Microsoft Skype gets in on the Snapchat action, introduces Highlights feature

Microsoft did a major overhaul of Skype for iOS and Android and brings some features you might have seen on other messaging apps. One is its own version of Snapchat’s Stories that the company calls Highlights. If you’ve used Snapchat or Instagram Stories or even the one in Facebook, you’ll be familiar with how Highlights works. It’ll let you take a photo or video and decorate that with text or emojis and post those to that section. Unlike the other “Stories” formats, the content will be up for a week and will only be visible to people you follow. You can also send them to specific people or groups.

Skype is also more customizable in terms of the look of the app. It’ll allow you to decorate it in your favorite colour. There are also now Facebook-like reactions coming to both chats and Highlights. Cortana is also making its way to Skype. There will also be other chat bots like BigOven, Bing, Expedia, Giphy, Gfycat, MSN Weather, Polls, Stubhub, Upworthy, and YouTube. The video call feature of the app will now let you send things like large emojis, text messages, stickers, and photos over video chat. These will be overlaid on the screen. Aside from that, Skype plans to bring some gaming features into video chats in the future as well as letting people watch streaming videos together. The update comes to Android first and will be coming to iOS in around a month. Windows and Mac versions of the app will be getting these new features in the next few months.

Source: MacRumors

Google to bring a built-in ad filter into Chrome next year

In hopes to clean up its browser of “annoying or intrusive advertisements,” Google is creating its own ad filter for Chrome in the coming year. The company doesn’t want to call it an ad blocker as it will just block any pages that have ads that don’t meet Chrome’s guidelines. Examples are videos that auto-play with sound or interstitials that take up an entire screen. Sridhar Ramaswamy, the executive in charge of Google’s ads, says that even ads “owned or served by Google” won’t be exempted. The filter will work for both mobile and desktop. They will introduce a tool that can help publishers determine if the ads they have on their site are in violation of Chrome’s guidelines.

In concept, the idea of an ad filter can be used for good. It’ll help improve performance, since bad ads are known to make browsing slower and more annoying to users—giving you a better experience online. But this also puts into the hands of Google, an ad company, a whole lot of power over what ads we can or can’t see. It can put publishers in a bit of a bind as well as help cement Google’s dominance. But Ramaswamy says their goal is to make online ads better. “We believe these changes will ensure all content creators, big and small, can continue to have a sustainable way to fund their work with online advertising.” But again, we still can’t help but think about the implication of this move.

Samsung brings Always On Display app to Play Store for Galaxy S8 owners

Samsung is making it easier to release updates for the Always On Display feature on the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus with its new app. As expected the app will not work on phones other than the aforementioned duo. The Always On Display is a nifty feature on Samsung’s new flagships that lets you check current time and date as well as see notifications and the like even when the main display is off. 

Launching a separate app means it’ll be easy for Samsung to push out updates for the display without having to release a software update for the phones. As expected, if you don’t own the S8 and S8 Plus, you won’t be able to download the app. If you are, you can get it from this link.

Source: Android Authority

Netflix’s ‘Sense8’ cancelled after two seasons

Following the cancellation of The Get Down, Sense8 joins a number of Netflix shows that are getting cancelled. The sci-fi drama explores the connection between eight strangers from around the globe. It has assembled a diverse set of actors like Aml Ameen, Doona Bae, Jamie Clayton, Tina Desai, Tuppence Middleton, Max Riemel, Miguel Angel Silvestre, and Brian J. Smith. Rumours were already swirling a few days ago and cast member Smith even helped get #RenewSense8 hashtag trending on Twitter. But unfortunately, it now joins Bloodline, Hemlock Grove, Lilyhammer, and Marco Polo, among the canceled Netflix series.

The cancellation announcement comes days after Netflix CEO and founder Reed Hastings told CNBC at the Code Conference in California that their platform hasn’t canceled enough shows. “Our hit ratio is way too high right now. I’m always pushing the content team; we have to take more risk, you have to try more crazy things, because we should have a higher cancel rate overall.”

Source: The Hollywood Reporter