Microsoft shutters Groove streaming music service, sends customers to Spotify

Never shy about killing off unprofitable businesses, Microsof has decided to end its Groove streaming music service and is now sending Groove customers to market leader Spotify. Microsoft will shut down its Groove Pass music streaming service on December 31st and will no longer sell music or provide a music streaming service (It will, however, continue to sell TV shows and movies). Hit jump for details.

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Former Intel CEO Paul Otellini passes away

Intel CEO Paul Otellini, pictured with Apple's Steve Jobs is credited for helping bring Intel chips into the Mac ecosystem

Sad news today from Intel, former CEO Paul Otellini has passed away at 66. Otellini took the reins of the processor giant in 2005 and served as chief executive until his retirement in 2013. Otellini was a lifelong Intel employee and the first non-engineer to serve as CEO. He came on board at a time when mobile processors and the standard of Wi-Fi technology was just beginning to surface. 

“We are deeply saddened by Paul’s passing. He was the relentless voice of the customer in a sea of engineers, and he taught us that we only win when we put the customer first,” Brian Krzanich, his successor and current Intel CEO said in a statement.

Google revamps Home app

Just a day ahead of the release of Google’s Pixel 2 smartphones, Google cleans up its Google Home app, giving the app a sleeker look. Google simplifies the tabs and goes with just a Discover and Browse sections. Discover focuses more on your general needs and shows you tips about the different Google Home and Google Assistant functions and features, recommended searches and Chromecast apps, among many others.

The Browse tab, on the other hand, houses all your entertainment-related needs. At the top of the page you’ll see popular TV shows and movies you can browse through. Going through these there will be specific sections for different media streaming apps like YouTube, Google Play Movies, Netflix, and Spotify, among others. If you select on the TV shows, Music, and Movies buttons, that’ll take you to those specific categories. On top of that. There are new splash screens, too, for these categories with the titles showing up bigger at the top of the page and the volume controls getting a new look. If you’re wondering if you got these changes, the version of the app you should have is 1.25.81.13.

Source: Android Central

Square launches new contactless chip reader in Canada for $59

Square founder and CEO Jack Dorsey leads a roundtable of Canadian entrepreneurs during the launch of the Square readerBy Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Toronto- Payments innovagtor Square held an event this morning in downtown Toronto where they launched a new contactless reaer for local businesses to take debit and credit payments. Designed in part by hardware engineers from Toronto's North York office, now allows businesses to acceot various ways to pay including Interact as well as Apple Pay, Android Pay and Fitbit Play.

The new reader allows customers to tap their cards, mobile devices or wearables to make a payment securely in seconds.

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