Minecraft: Pocket Edition for Windows Phone 8.1 includes all of Minecraft’s mobile features, including the tense action of Survival mode, the limitless exploration of Creative mode, and multiplayer fun over local WiFi networks. This release includes infinite worlds, with the new biomes, caves, mobs, villages and more that players love.

Minecraft is available as a R89.99 download in the Windows Phone Store, for Windows Phones running 8.1.

At some point you will find that you may want to copy these photos onto your PC, laptop or flash drive. Alternately, you plan to take loads of pictures in the upcoming festive season and would like to share them with everyone you were with.

Microsoft has come up with a simple solution to help you transfer your photos, and other content on your laptop or PC. You simply need to download the Windows Phone app for desktop or Windows Phone app for Mac before you begin.

Launch the app on your machine, and then connect your device via the provided USB cable.

The app will then show you a quick summary of the device that’s plugged in, like battery life, last time it was synced, and a colour coded breakdown of storage, so you can see what exactly is using up space.

When you go to “Device Options”, select “import photos and videos from my device…” and you can choose a name for this folder, like Camera Roll. Click “done” and then Sync. Your photos will be located in your desktop or laptop’s My Pictures folder, under the name you selected.

If you want to delete all images from your device, go into “Device Options” and select “delete all content”.

Now you have all your festive season photos on your laptop or PC’s hard drive. If you want to put them onto a flash drive, just plug it into your USB port and copy it over. If you’d like to share them via the cloud, just sync the images to your OneDrive account.

Happy holidays, happy snapping!

You can get the Windows Phone app for Mac here.

Plus your summer with Microsoft and you can stand a chance to win the ultimate Microsoft living room experience consisting of Microsoft devices. To enter visit www.plusmoresummer.com, tell them how you would plus more your summer and what it means to you.

Check out this video to see how you can plus more your summer.

Here’s a clip of one of those dreams being transformed with the help of Lumia.

If you want Lumia to help you #MakeItHappenZA, share your plans with them here.

But there’s a much bigger and more important difference between the Lumia 530 and its forerunner: the price. The Lumia 530 is available at a recommended retail price of R1 349. That means you can get all the features you’d expect from a smartphone for the price of a feature phone.

Like its Lumia siblings, the Lumia 530 offers replaceable rear covers available in arresting colours like bright green and bright orange, or the more sedate dark grey and white. Whatever the occasion, the 530 has an outfit to match.

Staying connected on the run is more important than ever and the Lumia 530 doesn’t cut any corners when it comes to connectivity. In addition to its 3G antenna there’s support for 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi. The handset can even be used as a mobile hotspot to which you can connect other devices using Wi-Fi.

The Lumia 530’s built-in GPS means navigation with apps like HERE Maps is a cinch, and enables users to add location information to pictures, tweets, Facebook updates and any other app or content that supports it.

Powering the 530 is a Snapdragon 200 quad-core 1.2GHz processor – which ensures users get to enjoy the full Windows Phone 8.1 experience – and a 1 430mAh battery to make sure it survives even the busiest days.

The device offers 4GB of storage out of the box, which can be expanded by a massive 128GB via the included microSD card slot. A rear-facing 5-megapixel camera with a fast aperture of f2.4 captures crisp stills and video and a built-in FM antenna makes it possible to catch up on your favourite radio shows on the run.

Windows Phone 8.1 offers a range of new features, including Action Center, which brings your notifications, alerts and quick settings together and makes them accessible with a single swipe.

Of course, a smartphone is nothing without applications, and the Lumia 530 has you covered there too with apps like Facebook, Skype, MixRadio, Office and OneDrive preinstalled. Thousands of additional applications are available for download from the Windows Phone Store and Lumia 530 users get 15GB of free OneDrive storage to use for pictures, documents or any other data they want to store securely online and access from anywhere.

The Lumia 520 set the standard in the category of affordable but powerful smartphones. The Lumia 530 is poised to continue and expand upon that legacy.

We bring you our top social networking apps for your brand new Windows Phone handset to get you connected in no time.

1. Facebook
No third party has a better app than the social media giant themselves so it’s best to stick to the official one. Some of the newest additions let you upload videos, edit comments and tag friends.

2. Messenger (Facebook)
Earlier this year, Facebook separated the messaging aspect of the social network from its official app. In order to read and respond to your private messages, you will have to download the standalone app.

3. Twitter
The official Twitter app for Windows Phone is currently the best option in the Windows Phone store. It has a clean look to it and is easy to navigate. You can share multiple images in a single tweet, tag friends and view inline multimedia content. Alas, you cannot hide images from your feed.

4. 6tag
This third party app offers great functionality and an enjoyable experience overall. It has all the same filters as the official app, and lets you share to your other social networks.

5. Vine
If you love making short videos to share instantly on your social networks, check out the official Vine app, which arrived on Windows Phone this year. Use hashtags to discover new content and loads more.

1. TimePunch Mobile
If you’re working on projects and tasks all the time, try out this time management tool to keep track of everything. The app will give you a quick overview of your tasks as well as more detailed info under Analysis. TimePunch on your Lumia also supports app syncing.

2. Yammer
Putting a different spin on social networking, Yammer lets employees connect to each other with the purpose of making work easier and more productive. Share and bounce ideas off each other, collaborate in one document in this select environment.

3. Total Fuel
If you’re on the road a lot, it may be worth spending R9,99 for the Total Fuel app. It lets you track your vehicle’s consumption very simply, which also helps when you have to claim back for petrol. It supports various metric systems and currencies.

4. Citrix Receiver
If the environment you are in makes use of Citrix services, you will find the Citrix Receiver app a very handy tool. Once you download it, you will require assistance from your IT department to set up to a specific configuration. The app lets you access enterprise files, applications and desktops to be productive while on-the-go.

5. Tomato Productivity Timer
This app doubles up as time measurement tool as well as a motivational one. Firstly, you can keep track of how many hours a day you’ve worked – the app does work in the background; and secondly, if you need interval breaks to keep the productivity going, set an alarm for it. The app then separates both breaks and working time.

We suggest you pin the app to your home-screen to get a quick overview at any given time. The dynamic Live Tile will show you how much data you’ve used over your mobile connection or WiFi hotspot without even launching the app.

When you go into the app, you will see this information displayed on a pie chart, with just the info you need to see. Here, you can also perform a number of other tasks like setting limits, and instructing your phone to go into a data conservation mode if you pass a certain amount of usage.

Just go into “set limits” and choose a limit type, which can be either one time, monthly or just unlimited (ouch!). We recommend you put a monthly limit so you don’t go overboard.

Here are some additional tips on how to make your data last longer:
1. Do not watch videos via Facebook or Twitter on you cellular connection..
2. If you notice your apps need to be updated, rather do it when you’re in a WiFi zone.
4. Turn on “Battery Saver”, which turns off some apps that require a data connection.
5. Turn off automatic email sync. Rather opt to check your email manually.

The “selfie phone”, as it’s been dubbed, has a whopping 5-megapixel front-camera to take the best quality selfies. The camera is also wide angle, so perfect to take selfies with a group of friends. The 1080p HD front-camera also allows for a better Skype experience, and customers also get three months of free Skype calls to landlines globally. You’re also able to share your selfies quickly and easily to social networks like Facebook or Instagram.

The 4.7-inch Lumia 730 runs on the latest version of Windows Phone 8.1, has dual SIM support, and comes in an attractive slim, compact design. It is powered by a speedy Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core 1.2GHz processor and has a 2220mAh capacity battery to keep you going all day.

The 4.7-inch HD OLED display has an almost 180-degree viewing angle so you can watch your videos outside in bright light without your eyes taking a strain.

The Lumia 730 also brings all Microsoft services to your fingertips, such as Outlook, Word, Excel, OneNote and PowerPoint, including 15GB of OneDrive cloud storage.

Heading out to buy a Lumia 730? Here are our recommended photo editing apps, in addition to the pre-installed Lumia Selfie app, to make the most of the 730.

1. Photosynth
Create seamless panoramic shots with Photosynth. It appears as a popup lens within your camera app. Just tap the screen to begin and move your phone in the direction you want to capture, and tap again to end it.

2. PhotoCollage
Create beautiful collages with the PhotoCollage app. Just select the photos you want to put together and then go about choosing a frame, template or text. You can choose a grid, background or poster options.

3. Blink
Need to capture really fast action shots? Try Blink. It captures shots really fast with built in stabilization. It has dual modes and focus lock. At the end of your shot, select the best pics.

Many of us are guilty of putting off our dreams. Whether it’s starting a business, climbing Kilimanjaro, training for a marathon or spending more time with friends, there are often obstacles that keep us dreaming rather than doing. With Lumia, Microsoft aims to alleviate at least one of these challenges by offering people the tools to enable their dreams no matter where they are or what their budget is.

Whether you are planning, connecting, sharing, editing, capturing, viewing, saving or entertaining, every Lumia brings the best of Microsoft software to life. Microsoft is giving South Africans the chance to turn something small into something big this summer. People can tell us what inspired idea they want to make a reality here and we could help make it happen.

Want to propose to your partner? Go skydiving, throw an epic party, travel the world or be your own boss? With Microsoft you can.

For a look at how others are turning their small ideas into big realities go here.