ScienceApps going all-in on LunaCE with stack launching and big notifications [video]

There's a lot of goodness happening with LunaCE, but the user-facing features are just scratching the surface. webOS developer ScienceApps has been around the block a few times, including popular apps like Multiple App Launcher and Starter. With LunaCE, ScienceApps is amping up Starter, fixing one of our biggest complaints with the app.

The cool part about Starter is that it could launch multiple apps at once. The not-so-cool part was a limitation of webOS 3.x: those apps would all launch as separated cards, even if it would make sense to launch them in a stack. Starter users with LunaCE installed, however, can expect to now be able to launch multiple apps directly into a stack. The feature makes Starter, in our not so humble opinion, eminently more useful. Now you can set up a multiple app launching sequence of, for example, Facebook, Twitter, Messaging apps, all in one neat little 'communicate with your friends' stack instead of having them spread out and needing to manually regroup them on every launch. Video after the break.

Starter isn't the only ScienceApps app getting the LunaCE treatment. The developer is currently working on an update to Lithium News HD that will take advantage of the dynamic dashboard height API in LunaCE, finally allowing the TouchPad to display larger-size dashboard notifications of your news stories. The LunaCE-enabled version of Lithium News is still a work in progress, but we're looking forward to its release.

LunaCE is currently in beta, though interested users can install it as always via Preware, so long as you've enabled the beta feeds (check out testing.preware.org for info on how to do that). ScienceApps is one of the first developers to take advantage of what LunaCE has to offer, and we hope more webOS app developers will follow down their path. Not all TouchPad users are going to install LunaCE, in fact we'd wager a relatively small portion even know of its existence, but for those that are taking the extra step of pimping out their TouchPad with the help of WebOS Ports, there's more goodness to come.

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Developers - New AppBizDev app marketing and monetisation podcast launching

Alan Mendelevich, the genius behind the AdDuplex advertising network for Windows Phone developers, has launched a new marketing and monetisation focused podcast titled AppBizDev (http://www.appbizdev.com/). The bi-weekly podcast aims to aid developers and businesses who choose to launch apps on Windows platforms - be it Windows 8 or Windows Phone.

It branches off in a slightly more specialised route than our Windows Phone Central podcast. While we attempt to cover everything that has happened in the previous weeks, AppBizDev will look to discuss topics surrounding app development once submissions to the Marketplace have been carried out.

As well as kicking off this new podcast, Alan is also looking for a lead host for programmes. Should you be a native English speaker, enjoy using Microsoft's platforms and are knowledgeable in app monetisation and marketing, you might want to check out this golden opportunity.

Be sure to contact Alan for more information on the available position, as well as checking out episode one of the AppBizDev podcast. One can also follow the team on Twitter.

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