In a surprisingly information-packed interview at Microsoft's X'10 event in Toronto, RGBFilter managed to get the Microsoft rep, Greg Milligan, Mobility Solutions Manager. Microsoft Canada to admit to quite a scoop.

The rep confirmed that real time phone to Console gaming was coming over WIFI to Windows Phone 7 in the near future. He also revealed that games were coming where mini-games on the phone will unlock functionality in games on the console.

Of interest was the price range suggested by Greg in the $1.99 to $2.99 range, which is much lower that expected for Microsoft's Xbox Live titles. also was that your game invites will show up as avatars of your friends on your tile, which is a pretty great feature.

Microsoft have been putting a lot of work into their app store for the forthcoming launch of Windows 7, no doubt realizing what an important part it will play in determining the success or failure of the platform as a whole. The developer tools Microsoft have made available so far have been downloaded more than 300,000 times according to the company. The dev tools are still be worked on though with the final release build due on 16th September. Microsoft are saying, however, that apps built using the beta tools shouldn't need too much tweaking.

In terms of actually submiting apps to the store early Octobe is being bandied around as the date, which of course ties in nicely with the speculation of a late October launch for the platform as a whole. The apps for Windows Phone 7 will be relying very much on Silverlight and XNA and Microsoft is stressing that this should allow devs to port apps over without too much hassle. Of course the fact that Microsoft are paying devs to create apps for their new platform probably removes some of the hassle too! 

Although Apple has been the dominant player in the recent tablet market, many manufacturers have been spending R+D dollars playing catch-up. Although many agree that a fully fledged operating system like Windows 7 would be difficult to adapt into a fully touch-based interface model, the designers at UI Centric are currently developing a promising looking solution.

Their user interface, codenamed "Macallan", looks to be an up-an-coming solution to the potential Windows 7 adaptation issue. With native multitasking, flash support and full camera functionality the impressive featureset of this upstart is targeting the iPad head-on. Combining these features with a very slick interface, UI Centric also states that a "major manufacturer" will be shipping their product in Q3 of this year.

While harnessing the abilities of a fully-fledged Windows 7 based deployment, Macallan simplifies navigation and usage into a similar, yet discrete, paradigm. Users familiar with iOS may be taken aback by the minimalist approach, but users should find themselves at home as the UI looks quite intuitive at first glance.