The City of Calgary and Waze partner for Cities Data Program

The City of Calgary has just announced a two-way, data-sharing partnership with Waze for publicly available traffic information. Waze's Cities Data program aims to create "greater efficiency, deeper insights, and safer roads."

Calgary's Traffic Management Centre (TMC) can use tools like Waze to improve traffic flow and let citizens know about traffic impacts, road closures, and construction quickly.

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Apple releases slew of software updates

One week after its reveal of new iPad Pros, Apple TVs, and all-new iMacs with the M1 processor, Apple has started rolling out software updates to all its major devices. The most relevant is of course iOS 14.5 for the iPhone with various security features as well as the ability to unlock the iPhone with an Apple Watch (because Face ID is useless with masks on), and a more diverse choice of Siri voices.

New Emoji are also available in time for spring, including various types of couple emoji and a wider range of skin tones. Apple Maps gets more interactive with the ability to report an incident a la Waze. AirTag support is also an important update which allows some devices to work with Apple's new Find My devices.  iPad OS, Watch OS, TV OS, and Mac OS all received significant updates available now.

Microsoft Teams is down for many users

Microsoft Teams users are experiencing a global outage which is blocking connectivity and access. The affected users are mostly reported in Europe and Asia, although the issue might be more widespread.

“We’ve confirmed that this issue affects users globally,” says Microsoft’s 365 status account on Twitter. “We’re reviewing monitoring telemetry and recent changes to isolate the source of the issue.” Microsoft's representatives said. This is the second widespread outage to the company's meeting and collaborations solution this month. Microsoft Teams also struggled with connectivity issues last month, but this was credited to an authentication change. 

Microsoft's other cloud servies like Azure, Office 365, and Xbox Live seem to be working. 

Source: The Verge

Spotify gets a new mini player in Facebook's mobile apps

Spotify

Now, you no longer have to leave the Facebook app to listen to songs or podcasts recommended on your feed. Spotify is rolling out this feature to its iOS and Android apps in 27 countries, including Canada. The first time you use the player, there will be a prompt asking you to connect the music and social apps. You'll be asked to sign in if you haven't yet.

As you play audio content, the mini player lives on the bottom of the interface just above the navigation icons. You'll see an album or show artwork and title and artist info. Premium subscribers get the full functionality of the player, while free users have access to shuffle mode. There will also be ads playing for free Spotify subscribers, as what happens on the Spotify app. Those without Spotify accounts will get a 30-second preview of the track.

Source: Spotify | Via: Engadget