Windows Phone has increased sales 77% over last years sales. They are still in third place behind iOS and Android, but are still steadily increasing. The Windows Phone platform is very strong, very stable and easy to use. I would really like to see more people jumping on board and having more applications developed for it. If you’re looking for a new  phone, get into a store and play with these phones. You might be impressed.

According to the IDC’s latest numbers, Windows Phone has seen a surge of 77% year over year for device shipments (8.7M in 2013 versus 4.9M for 2012). With those numbers, Windows Phone has increased from 3.1% market share to a modest 3.7%. While iOS and Android still dominate with 13.2% and 79.3% market share respectively, Windows Phone maintains the largest year over year increase.

Since the announcement of the Xbox One, many have wondered, rumored and speculated on what applications will require an Xbox Live Gold subscription (which runs about $60 a year) and what will require a Silver (free). Well, for those expecting a Playstation like experience that allows you to watch Netflix and others for free, you’ll be disappointed.

The news makes me wonder, though. Is this a tactic to bring in more Gold subscribers for those that want an Xbox and Netflix, or is there more to it? Does Netflix, Hulu and others require the Xbox Live service and servers, or is it just forwarding everything through to the media servers with no middleman? I really have no idea, myself. I know it’s very doable to access the Netflix servers without a third party service (Roku, PS3, PC’s, iOS, etc. do it). Perhaps it’s part of the contract, or they do get a significant amount of revenue from media viewers on the service…. For me, it doesn’t matter. I use Gold for the multiplayer gaming. Netflix, Hulu and others are there as an added bonus. For others, paying $60 a year on top of the $8 a month for Netflix is a bit too much. Paying twice to access the service.

Microsoft has released another Surface RT vs. iPad commercial. The one bit that gets me is the integrated keyboard and kickstand. Kickstand, yes. Keyboard? It’s an optional accessory at an additional cost. Other than that, and the much larger library of applications, the Surface RT beats the iPad all around. At $350, I might bite. For a strict tablet, it’s great. For any standard desktop apps, I have my laptop.

Bing Search on Windows Phone 8 has been updated and improved. It is currently being rolled out in the US, so if you haven’t seen it yet, you will soon. Other regions will be updated in the coming months.

Some good updates that should help speed things up while you’re on the go.

Today when you tap Search and flick left or right, you see four different search result categories: Web, Local, Media, and Shopping. Once the update rolls out, you’ll see just three: Web, Images, and Videos.

Why the design change?

As useful as some of the existing views might seem, many people just don’t use them all—or know that they’re there, Bing product manager Alisher Saydalikhodjayev told me. Consolidating and streamlining the views should reduce confusion and help people find what they’re looking for more easily.

The new Web category, for example, is designed to be smart enough to show whatever’s most relevant to your search, including images, videos, and local results (check out the screenshots below). “We’re gonna put more info on your first search result screen,” Saydalikhodjayev says. This also means less swiping on your part, he notes. The Bing team has also worked to improve the freshness of the service’s local results and made it easier to get things like directions and phone numbers for local businesses.

For those that were waiting for a price drop for the Surface Pro, here’s your chance. The Surface RT dropped a month or so ago, and makes it a good deal for nice machine. Now, the Surface Pro has followed suit, with a $100 price drop. Whether this is to improve sales following Ballmers admitting it hasn’t done too well, or if it is to drop inventory in anticipation of a release of a Surface 2 is anyone’s guess. A few rumors on that one, but nothing solid.

* Offer valid 8/4-8/29; subject to change. While supplies last. Valid on Surface Pro 64 & 128 GB only. Cover not included.

Microsoft has launched the newly redesigned MSDN site. For those developers out there, this may be of interest. I do have to admit it looks a lot better than it did previously.

There were a few things we targeted in the Microsoft Developer Network:

• Simple:   We designed the site to help developers get started with Microsoft more easily, and get them to the information that they need.  We heard from the community that finding the right information, often spread between different locations, could be challenging.  The Microsoft Developer Network addresses that feedback by providing a single point of entry for all developers.
• Relevant: We want to meet developers where they are and talk with them on their terms.  With the Microsoft Developer Network, an iOS developer, for example, can quickly understand the opportunity available from our platform and then easily navigate to the educational or technical content he needs to get started.
• Community Driven: Microsoft has an incredible developer ecosystem, and we wanted to provide even more opportunity for the community to engage with us and with each other.  We designed the Microsoft Developer Network with that in mind creating a “Perspectives” section with community blogs, an integrated social feed, and a “Connect” area that allows developers to tell their stories, get advice and connect with us directly.

First it was Metro that was renamed Modern UI due to trademark issues. Now, it is coming to SkyDrive. A UK court ruled earlier that SkyDrive infringed on a trademarked owned by British Sky Broadcasting Group and Microsoft is forced to change the name of their cloud based storage service. Of course, they get some time to transition to the new name. What’s odd is that Microsoft didn’t fight the rules, nor do they have plans to (publically, of course).

So long, SkyDrive, hello —-? Lots of possibilities there. With Microsoft putting a lot of effort into SkyDrive lately, with my phone and PC automatically syncing to my SkyDrive folders (easy backup), it’ll be weird to see it under a different name.

For those still using Office 2010, Microsoft has released Service Pack 2. It is available via Windows Update, so most will get updated automatically. For those with Windows Update disabled (or for admins using SCCM), the download is available at the information page.

Microsoft Office 2010 Service Pack 2 (SP2) provides the latest updates for Office 2010. This service pack includes two kinds of fixes:

• Previously unreleased fixes that are included in this service pack. In addition to general product fixes, these fixes include improvements in stability, performance, and security.
• All the public updates that were released through May 2013, and all the cumulative updates that were released through April 2013.

Bill Gates suggests that Microsoft Bob may make a comeback. Not in the dog incarnation, but a digital assistant, similar to Siri but on a larger scale. I like the concept, but the implementation so far has been horrible. I want HAL, or even JARVIS (2001 & Iron Man references). With voice recognition doing better, and some voice playback (Siri is good, but still not the best) being pretty good, I think it’s getting very close.

I’d be very interested to see what the new Microsoft Bob would be like. Maybe pull something from the ‘very innovative but usually stays in the lab’ Microsoft Research labs. And I definitely cannot disagree with Gates with his quotes. Many of Microsoft failures were due to bad timing. Too far ahead of the curve and either the hardware wasn’t quite mature or the market wasn’t ready.

Speaking Monday at the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit at the company’s Redmond, Wash., headquarters, the chairman said Microsoft Bob didn’t get it right, but he thinks the concept will reemerge with a bit more sophistication. "We were just ahead of our time, like most of our mistakes," he said.

Windows 8 users can look forward to the highly popular Flipboard application on their tablet or other device. I have been a user of Flipboard on my iPad for a long time, and it is one of the better applications that I use daily. I may end up looking for a smaller tablet (currently using a Lenovo Twist) to use with these upcoming apps. It’s nice to see Windows 8 getting more app support.

Small teaser video from Flipboard (very small teaser!)