 Microsoft has announced it will soon retire its legacy communication platform, Skype, and is pushing existing users to adopt Teams instead — ending an era for web calls. Skype is set to shutter on 5th May, 2025, leaving existing users with a little over two (2) months to migrate data over to Teams or find another platform altogether.
Microsoft’s Jeff Teper, its President overseeing Communications and Collaboration Tools, cited the need for increased investment in Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a big reason why Skype is being retired. According to Matt Day at Bloomberg, “…while Skype once had over 300 million monthly users in 2016, that number shrank to around 36 million by 2023 as Microsoft Teams has grown.” Skype missed a major opportunity for massive growth in online video calling during the 2020 COVID era, instead ceding success to companies like Zoom and Slack. Microsoft was already investing heavily in Teams at that time, so it largely left Skype to flounder. Microsoft acquired Skype for $8.5 billion in 2011, helping to set a foundation that was built upon with Teams. Are you an existing Skype user? Let us know your thoughts about this announcement in the comments below. More on this as it becomes available. [Source: 9to5Mac]
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 Both Apple and Google have restored TikTok, the wildly popular social media platform, to their respective U.S. app stores as of Thursday evening (13th February, 2025). This follows promises by President Donald Trump to save the app and an executive action delaying the enactment of a TikTok ban.
TikTok’s uncertain future stems from a law signed last April by then-President Joe Biden, which gave China’s ByteDance 270 days to sell the app to an owner from the United States or one of its allies or face a ban, based on U.S. national security concerns. The day before the blackout, the Supreme Court upheld the ban. TikTok shutdown for roughly fourteen (14) hours in January but attributed its quick return to promises made by the then-President-elect Donald Trump, to keep the platform working in the U.S. However, its 175 million users still ran into at least one problem: The app was, as of that January weekend, unavailable on Apple and Google Play stores, along with Lemon8 and CapCut, which are also owned by TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance. Apple previously said in a statement that it removed TikTok from its App Store because of the ban, but the app remained available for customers who already downloaded it. More on this as it becomes available. [Source: CNN]  Pictured Above: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Samsung announced its new trio of Galaxy S25 smartphones today (Wednesday 22nd January, 2025) at its Unpacked 2025 event, headlined by the Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25+, and Galaxy S25 Ultra. At the end of the event, however, Samsung also dropped a surprise teaser for its forthcoming ultra-thin Galaxy S25 Edge. The teaser comes ahead of Apple’s rumored release of its ultra-thin smartphone, the iPhone 17 Air, later this year. While the trio of new devices are not bringing many hardware upgrades to the table, Samsung is leaning even heavier into AI features, all with the same pricing as last year’s models. Starting with the flagship, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is getting a few hardware tweaks. The screen and hardware corners are now rounded, moving a little further away from the Galaxy Note’s design. The display has also grown from 6.8 to 6.9 inches, and the whole phone is lighter at 218g despite having the same 5,000 mAh battery since 2020’s Galaxy S20 Ultra. Galaxy S25 Ultra is also getting an upgrade in the camera department. The 200MP main camera is now combined with a 50MP sensor for ultrawide shots, up from the 12MP sensor used in the past few generations. There is also a 50MP telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom and a 10MP camera with 3x optical zoom. The front-facing camera is still a 12MP sensor. Under the hood, the Galaxy S25 Ultra comes in three (3) configurations – 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage, all with 12GB of RAM. That memory allotment is also shared with the Galaxy S25 and S25+, with no variants having 16GB of RAM. All Galaxy S25 devices, though, will be using the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, a slightly tweaked version of Qualcomm’s 2025 flagship mobile chip that includes a custom APU. Samsung has also boosted the vapor chamber by 15% on the S25 and S25+, and 40% on the S25 Ultra. The Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+ are largely unchanged from their predecessors, with 6.2-inch and 6.7-inch displays, 50MP main, 12MP ultrawide, and 10MP 3x telephoto cameras, and the same 4,000 mAh and 4,900 mAh batteries. Charging rates remain at 25W and 45W respectively, and the base Galaxy S25 still starts at 128GB of storage. All three (3) devices ship with Android 15 and One UI 7, with seven (7) years of OS and security updates in the pipeline. Samsung is also adopting “Qi2 Ready” with the Galaxy S25 series. This means that Samsung will be offering some first-party cases and accessories with magnets that work with Qi2 (and MagSafe). There are no magnets in the phones themselves, but there are certain third-party cases with support. The main focus of the Galaxy S25 series is all about AI, rather than hardware. With much of it powered by Google’s Gemini enhancements, Samsung is leveraging “AI agents” in One UI 7 on the Galaxy S25 to streamline the experience of using your phone. This includes improvements to Google’s services, such as Circle to Search upgrades, Gemini’s new ability to “chain” commands and interactions with apps, and support for accessing Gemini by long-pressing the Galaxy S25’s power button. Samsung apps are also getting Gemini extensions for deeper integration. As for Samsung’s Galaxy AI features, there are various improvements coming. Generative Edit can now recognize a person’s shadow and remove it when you remove the person, “Now Brief” can summarize your day, and Samsung Gallery can find images using natural language. The “Personal Data Engine” can also analyze your personal data on-device to tailor experiences to you while respecting your privacy. As for pricing, there are no changes in the United States and many other major markets — US $799 for the base Galaxy S25 (128GB), US $999 for the Galaxy S25+ (256GB), and US $1,299 for the Galaxy S25 Ultra (256GB). Galaxy S25 and S25+ will launch in Navy, Icyblue, Mint, and Silver Shadow colors, with Blueblack, Coralred, and Pinkgold available through Samsung’s website. Meanwhile, Galaxy S25 Ultra gets Titanium Silverblue, Titanium Whitesilver, Titanium Gray, and Titanium Black colors, with Titanium Pinkgold, Titanium Jetblack, and Titanium Jadegreen colors on Samsung’s website. Pre-orders are open now with devices available on 7th February, 2025. As for that teaser for the upcoming Galaxy S25 Edge, Samsung did not reveal many details about the device and there is still no word on an exact release date. However, rumors suggest the device could launch as soon as April or May 2025. Samsung has also not revealed any specs for the device. A report earlier this month suggested that the Galaxy S25 Edge will be around 6.4mm thick. Apple’s iPhone 17 Air, however, will reportedly be in the realm of 5.5mm at its thinnest point. Samsung is said to have started work on the Galaxy S25 Edge after the first rumors of the iPhone 17 Air surfaced in May 2024, according to a supply chain report. What are your thoughts on the Galaxy S25 series? Let us know in the comments below.
More on this as it becomes available. [Source: 9to5Google] Watch Live: Apple Unveils iPhone 16, Apple Watch Series 10, AirPods 4 And More | ‘It’s Glowtime’9/9/2024 
A special Apple Event — “It’s Glowtime” — focused on the iPhone 16 and more, kicks off at 1:00 PM EST today (Monday 9th September, 2024) at the Steve Jobs Theatre at Apple Park. We are expecting four (4) new iPhones today: the base model iPhone 16, a larger iPhone 16 Plus, the iPhone 16 Pro and another beastly iPhone 16 Pro Max. The Pro models might get slightly larger screens, with the regular Pro likely to move to 6.3 inches from 6.1 inches, while the Pro Max should hit 6.9 inches, an increase from 6.7 inches. The iPhone 16’s camera module could be getting a design refresh also.
Some of the new camera features coming to the iPhone 16 Pro models may include the following:
Additionally, 9to5Mac says the iPhone 16’s new Capture button will support third-party camera apps in addition to Apple’s Camera app.
According to the latest rumors from Mark Gurman, Chief Correspondent for Bloomberg, the new touch-sensitive Capture button is expected to be on all iPhone 16 models. The slimmer bezels on the iPhone 16 Pro line will be noticeable, Gurman notes, as are battery life improvements. Gurman does not expect the Pro entry price to be raised from US $999, despite earlier reports that it will start at US $1,099. A big focus on today’s event will be on AI and the new A18 chip across the board.
As for the Apple Watch Series 10, Gurman expects the focus to be on sleep apnea detection and larger screens/slimmer bezels, more in line with the Ultra. He also notes that the highly-anticipated blood pressure feature is delayed and not coming this year. Apple is not expected to announce an Apple Watch Ultra 3 today. However, the Ultra 2 is set to finally gain a black color option, as per Gurman, who said he would not rule out a delay to the new Watch SE 3. The company may also introduce a new band system with new connectors that are easier to swap out. Gurman expects Apple to launch new AirPods Max 2 headphones today with better noise cancellation, adaptive audio and USB-C. They are now expected to launch alongside the low-end AirPods 4. Watch the live stream of the Apple Event below when it begins at 1:00 PM EST today (Monday 9th September, 2024).
More on this as it becomes available.
This is a developing story - refresh this page for updates.  UPDATE: In a social media post this afternoon, RBC confirmed it has been affected. In a notice to its clients, the bank said, “RBC, along with many other businesses, is experiencing varying degrees of the global I.T. outage impacting organizations around the world. We are actively investigating and solutions are being deployed. Clients may have difficulty accessing their account information and may experience delays in their transactions. Our teams are working diligently to restore access as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and we apologize for the inconvenience.” According to reports, local branches of RBC may have also been affected by the global I.T. outage which has impacted several sectors from early this morning (Friday 19th July, 2024).
Guardian Media said it has seen an internal memorandum which was sent to RBC’s Caribbean banking division, stating: “Due to a global outage beyond our control, different business sectors worldwide, including RBC, have been affected. As a result, some of our Caribbean banking applications are currently down, which is impacting our operations, and the ability of our clients to transact via ATM, POS (Point of Sale) and digital banking.” The memo notes that “a fix has been deployed” but it may take some time before all systems are fully operational again. More on this as it becomes available. [Source: CNC3]  The Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) is advising customers that a brief disruption to its online payment platforms, due to the current global I.T. outage, has been resolved.
Customers can therefore resume payments via Quick Pay and Customer Web Access (CWA). Payments at Service Centres via card and cash are also being processed as normal. Please be guided accordingly.  UPDATE: George Kurtz, President and CEO of CrowdStrike, said the problems could persist for some time yet. “It could be some time for some systems that just automatically won’t recover,” he told NBC’s “TODAY” show this morning. Kurtz said the company was “deeply sorry for the impact that we’ve caused to customers, to travelers, to anyone affected by this,” adding the issue has been fixed on their end. “Many of the customers are rebooting the system, and it’s coming up, and it’ll be operational because we fixed it on our end,” he said. “We’re just trying to sort out where the negative interaction was,” he said of the faulty update that affected Windows PCs. Microsoft Windows outages are being reported across the globe this morning (Friday 19th July, 2024), resulting from an issue with U.S. cybersecurity company, CrowdStrike. The outages appear to be global, and massive. “CrowdStrike is aware of reports of crashes on Windows hosts related to the Falcon Sensor,” the company said in an alert confirming the outage at 1:30 AM ET this morning.
CrowdStrike's Falcon Sensor is software designed to prevent computer systems from cyberattacks. “Symptoms include experiencing a bugcheck\blue screen error related to the Falcon Sensor,” CrowdStrike's alert continued. “Our Engineering teams are actively working to resolve this issue and there is no need to open a support ticket.” Though the CrowdStrike issue is specifically causing Windows to crash, the problem seems to be having further-reaching implications as well. Considering that Windows is an incredibly popular operating system and CrowdStrike an incredibly popular cybersecurity company, multiple companies and services also appear to be experiencing outages due to their computers being down. Microsoft acknowledged the issue as well. “We're aware of an issue affecting Windows devices due to an update from a third-party software platform. We anticipate a resolution is forthcoming,” a Microsoft Spokesperson said. Reports of outages have rolled in from several countries around the world, including Australia, New Zealand, India, Japan, and the U.K. DownDetector is indicating a spike in issues across a slew of platforms and businesses in the U.S. as well, including Amazon Web Services, Instagram, eBay, Visa, ADT, and PlentyOfFish. Several U.S. airlines such as American, Delta, and United Airlines have been grounded due to communications issues, seemingly also the result of the outage. UK's Ryanair announced that their booking and check-in system is currently down. The Federal Aviation Administration said on X it was “closely monitoring a technical issue impacting IT systems at U.S. airlines,” with updates available at fly.faa.gov. Supermarkets, banks, airlines, telecommunications companies, and TV broadcasters are among the businesses impacted, with shoppers in Australia reportedly unable to pay for groceries due to electronic payment systems being down. CrowdStrike has since announced at 2:30 AM ET that it has identified the update causing the issue and rolled it back. The company also offered a workaround for anyone having problems:
Having to do this for every single computer in multiple companies across the globe is still likely to take some time. Meanwhile, CrowdStrike stock is plummeting — down more than 21% in pre-market trading on Friday. By this metric, the company's market cap has shrunk by $16 billion. More on this as it becomes available. This is a developing story - refresh this page for updates. [Source: Mashable] 
Apple previewed iOS 18 today (Monday 10th June, 2024) at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in California, showing off a major release that features more customization options, the biggest redesign ever of the Photos app, new ways for users to manage their inbox in Mail, Messages over satellite, and so much more.
Users will be able to arrange apps and widgets in any open space on the Home Screen, customize the buttons at the bottom of the Lock Screen, and quickly access more controls in Control Center. Photo libraries are automatically organized in a new single view in Photos, and helpful new collections keep favorites easily accessible. Mail simplifies the inbox by sorting email into categories using on-device intelligence, and all-new text effects come to iMessage. Powered by the same groundbreaking technology as existing iPhone satellite capabilities, users can now communicate over satellite in the Messages app when a cellular or Wi-Fi connection isn’t available.
iOS 18 also introduces ‘Apple Intelligence,’ the personal intelligence system for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that combines the power of generative models with personal context to deliver intelligence that is incredibly useful and relevant. Built with privacy from the ground up, Apple Intelligence is deeply integrated into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia. It harnesses the power of Apple silicon to understand and create language and images, take action across apps, and draw from personal context, to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks.
“We are thrilled to introduce iOS 18. It is a huge release with incredible features, including new levels of customization and capability, a redesigned Photos app, and powerful ways to stay connected with Messages. There are so many benefits for everyone,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering. “This release also marks the beginning of a tremendously exciting new era of personal intelligence with Apple Intelligence delivering intuitive, powerful, and instantly useful experiences that will transform the iPhone experience, all with privacy at the core. We can’t wait for users to experience it.”
Apple also announced a deal with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to use the company’s technology in its products and showing off a slew of its own new AI features. In addition to Apple’s own home-grown AI tech, the company’s phones, computers and iPads will also have ChatGPT built-in “later this year.” The deal will put ChatGPT in front of millions of Apple users who might not know about or want to use it directly on their own.
Availability The developer beta of iOS 18 is available through the Apple Developer Program at developer.apple.com starting today, and a public beta will be available through the Apple Beta Software Program next month at beta.apple.com. iOS 18 will be available this fall as a free software update for iPhone Xs and later. Below is a list of compatible iPhones:
Apple Intelligence will be available in beta on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPad and Mac with M1 and later, with Siri and device language set to U.S. English, as part of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia this fall. For more information, visit apple.com/ios/ios-18-preview and apple.com/apple-intelligence.
[Source: Apple]
WhatsApp, Instagram, and several other Meta services are facing an outage this afternoon (Wednesday 3rd April, 2024), as being reported by many users.
Downdetector shows a spike in reports of outages affecting Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp over the last hour. More than 20,000 reports of a WhatsApp outage have been reported on the service status site. So far, WhatsApp has acknowledged issues with its service.
Hopefully the outages being experienced with these Meta services are resolved for users soon.
More on this as it becomes available. This is a developing story - refresh this page for updates. [Source: 9to5Mac]  Meta’s Facebook is resurfacing its once-popular “poke” feature around the social network’s 20th birthday and framing it as an easy way to say “hi” to a friend. Remember when you would “poke” your friends on Facebook to get their attention, annoy them or just start a poke war? Some even used it as a way to flirt back in the day. Facebook is now trying to bring back that experience with some small updates to the poking feature. The company announced today (Tuesday 19th March, 2024) that it recently improved the platform’s suggestions on who to poke and have also made it easier to find the poking page through search. Plus, Facebook added the ability to poke a friend when you search for them on the social network. According to TechCrunch, Facebook notes that these minor changes have led to a 13x spike in poking in the past month. Despite many users not being around for the initial surge of poking back in the day, a young generation is starting to embrace the feature, as Facebook states that more than 50% of pokes are coming from users between the ages of eighteen (18) to twenty-nine (29). When you poke someone, they'll get a notification.
How to see and send pokes on Facebook:
If you don't want someone to poke you, you can block them. Poking is one of Facebook’s oldest features, dating from the platform’s founding in 2004, but was tucked away in the navigation after it lost popularity. Facebook never defined what the idea behind poking was, and left it up to users’ interpretation, with some choosing to use it as a way to flirt. Will you be poking any of your Facebook friends soon? Let us know in the comments below. [Source: TechCrunch] |
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