Google has sent Microsoft a cease and desist letter demanding that Microsoft remove the YouTube app from the Windows Phone Store because of the app makes multiple violations of YouTube's rules.

Despite previous comments that it has no plans to develop a smartphone, Microsoft is reportedly working with Asian component suppliers to test a smartphone design.

Microsoft released a new Windows Phone 8 management app for PC's earlier this week, and the company has updated its Mac application to be compatible with Windows Phone 8. Version 3.0 of the Windows Phone Companion App for Mac adds drag-and-drop file transfer to the phone from Finder or the companion app. It also adds support for iPhoto 9.3.2 and Aperture 3.3.2; displays battery charge state; enhances ringtone capabilities; and supports Retina display. The Windows Phone Companion App for Mac simplifies file management, including iTunes music sync, and is available for free in the Mac App Store.

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Microsoft is set to announce a new slate of Windows Phone 8 smartphones today, and the event will be broadcast live to the web.

Microsoft Windows 8 has been available only for a few days, but it already has an app that allows for easy synchronization of files between Windows 8 computers and Windows Phone handsets.

Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 will finally debut on October 29. Though Nokia and HTC have held press conferences to announce Windows Phone 8 handsets, neither company has allowed attending press to spend any time exploring the software. Microsoft will be the one to officially introduce Windows Phone 8 at a launch event later this month. Microsoft has sent MobileBurn an invitation for an October 29 event in San Francisco that will be Windows Phone 8's first showing since Microsoft released the software to manufacturers last month.

Microsoft first revealed earlier this month that it would deliver an Android app for its SkyDrive cloud storage service, and the app is now available for Android 2.3 or later devices. SkyDrive follows the Android user interface design guidelines, but there are elements of Windows Phone as well. The app supports viewing or sharing cloud-stored content, deleting or creating new folders, and uploading from an Android device to SkyDrive. Users can also batch upload their photos or view recently used documents.

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Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 will enable better games thanks to their compatibility with the Unity 3D game engine. At its Unite conference in Amsterdam today, Unity Technologies confirmed that its Unity 4 3D game development tools will support both Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.

Windows Phone 7.5 devices can once again access the full slate of Windows Phone apps. Microsoft says it has fixed the problem that caused some phones to display error messages when attempting to download certain apps. The company discovered that backend changes to the Windows Phone Dev Center created digital certificate errors in some cases, which led to failed download attempts on phones that upgraded to Windows Phone 7.5. Microsoft ceased publishing apps for two days while it worked to fix the problem, but the Marketplace began displaying new apps again yesterday. Apps should be fully restored within the next 48 hours.

Microsoft has suspended publishing new or updated Windows Phone apps due to an error affecting phones that have updated to Windows Phone 7.5. The issue doesn't appear to affect phones sold with 7.5, but Microsoft has stopped publishing new apps until the problem is fixed.