Bank of America to end support for its Windows Phone app in early March [update: Windows 8.1 too]

Update: According to its store listing, it looks like Bank of America will be dropping its Windows 8.1 app in March as well (thanks, Brent, for the tip).

Original story: Yet another major US bank is ending its support for the Windows Phone platform. This time it's Bank of America, which has posted a note on its app's store page that it will stop supporting Microsoft's mobile OS sometime in early March.

The post did not offer a specific reason for this decision. It only stated, "We're sorry for the inconvenience." It also recommends that Windows Phone users access Bank of America's website from now on. The app was first launched for the Windows Phone operating system in May 2011. Bank of America also has a Windows 8.1 app in the Windows Store, but so far there's no indication they plan to remove support for that app.

As we reported earlier this month, the Chase Mobile app for Windows Phone has been removed from the store, and will stop working completely on March 22.

Bank of America did update their iPhone app just yesterday, but they are obviously not discontinuing support for that platform. In other words, this is not a new mobile strategy for the massive bank but rather a clear rejection of the Windows Phone platform due to low market share.

Bank of America released their Windows Phone app way back in 2011. For them to end their support now is shocking.

• Download Bank of America from the Windows Phone Store

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central

Bill Gates is helping Microsoft create 'Personal Agent', thinks HoloLens is 'amazing'

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates wrote today that the company's recently revealed Microsoft HoloLens hardware is "pretty amazing" and "the start of virtual reality." He also revealed, as part of a Reddit AMA session, he is working with Microsoft on a project called Personal Agent.

Today was Gates' third such Reddit AMA session and while most of his responses were based around his annual letter from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he did answer a few Microsoft-based questions. One person asked him what he thought of the HoloLens device that was shown last week as part of Microsoft's Windows 10 event. Gates replied:

"The Hololens is pretty amazing. Microsoft has put a lot into the chips and the software. It is the start of virtual reality. Making the device so you don't get dizzy or nauseous is really hard - the speed of the alignment has to be super super fast. It will take a few years of software applications being built to realize the full promise of this."

Another person mentioned that 2015 is the 30th anniversary of the first version of Windows and asked Gates what he thought the next 30 years would be like in terms of technology and personal computing. Gates wrote:

"There will be more progress in the next 30 years than ever. Even in the next 10 problems like vision and speech understanding and translation will be very good. Mechanical robot tasks like picking fruit or moving a hospital patient will be solved. Once computers/robots get to a level of capability where seeing and moving is easy for them then they will be used very extensively."

"One project I am working on with Microsoft is the Personal Agent which will remember everything and help you go back and find things and help you pick what things to pay attention to. The idea that you have to find applications and pick them and they each are trying to tell you what is new is just not the efficient model - the agent will help solve this. It will work across all your devices.

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central 

FLAC support will also come to Windows 10 for phones

While we already knew that Windows 10 would be bringing native access to lossless audio in the form of FLAC support, Microsoft's Joe Belfiore took to Twitter today to confirm that support for FLAC files will come to Windows Phones as well.

Belfiore says:

"Yes, FLAC support will be on phones/small tablets... won't be in the first insider build, though, will be a few months later.."

The addition of native FLAC support in Windows 10 for both desktops and phones is great news for audiophiles who have historically had to rely on outside codecs or programs, such as VLC, to play the files on their machines.

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central

Xbox Music for Windows Phone picks up substantial bug fixing update for January

Microsoft today pushed out an update for Xbox Music on Windows Phone 8.1. The update is the first for 2015 and the first since the update last December.

Although no new features were introduced, the 2.6.656.0 update does address numerous user complaints and issues with the app. The changelog itself is quite substantial, and we will post it in its entirety.

Xbox Music for Windows Phone 8.1 (2.6.656.0): Fixes and improvements

• Three of the top unexpected app exits (e.g. at launch)
• Downloading tracks sometimes resulted in an error message
• Issue that caused background image to flicker on shuffle setting toggle
• Playback errors on specific content
• Unreliability in delete action
• Inaccurate group headers (a, b, c. etc.)
• Issue that prevented all fans across the globe from being able to sync purchases and playlists consistently – the experience in these countries should be improved:
  • AR / Argentina
  • BR / Brazil
  • DK / Denmark
  • FI / Finland
  • MX / Mexico
  • NO / Norway
  • SE / Sweden

The update is very new to the Store, so if you do not see an update just yet, just keep checking as the update is surely to come to your device in the next few hours.

Additionally, some people have noted that a User Voice request has had a status change to 'Started'. The request is in regards to storing and playing back music on OneDrive for playback. This change is in reference to the announcement last week in Redmond by Microsoft about such a feature, which is coming to Windows 10 in the coming weeks and months.

• Download Xbox Music for Windows Phone 8.1

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central