Author: Alan Buckingham

Vikings is proving to be a hot TV show this season, since March 3rd premiere on the History channel. It has finished its nine episode season one run, but remains in demand. Now Amazon, through its LOVEFiLM service brings the famed barbarians back to jolly old England, where the Vikings landed near the end of the eighth century.

The drama portrays the world of these Dark Age raiders, traders and explorers — not from an outsider’s view, but, through the eyes of Viking society.

This time around residents have nothing to fear and folks in Germany will also be able meet Ragnar and his crew. “From May 24th, 2013, members of LOVEFiLM Instant in the UK will be able to feast on all nine episodes of the Norse action-drama at once in full high-definition” Amazon announces.

Chris Bird, Director of Film Strategy at LOVEFiLM, also points out that this release is a milestone. “As the first time a TV series has arrived on LOVEFiLM Instant before airing on traditional broadcasting platforms, this is an incredibly exciting landmark in our history”, Bird says.

Residents of the United Kingdom and Germany can access LOVEFiLM Instant on PC, Mac or via Nintendo Wii and Wii U, Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire, Apple iPad and a growing number of Internet-connected TV sets and Blu-ray players. Prices for content vary, but begin at £4.99.

Patch Tuesday approaches quickly. That time of the month when Microsoft deems it appropriate to fix the myriad security flaws that rear their ugly heads during the preceding time frame. As is custom, the company gives advance notice of what to expect, but no details regarding actual flaws — a nod to not allowing (more) hackers to take advantage of the issues discovered.

May 14th is the next scheduled update of your Windows computer, and it will carry along 10 bulletins with it. A couple of these patch much publicized holes in Internet Explorer, one of which the company just released a “Fix it” tool designed to temporarily mend.

Another mends the highly publicized Pwn2Own flaw discovered and exploited at the CanSecWest conference back in March. For the record, Chrome and Firefox also went down in the competition.

The remaining critical patches will fix a denial of service hole within Windows, fix a spoofing issue in that as well as the .NET framework, patch a remote code execution bug in Lync, two remote code execution flaws and one information disclosure problem in Office, an information disclosure vulnerability in Windows Essentials, and an elevation of privilege defect in Windows. Take a deep breath now.

Microsoft also plans to host a webcast to address customer questions on the security bulletins on May 15, 2013, at 11:00 AM Pacific Time. While all of these updates are important — critical one might say — the fact it took this long to fix the pwn2own flaw is a bit troubling — Chrome and Firefox did so within days of the competition.

Photo Credit: Kheng Guan Toh/Shutterstock

Are you a music fan? If so, then you have no shortage of solutions for both computer and mobile device. Everywhere from Pandora to Spotify offers an alternative for your PC or mobile device. Plus there are even apps that can identify a track you hear on the radio in a matter of seconds. Shazam is one of the ones that fall in the latter category.

Shazam, like SoundHound, identifies songs, while Rdio plays them for you. The two entities are joining forces in more locations now. “Now anyone with the Shazam app for iOS or Android can listen to entire songs after tagging them by clicking the ‘Listen Free on Rdio’ link”, the music discovery service tells us.

The functionality has been available in the United States, but now launches in Canada, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.

A word of caution — you need to be an Rdio subscriber to make all of this work. However, the music service does offer a 14-day free trial, so you can try it out and decide if you wish to pony up that monthly fee, which ranges from $4.99 to $17.99 depending on the level of service you choose.

I feel as if I can write an “Adobe security flaw of the week” column. The company seems to be a target for every hacker on earth, with Flash and Reader leading the way. Last week Reader was under attack. Now this week brings a new security flaw, and also a new (or old) target in the form of ColdFusion, the Adobe web application development tool.

The developer has issued a security advisory letting customers know that some are vulnerable to this latest flaw. ColdFusion users who have restricted public access to the CFIDE/administrator, CFIDE/adminapi and CFIDE/gettingstarted directories are safe. However, those who have not taken these steps are vulnerable.

Much the same as with the Reader flaw, Adobe plans a fix, but appears to be in no rush to issue it. In a statement, Adobe explains “a Security Advisory (APSA13-03) has been posted in regards to a critical issue in ColdFusion 10, 9.0.2, 9.0.1 and 9.0 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh and UNIX.

Adobe is aware of reports that exploit code for the vulnerability is publicly available. Information regarding this vulnerability, including mitigation recommendations, is provided in the Security Advisory. We are in the process of finalizing a fix for the issue and expect a hotfix will be available on May 14, 2013″.

ColdFusion is less a target than other Adobe software, but this is far from the first time it has come under attack. There is a reason that a site exists solely for the purpose of checking your ColdFusion server security.

Photo Credit: grafvision/Shutterstock

Since purchasing the Vizio Co-Star several months ago, I have become a fan of Google TV. I even considered using online services to “cut the cord“. With my Amazon Prime subscription and network TV sites I will miss little. What stops me? The NFL and those networks. The league stubbornly refuses to move into the future, where other professional sports already reside, while many network websites block the Google device.

Today, PlayOn makes the barrier in front me even smaller. This is a huge move for MediaMall software. The company announces it brings full service to Google TV free of charge. It does so because of the slight that Google’s living room solution has been shown by networks. “We’ve decided to make PlayOn completely free on Google TV. Why? Well, Hulu and the Networks have been discriminating against Google TV owners by not creating apps that enable folks to watch their content on Google TV”, the company tells us.

PlayOn brings Hulu Plus (you still need a subscription), ABC, CBS, Fox, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, and 50-plus more channels to the set-top box.

“Just go to www.playon.tv/googletv and you can download PlayOn to your PC from there. No need to buy a license key — the non-licensed software will just magically work on Google TVs. Then, from your Google TV, go into the Google Play Store and get the PlayOn app”, the company explains.

You will first need to install the PlayOn server software to a computer on your network — preferably one that is always on. Then visit the Google Play store to grab the brand new app.

I am now set. Sorry DirecTV, but we are breaking up. Perhaps we can get back together when Sunday Ticket time rolls around again. Or maybe the NFL will finally greet the 21st century.

Photo Credit:  holbox/Shutterstock

Last week, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer made news, but not in the way the company should like. The “browser you loved to hate”  becomes the target of a zero-day security flaw, which already is being actively exploited. Version 8 of the browser, which runs on all iterations of Windows going back to XP, is the target. Windows 8 customers are safe, as the latest operating system ships with IE 10.

The flaw allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to exploit this vulnerability and execute arbitrary code on a targeted system with the privileges of a targeted user. If the user holds elevated privileges, the attacker could completely compromise the computer targeted.

Microsoft initially issued an advisory, but now takes the much needed extra step of releasing a “Fix it“. This is more a temporary stop-gap than a real resolution for the flaw, but for the moment this is the only solution. Microsoft stresses that “CVE-2013-1347 MSHTML Shim Workaround” is “not intended to be a replacement for any security update”. This Fix It can also be disabled if for some reason you have an issue with it.

The best solution is move to Internet Explorer 10, which now is available on Windows 7. For now, if you must use IE 8, install the hotfix and wait for Microsoft to release a more complete solution.

Photo Credit: dedMazay/Shutterstock

Some critics (and, oh, there are many) claim Windows 8 is out of this world — or not meant for it. That Microsoft reached for the stars but fell to earth. How right they may be. The operating system won’t achieve escape velocity anytime soon, and an older version is about to burn up on reentry.

The International Space Station, better known as the ISS, runs on Windows, but that is changing. Launched in 1998, the orbiting home, which circles the earth at an altitude of just over 400 kilometers (it varies), is home to a team of astronauts who depend on, not only supplies from home, but also a computer system that keeps everything running smoothly. That computer system is moving to Linux.

This consists of a network of laptops, which provide the ISS crew with all of the vital capabilities needed for day-to-day operations; telling the astronauts where they are, managing inventory of the equipment used and even interfacing with the cameras that capture the photos and videos we all ogle at on the internet.

Linux Foundation says that Keith Chuvala of United Space Alliance, who is tasked with maintaining all of this computer technology, is responsible for the change.

“We migrated key functions from Windows to Linux because we needed an operating system that was stable and reliable – one that would give us in-house control. So if we needed to patch, adjust or adapt, we could”, Chuvala says. That has to sting Microsoft just a bit.

Chuvala and his team are utilizing the training offered by the Linux Foundation to get up to speed developing applications in Linux and responded by developing two courses geared specifically towards the USA/NASA team’s needs. The organization claims “both training sessions were adapted to provide tailored instruction for the diverse group”.

The next challenge set — Robonaut (R2) is headed for the ISS. Running on Linux, the robot can be manipulated by onboard astronauts with ground controllers commanding it into position and performing operations.

Oh, and remember those Voyager space crafts? The computer NASA maintains to control them has a master clock that runs at 4 MHz but the CPU’s clock runs at only 250 KHz. At least the ISS does not have that to contend with.

Photo Credit: NASA

Microsoft fights an uphill battle against iOS and Android, but it is a war the company is determined to persevere in, especially given the latest TV ad, which is viral. Now within back-to-back days the mobile platform adds both Foursquare, Hulu and updated YouTube.

Today, an updated YouTube app joins the party, with Microsoft announcing a new version that allows pinning videos, playlists, channels, and search queries to Start as Live Tiles, gives new playlist design, plays videos in the background when the screen is locked (perfect for music videos) and makes easy video sharing to social sites. It even leverages the YouTube safety mode to keep the little ones from viewing unfit content. However, as my colleague Mihaita Bamburic points out, “You can’t upload videos, sadly. That’s a pretty basic feature, albeit one that’s missing”.

Before you get the impression that Microsoft and Google have mended fences and made nice with each other, let me explain.  The new YouTube app is not produced by the Google team, but by Microsoft. Version 3.0 was released today, is free and is compatible with both Windows Phone 7.5 and 8.

Windows Phone fans also got another gift today, with Foursquare announcing an app for the handset. “We’ve been working closely with Nokia and Microsoft, and today, we’re finally taking the covers off a brand new version of Foursquare for Windows Phone 8, specially optimized for Nokia’s shiny new Lumia phones”, the company tells us. This brings 33 million users with it, along with the ability to view maps, get insider tips and browse trending places.

Yesterday Hulu announced the premium video service, known as Plus, was launching on the Microsoft platform, telling us that its “team has been focused on creating a beautiful and comprehensive Hulu Plus experience that is optimized for Windows Phone 8”. Clicking on the app will launch a panorama of clips, episodes and shows that are organized neatly, making for quick and easy access. Hulu Plus is free, but requires a subscription for content.

Instagram boasts 100 million users and it gets media attention, but the photo sharing service is far from being the only camera app available for mobile customers. In fact, while I use the service, I cannot say it is my favorite. That title belongs to Camera360, a photo app that brings all sorts of functionality to your smartphone.

Camera360 recently upgraded to version 4.0, bringing along new shooting modes, scenes, cloud integration and more. The upgrade is a hit  and today the company announces that, like Instagram, it now has 100 million customers.

In a statement, Pinguo tells us “Camera360, one of the world’s most popular camera apps for smart phones, announced today that it has become the first mobile photography app to pass 100 million global users”. The company goes on to explain “after reaching this major milestone, Camera360 will now aim to turn itself from a pure tool app into a multi-service provider to meet growing consumer demands”.

The company has also opened Effect SDK to third-party developers and encouraged innovation. In fact, Pinguo claims “Camera360 is now even in talks with a number of smartphone manufacturers to integrate the Camera360 SDK into the stock camera, in order to make their handsets stand out from the crowd”.

That last part is perhaps the best news. I discovered Camera360 several years ago and adopted it for the great HDR images it’s capable of snapping. Since then, many more shooting modes and filters have been added, and I am pleased to see this success because it means the app will stick around and continue to improve. Camera360 is available for Android and iOS and is free, though I had to pay back in the old days.

Mother’s Day is fast approaching and, naturally, Amazon would like to sell you a holiday gift. The online retailer would really like you to purchase a Kindle Fire HD tablet, and it is making sure that this purchase will hurt your wallet just a bit less than it normally would. Amazon now places the Kindle Fire HD on its site for a temporarily discounted price.

For this coming Mother’s Day, Amazon knocks $20 off the usual $199 price tag for the Kindle Fire HD 16 GB model. This is the 7-inch screen tablet with 1280 x 800 resolution (720p), Dolby audio, WiFi and 1.2 Ghz dual-core processor. The retailer also throws in some free cloud storage for mom to keep those family pictures.

Amazon is following on the heels of Barnes and Noble, which announced its own discounts for the holiday, bringing the prices of the Nook down to $149 and $179, respectively — regularly $199 and $269. The Nook also now has the Google Play store, which is something the Amazon tablet lacks.

The deal is good through the holiday — May 12th — and customers will need to use the code “FIRE4MOM” upon checkout. Of course, you can grab a discounted Fire tablet for yourself too — just don’t tell your mom.

Bing has released its latest “Bing it on” challenge, a contest launched back in September 2012, and, along with that, comes new TV ads. As has become the M.O., Microsoft is going directly after the largest fish in the search sea — Google. This time, Microsoft hits directly at the heart of Google — Google, Kansas that is.

You may recall, back during the race to become the city which would receive Google Fiber, Topeka, Kansas changed its name to Google, Kansas. For that reason, Microsoft chose this as its attack venue for the new challenge and ad filming.

The Bing team is “excited to announce the next wave of the Bing It On Challenge. The challenge is simple — search for five queries of your choice and compare the unbranded web search results from Bing and Google side-by-side”. Anyone can take the challenge by visiting the Bing it on site, but Microsoft took a special interest in Topeka for the filming of its latest Bing TV and web ads.

“You’ll see these new ads popping up on TV and online over the coming weeks” the company tells us. Needless to say nobody shown in the first ad chooses Google as the winner, but the search leader’s name is mentioned several times — just to make sure you know who Bing is being chosen over.

Microsoft has made attacking Google the latest business model, though how this will pan out remains to be seen. The rivalry has certainly provided for a bit of entertainment and the competition is welcome to keep both companies on its toes.

SkyDrive has been around since 2007, so perhaps there is no surprise that the cloud storage service has a large number of users. Combine its venerability with the fact the service is now rolled into Windows 8 and Office 2013, and you have a recipe for success. That is exactly what Microsoft reports today.

Microsoft’s Mike Torres, group program manager for SkyDrive apps, says “the service continues to grow: since October 2012 when Windows 8 launched, 50 million more people have started using SkyDrive, helping us reach an important milestone — over 250 million people are now using SkyDrive as the new place to save their files”.

The company has done a lot to push the service, not only the Windows 8 and Office integration, but also updating the iOS app, making performance enhancements and recently adding Outlook integration.

Microsoft also put together an infographic to commemorate this milestone, showing the platforms for which SkyDrive is available, including mobile and computer platforms. The company also boasts that 250 million users is only the start and that the cloud service wishes to reach one billion users. It will have a tough battle with rivals Google and Amazon, but Windows and Office may give SkyDrive a leg up.

Photo Credit: Digital Storm/Shutterstock

While many of us upgrade software by simply clicking a link — frequently found in the Help menu — many Visual Studio users would prefer other options. In fact, Demand is high for an ISO version of the latest update to the integrated developer environment, which recently moved the 2012 product to update 2.

Microsoft points out that many customers install Visual Studio Updates from the ‘toast’ pop-up notification or from the Extensions and Updates dialog. In tracking the release feedback, Microsoft also observed a set of users requesting an ISO image as an alternative way to download the update. The primary reasons seen for such requests, the company claims, is familiarity both with the format and with various download management tools.

In a brief statement Microsoft’s Brian Harry explains that “I’ve had a healthy discussion with some of you on this post and we’ve received quite a lot of feedback on Soma’s blog and other places. Based on this feedback we’ve produced ISOs for Visual Studio Update 2 and decided that for these larger updates, we’ll continue to do so in the future”.

The 1.8 GB file is perhaps best offered as an ISO, which can be downloaded in the background, as opposed to interfering with someone’s workflow.

Microsoft has, in the past made new software releases available via an ISO file, but has not done so with updates, so this is a good step forward and should be a welcome option for many customers.

Photo Credit: Sergej Khakimullin/Shutterstock

I subscribe to Office 365, as it is a great value — for just under $10 per month I can install Office 2013 on up to five computers and even gain an additional 20GB of SkyDrive storage, taking my total to 45GB, thanks to being grandfathered into the 25GB free plan. The subscription even gives me a bit of free Skype that, perhaps, one day I shall actually use. All of this sounds great — what more could you want? Well, how about a payment system that has customers in mind?

Over this past weekend, I had occasion to meet with the dysfunctional payment system that Microsoft has implemented. While I use many of the company’s products, Office 365 Home Premium is my first occasion making monthly payments to the software giant. I am used to doing so with other services, such as Amazon.

It all began a month ago when some made a fraudulent purchase with my credit card. The company immediately cancelled the account and issued a new one. I began the arduous task of finding which services regularly billed to the card and making the changes. One that I missed was Microsoft, which alerted to this via an email.

We are contacting you because we have been unable to charge your credit card for your Office 365 Home Premium service(s) being billed to you through Microsoft Online Services. The following credit card is the current payment method on your billing account.

I immediately went to the account and added the new number — I could find no way to removed the old, but I assumed the new would override that as the new default. Not so fast. Another similar email arrived the following day.

Unlike Amazon, which makes this process simple with options for “set as default” and “delete”, Microsoft has no such capacity on its site. Despite my best efforts to amend this, I ended up in a chat room with a company representative. To Microsoft’s credit, the service has 24-7 live chat and a rep was with me within a minute of logging in. She was able to fix my problem, but unable to explain any way that I could have done so myself.

I pointed out the problem. I alerted her to the fact that Amazon, among others, makes this easy, but she could only tell me that my voice would be heard.

So, here is an open plea to Microsoft — many of us love your new Office model and do not mind paying the recurring charge for the service. However, you must make this simpler for the user. When a former IT worker cannot figure it out then how on earth do you expect the average customer to cope?

Photo Credit: Aleksandar Mijatovic/Shutterstock

Windows Phone remains well behind its biggest competition, iPhone and Android. But Microsoft is continuously looking for ways of changing the mobile landscape. A recent ad for the platform went viral and the company’s app store continues to grow, along with new devices being released.

In fact, Microsoft’s Todd Brix  claims the company is “seeing strong results for the ecosystem since the launch of Windows Phone 8 with more than a 100% increase in app downloads and nearly 140% increase in paid app revenue”.

Now Microsoft attempts to woo developers with new enticements. First it points out that the Nokia’s Lumia 720, along with the 520 and 521 phones, are shipping around the world, giving potential Windows Phone customers additional choices for form factor, capabilities and pricing.

The company also recruits developers in six new markets — Afghanistan, Iraq, Montenegro, Serbia, Timor-Leste and Ukraine. Those looking to develop for those markets will be able to submit both free and paid apps to the Windows Phone Store and reach customers across all of the 191 markets. The company even announces a simpler and more streamlined app submission process.

Brix even touts that “We have added 15 new mobile operator billing partners since August 2012, bringing the total number of supported partners to 25 in 19 markets, surpassing Google Play”.

While Windows Phone handsets continue to be top-rated devices on Amazon, Microsoft still struggles to find its place in the market. Perhaps these continued efforts can pay off in the long run. The competition is certainly a good thing for consumers.

When you produce two wildly popular platforms like Flash and Reader then you can expect to be targeted by those who wish to exploit them for gain. Such is the case for Adobe, the developer behind both applications. The company is a constant target for security exploits and malware, with the vast majority of “update Flash” pop-ups on the web being fakes that lead unsuspecting customers to a bad end.

The most recent is a flaw in Reader, discovered by McAfee researcher Haifei Li. To be fair to Adobe, this one is much less of a problem than some previously discovered. Li writes that “we successfully identified that the [PDF] samples are exploiting an unpatched security issue in every version of Adobe Reader including the latest ‘sandboxed’ Reader XI (11.0.2)”.

In concept, when a specific PDF JavaScript API is called with the first parameter set as a UNC-located resource, Adobe Reader can access that UNC resource. However, this action is normally blocked and creates a warning dialogue which is asks for permission. No problem. However, as Li explains, “the danger is that if the second parameter is provided with a special value, it changes the API’s behavior. In this situation, if the UNC resource exists, we see the warning dialog. However, if the UNC resource does not exist, the warning dialog will not appear even though the TCP traffic has already gone”.

McAfee, while saying that it does not consider this to be a major issue, does consider it a security vulnerability. The company has detected some PDF samples in the wild that are exploiting this issue. “Our investigation shows that the samples were made and delivered by an ’email tracking service’ provider”, Li writes.

And what about the Adobe response? The company briefly acknowledges this latest flaw, telling us “Adobe is aware of reports of a low severity information leakage issue described in a recent advisory. A user’s IP address and timestamp could be exposed when opening a specially crafted PDF. This issue will be resolved in the next scheduled releases (May 14) of Adobe Reader and Acrobat”.

The problem is, indeed, not a major threat, but the word is now out there, which can potentially compound the problem. Common sense should tell customers to not click on email attachments from unknown sources, or even from friends, if the file in unexpected. A better solution is to use a different PDF app — both Foxit and Nitro are free, and much less targeted.

Photo Credit: Cartoonresource/Shutterstock

Android may rule the roost when it comes to the mobile market these days, but Apple is certainly not faring poorly with its iPhone offering. Whenever its App Store hits a new milestone the company always makes a big production of it, for both celebration, as well as publicity.

In January of 2011 the Store hit 10 billion app downloads, a milestone that took nearly three years to achieve. However, adoption increased and, in little more than a year (March of 2012), 25 billion apps downloaded was the new cause for celebration. Now, again in just over a year, that number has been doubled.

Apple is currently awaiting the download counter to turn over the 50 billion mark, and to commemorate this event, the company is offering a prize of $10,000 U.S. (in gift card form) to the lucky person who grabs that app. Regardless of what that app is, it will certainly become someone’s new favorite. This time around the giveaway does not stop there either — the next 50 app installations to follow will also be rewarded. Each will receive a $500 gift card.

The counter was approaching 49,252,000,000 as of this writing, and the rate is increasing. The big event seems destined to take place within the next 24 hours. So, if you were thinking of grabbing some new apps, this would be a wise time to do so.

Photo Credits: Yuri Arcurs/Shutterstock

If Google does not already rule your internet world, then it is still aiming to do so. Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs — the company aims to offer you everything. Now it looks at integrating more of these features to make things a bit easier for customers, adding better Calendar options right into the email app.

“If you do a lot of scheduling over email, it’s now a little bit easier to create events directly from your Gmail. Now available: dates and times within emails are lightly underlined: click them to schedule that conference call or lunch date without ever leaving Gmail” says Google product manager Boris Khvostichenko.

Dates in email will now feature an underline — click on it to preview your schedule for the day as well as change the title, date or time of the event. Users can then click a new “Add to Calendar” feature to integrate the appointment or meeting right into their schedule. The company points out that customers can add the event to his or her calendar, and for added convenience, the calendar event will include a link back to the original message in Gmail.

This new feature will roll out over the next week to customers of the English language. Google will then begin adding other languages as well, and promises that those will follow this release closely.

Photo Credit: xc/Shutterstock

Microsoft has been actively migrating customers from Hotmail to its Outlook.com service over the past six weeks. That migration ends today, as Microsoft announces completion of, not only the big move, but also that the company now has instant success from the latest web-based email offering.

“When Outlook.com came out of preview, it was already the fastest growing email service thanks to your support. The last two months have seen the release of a new, modern Outlook.com calendar, a refreshed Outlook.com app for Android devices, two-factor authentication for your account, new international domains for people around the world, and the release of a preview of Skype calling in Outlook.com” boasts Microsoft’s Dick Craddock.

The company does not stop there, though. It also boasts that Outlook online now hosts more than 400 million users, though this is due, in part, to wayward Hotmail customers who had no choice in this matter. Give Microsoft credit though, as the company managed to pull off a migration of 150 petabytes of data in just a six week period.

With the migration complete, Craddock promises that attention turns to new features. Plans include the removal of the “on behalf of” that appeared when a customer sent a message using a switched account such as Gmail. Microsoft also plans deep SkyDrive integration, allowing users to directly inset files and images from the cloud storage service.

Microsoft launched Outlook.com using a brand name that has been long known to both consumers and business customers and, at the same time, killed off another major service. So far, the company seems to be pulling this off, but tomorrow is a new day.

Photo Credit: Fer Gregory/Shutterstock

“Hi, my name is Alan and I am…” okay, no, I’m not an alcoholic but I do love a good beer. I am especially a fan of dark brews — stouts and porters. I have had the Untappd app on my Android phone for a while, and now those on Microsoft’s mobile platform can partake in the fun.

Untappd launches today on Windows Phone, making drinking a social activity — though perhaps it has always been that, except for George Thorogood. Untappd allows you to record all of the different brews you sample, discover new ones and even check-in as if it were Foursquare. The latter makes it easy to meet up with friends who are out imbibing.

The app gives users the ability to find nearby craft beers and micro-breweries, check out what brews are trending and see what  their friends are drinking. Once you make your selection, you can rate it, post a photo of it and share it with friends or the world. Untappd will also share to Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare. It even has badges you can unlock based on location and the styles you try.

Untappd is a free app and arrives in the Windows Phone Store today, though for some strange reason the app is dated May 5. It is version 1.0 for the mobile platform, and if you enjoy a good beer, especially a craft brew, then you will want to check this one out.