Thurrott Daily: September 19

Tech tidbits from around the web.

9/19/2016 5:41:47 PM

Games with Gold reminder

I wrote about this month’s Games with Gold offerings on September 1, but now that it’s the second half of the month, here’s a quick reminder that some new games are available. They are:

Xbox One: Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China
Normal pricing: $9.99
Availability: September 16 to October 15

Xbox 360: Mirror’s Edge
Normal pricing: $14.99
Availability: September 16 to 30

HoloLens experience “Destination: Mars” now open at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

Microsoft isn’t done bringing HoloLens to Mars. I’ll let them explain it:

Earlier this year at Build 2016, we announced a partnership with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory that would bring a unique mixed reality experience with Microsoft HoloLens to life at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. “Destination: Mars” allows people the only opportunity possible today to walk around on the Red Planet, just as NASA scientists do today.

On behalf of everyone on the HoloLens team, I am excited to share that “Destination: Mars” is now OPEN for guests to experience while visiting Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

You can find out more about Destination: Mars from the Kennedy Space Center web site.

10 Years as a Professional Developer

Steve McLintock was nice enough to give me a shout-out, plus he’s hitting on a topic of great interest to me. Great read:

It was 2006 and the developer landscape was very different. Facebook wasn’t yet popular in the UK, Internet Explorer 6 was still the dominant browser and the iPhone was nowhere in sight.

CSS (cascading style sheets) was the new language back then and the majority of websites were still being built using a table structure to create the layout, this is something that isn’t even considered these days … Over 5 years I got to work in trenches, learning ASP, ASP.NET (Web Forms), SQL Server and Windows Server. I also got to learn JavaScript before libraries like jQuery made things like DOM traversal, event handling and Ajax easy-to-use.

I’m still enjoying using Microsoft technologies today and it just keeps getting more interesting. Open source, cross-platform and mobile support, it’s a great time to be a developer.

I bet it is. I need to stop obsessing about this.

“2016 MacBook Pro Could Be More Innovative Than Ever, Possibly Better Than Surface Pro 5 And Surface Book 2”

Yes, this headline exists. I know. I’m so sorry.

Google Play Books invites you to “discover” a world of reading

It’s been a big day of releases over at Google. First, we got Google Trips. Then a nice update for Google Photos. And even a new release of Android Studio. So what’s next? A Google Play Books update, of course.

Google Play Books is introducing Discover, a new way to find books by browsing the latest reviews, news, lists, videos and more.

Available in 75 countries on both iOS and Android and the web, Google Play Books is the world’s largest ebookstore and offers readers like you smart technology that caters to your lifestyle — where you can start reading a book on your tablet at night and pick up where you left off the next day from your smartphone, as well as easily browse, skim, highlight and make notes.

Discover launches today in the U.S. in the Google Play Books Android app, and is coming soon to iOS.

I can’t say that I spend a lot of time with Google Play Books, though I have read a number of comic books/graphic novels through the service, courtesy of a sale some time ago. And of course I do have a few books there, too. But most of my book-type reading happens through Kindle.

Get a Google Photos client for your Windows phone?

So, I have not tried this. And yes, you do have to pay for it. But if you’re looking for a way to use Google Photos on your Windows phone—including automatic photo backup to the service—WinBeta may have just the thing.

Attractor Mobile Software, the creators of Client for Hangouts, are back with another third-party app for one of Googles services. Google Inc. is known for not wanting to release any apps for the Windows Phone platform, with the only exception being the, horribly outdated, Google Search app. This is where third-party app developers step in.

The [Client for Google Photos] app may be useful for some users, like myself, who used Android before, or still do along with their other Windows 10 devices. If you own a Windows 10 PC or want to get back your old photos from the cloud and transfer them to your new Windows 10 phone, this is the app for you.

OK, not the greatest writing in the world. But you can get Client for Google Photos from the Windows Store now. It’s normally $7.99, but it’s on sale right now for $4.99.

“Microsoft Surface Phone Specs Will Annihilate Apple iPhone 7”

Sure they will, tiger. Now drink your warm milk and go to sleep.

7 settings to change right away on iOS 10

Earlier today, I wrote about how I configure iOS in iPhone for the Windows Guy: Minimize Apple’s Grip on Your Device. But CNET has some more general advice, and it’s worth reading.

iOS 10 brings plenty of new features and interface tweaks to improve the performance of your device. But there are some settings you may want to change right off the bat.

• Stop tracking your location
• Restore touch to unlock
• Limit the lock screen
• Disable raise to wake
• Messages
• Magnify

Read the post for the full details, of course. And then wonder why so much of this is privacy related and why Apple never gets in trouble like Microsoft does.