Google is no stranger to killing off services, and it seems that one of its next victims could be Hangouts.

Having split the chat tool into corporate-focused Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet, sources familiar with Google's plans say that the company is due to shut down the consumer version of Hangouts in 2020. The writing has been on the wall for a little while, but now the clock really is ticking...

Marriott International has revealed that its Starwood Hotel reservation database has been hacked. An investigation carried out by the company revealed that hackers have had unauthorized access to the Starwood network since 2014.

The astonishing revelation means that information of half a billion guests could have been exposed -- including sensitive personal data such as home address and passport number -- and Marriott says there is evidence that data has been copied from its network.

Instagram has announced the rollout of Close Friends, a feature that makes it possible to create a list of people with whom you'd like to share Stories. This is very different to the current approach which sees Stories shared with everyone.

The feature has been beta tested for nearly a year and a half and is now ready for primetime. Rolling out to iOS and Androind in the coming days, the new feature will be welcomed by those who had concerns about privacy on Instagram.

There are many annoyances associated with owning a computer -- spam emails, phishing attacks, viruses and online advertising to name but a few -- but technical support scams are among the most worrying. They take advantage of people's ignorance and/or better natures, posing as tech support operatives from big companies over the phone.

Being one of the best-known technology companies in the world, it's little surprise that a huge number of these tech support scams purport to be Microsoft calling to offer help with computer problems. Such scams are responsible for conning people out of large amounts of money, but progress has been made in India where -- following reports from Microsoft -- arrests have been made at a number of call centers.

Hot on the heels of TIDAL arriving in the Microsoft Store for Windows 10 users, Plex has announced integration with the high-quality music service in its media tool.

You don't need a paid-for Plex Pass to enjoy TIDAL in Plex, but there are special subscription deals available if you do have one. There's also no need to have a server set up -- you can access TIDAL from within the Plex apps.

The US Army has revealed that Microsoft has won a contract worth $480 million to supply prototype augmented reality equipment. The deal could see the Army purchasing 100,000 HoloLens headsets from the company.

Microsoft says the deal is an extension of its existing relationship with the Department of Defense. The company has previously faced criticism from its employees for bidding for military contracts, but it responded by saying it believed that those defending the US should have access to the best technology. Winning this latest contract -- the aim of which is to "increase lethality by enhancing the ability to detect, decide and engage before the enemy" -- is likely to face similar criticism.

Dell has announced that it has instigated a mandatory password reset for customers after it suffered a cyberattack earlier in the month.

In a statement, the company confirmed that its network had been subject to "unauthorized activity" on November 9 in which attackers tried to gain access to customer information. Dell says that data was limited to names, email addresses and hashed passwords, adding there is "no conclusive evidence" that data was extracted. The forced password reset is described as a measure to "limit the impact of any potential exposure".

iPhones have a tendency to hold their value more than other phones -- and it's a similar story with other Apple products. If you were thinking of upgrading your handset to one of the latest models and you're considering trading it in with Apple, you'll be pleased to hear that your old iPhone just became more valuable.

Apple is running a time-limited promotion which means you could bag yourself up to $100 extra credit when you take advantage of the Apple GiveBack program. You could earn up to $300 to put towards your next Apple device.

Google is taking steps to make it easier to not only pair Bluetooth headphones and speakers to your Android phones, but also to make it easier to user the same Bluetooth hardware with multiple devices.

The Fast Pair feature was announced last year, and now Google has teamed up with numerous audio companies to not only improve support, but also to use Google accounts as a means of simplifying the process of using the same headphones and speakers with multiple phones -- and, as of next year, Chromebooks.

Microsoft is rolling out new features to the mobile version of OneDrive. The company has also announced that it is introducing a new Block Download feature in "late November" that can be used to stop people from making copies of a file or its contents.

Android and iOS users can look forward to improvement to the MyAnalytics component, but the big OneDrive news is that the Camera Upload feature has now left beta and is available to everyone -- if they are using Android, that is.

The Windows 10 October 2018 Update has been one of the most problematic Microsoft releases ever. It seems that every time the company pushes out the update, yet another issue arises.

The Windows 10 October 2018 Update has already caused issues with Apple iCloud, file associations, data loss... the list goes on and on. The latest problem sees the update breaking Windows Media Player.

Facebook's plan for Facebook Watch to be a viable competitor to YouTube seemed a little unlikely -- to say the least -- and it would seem that the pessimists were right. Facebook Watch has proved to be a dud.

A little over a year after launch, the on-demand video service has gained an audience of just 50 million people. This might initially sound like a large number, but YouTube has -- admittedly over a number of years -- amassed over 1.8 billion users. The problem appears to be that younger audiences are simply not interested in Facebook Watch, so Facebook is now switching the focus of the service to an older market.

Apple has a four-day shopping event running from today until Monday, promising shoppers "special offers when you buy select products". Running from the day that is a celebration of commercialism and capitalism, Black Friday, through the weekend and up to Cyber Monday, the Apple Shopping Event is -- unfortunately -- nothing to get excited about.

This is not entirely unexpected. Apple has form when it comes to disappointing Black Friday offers. If you were hoping for massive discounts, prepare to feel let down.

LinkedIn has quietly launched new privacy settings that block users from exporting the email addresses of their contacts.

This is not something that many LinkedIn users would have even considered to be a problem, but it was previously possible for anyone -- from individuals to marketing firms -- to export the contact details of their connections and use it however they wanted. In what will be seen as a big win for users in general and privacy advocates, you now have to explicitly enable the setting for people to be able to export your email address.

If you have an iPhone, you use Siri; if you have an Android phone, you use Google Assistant. Right? Thanks to Siri Shortcuts -- and an update from Google -- it's now easier than ever to access Google Assistant on your iPhone with a voice command.

With iOS 12, Apple introduced Siri Shortcuts giving users the opportunity to record their own voice triggers that can then be used to perform different actions. Now Google Assistant supports Siri Shortcuts, so you can access it via Siri.