News written by Matti Robinson (January, 2015)

Microsoft has been revealing the makings of Windows 10 this week. One of the most important aspects of all of its OS versions is the messaging. Now Skype team shows what its been up to.

The new Skype will come preloaded on all Windows 10 platforms be it phone, tablet, or PC. The new and updated Skype has been designed Windows 10 in mind but will of course land on Mac, iOS, and Android among others.

Microsoft's efforts are indeed in creating one app to rule them all. Like the competitor's iMessage it allows both SMS and instant messages to be sent from the same app, enabled by the linking of phone numbers and Skype names. It is available on all major platforms too, unlike the Apple's offering.

The new layout divides the view on panels and has a clean, simple look. Round icons are familiar from both Apple's and Google's messengers, as well as earlier versions of Skype.

Skype team promises more updates during the development in the next few months, and well keep you posted.

As Je suis Charlie has become the trending topic around the internet politicians are pressured to make decisions on new anti-terrorists acts.

In the United Kingdom the Prime Minister David Cameron is calling out for a backdoor to all secure messaging or else ban it.

According to Engadged the UK Prime Minister doesn't want terrorists to have means for private messaging without the possibility of government intervention.

The conservative party leader wants a new legislation in effect in 2016 as the Draft Communications Data Bill will be terminated. Known as the Snooper's Charter the bill requires companies to retain certain information of their users' communication.

This would first mean that the party would have to win this year's election and gain huge amount of traction for such a radical act.

The ban of such services would mean Whatsapp, Snapchat and the likes would be considered illegal – not to mention other encrypted data services – unless the special access is created.

It is highly unlikely the companies behind that messaging platforms would remove the encryption to the extent that it would become insecure.

In addition to Netflix the e-commerce giant Amazon is trying to fight against the Hollywood's overbearing control over TV shows.

Now Amazon has signed the legendary Woody Allen for an upcoming TV series.

The details are still extremely scarce. Amazon told that the series will feature all new 30 minute episodes but of what nature is yet unknown. The show will be written and directed by Allen.

Woody Allen himself doesn't have more details, saying: "I don't know how I got into this. I have no ideas and I'm not sure where to begin. My guess is that [Amazon Studios'] Roy Price will regret this."

The series will premiere next year on Amazon Prime Instant Video. What kind of plot or who will star the series are obviously completely undisclosed.

Samsung is preparing another flagship press event at this years Mobile World Congress in March. A lot depends on this one phone and its possible accessories as Samsung's stocks in the smartphone industry have been withering.

According to the information Business Insider has gathered from "sources familiar with the company's plans" Samsung will introduce not only one but two flagship variants at the event.

In addition to the two phones BI notes another revision of Gear smartwatch is coming. It will be the first one with a round display for the Korean company.

The sources say that the construction of one of the phones will include metal as is expected after the launch of Galaxy Alpha – the predecessor of metal design flaunting Alpha series – and Galaxy Note 4. It is however not yet known in what fashion the metal is used.

The non-metal variant features an Edge-like curved display. Galaxy Note Edge features a curved display that wraps around the right side of the phone (pictured above).

Business Insider notes that Samsung's plans can still change before the press event in early March.

The Netflix original that has since the first season defined the service – House of Cards – is continuing on February 27th. The Emmy and Golden Globe winning drama series has now released a new trailer for the upcoming season.

Starred by the Academy Award winning actor Kevin Spacey the third season returns maybe in a even darker tone than before. According to the trailer there will be more stress in the White House and in the hands of Francis Underwood.

The season will appear on Netflix in one package as usual and will feature thirteen all new episodes.

The first and the second season are of course available still in the streaming service if one desires a recap before the new season begins. Meanwhile watch the intense trailer below.

The web is quickly shifting towards the mobile and not unlike web, the music streaming is one of the more popular activities on a mobile device. And so in their latest press event Spotify has told that it is now more popular on phones and tablets than on desktop.

According to the new stats the desktop app is used by 45 percent of the users while the phones and tablets combine to 52 percent – phones are at 42% and tablets 10%.

The figures could be even more into favor of mobile if the company had stepped into it more aggressively. Last year Spotify reached into mobile with more apps and new shuffle-only and ad-supported models.

Currently the music streaming service says it has 60 million active subscribers of which 15 million are paying customers. This years possible introduction of Apple's new streaming service will keep Spotify on its toes and try to expand especially on mobile.

The future of The Pirate Bay is anything but certain. After last month's raid the website – or atleast it's functionality – has been down. Now Google has decided to move on and select the new number one.

The site is rumored to make a comeback soon. If that happens after the countdown on the official website runs down to zero remains to be seen.

Whatever the fate of the website will be Google's web search has decided that with "pirate bay" search it is no longer the most relevant website, TorrentFreak notes.

Google search reveals a new number one holder which is "Old Pirate Bay", a cloned website by the popular torrent site isoHunt. Other searches including Bing and Bing-powered Yahoo still rely on the official thepiratebay.se as the most relevant result.

Which one of the sites seems more relevant to you, the functional or the official website?

Sony has told that it will be adding free extension to PlayStation Plus members' subscriptions. The down time was caused by a DDoS attack that targeted both Sony's and Microsoft's servers.

Sony thanks the patience of its customers and will be reimbursing the lost subscription time and more. The extension will be five days and will easily cover the lost time – although not the Christmas gaming. Extension will be added automatically.

In addition Sony has decided to provide a discount for any games, TV shows, or movies in one cart purchase. This 10% discount will be given later this month.

Even if the compensation seems like a rather minor one Engadget estimates that the cost of just the extended subscription time to Sony is over $5 million.