPhone, and "allows you to drag text snippets, images, web pages, files, URLs, notes and nearly anything else you might need into the app and then instantly have it available on your iPhone." Contrary to our original understanding, the Windows version of Cache is *not* a UWP app, though it does look like one: [As Rafael found out in October, it's just a .NET/WPF app](https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/83698/hands-cache-latest-microsoft-garage) and you just download it from the web like any other Windows desktop application. Rafael's initial hands-on was based on leaked code, but this week, I was allowed an official peek at the still-in-beta app, which is still available in both Windows and iPhone flavors. (Presumably, it will come to at least Android should it move forward into public usage.) That said, it doesn't appear that much has changed since October. But let's get what it *is* out of the way first. Cache has been liked to everything from Reading List---an add-on app for Internet Explorer in the Windows 8 days---to [Pocket](https://getpocket.com/), a useful service I use every single day. Back in August, [WalkingCat noted that Cache seemed "kinda similar" to OneClip](https://twitter.com/h0x0d/status/767892390963060736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw), another Microsoft Garage project, albeit one that never materialized. Today we know that [Cache is indeed OneClip, but with a new name](https://twitter.com/h0x0d/status/788905643180642305). But how does it relate to OneNote, an admittedly heavier tool that can also be used for similar purposes? Microsoft describes Cache as, yes, a visual bookmarking tool," one that helps you "centralize all related content around your projects and ideas." Nebulous, I know. The parallels with OneNote are hard to escape. Cache lets you "have all your content organized around the projects or tasks [that] are important to you. It brings everything (files, emails, webpages, images, and more) to one place, regardless of the app it was created in." Projecting the understood intent of this tool, then, it seems that the rough idea here is the same as with OneNote, where you are using a single tool to collect information that you will later transform into a document or communication of some kind. But OneNote and Cache differ in the implementation details: Where OneNote is organized like a paper notebook, Cache uses project-centric organization. And as a more modern tool that was built specifically for the needs of today, it looks and works a bit differently than does OneNote. Put another way, Cache seems designed for the UNIX-like single-task-based app model that is common in mobile, whereas OneNote is still an old-school monolithic desktop application at heart. OneNote is literally about notes, though you may of course bundle or link to other content types. But Cache is about collecting multiple content types in projects. Some of which may be notes. Asking why Microsoft would duplicate functionality like this misses the point. "Microsoft" isn't collectively doing a thing here. This is a Microsoft Garage project, which means two things: It is driven by a single human being. And it is specifically designed to address a modern need. So if it happens to duplicate functionality from a legacy Office application, as it does, so be it. This is Microsoft experimenting with mobile. Throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. As Rafael did before me, I spent a bit of time pulling different kinds of content into a sample collection I created in the Windows application. (Cache uses collections instead of notebooks or sections.) And as you might expect, the content opens elsewhere when you select it: Word documents open in Word, text documents open in Notepad, and so on. That said, basic image types like JPEG open right in the app for some reason. And text snippets---like text dragged from a web page---also open right in Cache. One nice bit: You can dock the app to the side of your desktop so it's always there when you're doing research and want to drag things over to it. That works pretty well. I was given access to the iPhone app as well, but I've not yet heard back from Apple to get the TestFlight-based access I actually need to use the app while in beta. (I use TestFlight for other pre-release apps, too, like Bear, a writing tool, and Google Chrome.) But I feel like I've waited long enough on this post, so I'll address the mobile experience when I can. I'm not 100 percent sure "where" Cache data is stored, and I do wonder if it relies on the source of the information you're caching to stay where it is. For example, if I drag a document into Cache and then delete that document, does the cached document no longer work? And if it does work, where is it stored? Until this thing is better baked, I won't bother to figure this out, and of course I'd like to see the mobile app in action and compare the workflow speed and efficiency to that of OneNote.

A Quick Peek at Microsoft Cache Beta

Cache is a secretive Microsoft Garage project that first leaked a few months ago. But…

Thurrott Daily: December 6

Thurrott Daily: December 6

Today: Music videos in Groove, Supreme Court rules in Samsung's favor, Sonos 7 comes out…

Virtual Reality is Not a Fad (Premium)
Premium

No, Virtual Reality is Not a Fad

Make no mistake when it comes to virtual reality (VR). It's not a fad. And…

Thurrott Daily: December 5

Today: Get ready for WinHEC, developer support for symlinks is finally coming to Windows 10,…

Google Begins Rolling Out Android 7.1.1 Nougat

Google Begins Rolling Out Android 7.1.1 Nougat

Google announced has begun rolling out Android 7.1.1 Nougat to its Pixel and Pixel XL…

Of Home Hub and Microsoft's Missed Opportunities in the Home (Premium)
Premium

Of Home Hub and Microsoft’s Missed Opportunities

What are we to make of rumors that Microsoft will belatedly move its Cortana-based digital…

Google Daydream View First Impressions

Google Daydream View First Impressions

Google's new Daydream View VR headset offers an interactive step up from basic virtual reality…

SwiftKey Themes are Now Free

SwiftKey Themes are Now Free

Microsoft announced today that it is giving away SwiftKey themes on Android and iOS for…

Microsoft Delivers Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14977 for Mobile Only

Microsoft Delivers Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14977 for Mobile Only

Microsoft today delivered a new build of Windows 10 to the Insider Preview. But it's…

Office on Android Picks Up Cloud Storage Service Integration

Office on Android Picks Up Cloud Storage Service Integration

Microsoft announced today that it has finally added Cloud Storage Partner Program (CSPP) support to…

Microsoft Talks Up the Future of Minecraft: Pocket Edition

Microsoft Talks Up the Future of Minecraft: Pocket Edition

Microsoft is celebrating the huge success of its Minecraft: Pocket Edition mobile offering and talking…

Nokia is Back, Sort Of, But Let's Not Rewrite History
Premium

Nokia is Back, Sort Of, But Let’s Not Rewrite History

Nokia will formally re-enter the smartphone market in early 2017 with a family of Android-based…

Creators Update Marks a Welcome Return to the People-Centric Focus of Windows Phone

Creators Update Marks a Welcome Return to the People-Centric Focus of Windows Phone

With the Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft is bringing back a profound benefit from Windows…

Thurrott