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.

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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Review: Apple Watch Series 3 GPS + Cellular

Updated on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 at 8:47AM by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Note: Author's carrier is TELUS which has yet to provide an ETA on Apple Watch compatibility. A second part to this review, which focuses on the LTE aspect, will follow as soon as the service can be tested.

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Apple Watch Series 3 brings improvements across the board for Apple's smartwatch and wearable. 

The biggest feature is the addition of cellular capability which makes it possible to use the Watch independently of paired iPhones. 

An embedded SIM card allows users to make phone calls, send SMS or iMessages, query Siri for information  and access Apple Music on demand.

Apple has apparently always wanted the Apple Watch to be able to manage its own connections. It did a great job incorporating Wi-Fi into Apple Watch. I've left my iPhone to charge at home and use the Apple Watch to access my gym's Wi-Fi connection to get notifications, messages and even mail.

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