It’s Sunday, May 11th, and its time to take a look at the Windows Store, which is home to both Windows 8.1 and Windows RT apps. Let’s take a look at the total app count, which apps are at the top of the charts, and highlight some new apps for our readers. Lets begin!
As of May 11th, there are now 159,818 apps in the Windows Store. The top-five free apps in the United States are Asphalt 8 Airborne, Facebook, Skype, Google Search, and Netflix. The top-five paid apps are Halo Spartan Assault, Machinarium, Bejeweled Live, Plex, and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas.
The top-five free and paid lists appear to be unaffected compared to last week, with the exception of Asphalt 8 Airborne now at the very top of the list overtaking Facebook’s lead. Halo Spartan Assault, Machinarium, Bejeweled Live, Plex, and Grand Theft Auto continue to dominate in the top-paid list.
Let’s take a look at some of the new apps that have made it to the Store.
Snap Attack (free) – “Wordament Snap Attack is a brand-new, fast-paced word-building tournament that challenges your brain in 2 1/2-minute rounds. Players from around the world compete on the same board, using the same clock, making as many Snaps as possible. At the end of each round, a real-time leaderboard shows how all participants ranked by score,” the app description reads.
Snap Attack is a fantastic word puzzle game that requires you to build words with colored movable letter tiles that connect to fixed black letter tiles on the game board. You can earn points and compete with your friends around the world. This is an official game from Microsoft Studios and is highly recommended.
Croc’s World (free) – “Croc’s World is a really nice jump’n’run with 30 incredible levels and many challenging enemies!” the app description reads. The premise of this game is very simple, you must jump and run through the levels and dodge all the enemies. Collect a helmet to crush stoneblocks and collect a stonebag to throw stones. If you collect 100 diamons, you will receive an extra life.
Annotate101 ($4.99) – This app is one of the most cost effective apps on Windows Store offering enterprise class collaboration features via deep integration with Microsoft SharePoint coupled with rich PDF reading and annotation capabilities.
“Annotate101 lets you read and annotate PDF documents, type free text, highlight text, make notes, insert shapes like circle, arrow, square/rectangle, bookmark important pages, draw with your finger or use your stylus to write on the document and simply either print or save these changes being compatible with Preview and Adobe Acrobat. Annotate101 is also the only Windows store application that offers Full File/Folder Management to organize your files, Fill PDF forms and share via email, Flatten Annotated PDF and view across platforms and devices like iPhone/Android phones, Sign and Share with your colleagues, partners and / or customers via email or using online file sharing sites such as Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, Evernote, SugarSync, SharePoint etc,” the app description reads.
Here are the key features of this feature-packed app:
- Easy to Use – Annotate101 has been designed by a group of CEOs with business executives and non-technical users in mind. Annotate101 is very easy to use, intuitive and feels like Windows 8!
- PDF Annotations – Free Hand Writing, Free Text, Highlight, Sticky Note, Markups, Rectangle, Ellipse, Line, Arrow and much more. Tap/Double-Click to Delete, Change Color, Thickness, Font Type/Size etc.
- Enhanced PDF Reading – View Document Outline & easily navigate PDF, Bookmark your Favorite pages for quick access, Flatten your Annotated PDF & view flattened version on iPhone, iPad, Android devices
- Local Files & Folders Management – Secure encrypted local file/folder storage option for users to quickly organize & access recently viewed documents from SharePoint, OneDrive or other File Shares
- Access Corporate SharePoint Content – Connect to Microsoft SharePoint On-premises / Office 365. Automatic Discovery of Lists & Libraries with full OFFLINE access & automatic file synchronization
- Save Annotated documents to SharePoint – Save your document changes directly to SharePoint 2010 or 2013 site if required and rest assured we will never overwrite the master version but save a copy
- Enhanced Security – Annotate101 offer unobtrusive Security features that maintains the ease of use yet gives users the peace of mind, especially when reading / annotating SECURE documents & PDFs
- Full Offline Access – Take Microsoft SharePoint, Dropbox, SkyDrive, Box Documents Offline and automatically sync changes made offline when you are connected back to Internet
- Automated Save/Sync and Automated Crash Recovery – Never lose your annotations and edits to PDF, Word, Excel or any documents opened with Annotate101. We automatically save all your work just in case
- PRINT, PDF Annotations Summary, Document Outline, Flatten Annotation & Reading Layouts – Easily navigate PDF using Outline or quickly access your annotations or jump to important pages during meetings
- Save As, Share, Open From Online File sharing – Tap & share “as-is” or “flattened” annotated documents with colleagues/friends via email, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box and much more
- PDF Search – Find Text in PDF either Matching Case or matching whole words. Easily navigate PDF documents using Outlines or custom Bookmarks (of your favorite/important pages)
- PDF Comparison with Other Documents – Read multiple PDFs side by side in Snap View or Split View in Windows 8.1 as well as compare content easily
- Password Protected PDFs & Tappable PDF Links- Open Secured PDFs and PDF hyperlinks from Annotate101 by clicking on the hyperlink and open in your default browser automatically in Snap/Split Views.
- Office Document Annotations – Annotate101 supports Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint 2013 Document Annotations including saving your changes back to SharePoint, Dropbox, SkyDrive, Box or simply email!
- Improve Team Collaboration – Share Team Calendar, View Project Tasks, Contact Team Members, Read Team Announcements, Address Issues and Handle Team Discussions stored in SharePoint via Annotate101
- Flatten Annotations to view across devices & platforms – Save As Flattened PDF or Share Flattened PDF via email, Sync with Dropbox, Box, OneDrive etc. Access flattened annotated PDF on iOS/Android tab
- Full Offline Support with “Sync” – You can use Annotate101 app in Online or Offline mode (i.e. Internet connectivity). Even better you can annotate on one device & access updates on your other device
- Enhanced Calendar View – Annotate101 can sync with your Favorite SharePoint Calendar to show all the upcoming events/meetings planned. You can use Annotate101 to view scheduled & upcoming meetings
- Default PDF Reader – We believe that you will love Annotate101 so much that you will almost certainly make Annotate101 your default reader app for opening and annotating PDF documents.
NarrowCast ($1.99) – “NarrowCast is a simple but powerful podcatcher designed exclusively for Windows 8 devices, focusing on making it easy to listen to your favorite podcast episodes while you work or play. 50% off for a limited time (will become $4 when universal support is added)!” the app description reads.
If you enjoy listening to podcasts, this app is a must-have for you. You can search for your favorite podcasts, get notified when a new episode is available, and much more. Here are the key features of this app:
- Search for your favorite podcasts through iTunes
- Import/Export your feeds to/from another podcatcher
- NarrowCast always keeps your subscriptions up to date in the background
- Get notified when new episodes are available through toasts
- Live Tile support
- Pin Indiviudal Subscriptions to Start Screen, complete with their own live tile
- Queue individual episodes so you can listen without interruption (smart playlists coming next major update!)
- Quickly start playing latest episodes using quick play functionality!
- Download episodes to play offline
- Sync your Subscriptions, Episode Information & Settings between your Windows 8 and (coming soon) Windows Phone 8.1 devices
- Play episodes on your Xbox 360, Xbox One or any device that supports PlayTo
JellyCar 3 ($4.99) – This game from Disney is a driving/platforming game that’s all about driving a squishy car through squishy worlds, trying to reach the exit. JellyCar3 features soft body physics for all of the objects in the world. Also your car can transform for a limited time to aid progression through the level.
JellyCar 3 includes 50 themed levels designed to maximize your squishy gameplay. With platforms and objects that move, rotate, and trigger special effects, each level is a new adventure! Race to the stop sign, and keep an eye out for secret exits! Choose your car then create a customized color-styled JellyCar. Add detail down to the hubcaps! You can even customize the sound of your JellyCar!
Soar over obstacles and reach goals with the Balloon ability, climb walls with Sticky Tires, tap your car to make it grow, and play along with great music and sound effects.
