Microsoft’s hive of after-hours creativity, aptly named the Microsoft Garage, has been tinkering with ideas now and releasing the manifestations of those ideas for half a decade. The ‘Garage Geeks’, as Microsoft calls the 10,000 strong crew, come from diverse backgrounds, and potter away in an environment that is far from the traditional workspace.  In the words of Ben Gilbert, program manager for The Garage, the place is “a sort of preserve – an open space where people can find their wonder and creativity,” adding, “Microsoft needs The Garage like New York City needs Central Park.”

And today The Garage just came out with a bunch of new ‘experimental’ apps: Dev Sapce; Your Weather; Join Conference; Squad Watch and Keyboard for Excel. Here’s a quick rundown of what to expect from the apps.

Dev Space:

This app for Windows Phone will give software engineers more control over their projects in Visual Studio Online by allowing them access to work items and to address queries without having to access the corporate network on a PC or laptop. There are push notifications which enables access to build status on the start screen and through secondary tiles. Via Cortana the app also responds to voice commands.

Your Weather:

A lockscreen app that gives vacationers, albeit only in China, a heads-up on weather conditions, and perhaps more importantly for some cities, air quality conditions. Microsoft worked with the Chinese government on this to help bring awareness to air quality. The app is also aesthetically pleasing as the reports come with a background of various traditional Chinese paintings.

Join Conference:

Getting on the conference call is made easier by taking out the need for inputting codes, switching apps, accessing the calendar. Simply tap one button, or through Cortana say the words, “Join Conference”. The app should already know what meeting it is you are talking about, or even give you a list of options.

Squad Watch:

Squad Watch is the People Sense location app that we reported a few days ago. Essentially an app for finding people (trusted friends only), stalking people, or getting friends together to meet in one location, and made very easy.

Keyboard for Excel:

Android users get a new layout for the keyboard in Excel. The keyboard: is optimized for numbers, using tabs helps you move across columns easier, prioritizes Excel operators in the keyboard layout, and has a 10 key number layout for fast number entry.

Photo Credit: Microsoft