Skype kills off Windows 8 touchscreen app to focus on desktop version

Microsoft’s Skype team doesn’t want to try to remedy the disparity between its touch-friendly version of Skype and the desktop app. Instead, they’ll be killing off the Windows 8 version starting next month. If you’re downloading the app starting July 7, you’ll be redirected to the download page of the desktop version. This news, however, won’t affect the Windows Phone app and those using Windows RT tablets. Although, this could also mean the app won’t be getting updates in the future.

Source: PCWorld

YouTube introduces its own Twitch video game streaming competitor

YouTube was set to acquire video game streaming site Twitch a year ago, but Amazon beat them to it. Now, YouTube is taking the fight to Amazon and Twitch with its own gaming portal, YouTube Gaming. The mobile app and site will focus on live streaming video games and other game-related content. It’ll feature individual pages for over 25,000 games and pages for certain developers and gaming celebrities. Their version will be coming out this summer in the US and the UK.

Source: The Verge

Google Play introduces ‘Free App of the Week’ in the Family section

Google’s recently introduced Family section in the Google Play Store is bringing a first for Google—a “Free App of the Week” section. This time the PBS Kids’ app Daniel Tiger Grr-ific Feelings is the first app that’ll be free. Google previously only let app developers give discounts for their paid apps but they’ve never let them give it away for free before. Of course, it’s expected to go back to being paid next week. However, it would seem you’ll need to look for the free app banner on Google Play because it still shows as a US$2.99 app on its page.

Source: Android Central  

iMessage crashing bug gets squashed in iOS beta 8.4

iOS Beta 8.4, which is available to developers, fixes the iMessage exploit that can crash the iOS Messages app once it receives specific string of Unicode characters via iMessage or SMS. Sending the string of characters to an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch results in an immediate respring, causing the device to crash and quickly reboot. Apple issued a temporary workaround a few weeks ago but with iOS Beta 8.4 solves the exploit completely.

Source: Mac Rumors