Rest of the Day: Windows Desktop Apps Finally Arrive in the Windows Store
Regular Windows desktop apps – that is, good old Win32 apps not built on the new Universal Windows Platform – will soon be available in the Windows Store. Currently, all of the apps in the store are either “UWP” apps or legacy versions of Windows 8. More on this and more in today’s news.
- Microsoft is offering developers a new “Desktop App Convertor” that repackages legacy Win32 applications into store-friendly packages. In other words, instead of downloading the .exe installer from the developer’s website, you can soon just visit the Microsoft app store for a smoother and easier installation. [Ars Technica]
- Did you know you can turn off Instagram stories? If you have a contact who continues to post stories that you would rather ignore, simply tap and hold their profile picture where their story appears; you will be given the option to turn them off. To enable them, simply find their avatar hidden at the end of the Stories Feed and repeat the process. [Instagram]
- Soon you will be able to stream Facebook Live videos from your browser on your computer. Currently, you can only stream from your phone, but Facebook intends to bring this feature to the Internet so you can just talk to your webcam like in the old days. [Adweek via The Next Web ]
- New York is turning off web browsing at its free internet kiosks because they have attracted many homeless people. The kiosks emit free Wi-Fi, but also have a built-in tablet for viewing; The pills attracted people who sat here for hours, sometimes using drugs and watching pornography. Following complaints, the tablets will be limited to Google Maps and 911 services, although open Wi-Fi will remain. [New York Times]
- Do you have multiple Amazon Echo devices? You should be fine. Amazon has solved an issue where you have multiple Echo devices within earshot and they all respond to your queries. A new software update called Echo Spatial Perception will determine which device is closest to you and choose the right robot butler to respond. [Recode]