We sat down with Olav Nedrelid to informally geek out on the implications of the new Windows 8 operating system and the impact it will have in the business and consumer space. Much of this speculation is based on early previews by Microsoft on public websites as well as their own developer communications. Things may still change by the time of the release, but based on what we have read so far, here are some [...]

As China’s technology industry continues to emerge and mature, various conferences and industry events have also popped up alongside for the growing number of professionals who want to learn about, meet and network with the rising tech stars of the industry.  There are literally thousands of conferences in China ranging from academic to industrial, from professionals to consumers, and even from small gatherings to mega conferences.  Here’s our take on the ones to keep an [...]

Are you a passionate “mobile user”?  If so, it probably means that you’re reading this right now from the comforts of your home, sitting on your couch with tablet or mobile phone in hand.   Well, Symbio’s Heikki Tienari has put together an Android mini-game that encourages mobile users to… get mobile.  The premise is simple: there are 40 scavenger hunt challenges.  Each challenge is a directive to find an object (e.g. red rectangle) and [...]

(originally published here) Introduction Electric effect, like other effects such as flame, smoke, explosion, is one of the most common visual effects used in game development. However, not too many examples are found, even fewer were proved ready for mobile application. So let’s talk about how to “invent” one. The image below shows the final electric effect implemented on Windows Phone 7 using XNA: Download the source code here You can also follow the project [...]

In creating a video wall of 144 window phones playing a video file distributed via WiFi and controlled by a single Windows Phone, Symbio and Microsoft broke the record for the most connected phones in a large screen.  This effectively doubled the previous record of 72 Android phones.  What was the purpose?  To show off both the new Microsoft phone and also a new mobile server product that Microsoft has been developing in cooperation with [...]