Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson

Citing "technical limitations", Netflix has dropped support for AirPlay from its iPhone and iPad apps.

Attempts to use AirPlay via the Control Center result in an error message, and Netflix has updated its support pages to indicate that the feature is no longer available. With AirPlay having been supported for a number of years, it's not clear quite what technical issues may have suddenly arisen, but the change does come shortly after the launch of Apple TV+.

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Having been slapped with antitrust accusations by the European Commission, Valve has responded to complaints about geo-blocking on its Steam gaming platform.

After the Commission complained that Valve and five game publishers had come to arrangements between themselves to region-lock certain titles, the company says that only a very small portion of games available on the platform are subject to geo-locking.

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Following a beta test of the feature Microsoft has doubled the number of people that can take part in a Skype chat from 25 to 50 for all users.

The option of chatting with up to 49 other people applies to both video and audio chats, and it's something that is probably going to appeal to businesses more than individual users. The increase sees Skype finally catching up with Facebook Messenger, and overtaking Apple's FaceTime.

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The European Commission has informed Valve that geo-blocking in Steam contravenes EU competition rules. Similar warnings have been issued to five games publishers.

Valve, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax have been told that "European consumers should have the right to buy and play video games of their choice regardless of where they live in the EU". The Commission says that the use of geo-blocking to prevent cross-border sales is a breach of antitrust rules.

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If you're signed up to the Xbox Insiders program, you can beta test an updated version of the Game Bar in Windows 10. Originally designed to allow for recording and broadcasting of game footage, The Game Bar now includes Spotify integration and cross-platform messaging.

The Game Bar beta also includes a number of new widgets that can be used to monitor system performance, control audio, and more.

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Google has announced that it is closing down its artificial intelligence ethics council following controversy about board members. The Advanced Technology External Advisory Council (ATEAC) was formed just a week ago, but there was strong criticism of the decision to appoint Heritage Foundation president Kay Coles James to the board.

Rightwinger James has a history of opposing LGBTQ rights, and dozens of Google employees signed a petition in protest at her board membership. In response, Google has said that it is "going back the drawing board" and is ending the council.

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Facebook is hardly renowned for respecting privacy, but with WhatsApp the company is taking a small step to give users greater control.

A change to privacy settings for groups means that it is now possible -- at last -- to avoid being added to a group chat you don't to be involved in. WhatsApp has announced that "we're introducing a new privacy setting and invite system to help you decide who can add you to groups".

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Bug bounty programs are a popular way for tech companies to track down problems with their products without having to spend large sums of money on dedicated research teams. Microsoft is one of the big names with such a program, and it has just announced that it is increasing the payouts it makes.

As well as offering people more money for finding issues with its products, Microsoft also says that it will pay people faster.

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It is only a couple of weeks since we learned that Facebook has been storing user passwords in searchable plain text, and now there is -- yet another -- privacy scandal. This time, the private data of over half a billion Facebook users was left exposed on publicly-accessible Amazon servers.

Security firm UpGuard discovered that the private data of 540 million Facebook users was exposed in Amazon Web Services S3 buckets. Now removed, the data included identification numbers, comments, reactions and account names. In some instances, names, passwords and email addresses were also exposed.

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Beats by Dr Dre has revealed details of its soon-to-be-released Powerbeats Pro wireless earphones. Scheduled for release in May, the earphones combine the engineering talents of Apple and Beats to create AirPod alternatives for music lovers and athletes alike.

Smaller and lighter than its predecessor, Powerbeats Pro provide both audio quality and comfort, and have been designed to withstand rigorous workouts. Available in four colors -- Black, Ivory, Moss and Navy -- the earphones deliver "powerful, balanced sound with dynamic range and noise isolation for a premium listening experience".

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As promised, Google has now closed down Google+, the social networking experiment that just never really took off. If you try to access the site -- or use the mobile app -- you'll be advised that "Google+ is no longer available for consumer (personal) and brand accounts".

Google gave fair warning of the impending closure, telling users to take advantage of the option to download their data before it was deleted forever -- although the Internet Archive said it would try to backup as much as possible. Now the closure has actually happened, it seems that there is still time to download your Google+ content... but you'll have to be quick.

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If you have been using the Microsoft Store as your point of purchase for ebooks, you're going to have to start shopping elsewhere. Microsoft has ditched the Books category from the store, and this means that not only will it not be possible to buy books from the Microsoft Store, but also that previous purchases will not be accessible after July.

For anyone who has built up a library of ebooks via Microsoft, this will come as bad news -- but there is a slight silver lining. The company says that it will provide full refunds for all book purchases.

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Google may be shutting down its Inbox app later this week, but there are alternatives out there. In fact, the number of options available to Android users just increased.

Spark -- which has proved very popular with iOS and macOS users -- has just migrated to Android, bringing with it all manner of inbox organizing smarts. Developer Readdle says it will, "make you love email again".

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With precisely zero fanfare, Microsoft has added a new mid-range Surface Book 2 to the existing line-up. Priced at $1,499, the 13.5-inch model is now available with the new i5-8350U processor.

The addition of an 8th generation Intel quad-core Core i5 processor was something we'd heard rumoured, and this new model not only opens up the range of options available to buyers, it also means that other prices have been reduced.

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Online privacy has become such a concern that VPN tools -- once used only by technology experts -- have now started to become far more mainstream. Android users can take advantage of Opera's built-in VPN, and there are many other services to choose from.

Adding to this list, Cloudflare has announced a new free VPN service called Warp. It will become part of the company's existing privacy-focused 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver, and just as 1.1.1.1 was designed to simplify using a DNS tool, so Warp is being billed as a "VPN for people who don't know what V.P.N. stands for".

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