Just like the title reads, we’ve come a long way over the past year and it’s all thanks to you. At the start of this year, we’ve managed to go from an Alexa traffic rank of 200,000 to a traffic rank of ~27,000. This is an amazing feat for us and we are extra motivated to keep going.
We’ve got one heck of a talented team – Zac, Mark, Alan, Ayman, and Hammad – on deck to provide you with the latest and greatest Microsoft news. If you haven’t met them yet, go to the About page and check out their profile. Our team has been rather fast in publishing noteworthy news before any other site on the internet and we are planning on continuing this trend in 2014.
Aside from our staff, we have loyal readers and commenters that make news stories worth talking about. According to our community stats, Ray C, arrow2010 (albeit controversial and sometimes entertaining), Emi the Strange, and Seath are the top commenters for our site. Thanks for kick starting the conversations and keep them coming!
As 2013 comes to a close, we’d like to take this time to say thank you to all of you for reading our site and engaging in comments. We would be nowhere without you. Happy Holidays and lets make 2014 an even better year. Here is how:
Going forward – what to expect in 2014
As of right now, we are going to actively push out more “app” related posts, in addition to Microsoft news. While Microsoft-related news is still the top priority and main goal of our site, we are going to highlight and review apps for both the Windows Store platform and Windows Phone platform. This will also allow us to highlight and expose the app developers out there – which will ultimately motivate app developers to keep going.
We’ve already begun doing this and so far we’ve noticed a positive reception to it. We already have a few readers (and app developers) actively sending us tips on new app releases and app updates for both platforms – thanks Steveo and WinPhan! – and we encourage you to send us tips, via the Contact button or via Twitter. We look through each tip we receive and we will credit you!
On top of app highlights, we are going to work on showcases more product reviews. So expect to see some good stuff as we venture into 2014. Do you have any other suggestions for us? Let us know in the comments below.
Our Windows Phone 8/Windows 8.1 apps
We’ve rolled out an update to our Windows Phone 8 app – fixing the pesky startup crash. In the next month or so, expect to see a new app version that features a better Live tile with images, a unread post count on the Live tile, better notifications, and more improvements to our Windows Phone app.
Our Windows 8.1 app, on the other hand, was just updated to version 3.0 and features UI/UX improvements, along with a better Live tile with images, the addition of a large Live tile, improved notifications, and the ability to comment on posts using Disqus.
We’re planning more new features to both of our apps in 2014 so stay tuned. If there is a specific feature you want to request, let us know in the comments below!
Giveaway
What better way to end the 2013 year with a giveaway? We are giving away a $25 Windows Store gift card to one lucky reader. You can use it towards purchasing your favorite app or game on Windows 8.1, Windows RT, or Windows Phone! Simply comment below and tell us why you love us or hate us, offer us a suggestion, or leave feedback on our apps. You are automatically entered in the giveaway just by leaving your feedback. We will randomly select the winner on December 31st.
Happy Holidays everyone.
Ron, Editor in Chief
