Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson

Apple has joined forces with ISSEY MIYAKE to create a new way for iPhone owners to carry and protect their smartphone. The iPhone Pocket is a sash-style 3D-knitted pocket which is available in a rainbow spectrum of colors.

This is not the first time the iPhone-maker has collaborated in this way, and the result this time around is a versatile phone sling that can be worn or carried in a variety of ways. There are two different styles to choose from, but potential buyers may baulk at the price.

There are few things more iconic online than the Facebook Like button. Found underneath every post on the social media platform, the button has become a handy way for sites to encourage engagement.

But now Meta has announced plans to discontinue two of its Facebook Social Plugins in the early part of next year. Specifically, it is the Facebook Like button that appears on external websites, as well as the Facebook Comment button. This is quite a change for the social media giant to come up with out of the blue, so what is the thinking behind it?

Over the last few years, Microsoft has gradually evolved the Snipping Tool from a simple screen-grabbing tool into something which is much more advanced and sophisticated than anyone could have first imagined.

Having added features such as the ability to create video, grab text from images using OCR, the company is now adding new text options to the app. While not officially available – or even announced – new capabilities have been spotted in the app that show how Microsoft is developing this increasingly essential tool.

The Chinese government applied pressure on Apple to remove the two biggest queer dating apps from its App Store in the country, and the iPhone-maker has rolled over and done just that.

The two apps – Blued and Finka – have previously been named as being the first and second most popular dating apps for members of the LGBTQIA+ community in China. Some sources suggest that their appeal spread globally.

The wide range of messaging apps now available is great in terms of choice, but it also means that you almost certainly have contacts scattered across a number of different platforms. In turn, this means that you have had to install a large number of app in order to ensure that you are able to contact everyone that you need to.

But this could soon be changing for WhatsApp users. Several years ago, there were various messaging apps that could be used to conduct cross-platform chats, so you could use one app instead of several. This looks to be the direction in which WhatsApp is heading.

Microsoft has very quietly introduced a multi-app installer option for the Microsoft Store. Working in a similar way to third-party package installers, the new feature makes it possible to add several apps to a “shopping list” and then install them in one fell swoop rather than individually.

There are a few interesting things about this, not least of which is the fact that Microsoft has not made a big announcement about this handy new option. Another curiosity is that the option is only available for some users of the web-based version of the Microsoft Store.

While it would be an exaggeration to say that Spotify Wrapped is the highlight of the year, the annual look back at what you’ve listened to over the past year is an interesting bit of fun. Sadly, the wait between one Wrapped and the next is incredibly long, but this is changing.

Spotify has announced the introduction of new listening stats which will be updated on a weekly basis. While not, strictly speaking, a weekly version of Spotify Wrapped, it is pretty close.

More than a year-and-a-half after announcing its retirement, Microsoft has revealed its plans to fully remove Defender Application Guard from Office.

The journey has been a long a slow one for the this security feature which isolates untrusted Office documents in a virtualized contained. Deprecation was first announced way back in November 2023, and the process of complete removal will not be finished until the end of 2027.

Given the publicity Microsoft has given to the end of mainstream support for Windows 10, there are few users who are unaware if this fact. And with the promotion of the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program, most are also aware that there is still a way to get updates.

So, there was a mixture of surprise and anger when users signed up to receive Extended Security Updates started it see a message informing them that “Your version of Windows has reached the end of support”.

It may not have been long since Microsoft finally released the Windows 11 25H2 update, but the company is already working away on the next big release. We know little about it, but Microsoft has – perhaps accidentally – released code that makes reference to Windows 11 26H1.

This is the first time that Microsoft has referred to this particular branch of Windows 11 development, lending some credibility to the rumors that this was the next feature update for the operating system. So, what do we know?

Like many people, you’ve probably put off installing Windows 11 updates because you need to get on with something else. And if at the end of the day you have selected the “Update and Shut Down” option in the Start menu, you may well have questioned yourself when Windows chose to restart instead.

But this was not you; it was Microsoft’s fault. The company has just admitted to the long-standing issue while quietly fixing the bug that has irritated users for a surprisingly long time.

Google has, over the years, added a lot of time-saving features to Chrome. Chief among these are the autofill features which can make light work of filling in forms by automatically entering frequently used snippets of data such as names and addresses.

When it comes to shopping, Chrome can also enter your credit card details for you, so you do not have to keep tracking down the physical card. Now Google has announced new time-saving functions.

For business travelers, holidaymakers and many other people, Google Translate is an essential tool. Making it possible to understand and be understood in other countries and other languages, Google Translate is now gaining a new AI-powered feature.

You would imagine that when it comes to translating text between languages, accuracy would be what most people – if not everyone – would be most interested in. But with the latest Gemini-focused update, Google is giving users the option to choose between a fast translation and a more accurate one.

If you are in a Facebook Group which is private, you might want to keep an eye on things. Meta has just announced that Group administrators will be getting a new option that will enable them to change their group from private to public.

While Meta is promoting this as a way for group admins to “grow their communities”, there will be obvious privacy concerns for people who joined particular groups precisely because they were private. Meta believes, however, that it has things in control, insisting that member privacy can be maintained even if the switch from private to public is made.

WhatsApp has been working on a username feature for what feels like forever, with information gradually slipping out about how this much-requested option will work. There are various reasons for wanting usernames, not least of which is that it just makes sense because it is how just about every other social networking or messaging platform works.

We have already heard from Meta that it believes usernames will help to improve security, and now the latest beta version of the Android app shows us more. Specifically, this latest release shows us how it will be possible to search by username and place calls without the need to know someone’s phone number.