Posted 08/20/09 at 04:06:56 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Apart from the eight uncanny people who bought the $999.99 “I Am Rich” app – an underwhelming screensaver - from the iTunes App Store last year, a vast majority happily devours the free and 99-cent apps. But the preponderance of 99-cent apps has made the App Store a cluttered warehouse, banished many quality apps to oblivion, and increased redundancy.  Furthermore, many top-notch developers are finding it difficult to set an honest price on premium apps, for they fear their honesty might render these apps unattractive. 

Microsoft plans to roll out Windows Marketplace for Mobile in October, 2009. The Redmond-based giant doesn’t want developers to lose out on revenue in a bid to maximize application downloads. According to a Tech Flash report, Loke Uei of Microsoft's mobile developer team feels the popularity of 99-cent apps doesn’t imply that 99 cents is a fair price. "I know, 99 cents is interesting -- yes, consumers like to pay 99 cents for applications. But 99 cents, come on, I think your app is worth more than that," Uei told developers at the inaugural WinMoDevCamp in Redmond.

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Posted 05/21/09 at 12:00:00 PM by Alex Castle and Norman Chan

There are few things we like more than apps that enhance the Windows experience at no cost. In fact, we've already shown you the 32 essential programs that you must download with every clean install of Windows. But while those apps work great on their own, some killer programs and services perform even better when combined with other software. For example, Dropbox excels as a standalone application, but when used in concert with the little-known Mklink command, its potential is exponentially expanded. We call these unions "software mashups" -- the use of two apps for utility that's greater than the sum of their parts. Yes, 1 + 1 can equal 3. And the best part: every program in this feature is free.

Click through to learn how to augment Dropbox, automate Bittorrent, and even stick it to Apple!

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