LCARS Interface [Windows 8] Version 3 Sneak Preview

Hopefully all of you are having a wonderful holiday season around the world! We are having a great time getting a lot of new features in the works! Included in this is version 3 of LCARS Interface for Windows 8. The lack of updates recently has not been due to a lack of work being done by any means.

With version 3 we will be transitioning the application to Windows 8.1, which will bring a lot of useful new productivity features such as viewing PDF files, in addition to what we have been spending the bulk of time on which is overhauling the entire Entertainment mode. Currently the ship systems operate independently and changes to one have no effect on the others. This is going to change, as we have been writing a brand new "ship" to control! The systems will be interconnected to each other, and so for example going to Red Alert will trigger the shields to be raised and weapons to be brought online automatically. Navigating with the Conn to new planetary systems will change the readings of the sensors, etc. As you can imagine this takes a HUGE effort to figure out how all of these things need to work together and to accumulate the information necessary to make it happen.

The other question we are trying to answer is whether to have actual playable scenarios with which you need to perform certain tasks in order to be successful. This would give it a very game-like feel. Then there would be the possibility of a "scenario editor" where you could program your own situations for role playing purposes, fan film making, etc. This is all speculation and it has not been decided whether or not this functionality will ever be included.

Another feature planned for the (not exactly near) future is to allow multiple LCARS terminals to connect to each other via the local network and interact with each other! This is still in the very early stages of research and will not be focused on until we have all of the ship systems working together on the same device. Windows Phone may also be incorporated into this as well, and be able to possibly control some subset of the systems from the phone app.

Here's a little peak at our newest module, on our first ship configuration that we will have.

From this image you can see what details about the shields you will be able to view. The buttons on the left modify the shield modulation frequency, and the buttons at the top operate the shields. Maintenance such as diagnostics can be performed, and there will be an entry pad for inputting custom values for things like the power level for the shields.

You may also notice that the "horseshoe" around the edge of the screen is missing. This is part of the total re-design that we are making to the interface, which will allow for more animations, less resource use, and better use of screen real estate across many different device sizes and resolutions! The previous design was too limiting for the amount of new things that will be included for the entertainment side. That design will likely remain for the productivity portion. The interface design and included features for this module are not final yet, but this is just an example of what we have been working on. The difference here is that this display is actually controlling, and is also controlled by, the whole "ship" instead of being standalone. Many of the current modules will be re-designed as well to accommodate new features and capabilities related to other systems.

That is all we have for now! We are sorry there is not anything else visual to show about the work being done. Most of it all happens behind the scenes and that is hard to provide information about. Stay tuned for more information about this monster of an update! We currently have no ETA on when it will be ready. There is a lot of work still to be done, and then a lot of testing to follow before it can be released. Of course the artwork for the ships has to all be done from scratch which takes a lot of time, as we cannot use anyone else's work without them providing it to us explicitly.

LCARS Interface [Windows 8] Release 33 to be released soon

Release 33 of LCARS Interface for Windows 8 has been submitted to Microsoft for approval. It will likely be released and start rolling out within the next couple of days. Those of you who have been unable to load playlists since Release 31 will now be able to again. Sorry about that! There are also several other bug fixes and performance optimizations included which should have the app running a bit more lean on lower end devices.

With our track record of pumping out new features with nearly every release, you may have noticed that recently it's been mostly maintenance releases. We haven't stopped working on new content! Quite the contrary, actually.  We are looking ahead to version 3.0, which is going to be a HUGE update, and will be the first one that will require Windows 8.1. So what does that mean for you? Quite a bit, actually! Read on to find out...

New awards for our Windows 8 apps!

We are happy to announce that both of our current Windows 8 apps, LCARS Interface and Rename It! Pro, have been chosen as Editor's Picks by bestwindows8apps.net! Rename It! Pro received a perfect 10/10 stars!

http://bestwindows8apps.net/lcars-interface/
http://bestwindows8apps.net/rename-it-pro/

LCARS Interface [Windows 8] Release 31 is now available!

Well it's that time again....another LCARS update!

This release is mostly small changes that have been requested, as well as a few much needed bug fixes.

Check out the version history for the full list of changes, but the short list is that the simulator should now be fixed to not occasionally get stuck and not allow you to fire. The weather icons for the 5 day forecast will now show the daytime icons even at night. Only the current conditions will use the night time icons (at the appropriate hours of the day). This brings it more in line with most weather apps you see and forecasts on TV. 

There's been a lot going on in the way of new content development, though most of it will have to wait until a future update. We've got some other projects in the works which will be showing up in the coming months. We may also throw in another Google Chrome theme or two soon...

We certainly appreciate all the feedback we've been getting lately, and we are happy to be able to incorporate many of your requests into these updates!

LCARS Interface [Windows 8] Release 30 is now available, bringing new Weather Icons!

We promised it a couple days ago, and now it's here! As probably the first real product of our recent back end overhaul, we were able to submit updates for Windows Phone 7, Windows Phone 8, and Windows 8/RT all at the same time! I think we already recovered most of the time spent doing that.

So, after more user requests and stars taken off reviews than I can remember, new Weather icons are here! It's been a long time coming, and it certainly took some effort to manually match all the new icons to the weather codes provided by the weather service, but it's now complete and we think you will be much happier with the new ones!

Also included in this update is a new feature...the ability to get the weather for your current location! This feature uses the new location services in Windows 8, so it should be reasonably accurate even if your device doesn't have GPS. Make sure that you have location services turned on if you would like to use this feature. Currently it only works "on demand" by clicking the "My loc" button right above the scan button, but it may be possible in the future to set this behavior as the default way to retrieve weather.

This update is now available in the Windows 8 Store! The updates for Windows Phone 7 and 8 will be available as soon as Microsoft approves them, which should be any time now. The Windows 8/RT store was faster on the approval process this time even though they were all submitted at the same time.

LCARS Interface Weather Updates Coming

The last couple of updates have dealt with some changes to the Atmosphere module, mostly fixing bugs and improving the performance, and adding the Live Tile to the Windows Phone version.

There is an update for Windows Phone currently in certification that should fix an issue that a couple of you have reported about the app crashing. That update should hopefully be released in the next day or two. Right behind it within a week or so will be another update, which will finally address an issue many of you have had with the Atmosphere module since the beginning....new weather icons!

It's been a bit of a painful process to match all of the new icons to the weather codes retrieved from the weather service, but we are happy to say that it is finally complete! These icons will also not have to be downloaded from the web servers each time, so that will slightly reduce the data used when checking the weather (not that it was much anyways, but any improvement is a good thing).

We will also be making a long overdue change to the 5 day forecast view on Windows Phone, which will hopefully make it look a lot better, especially on smaller devices.

The Windows 8 version will also be getting the same new icons in its next update, although we haven't determined what else will be a part of that update yet.  Stay tuned!

LCARS Interface [Windows Phone] Release 7 is now Available!

It was a busy weekend for us in making LCARS Interface updates, and now the second of our submissions has been approved and should be available to download soon!

This update brings a brand new module to the mix, the Scanner! The scanner includes a Compass for finding your way, as well as being able to read the magnetic fields around the device and show you the vector for it. Some great new animation was added for this module, and we will be making adjustments and additions to the Scanner module in future updates. As with the other modules, this one can also be pinned to the Start screen from the "Settings" page for quick access!

We have also included a few bug fixes, including one issue that sometimes occurred when coming back from standby, and a couple other smaller issues. We have also fixed several minor glitches with the animations, so they should hopefully always be more fluid now when moving between screens. We've also changed the start up animation to match the new one on the Windows 8 app, and it is slightly different depending on whether you have "Extra Animations" enabled or not. We also now have more testing devices, so everything for Windows Phone is going to be tested on Windows Phone 7.5, Windows Phone 7.8, and Windows Phone 8! We will be making some adjustments in the next few weeks to optimize the experience across multiple device sizes and resolutions, rather than being optimized only for Windows Phone 8 and 4.5" screen sizes as it is currently.

LCARS Interface [Windows 8] Release 28 is now Available!

Today we are happy to announce that our newest update to the LCARS Interface app for Windows 8 has passed certification and should be available to download today! This will be largely a maintenance build to fix a few issues that came up after the previous release which did quite a large amount of changes under the hood of the app even if it looks mostly the same on the outside!

We did, however, manage to sneak in a couple new animations, so starting up the app with "Extra Animations" enabled should be a little more fun now! This is just the first of many new animations we are working on for the coming releases.

The main changes for this release are:

-New startup animation with new sound effects when "Extra Animations" are enabled.
-Fixed Clock module to properly update the time.
-Fixed Clock to properly switch between 12/24 hour modes (previously it only worked in certain regions).
-Fixed Weather module to not lock up the UI while retrieving data.
-Fixed Tactical Simulator instructions.

We are working on another module and hope to have it ready for the next release! We are also in the process of evaluating when we will stop making Windows 8 compatible releases and make the transition to 8.1, because 8.1 offers some new functionality that we would like to include. Windows 8.1 is a free update that everyone should probably install anyways! So far we are liking all of the changes across the full range of Windows 8 devices we have. Desktop, laptop, and tablet all benefit from it.

LCARS Interface [Windows Phone] Release 6 Is Now Available!

Update 10/16/2013: A new update has been released to resolve the issue mentioned at the bottom as well as a couple of other minor issues we discovered during testing. This app will stay at release 6 for now since nothing new was added and the bugs fixed were very minor. There is plenty more being worked on for the next update!

-----------------------------------------
As promised, a new update for LCARS Interface for Windows Phone has been released today!

This is one of the largest updates we've done for this app, and in addition to overhauling the entire back end just like with the other LCARS apps, we've also done all of the following:

• Added new Battery module (WP8 only)
• Added ability to turn off extra animations from General section of Settings page.
• Added lots of new animations for many screens when "Extra Animations" is enabled (especially during Red Alert).
• Added more appropriate keyboard settings to all text entry boxes including Text Logs (adds autocorrect and word suggestions, etc).
• Added scrolling to Text Log entry box.
• Secondary tile for Weather is now a live tile (updates from your default location in the app)!
• Fixed Clock to properly update the time.
• Fixed Clock to properly switch between 12/24 hour modes (previously it only worked in certain regions of the world).
• Fixed weather to not lock up the UI while scanning.
• Fixed black screen issue when returning from lock screen.
• Added new Splash screen image (WP7 only)

We've added the new animations present in the latest releases of LCARS Simulator and LCARS Personnel, but also taken it a big step farther! Enable "Extra Animations" and restart the app!

Many of these suggestions come from user e-mails as well as store reviews. We're always looking for ways to make your experience with our apps better, so keep the feedback (good or bad) coming! We do listen.

**NOTE: We are aware of an issue with the app not running when Background processes for this app are disabled in the Windows Phone Settings (Thanks Dennis!). An update has already been released to resolve this issue!

Windows Phone Updates: LCARS Simulator and LCARS Personnel bug fixes, Next update soon for LCARS Interface!

A lot has been going on for each one of our LCARS Windows Phone apps this week!

Let's go through them one at a time...

LCARS Simulator: New release TODAY which should resolve a visual bug with the red alert animation when "Extra Animations" is enabled. We will also be taking another look at some of the UI for this app to make it easier to use across multiple device resolutions in a coming update.

LCARS Personnel: This app has the same visual bug as the LCARS Simulator app, but due to already having a new update for that one in progress when it was discovered (which is still being certified by Microsoft), the fix will not be applied until the following update after that. We intend to submit that one as soon as the current one is approved! We ended up needing to re-submit our update for a different reason, so this fix will now be in the next update! We also have a nice new feature for the Windows Phone 8 version in the current update, but we will announce what that is after it is released soon.

LCARS Interface: This one has had quite a bit of work within the past week or so, and the change log keeps growing by the day. In addition to adding the extra animations already available in LCARS Simulator and LCARS Personnel, we are also adding a LOT more animations! This app is really going to feel alive after this update when you have "Extra Animations" enabled. We also have some big performance improvements to go along with it, so the app should feel more responsive in some areas such as Weather as well.

Speaking of the Weather module, someone told us in a 4 star review that we'd get the 5th star if we make the weather work on a live tile. Ask and you shall receive, because if you add the Weather tile from the Settings menu, it will indeed be a Live Tile in this next update!

There is also a brand new module being added (actually 2 for Windows Phone 8), and we have gone over many of the modules and fixed the UI to work better on smaller screens/lower resolutions than it did previously.

We are currently still beta testing all of the new changes, and hope to have this update submitted for approval within the next few days. This one should definitely be worth the wait!

----

Oh, and we've also been working on adding another new module to LCARS Interface for Windows 8 too!

Next Updates Underway....and some Animation Information!

It seems that Release 27 of the LCARS Interface app for Windows 8 has been well received by many! If it hasn't with anybody, we haven't heard about it at least! With the huge amount of changes that went on behind the scenes before this release it was very stress inducing to wait for the feedback to come in.

That said, we are already well underway on the next set of updates for the Windows 8 app! While this app started as almost purely functional, there is no way to capture a lot of the LCARS experience with normal tasks like the text editor and calculator. To that end we have added quite a bit of stuff to the entertainment side of things since then and the feedback about it has all been fantastic.  Those of you who e-mail us and give your thoughts on what you like, what you don't like, and what else you want to see help us tremendously in figuring out the direction we should take with these apps. We also thank all of you who rate us 5 stars in the Windows 8 Store and Windows Phone Store! Those of you who don't rate us 5 stars, well, we won't rest until we earn the rest of those stars from you! Just tell us what's missing from the experience for you and we will work on it.

Read on for some notes about animations

LCARS Interface [Windows 8] (Release 27) is now Available!

Well, it's finally here! This has definitely been the longest time in between releases for the Windows 8 app, and it is a very big update even though you won't be able to see most of the changes from the outside.

What you will see, however, is the new Transport module! This is one very highly requested feature and so we had to deliver it for you. It is fairly simple for now which is mainly due to having enough space on the screen, but we may add some more functionality to it soon. Who doesn't want to do all the crazy stuff they have to do when something goes wrong with the transport? Well, for now our transporter is 100% successful every time so you don't have to worry about it! In the long run we would like all of these modules to interact with each other to some extent so you really feel like you're on a working ship! That's a ways in the future though as there are still many pieces missing that need to be done first.

As mentioned before most of the changes this time are under the hood which should lead to better performing software. If you come across any issues, please let us know right away! The update should be available to you now, and if not, it should be soon.

The next update will likely come after the Windows 8.1 update and will include some other highly requested functionality!

Next LCARS Interface for Windows 8 Update Coming Soon!

It's been a long time coming, but we are finally just about ready to submit our next update to the LCARS Interface app for Windows 8!

Up to now we've been pretty fast and furious with the update cycle, but as mentioned in a couple of the previous blog posts, we needed to do some major overhauling of the back end of our apps. Simply put, we were not optimized to take advantage of the code sharing possibilities between Windows 8/RT and Windows Phone because we never intended to do anything for Windows Phone! Now that we are doing quite a bit (3 apps now, actually!) we felt it was time to get that done in order to get ready for Windows 8.1/Windows Phone 8.1. The last updates to the Windows Phone apps now take advantage of the new structure and we are very pleased with the results so far! Lots of performance optimizations and the update and bug fix process is much more streamlined on any functionality that is the same between them. This is a very exciting thing for us developers...the rest of you won't see any difference right away, but you will have more reliable software and faster updates to all of them!

The Windows 8 app took some more time since it is quite a bit larger than all the phone ones combined and we have to make sure we didn't break any existing functionality! We were also working on adding the newest module! We have quite a bit more planned, but the next update after this one will likely take place after Windows 8.1 is released. 8.1 (which will be a free update for Windows 8, so you don't have to buy anything to get our next updates) will finally allow us to give you all some of the most requested features that were previously not available to us. We have been on top of the changes that are coming in order to make sure our apps are taking full advantage of any new features!

New Update for LCARS Personnel App (WP7/WP8) Has Been Released!

Our newest LCARS effort, known as LCARS Personnel is a FREE and AD-FREE app for Windows Phone 7/8 that offers a much more exciting (in our opinion!) way to view your phone's contacts. 

Being free means that this app has certainly had a lot of testers, and the responses to it (as well as the reviews in the Windows Phone Store) have been fantastic! We have had a few requests for new features and, as always, we aim to please!

• New in this update you will no longer have to select a contact and then click on a "View" button. Contacts will now pop up as soon as you select it in the list.

Maybe this type of thing is not perfectly canon, but it does improve usability of the app and occasionally we have to cross that line to make it work better. Besides, selecting it in the list with touch probably wasn't canon anyways! 

• Another requested feature is to be able to search your contacts, which you will now find a new button in the middle at the bottom to accomplish!

Besides those new features, we have also added our latest animations to this app, very much like what was released on the update for the LCARS Simulator app a couple of days ago! We are certainly working hard to constantly improve all of our apps, and even this free one is no exception! Turn on the Extra Animations setting, and then click on "Red Alert" to really bring the app to life! We are very happy with the consistency of the interface and animation we have been able to achieve lately with our Windows Phone apps, and we will continue to improve this as time goes on. We want Windows Phone to have the best LCARS experience of any mobile OS and we won't stop until it does! Please let us know if you have specific things you would like to see added.

Think we forgot about LCARS Interface for Windows 8? Think again!

It may seem like Windows Phone has gotten all of the attention lately, and that may be somewhat true, but there is a lot going on behind the scenes for the Windows 8 app as well!

You may have heard that Windows 8.1 is coming in about a month. There are some pretty significant changes that are going into that update which will allow us to do a lot more with the app! That is in addition to all of the other stuff we are already working on.

A couple of the major features in progress are:

• Transporter module
• PDF viewer
• More sounds and animations
• Modules related to sensors (for tablet devices)

This has probably been the longest period this app has gone without an update, but it is coming, and once it starts there will probably be a few that come in succession. We are also still working on converting the whole Windows 8 app to use our new back end framework that all of the phone apps are using now. This means stripping out lots of unnecessary code and going for the most unified code possible with the Windows Phone app. As Windows RT and Windows Phone OS grow closer together, so will our apps! All of the code running the LCARS Simulator app is also being integrated into the Windows 8 app, so the Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, and Windows Phone 7 apps are all using the same code base now. What this means is faster bug fixes, and when we add functionality, it's coming to them all at once! We have too much planned for these apps to spend time doing the same thing 2 and 3 times to update them all.

We've already got all 3 Windows Phone 7/8 apps running lean and mean with the new framework...LCARS Interface for Windows 8 is also well on its way. We hope to complete this process in the next couple days. Testing to make sure everything still works takes a bit of time due to how much larger the Windows 8 app is! And it's going to get even bigger soon...

Windows Phone LCARS App Overhaul Complete!

It's been a very busy few days for us as we completely stripped down and re-designed our code base for all of our LCARS style apps. The results from our perspective are fantastic, as the new changes will significantly reduce the time it takes to release updates for WP7 and WP8, as well as being able to more tightly integrate features between Windows Phone and Windows 8/RT! Microsoft is merging the two closer together and we are now taking advantage of that and are in a good spot to go even farther as they introduce more common APIs for us to use.

We are very happy with the state of our Windows Phone projects at this point, as they seem to be up and running perfectly now after the overhaul. Our LCARS Interface app is undergoing some additional updates to bring some new features before we release an update for it.  Read past the break for a lot more info on what we've been working on recently!

Big Things are Happening

After a couple of important releases for Windows Phone, including the brand new and FREE LCARS Personnel app, and a nice update to LCARS Interface for Windows Phone 7/8, we feel now is a good time to do a major overhaul to the back end code being used by all LCARS applications.

If the software development process interests you, read on past the break for more details of what we are doing..

LCARS Interface [Windows Phone] Release 5 is now Available!

Some of you may have already come across the new update to the Windows Phone version of LCARS Interface. Both Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8 will have this update!

This update brings a couple of new things to this app. Most notably, you now have the ability to create an icon for each of the modules contained within the app. These icons become pinned to your Start screen and allow much quicker access to each individual module instead of having to go through the main interface each time. It was a little tedious to have to open the app, click "Access" and then click "Calculator" every time you wanted to add a few numbers up. Now you can simply create a tile for the Calculator and with one tap on your Start screen, you are ready to go! Pressing "Back" after that will return you to the main interface. Having this capability will remove the downside of having everything wrapped into one app that previously required you to open the main interface first. Now they can be treated as individual apps, and you can customize your Start screen to have much more of a LCARS feel to it!

Now your Start screen can look like this:

 

 

Every new module that we add will have this capability as well! Adding these tiles is completely optional, so the app will be able to operate normally if you do not desire this new functionality and prefer your Start screen to be less cluttered. You can also choose whether or not you want text to show below the tiles. For the main LCARS Interface tile this is not possible, but for the secondary tiles for the individual modules, it will ask you when you go to create them.

 

How do you create them? Simply open up the "Settings" in the app, and select "Tiles." Then simply tap on the button for the module you wish to pin just as you would select it from the main menu. These tiles can obviously be removed at any time.

 

Also in this update is a revamped GUI for recording Audio logs. Previously this was very basic. Now it is properly LCARS. We also did some more work to optimize and enhance the transition animations. We will be looking to raise the bar even further in the near future to make the whole UI feel more alive! We are in the process of acquiring some new hardware that will allow us to more accurately test lower powered devices so we can make sure the experience is great for everyone. So far we have been "playing it safe" as not adding too much to make sure there were not performance issues. We have quite a bit in the pipeline for Windows Phone, so stay tuned!

 

 

 



LCARS Personnel for Windows Phone 7/8 Has Been Released!

It's been a big week of working on the Windows Phone platform for us. We have a pretty good update coming for the LCARS Interface for Windows Phone app, but first we are happy to announce a brand NEW LCARS app for Windows Phone!

LCARS Personnel is an alternative to the People hub for viewing your contacts and for a limited amount of adding. Windows Phone is fairly strict when it comes to your contacts, and so our ability to replicate every function of the People hub is not currently possible. We have, however, included every function of dealing with contacts that is available through Microsoft's APIs!

The app lets you view the "Starfleet Profile" of any of your contacts, and also to add new ones with a good portion of the properties available. Interestingly enough, some details can be viewed by LCARS Personnel that cannot be added when adding a new contact with the same application. Some properties (including contact photos) can only be done through the People hub. When you go to save a new contact, it will import all of your entries into the People hub where you must confirm the new contact. It is at that time which you are able to enter additional details that are not possible to add from a 3rd party application and this is the same restriction imposed on any 3rd party contacts app you will find in the store.

Oh, and the best part is, this new LCARS application comes to you FREE, and also AD-FREE!

That's right, no purchase price and no annoying banners to get in your way either. While there are some costs associated with creating these applications, we feel that everyone should be able to have a little taste of LCARS even if you don't want to buy anything. This application comes with the same sounds and animations that are available on our other LCARS apps, and is available for both Windows Phone 7.1+ and Windows Phone 8 today!

Windows Phone Store Link: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/lcars-personnel/2e7d23c3-1509-46d1-91aa-6c8172db9013

LCARS App Updates

Apologies once again about the recent lack of activity. There are a number of projects that have been occupying our time recently, but hopefully you all will begin to see some benefit from it very soon!

It's been a decent amount of time since the last LCARS Interface update for Windows 8. There is actually a lot in the works for this app and it is taking some time to get everything right. The next module is another one for the entertainment side of things! Usually we try and wait until things are finished to announce them, but the next module in development is, by popular demand, the transporter! This module is proving to be a little tricky to design, so that is why it is taking some time to finish. We hope it will be worth the wait. One of the problems is getting everything to fit on something that can be as small as a tablet. This is a common issue we've had since the beginning though, so we're getting better at figuring it out. We're hoping to have this one ready to go within the next few weeks. This module is only one of several currently being developed though, so

Windows Phone users will soon be getting a new treat as well. This one will be coming to Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8 at the same time. We'll wait until Microsoft approves it before saying anything more though.

Please keep your feature requests coming. We're always working hard to support all of our apps as best we can!

LCARS Interface [Windows Phone 8] Release 4 is now available!

The next update for the Windows Phone 8 version of LCARS Interface is now available in the Windows Phone Store! This release adds an important feature of being able to upload log files of all types to your SkyDrive account. Due to Windows Phone restrictions on where you can save files, uploading to a cloud based service is the only way to get files off of the device. Due to some issues with the Windows Phone 7 version of the Windows Live SDK, we are still currently working on adding the same functionality to the Windows Phone 7.1+ version of the app. We are hoping to have that version updated soon, but there is currently no ETA for this.

We have some big plans for Windows Phone that will hopefully make the LCARS Interface app the best phone app of its kind! We do have to work within the limitations of the Windows Phone/Windows Store platforms themselves, though. These 2 operating systems are limited in what they have access to similar to the restrictions apps have on iOS devices with regards to system level access. Android does not have most of these restrictions, so you may see apps for that which do things that Windows Phone apps are not capable of due to the OS itself. This annoys us as much as everyone else, but it is what it is for now unless Microsoft changes their policies on some of it. That said, we are constantly working to be innovative in how we work within those bounds to deliver the best apps possible to you all! We thank you for the great feedback and also for the many great reviews we are getting for all of our LCARS apps in Windows Phone/Windows 8 Stores across the globe!

LCARS Interface [Windows 8] Release 26 is Now available!

Less than 24 hours after being submitted, Microsoft has given release 26 of the LCARS Interface app for Windows 8 their seal of approval!

While not a major release, this one does fix a few annoying bugs, and also "fixes" some things in the entertainment modules to make them more closely match Star Trek canon. A lot of this takes places on the Conn module, and that module also has received a new animation for the external viewer section. The new one should be much more smooth in operation instead of jittery like the old one. This one should also be less resource intensive as well, so it should be a good change all around. Another change is to how the velocity is calculated. The speeds indicated will now properly match the actual warp scale used in the shows. Sometimes we get too excited about new features and some things like that are overlooked....we do try and make them right when we can!

Check the version history for the other major changes in this release.

As always, other new features for this app are in progress that didn't make it into this release, but keep checking back because we will update you when we have a better idea of the release schedule.

Next up is likely the previously mentioned updates to the Windows Phone 8 app!

Misc News and Feature Previews

We had an amazing weekend in Las Vegas at the biggest Star Trek convention of the year. Just in case any of you are worried about Star Trek losing popularity, you only need to go to one of those things and see all the fans young and old excited about every aspect of Star Trek. Unlike many other conventions where Star Trek people appear, this one is ONLY about Star Trek and the number of events they have there makes it impossible to see everything.

Now it's back to reality and that means working on more updates to your favorite apps. We've got some fixes lined up for the Windows 8 app, but not any large features just yet. We may do an interim release just to get those few things out there until the next big update is done. Bug fixes especially are high priority so we want to get those released as soon as possible. Hopefully it will be ready within the next couple days.

On the Windows Phone front we have quite a few things in the works. The closest big feature to being complete is the ability to upload all types of log files to your SkyDrive (Windows Phone 8 only for the time being)! Currently there is no way to back up your logs and that is not something we are happy with. Unlike with the Windows 8 app, 3rd party apps can't write files to the media libraries on the phone (which are the only accessible folders when connected with USB to copy files on and off the device). The logs are instead saved in isolated app storage which is inaccessible to everything else. With SkyDrive integration you will be able to upload the logs from your mobile device to the "Central Database" just in case something happens where you need to uninstall the LCARS Interface app, in which case all of your logs would be lost. This situation can happen at any time, and we want to make sure you are able to back up your data soon! The beta tests of this feature are going well, so we hope to have this feature submitted for Microsoft's approval sometime this week. 

So those are some of the new features in the pipeline...but there are TONS of features in the plans and many are already in progress. Some of them will blow your mind!  Unfortunately due to the lower priority of these apps vs. the things that actually pay the bills, we can't get them implemented as quickly as we would like. Even so, we believe our apps are some of the best supported ones out there and will always remain committed to having high quality applications for you to enjoy. Keep those feature requests coming and we will do our best to accommodate them if it's within the restrictions of the Windows 8 and/or Windows Phone stores!

LCARS Interface [Windows Phone 7/8] Release 3 is now available!

A new update for the Windows Phone version of LCARS Interface has been released for both Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8!  This update bring both audio and video logs to the phone! We had some issues adding this functionality that has been present in the Windows 8 app, but after re-writing the features from scratch for the Windows Phone platform, we are happy to announce that they are now available!

This update also brings a bunch of (minor) visual updates that should improve the experience across all Windows Phone devices. Some buttons have been resized, others controls have been adjusted, and additional sounds and animations have been added. Almost every page has been touched in this update to bring a more consistent LCARS experience across the board. Our goal is certainly to provide apps with great functionality, but also ones that are stable and as high quality as we can make them, which is why all of our apps are constantly being improved upon as we get more feedback and feature requests.

Speaking of which, the next Windows Phone update is already well underway and we also have some great new things coming up for the Windows 8 app in the coming weeks!

Enjoy the new update and please let us know immediately if you come across any issues and we will do our best to get it resolved for you quickly!

This week in LCARS....

I'm going to try and update this blog more frequently so that it actually seems like a blog again instead of just an announcement feed for updates. For the end user it may seem like not much goes on in between the app updates, so this should keep you in the loop on just how much we have going on right now! It's tough to keep up with everything from the app updates, updating this website, and working on new products as well!

Aside from general support for all of our apps in all app markets, we are also building updates for the LCARS Interface apps for both Windows 8 as well as continuing the process of bringing the Windows Phone app(s) up to speed.

So far it seems that the recent Release 25 for the LCARS Interface Windows 8 app is running smoothly. We are hard at work on designing the next module for that, while also being very close to finishing an update to the Windows Phone app. This next phone update will bring audio and video log recording very similar to that is available in the Windows 8 app. Those features did not transfer over quite as easily as some others which is why they did not make it into the initial release. We also now have some new Windows Phone hardware in house, and that should increase productivity on the phone apps by a huge amount! Once the log module is complete, the productivity side of the phone app will match the Windows 8 app for all of the modules that are practical to have. The file system for the phone is drastically different and much more locked down on the phone, so a file manager doesn't make any sense there. A media player also doesn't make much sense due to the way the phone handles media.

If there are any other must-have apps for the phone, please let us know! Future updates to the phone app will feature more use of the device sensors which will give you a bit of tricorder type functionality. There are some very exciting plans in the pipeline for both the Windows 8 and Windows Phone versions.

We also continue progress on our secret project that we are hoping will come to the light later this year if we can find enough time to work on it!. Lots of exciting things happening around here so stay tuned! Keep sending in your feedback/feature requests and we thank you all for the wonderful reviews we get in the stores. Those of you who do not rate us 5 stars yet, we will continue making every effort to make your app experience as good as possible! The updates to these apps aren't stopping any time soon.

LCARS Interface [Windows 8] Release 25 is now available in the Windows 8 Store!

Release 25 of the Windows 8 LCARS Interface app is now available! This is mainly another maintenance build which fixes a couple issues that came up with the last release with the new tactical module. Some of you came up with use cases that I didn't and so any issues that have been reported to me have now been resolved!

Also in this build is a new start screen animation. This may be expanded more in the future...possibly with some sounds and more animation. We will be doing some experimenting with adding a lot of animation in the future, making sure along the way that we don't cripple lower powered systems too much. Anything too intense will likely be filtered out by the "Extra animations" switch in the settings.

The File Manager finally got some attention in this update. A couple minor bug fixes and now the Back button will travel all the way back up the folder structure. So if you opened a folder, then another folder, then another, you can now go back to the first one. Previously the back button only took you up one level from the lowest, which was not nearly as useful.

I do believe that we finally have the app optimized to work at 1024x768 resolution and/or 4:3 ratio screens! This includes running an app in snapped mode next to this one, or using non-widescreen monitors. This will also fix those of you running Splashtop or other remote desktop apps from an iPad where some controls would be cut off. If you continue to have any issues of this type, please let us know!

We're hoping to have another new module ready for the next release!

LCARS Interface [Windows 8] Release 24 is now Available!

With all the action the Windows Phone apps have seen lately, you didn't think we forgot about the Windows 8 app did you? We sure haven't...

This update brings another new entertainment module...the Tactical station!  This update took a while because I kept throwing out the design and starting over until I found something I was happy with. There was a lot of functionality to get on there while still trying to maintain a design similar to what the console looked like on the Enterprise D. I think it came out nice, and hope you think so too! As with many modules this one involved making a brand new control for the targeting scanner. Admittedly the design for that comes more from the Voyager console because the TNG one was never animated. I think the animations make these panels a lot more fun so I wanted to incorporate them where possible.

but that's not all...along with a couple visual fixes, the Media Player is also seeing a couple updates in this release. When playing audio files, the cover art will now attempt to retrieve a higher resolution image than it was getting previously (previous max was 200x200). Also added to the ability to play songs in a playlist randomly (shuffle) instead of playing them in order. This will work with audio or video. Toggle this functionality from the Playlist window!

See the Version History page for the list of major changes. Thanks for all of the great feedback and reviews we have seen lately! We are still working hard to make all of our apps even better!

Site updates, Updates for both LCARS Windows Phone apps are now Live

Both of the previously mentioned updates for the Windows Phone apps have been approved by Microsoft and should now be available to download!

You will also notice that this site is being re-organized a little (the links on the right) to accommodate the other apps besides just the Windows 8 one. There is still some work to do, but we hope to get more information up about all the apps we currently have available soon. There is also a bit of work being done to improve the graphics and tiles for our apps which is long overdue.

Update Coming for LCARS Interface [WP7+8] and LCARS Simulator [WP7+8]

LCARS Interface for Windows Phone has been well received so far! We are glad to finally bring more of the features from the Windows 8 app to the phone platform. We aren't finished with it yet though! The features on the Windows 8 version that haven't made it to the phone yet will get there eventually (as much of it as is actually possible on the phone platform). We just submitted updates for both (actually all 4 if you count WP7 versions too) which will bring the Settings pages for both LCARS Interface and LCARS Simulator more in line with what the Windows 8 version has. The functional change is that you can now select the Voyager Red Alert sound on the phone as well for both of the apps! It's a relatively small change but it was a popular one for Windows 8 app so it was decided to bring it over as well. Whether or not having a mobile device declare Red Alert is canon or not is up for debate, but it works well for the game in the LCARS Simulator so why not have it in both? The background bridge sounds is another thing that may make the trek over as well at some point. LCARS Simulator also gets the updated sound effects for the Nemesis theme in this update, which puts it in line with the other apps.

Also added to the LCARS Interface app for Windows Phone is an About page which will allow you to access this site as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages. This seems especially important for the phone apps since there is nowhere to put in a description of what has changed in the updates! You will have to find out about that from here instead. It even opens the Dev Blog and Facebook pages from the internal LCARS Web Browser! The Twitter does not since it only works with HTTPS and that seems to not work correctly with the browser control we get to use on the phone for some reason. It would be nice if they gave us a real skinnable control for Windows Phone and Windows 8! Hoping that eventually happens but not counting on it. The About page will likely show up for the LCARS Simulator app soon as well.

Some changes need to be made to the other pages on this blog such as the Features page, Version History, and FAQ which currently only have information about the Windows 8 app. With all of the coding being done on all 3 LCARS apps, there hasn't been as much time to make those changes. You would almost forget that we make apps besides LCARS stuff with all the action those apps have seen lately! They are certainly a lot of fun and all of the wonderful reviews and feedback we have gotten gives us more motivation to keep going with it!

Look for these updates to show up in the next couple of days after Microsoft approves them.

LCARS Interface [Windows Phone] is now also available for WP7.5+!

We promised it, and now we delivered it. Those of you asking about support for Windows Phone 7 can now have it (WP7.5+)! Currently the Windows Phone 7 version is functionally identical to the WP8 version.  The WP8 version has also received an update containing a fix for an issue with being able to create new text logs if you had previously opened a different log.  More things are in store for Windows Phone, so stay tuned!  The Windows 8 app is also getting some updates soon. There are more modules in various stages of completion and will hopefully see release some time in the coming weeks as soon as we are happy with them.

Thank you to everyone for all of the feedback recently! We are working hard to get the features you ask for implemented if they are possible within the various Windows Store limitations.

LCARS Interface for Windows Phone (8) Has Been Released!

The cat has been out of the bag for a little bit if you follow us on Facebook, but now it's time to make it official here as well.

LCARS Interface, the recent #1 selling app in the Windows 8 Store, is now available for Windows Phone! Currently it only supports Windows Phone 8, but a Windows Phone 7 version should be released in the coming weeks.

The phone version contains the Log Editor (Text logs only for now), Calculator (basic mode in portrait orientation, and scientific in landscape!), Weather data, and Clock modules for the initial release. This app also contains the same sounds, theme changing capabilities and ability to set the home screen image and ship name as its Windows 8 counterpart. Things such as the file manager and media player are not possible on the phone due to the different access limitations imposed by the phone platform. But wait...while these limitations count those two modules out for now, the Windows Phone version of the app gets something that the Windows 8 one is unable to get...a Web Browser! The browser has basic browsing capabilities and also supports making a list of favorites and a basic browsing history! While we wish both apps could be made with identical capabilities, Microsoft determines what is and isn't possible and we can only work within those limits to bring you the best apps possible. We will be working to add more features to this app in the same way as we do the Windows 8 app, likely with some unique capabilities that are made possible with the Windows Phone platform.

You will notice that this app currently lacks the "entertainment" side of things. The LCARS Simulator has been available for Windows Phone 7 and 8 for a few months now which includes the entire "Simulator" game from the Windows 8 version. There will be more entertainment aspects added over time. It has not been determined exactly which app will get what, but the likely scenario is that everything "functional" will be added to the LCARS Interface app, such as possibly things using GPS and other sensors from the phone that give you real data. Non-functional items that more imitate the type of things seen on Star Trek's mobile devices like tricorders (rather than ship consoles like in the Windows 8 app) but do not work with any real data will most likely be added to the LCARS Simulator app. The LCARS Simulator app has not had much in the way of updates yet but that will change soon now that this app is finally being released and will take up less time as we make updates to each one separately.

It is very exciting for us to now have 3 LCARS apps across various Windows platforms! We continue to welcome all of your suggestions on how to improve each of them as we work to make each one the best possible app it can be! The Windows 8 app has flourished due to suggestions from many of you, and we are hoping that the new Windows Phone app will do the same to make your LCARS experience as authentic and fun as possible.

Here it is! :

Check it out in the Windows Phone Store for a cool 99 cents!
LCARS Interface in the Windows Phone Store!

Weather Data sometimes acting up

I figured since I've gotten a few e-mails about, and experienced myself, some issues with the weather data in LCARS Interface that I would post about it.

Apparently the weather service (World Weather Online) is experiencing some issues with their servers which is causing hang ups and even complete crashes to the application. Hopefully this is a temporary problem that should be resolved in the next day or so, otherwise we will be looking into some other options for weather service if this one will no longer meet our needs.

I apologize for the inconvenience this is causing some of you. The problem is not actually within our app, but it certainly appears to be when you try and use it. We are working on a solution that will at least keep the app from crashing when the server takes too long to respond, or doesn't respond at all. The problem may not even be with their service, but with whoever is hosting their website and data. Nevertheless, we will work to resolve this issue with them or change to another service if necessary.

Next Update Submitted to the Windows Store (Update: Approved)

UPDATE 6/19/2013: This update has passed certification and should be available to download sometime today! As mentioned below this release is primarily fixing some small bugs that were found by our users within the past week. More new features are being developed, so look for some content updates in the coming weeks!

-------------------------
It's been a heck of a week for LCARS Interface on Windows 8. The app continues to be in the featured section of the store and is currently in the #2 spot for the Top Paid in Spotlight! That doesn't mean it's sold more in total than say Angry Birds Star Wars, but it's current rate of sales is higher at the moment.

Of course, adding a significant number of users in a short time has been a bit overwhelming with all of the new feature requests and bug reports! Thankfully there haven't been any serious issues brought to my attention yet, but thousands of users with thousands of usage scenarios will surely come across some things we didn't catch, especially as this app grows more and more complex. We are constantly working on this though, and so the next update will be another mostly maintenance release aimed to fix some of these minor issues that have been reported. As usual we want to make sure the features we do have work properly before moving on to other things. Most of the next release will be under the hood changes that won't make a big difference to you if you haven't come across them, but there is one new feature. I have changed the sound for buttons on the Nemesis theme to more closely match the sounds used in that movie. I noticed when watching it the other day that the button presses were different, so now it should be more accurate.

As usual more updates are always being worked on, but we want to get bug fixes pushed out as quickly as possible even if new features are not ready yet.

Also, we are looking for a graphic artist that might be able to help freshen up things like our tile icon and some promotional images. And maybe also someone to make a demo video that shows how you like to use the app. Please contact us if interested.

LCARS Interface reaches #1 in the Entertainment category for Windows 8!

It's been quite a weekend for LCARS Interface for Windows 8! I was browsing the Windows Store when I noticed that LCARS Interface was now the top featured app for the Entertainment category! We never did submit any promotional images for this app, but apparently Microsoft thought it was good enough to feature and made their own! Since then we've been getting tons of great feedback on the app and lots of great new feature requests.

Upon looking in the Windows Store tonight, LCARS Interface is now the top app in the Entertainment category, and #12 in the Windows Store Top Paid apps overall!

Thank you everyone for your support and feedback, and we look forward to making LCARS Interface, as well as our other current and upcoming apps, even better in the coming months! We also thank those of you who have given us so many great 5 star reviews! Knowing that people love this app as much as we do gives lots of motivation to continue improving it. This app has come a very long way since its initial release, and it's not done yet!

LCARS Interface Release 22 [Windows 8] Has Been Released!

The next update for LCARS Interface for Windows 8 has now passed certification! This update brings a few more bug fixes, and also a new module on the entertainment side of this...the Conn! Building off of the feedback I have gotten for things like the Warp Core module, I decided to make another module that was interactive and will respond to your inputs. As with the warp core module, this one doesn't actually do much besides give visual updates, but there actually is a good amount of math behind it. The locations of the star systems are based on actual information from the shows about where they are located relative to each other. The starting point is Sol (our solar system). If you go to say, the Deneb system where Farpoint Station is, you can see it is very far away and will take a while to get there. Obviously travel times have been scaled down to make it reasonable to where most places take a few minutes to get there. Currently there is nothing besides coordinate updates to actually show where you are. The external view is somewhat experimental still and I may try to add planets to it when you arrive at destinations eventually. Technically you are just travelling to star systems and not individual planets though, so not having planets on the external view isn't too unrealistic.

Designing this module took a bit of effort, as the "real" Conn station looks like this: Enterprise D Conn Station. That image serves as the starting point and primary inspiration for this module. That design obviously had to be modified for a few reasons. One was that the set prop for that station is like 3 feet wide, and I had to make it fit on something that can be as small as 8 inches diagonally for tablets. Another issue was, as you can see, there are only a few actual buttons on there and none of them are labeled anything that makes sense, so I had to take some liberties on that to make it functional. Overall I think it came out very nice and hopefully you all have some fun with it! I plan to add a few additional features to it in the next update. Possibly showing how long it will take to get somewhere before actually heading there. The operation of this module is very simple. Select a destination, select a speed, and hit Engage! I suggest not using impulse speed to travel to other star systems or you may actually be waiting days to get there! Impulse speeds can be used without setting a course.

Every release has lots of small changes that never get mentioned, but see the version history page for the largest ones. You should start seeing the update available to download in the next few hours.

A Few Announcements...

It's been a crazy week here in the world of Davstar Apps! We want to thank those of you who have given us some great 5 star reviews, and we also want to thank those of you who update your reviews after your issues or concerns are addressed! Any issue with our software, no matter how minor, is a top priority for us and if you contact us with a problem, we will figure out a way to work it out for you. We have the best users in the world!

Speaking of around the world, the past few days have been killing it in downloads from Germany! Can anyone tell us what happened over there which made LCARS Interface for Windows 8 so popular all of a sudden? I'm glad to see many of you are liking the app so far, and more updates are on the way! The Conn module is nearing completion and just need a bit more testing and a few tweaks and enhancements. Hopefully this update will be submitted for certification within the next week.

In other news, we are happy to announce that Davstar Apps will be partnering with Totus Tuus Apps for a joint project! Many of you have been enjoying the various LCARS apps we provide for Windows 8 and for Windows Phone 7/8. Our new project will be more for entertainment and will be a space game based loosely on Star Trek. More details will be coming eventually, but we recommend you check out their current 3D games which are available in the Apple App Store, Amazon AppStore, Google Play, and the Windows 8 store! Our LCARS design and coding experience paired with their experience with 3D games will allow us to provide the project to you all on nearly every platform! We plan to support Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Android (Google Play Store and Amazon AppStore), and Apple iOS!

Check out their newest game, Soaring Balloons Popper 3D:

• Windows 8 Store
• Google Play Store
• Amazon AppStore
• Apple iOS App Store

Sales from their apps and our apps will go towards supporting this next big project!  This should give you a basic idea of the quality of graphics you will see for the upcoming game! Of course we will all be working to make it the best game possible and will keep you updated on new developments. This won't be just another ordinary space shooter. We are very excited to be working on this.

And one last piece of news, Dave will be eventually working with the team of people to restore a bridge set from the Enterprise D! The bridge set will be updated from backlit non-functioning LCARS panels to having real working touch screens and it will run a full simulator allowing control of every system on the ship! Check out their page at the link below, and please consider supporting this great fan project!

Enterprise D Bridge Restoration Project

LCARS Interface Release 21 [Windows 8] now Available!

A new update has now been approved and should be available in the Windows 8 Store today. This update brings a couple of important bug fixes, as well as adding the ability to hide the (new as of last update) Alert Status controls from the main window if you feel that all of the new features being added have taken away from the clean look.

I had hoped to add the Conn module into this update, but it is not yet ready for prime time, and I'm making additional adjustments to the design again. The interactions will be simplified somewhat from what I planned, because with the current functionality of the overall system, it didn't make sense to go through all of the complicated math because of how limited the visual outputs would be. So coming in the next update (I hope) will be that module which should still add some additional fun to the program.

As usual, your suggestions and feedback I have been receiving have been wonderful, and I encourage you all to keep sending me your suggestions on how I can make the app better for you (and everyone else). LCARS Interface continues to be in the Top 100 overall apps in the Windows 8 Store due to your suggestions and support!

[Windows 8] Next Update In Progress

Well it's been a little while since the last update and I assure you, the next one is in development! The problem is, I decided to make it slightly more involved than I originally planned. That's what happens when you decide to start trying to be canon when it comes to content! I've faced the reality that this app will never be truly canon in the Star Trek world. It can't be if you ever expect to be able to use it for any 21st century tasks. For the entertainment portion where the modules don't actually do anything, however, I can try and get a little closer to enhance the experience. I also have the challenge of trying to fit a usable control panel onto the size of a tablet, so there are compromises there too to some extent.

The new module I'm working on is on the Entertainment side, and is the Conn! It will allow you to take the helm of your ship and travel to various places in the galaxy. Rather than arbitrarily assign distances to stars, I decided to at least attempt to make it somewhat consistent with information found in the shows and movies in regards to their postions in the galaxy and distances from each other. This means adding a lot more math and doing some research to try and determine these things. What will it actually do? Well, in the shows you have the benefit of time lapse where the next scene can be hours or days after the last as they travel large distances. In order to not make you have to sit at your computer for days while you head towards your next destination, I will be implementing something to reduce this time to something more reasonable such as minutes. How will that work when trying to be canon about distances and speeds? Well, I haven't figured that out yet! It may just have to scale appropriately, as most games seem to do with these things.

So, I already have a couple bug fixes and customization options ready to go, but I was hoping to have the Conn ready in time. We will see how long it takes to finish designing and building it. If it takes too long I may release the other changes and possibly add some smaller features in the meantime to keep you all busy! So many things to do, so little time! I need an intern...

I also want to say how wonderful it is to get so much positive feedback lately! I am glad so many people are enjoying the app, and many of you request things that make the app better for everyone. Most of them are things I wouldn't know to add on my own, so thank you very much for that, and please continue sending your feature requests and ideas! LCARS interface has spent a lot of time in the Spotlight section for the entire Windows Store lately and it is your support and 5 star reviews that got it there!

Through The Panes review of LCARS Interface

In case some of you haven't noticed, the Windows 8 Store has a lot of junk apps in it that make it difficult to find the good ones when browsing through what's available. Fortunately for us there are a few sites out there that take the time to tell us about the good ones.

One of those sites, which is not one of the typical app review sites that is only interested in the big commercial players, has been kind enough to review the LCARS Interface Windows 8 app shortly after it was released. It has now been updated again to reflect much of the new functionality which has been added since then.  Those of you still on the fence about downloading this app should go read it! It does point out the things I didn't do exactly right yet also, which is healthy for me as a developer to have another set of eyes go through it and find things I've overlooked. I appreciate the time spent to analyze this app, and hopefully many of you will find it useful. Also be sure and check out the other app reviews on the site. You might actually find some good apps you haven't seen yet!

LCARS Interface Review at: Through the Panes

LCARS Interface Release 20 [Windows 8] Now Available!

I've gotten some great feedback on Release 19 and so here is some more feed your LCARS appetite! Not a huge update this time, as there are no new modules yet. However, this update does bring some exciting things, mainly to do with the Red Alert theme!

The first thing you will notice are the new buttons at the bottom right of the main panel. You can now set the Alert Condition of your ship at any time, without having to go change the theme in the settings. Pressing "RED" will do what seems obvious. Pressing "GREEN" will revert back to whatever your selected theme is when not in Red Alert. Those of you who do not wish to see these extra buttons will find an option to hide it....in the next update (sorry)!

If you currently have the "Extra Animations" setting enabled, when you do declare a red alert, the panel will now come to life and animate, similar to the LCARS panels in Star Trek: Nemesis! Other shows/movies may do this also, but that movie is where I drew inspiration from.

Also one of the requests I received was to be able to change the Red Alert klaxon to something other than the TNG version. Well, I hear you and I've taken the first step and set it up so you can select the red alert sound from Voyager instead! You will find that setting in the "Sounds" panel of the Configuration module. This at least makes you stick to the canon sounds for red alert for ships that would use LCARS. If there are others you would like me to consider, send them to me and I will see if it makes sense.

I also apologize to those of you running Windows RT who may have experienced some issues with the Systems Allocation module. I have scrapped all of the code for the bars and re-did it from the ground up to be much less resource intensive, so I'm hoping this update will resolve those issues and allow you to enjoy that piece of the app also. If there are still any issues, please let me know!

You should be able to fetch this update later tonight!

LCARS Interface [Windows 8] Hits version 2.0!

Update: This update flew through certification at Warp 9 and should be available for download shortly! Please visit the Version History page to read up on the changes.

--------------------------------------------------------------

It's been a busy week but it's finally time to unveil the next update! Why is this one version 2.0? Because the split I was talking about in my last post has happened. There are now officially two modes, although the switch between them is pretty seamless. Simply tap/click on the "Change Mode" button at the top left and the left menu buttons switch between (unofficially named) productivity and entertainment modes. You can go back and forth between them easily enough since the "modes" are really just sets of buttons that change out to allow for more modules to fit.  Productivity mode is where you will find most of what has been included in the app up to now. The Simulator has moved over to the entertainment side of things and is the only thing to do so for now.

This app has mainly been focused on making LCARS versions of basic productivity apps besides the simulator module.  There will now be an additional focus on making the app a little more fun, and I am starting to build some simulated LCARS panels that not only look neat but you can also interact with them to some extent. There are two new modules in this category to get you started. What are they? You will have to wait until the update passes certification...or if you simply cannot wait, go over to the Version History page where I already added the release notes for it! These modules certainly take some time as I am doing them all from scratch and building them in native code. They are not flash animations from other sources. I will be adding more of these as time goes on. If you encounter any performance issues with these modules, please let me know!

Also less major but still noteworthy is a new panel in the Settings module which will allow easy access to this blog, the Twitter page and the Facebook page. I want to make sure everyone who uses the app at least knows about this blog so that everyone has an opportunity to see what's happening with the apps and to make suggestions for new features.  Get your suggestions in now and they might make it in the next update!

New Feature Requests Page

With all of the new releases lately, both on the Windows 8 platform and Windows Phone platforms, it seems like the right time to give you all a place to easily voice your opinions on what you would like to see in upcoming releases! Most features added to these apps come from user requests, so please request things you want and we will likely respond to it! Visit the page from the link to the right. Also please continue e-mailing us with questions/comments/feature requests, as we love hearing from our users on how to make your experience with our apps better!

In other news, it seems like an inevitable split is going to occur within the LCARS Interface app for Windows 8. Don't worry, it's not becoming multiple apps you have to buy! But with the ever growing number of features and modules that are being added, It is outgrowing its initial design. The new Startup screen was the beginning, and soon we may end up splitting the application into two sections. One will contain all of the productivity and tools that help you in the current 21st century, such as the log editor, media player, calculator, file manager, etc. The other side will contain modules such as the Tactical Simulator, and eventually some additional "24th century" modules which will do things like monitor ship operations and other more fun features that don't actually do much, but will let your computer or mobile device feel like something that might be used in the TV show. These modules should be fun for role playing, geeking out at conventions and fan club meetings, or maybe even being used in fan films. All of the modules are designed to be fun to some extent, but this set will have less real functionality and just be slightly interactive to display simulated information. Included modules for this have not been decided on, so if you have any suggestions on what to start with please let us know!

LCARS Interface Release 18 [Windows 8] Is now Available!

A new update has been released for the Windows 8 app! This update brings a couple of small but important bugfixes to the weather module and the video log editor, as well as some new functionality to the calculator! The calculator is finally starting to approach the scientific functionality level, but it still needs a little bit more, which it will receive in future updates.

Here's the official change log for Release 18:

Added trigonometric functions to the calculator module. Includes ability to switch between degree and radian units.

Fixed Kelvin temperature calculations for Current Weather.

Video Log Editor should now work with any number of cameras to switch between.

LCARS Simulator Now Available for WP7 and New Markets!

We are happy to announce that the LCARS Simulator app is now also available on Windows Phone 7.5 and up! It is also now available in additional countries including Russia and Brazil. Last but not least, go grab it on either Windows Phone 7 or Windows Phone 8 for a new lower price! If the new 99 cent price doesn't show up for you yet, wait an hour or two and it will!

LCARS Interface Release 17 [Windows 8] Now available in the Windows Store!

The Windows 8 LCARS Interface app has been updated and should be showing up in the Windows Store today! This update brings some new options to the Weather module, as well as fixing a couple things like the blinking cursor now showing up in the Text Editor! See the Version History for the complete list of changes.

LCARS Simulator Coming Soon to WP7 and more International Markets!

I had a request yesterday and as that usually goes, I give it a try if I can. I spent some time this morning taking my LCARS control framework from Windows Phone 8 and porting it back to work on Windows Phone 7. With all of the Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 stuff happening in the past few months, it's easy to forget that Windows Phone 7 still has more than half of the Windows Phone market share, and that is even higher in a lot of countries outside the United States!

Read on if you like to read all the details.

New Facebook Page!

I created a new Facebook page for those of you that like to see everything in one place. Any new blog posts will be linked from there so you won't have to check this site directly all the time. New posts should just show up in your newsfeeds like everything else. Go and Like us!


http://www.facebook.com/pages/Davstar-Apps/482769015122696

LCARS Interface Release 16 [Windows 8] Now Available

Ok, so Microsoft finally sorted out their issues with the Windows Store (for my app, at least) and so Release 16 of the Windows 8 LCARS Interface app is now available for download. Sorry for the confusion on this the past few days. Microsoft has been very slow moving in getting this update out even though it was approved days ago.

LCARS Simulator for Windows Phone 8 Has Been Released!

Well those of you waiting for a Windows Phone version of LCARS Interface can finally get it! At least part of it.  The Tactical Simulator from LCARS Interface is now available in the Windows Phone Store!

Check it out at: http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=8a788d12-bd8f-479f-9b4e-02f98477f767

I hope to start on a companion app bringing more features from LCARS Interface (and some new ones specific to the phone platform) to Windows Phone soon. The simulator seemed like a good first step to bring something fully functional to the phone and make sure all of my controls and other code framework are working properly.

I apologize for the delay of Release 16 of LCARS Interface for Windows 8. Microsoft apparently has some issues they need to sort out, as the release has been certified and has been sitting in the "Signing and Publishing" phase for over 30 hours now. Usually that goes through in less than one hour. I'm hoping that update will show up for you all soon.

LCARS Interface Release 16 is now Available!

Well, finally Microsoft decided to approve my fairly trivial update, so that should start showing up in the store for you all sometime today. Their signing process has been slow lately so it may be later today. The changes are primarily described in my previous post so I won't reiterate them here, but there aren't any major changes for this update, but it does fix a few things and prepare the app for changes that will be coming next.  Finding time to work on this stuff has been harder lately, but it's still being updated! I need to figure out the next big feature that I need to work on adding. If you have an idea for what that should be, let me know! It can either be a fun thing or a productivity thing.

Still waiting for the LCARS Simulator app for Windows Phone to be approved. Hopefully that will be soon...

Windows 8 Store, Windows Phone Store Submissions

It's been a week of insanity dealing with the 2 Windows stores and it's been frustrating to say the least. Usually the Windows 8 Store certifies my updates very quickly but I'm currently still waiting on the one I submitted last Saturday. That's the longest it's ever taken to date. I really hope this isn't the new normal...this update is fairly minor too so it's extra annoying that it takes this long to get a couple bug fixes in. Also new in this update will be a different screen on initial startup. This became necessary due to how much stuff LCARS Interface is actually able to do, and having to initialize quite a few things on startup was pushing the limits of startup times for low power Windows RT devices.  This change should lead to a better experience for all devices. It will also give me more options in the future for expanding the app beyond the main screen that used to appear on startup, which was becoming rather crowded with all of the new functionality!

On the Windows Phone front I've been battling some certification failures for various reasons that I chalk up to the learning process associated with building for a new platform. Nevertheless, I FINALLY got that all sorted out and the initial release of the LCARS Simulator for Window Phone should be ready as soon as they certify it, which I hope is not too long. I know at least a few of you have been waiting for that, and I apologize for the delays in making it happen!

So sit tight LCARS fans, new stuff is coming as quickly as Microsoft will allow it! I'm also still figuring out my next set of updates for the Windows 8 app, and also starting to design the LCARS Interface app that will eventually make it to Windows Phone.

As always, keep your suggestions coming, as you never know if your idea may get wrapped into the next update! I also need suggestions on functionality for the phone app now as well.

Next updates coming soon

Sorry for the lack of activity recently. I have gotten some good feedback on the latest update to the logs, so I'm happy to hear that people are using and enjoying that.

I've got another update for the Windows 8 LCARS Interface app set to be submitted sometime this weekend, depending on when I can finish it up. Nothing too major this time, as my efforts have been somewhat redirected towards the Windows Phone 8 app lately. That should hopefully be hitting the Windows Phone store sometime soon. The process for those is surprisingly different than the Windows 8 Store, so the first submission is a bit of a learning process for me there.

As I start developing more for Windows Phone (if the response to the first app warrants continued development), this blog will be somewhat restructured to accommodate the different LCARS apps that are being worked on.

The loose roadmap is as follows:

Windows 8: LCARS Interface will continue to be as "all in one" as I can make it, and updates will continue for the current app until there is sufficient reason to branch it off.

Windows Phone 8:

• LCARS Simulator will be hitting the store first and will be kept parallel with the Windows 8 version of the simulator, with interface adjustments as necessary to accommodate the different form factor. The initial release of this app has been submitted to the Windows Phone store already.

• LCARS Interface will also eventually have a Windows Phone 8 version. This app will contain some portions of the Windows 8 version, as well as some different functionality. It really depends on what makes sense for the platform. The tricky part is that Windows 8 tablets generally have the same sensors, cameras, etc as the phones, but the tablet app has to share space with the desktop/laptops as well. The game plan for this one hasn't been completely figured out yet, and this also is not a guarantee this app will actually be produced.

So that's all the latest news for now. I will update you all again when either the phone app is released or I submit the next Windows 8 version update.

LCARS Simulator for Windows Phone

So after making the quick interface for the teaser image below, I got some testing help and finished building the rest of it! I submitted it to the Windows Phone Store this morning so we will see if Microsoft approves it in a timely manner. The play of the simulator is identical to the one in the Windows 8 app, and the interface is very similar save for some adjustments that had to be made for the smaller form factor, mainly in the sensors and the computer. I also fixed a couple bugs that need to also be fixed in the Windows 8 version in the next update.

Special thanks for Scott for helping me test it! Without his motivation this would still just be an idea. Here is a picture from him of the LCARS Interface simulator running on a Windows 8 tablet and LCARS Simulator running on Windows Phone 8!

So for now this is your new teaser image! I will post again when the app is available in the Windows Phone store.

Here's a teaser for you Windows Phone fans...

I have no estimate on when you might see a finished application, but I started playing with the layout of the GUI a little bit (this screen isn't done). It doesn't seem like the port from Windows 8 to Windows Phone 8 is going to be that bad, as my framework and controls seem to all work after a couple days of modifications. I just need to get some extra time to play with it more! I don't want to neglect updates to the Windows 8 app, but I know a lot of people have asked for this so I'm going to give it a shot...eventually.

LCARS Interface Release 15 available in Windows 8 Store!

Update: I guess I did good, Release 15 passed certification already and will be available in the store shortly!

Well I finally sat down and actually finished up this update tonight. I would have liked if I had gotten it done a day or two ago since Microsoft seems to take longer to approve things on the weekend than during the week, but it will have to do.  It only took about 4 hours for them to approve it.

So what's in this update? I've talked about it a little already, but look past the break or in the Version History for the complete change log.

Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 Updates

It's been a little crazy around here the past couple weeks, but I do have some news that a lot of you should enjoy. I have officially started the port of my LCARS controls to the Windows Phone 8 platform! I have no time estimates for when anything will be completed on that front, but the framework is there now and I think my first project will be to port the Tactical Simulator from the Windows 8 app to the phone. My resources for real phone devices to test with are extremely limited at this point, and I hate relying only on emulators, but it is what it is right now. If Microsoft did their job correctly I should be able to make it work without a real phone to test on.

Apart from that side project, I have also been working on the next update to the Windows 8 Store LCARS Interface, which will include a couple of fixes discussed in my previous post, as well as some new functionality. This update is taking longer than I would have liked, but it's just limited to whatever free time I have. Rest assured though, I am still working on it and will have new features available soon! I am enjoying reading the reviews from the Windows Store from around the world and those of you that e-mail me directly also help guide my updates to the app. I get most of the new functionality ideas from your feedback, since you all know what you want to do with it better than I do. Please keep feedback of any type coming and this app will keep improving within the bounds of what is possible with a Windows Store app!

Well, I guess I'll fix that, then...

Those of you that received the latest update may have noticed the new Clock module. I had been working on it for a couple weeks, I even bought some software specifically for the purpose of being able to make the computer voices with a variety of voice packs since I can't use the real computer voice here. Interestingly enough the closest one I found was one of the new Microsoft voices. Hopefully I will find more uses for it as well in future functionality. More development blogging after the break if you care to read it, but the short version is that I fixed the computer talking over itself and hope to have it and more features in a new update submitted this weekend.

LCARS Interface Release 14 Now in the Store!

Well I had a little bit of extra time this week, so I made some updates again! The problem with this app is that it is essentially unlimited in scope! That means there is no shortage of things for me to work on. I work best by request though, and that's where this update comes from.  Another new module has been added that includes an easier to read Time and Date display which can be seen easier from a distance, a Timer (basically a simple Stopwatch) and the often requested Auto Destruct, which serves as a countdown timer and includes audio warnings from the computer! I thought of including an alarm clock as well, but due to the way Windows 8 runs apps, the app has to be in focus for audio to be played. I'm looking into find a way to make this happen, but so far it's not very straightforward to make Windows 8 let your app run forever in the background waiting for a certain time. I don't want to be responsible for anyone being late to work by the alarm not going off properly, so I'm holding off on this part for now until I find a better solution!

There are also quite a few other smaller changes in this update, many of them being visual tweaks and minor bug fixes. I also snuck in the performance update to the Media Player that I mentioned before which should decrease app startup time as well as transition more smoothly between Standard and Full Screen modes. 

Read past the break, or see the Version History page for the full list of changes and an update on what's coming in future updates.

Use LCARS Interface on Android and iPad!

Sorry if you got too excited by the headline, but LCARS Interface has not actually been ported to other platforms yet. However, if you do own an Android tablet or an iPad, you can still have a little bit of fun over your home network! We used to use this a lot with our own testing to make sure that LCARS Interface is actually usable on a tablet interface before we acquired all of the testing gear we have now. I figure I would share what I do so those of you who don't own Windows 8 tablets can pretend that you do sometimes! It's not perfect, but for something that's free it does a really good job! (Your results may vary depending on the speed of your devices and home network).

Read on to get instructions on how to set it up!