MSPoweruser 3.1: Continue Reading, Podcasts, Read Later, REST API, and more

It’s been a while since we updated the official MSPoweurser app. We have been working on a pretty major update over the past few months, however. After a couple of months in development, we are finally ready to share the update with all of you. We don’t have any fancy name for the update, so we’re simply calling MSPoweruser 3.1. Here’s what’s new.

You can get the latest update here, and read the full changelog here.

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A new backend

We have completely moved the app to a new API to provide improved performance and reliability. The app now uses a REST API instead of just pulling the latest articles from our RSS feed, which means articles will load faster than ever. This also allows us to ensure that everything in the articles are being rendered properly without any issues. This may sound like a minor improvement, but it’s actually the feature that required a lot of time during the development.

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Continue Reading

Along with the new backend, we are introducing a couple of new features to the app with the 3.1 release. One of the major new features in the update is the new Continue Reading feature — which uses Windows 10’s Project Rome feature to allow users to start reading an article on their phone and continue reading it on their PC (and vice-versa). So for instance: if you are reading an article on the app in your PC, but you have to leave your PC in a bit, you can simply click on Continue Reading and select your phone from the dialog to start reading it on your phone.

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MSPU Podcast

We are also finally bringing our podcast to the app. You can now listen to the latest MSPU Podcast episodes right from the Windows 10 app’s Podcasts section. You can also download a certain episode of the podcast to listen later when you are offline. Additionally, the app also integrates with Windows 10’s native playback options.

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Read Later

Read Later is also something we are introducing with the new update. As the name of the feature implies, Read Later will basically let you save articles to read later. Once you save an article to read later, you can easily get back to reading it at a later point or read it even when you are offline. Also, you can easily add articles to Read Later or Continue Reading by tapping and holding on an article from the homepage.

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Redesigned Settings

We have also completely redesigned the Settings page in the app to make it user-friendly on the PC while keeping the good user experience on your phone. The new Settings dialog lets you easily discover all the different settings with the search box, and you can also now choose a custom accent for the app from the Settings page.

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Cortana integration

You can now ask Cortana to open articles on the app using your voice thanks to the Cortana integration in MSPoweruser 3.1. For example, you can ask her to “show me the latest news on MSPoweruser” or “Show me the latest Windows 10 news on MSPoweruser”.

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Others

There’s a range of other improvements we have added with the update, so here’s a quick breakdown:

• We’ve redesigned the welcome screen of the app to provide a better onboarding experience
• We have added support for Live Tile badges
• The app box widget in articles has been slightly improved
• When you click on a link to another MSPU article from an article on the app, it’ll now open within the app rather than your default web browser
• You can now configure the background task for the app to save battery life
• We’ve slightly improved the user interface of the app
• There’s a new image viewer in article view

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Feedback

MSPoweruser 3.1 is a pretty huge update, and there are a couple of bugs in the update which we may have missed during testing. If you find any bugs in the app or have any other feedback, please feel free to let us know in the comment section below and make sure to submit a bug report here if there’s any bug you notice. 

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As usual, you can get the latest update for the MSPoweruser app from the link below.

[appbox windowsstore 9nblggh3lhg8]