ROYAL PRIESTHUD

Recently, Microsoft announced that Outlook.com will no longer offer Facebook Chat and Google Talk integration. From now on, the website will be completely focused on the Redmond-based company's own chat product: Skype. The IT giant has already sent out messages notifying its customers of the upcoming changes which will take effect within the next couple of weeks. As far as we know, the reason for taking out Google Talk is the fact that Google no longer offers support for the chat protocol employed by the client (XMPP), choosing to discontinue and replace it with its newer app called Hangouts. As irony would have it, Google chose to step aside from Google Talk and prioritize Hangouts in May 2013, exactly the same month that the chat became a part of the services offered by Outlook.com. As far as the Facebook chat application goes, Microsoft didn't offer any official reason for choosing to no longer integrate it in its services. From what I've heard, the social network has

The   fight   between Google and Microsoft over the education sector of the market continues as both giants realize that making people rely on their services from a young age could mean that they will continue utilizing them for a very long time. Since the Mountain View-based company one-upped them with the Google for Education Project, Microsoft had to do something, so they decided to extend their free Office 365 suite offer to every student in the entire world. Microsoft already allowed students from the US to use Office 365 for free (since 2013), but now it decided to expand this privilege to the entire globe. However, there are a few terms that students need to meet in order to benefit from this offer. The first and most important one is that the institution where they study must already have the licensed software. If you are a student and you want to check if you are eligible to receive free access to Office 365, simply go to   this link   and enter the email provided to you by

Introduction Technology news is full of incremental developments, but few of them are true milestones. Here we’re citing 10 that are. These advances from the past year all solve thorny problems or create powerful new ways of using technology. They are breakthroughs that will matter for years to come. -The Editors  Agricultural Drones Relatively cheap drones with advanced sensors and imaging capabilities are giving farmers new ways to increase yields and reduce crop damage. Ultraprivate Smartphones New models built with security and privacy in mind reflect the Zeitgeist of the Snowden era. Brain Mapping A new map, a decade in the works, shows structures of the brain in far greater detail than ever before, providing neuroscientists with a guide to its immense complexity. Neuromorphic Chips Microprocessors

Nowadays, almost every new piece of technology from smartphones and tablets to key-finding devices and light bulbs includes support for Bluetooth connectivity. Better yet, the new version called Bluetooth Smart requires very little power to operate, so it can run for years with the equivalent of a battery watch. However, the biggest problem for this technology has always been the maximum range of its connection which at the moment is somewhere around 30 meters (98 feet). This is why the backers of Bluetooth thought about weaving a mesh that will drastically extend the connectivity range. Basically, what it this means is that the Bluetooth Special Interest Group is planning on creating a chain network that will use various devices which embed Bluetooth technology thermostats, sensors, lights etc. to transmit the signal farther. According to the group, devices which include the Bluetooth mesh feature could start showing up on the market as early as in the upcoming year. Since other ne

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei has unveiled a bespoke Windows-run smartphone exclusively available in Africa.   The customised Huawei Windows phone will only be available in Africa  The customised device is being launched today in partnership with Microsoft as part of its new 4Afrika Initiative. This includes plans to develop cheap wireless broadband in the Rift Valley in Kenya and help local people in South Africa and Egypt develop Windows apps. Prices for the new device have not yet been announced. "Our aim is to be the most affordable Windows phone in Africa," Gustavo Fuchs, director of Microsoft Windows Phone division in the Middle East & Africa, told the BBC. It will initially be rolled out in seven countries: Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Angola, Morocco and South Africa. The phone will be marketed depending on the retail climate of those individual nations, Mr Fuchs explained. "At first we are making the product available across the

Google has sealed a deal with several mobile telephone operators to promote their payment systems through the mobile app 'Google Wallet', just a few months after the release of an electronic payment system by Apple.

World's thinnest keyboard unveiled by Cambridge tech firm Company behind technology found in Beats headphones and Nike gadgets plans lightweight add-on for tablets or phones World's thinnest keyboardThe world's thinnest keyboard, which has been unveiled by Cambridge-based CSR at the IFA consumer electronics event in Berlin. Photograph: Picasa/PR Jemima Kiss The company behind the technology found in wireless Beats headphones and Nike Running gadget has unveiled the world's thinnest keyboard, with a flexible, wireless touchscreen just half a millimetre thick. Cambridge-based CSR, which specialises in wireless technology, showcased a prototype of the product at the IFA consumer electronics event in Berlin, but it will be 12 months before it will be available to buy. Paul Williamson, CSR's director of low power wireless products, said the final form factor depended on how manufacturers bring the keyboard to market, although its primary use is likely to be as a

A big difference between DDR3 and DDR4 is speed. DDR3 specifications started at 800 MT/s (or Millions of Transfers per second) and some went as high as 2133. DDR4, meanwhile, starts at 2133 MHz. The increased speed means an overall increase in bandwidth.

Your smartphone has a secret superpower: With its camera and flash alone, it can measure your heart rate. That means that apps are available to track your heart rate, with the aim of helping you improve your health. This simple process has a complicated name: photoplethysmography. Every time the heart sends a pulse of blood through the body, the tiny capillary vessels in the skin expand. When a smartphone's flash illuminates the skin, its camera can capture the miniscule color changes that happen each time the heart beats. (Because you have to hold fairly still for this process, these apps don't provide the sort of continuous monitoring that external heart rate monitors can provide; with these apps, you'll have to stop what you're doing for about 10 seconds to take your pulse.) Dozens of heart rate monitoring apps take advantage of smartphones' built-in ability to provide a quick and easy way for users to take their own pulse — no math require