WhatsApp is testing out a new cross-device feature; Clippy to return as an emoji in Microsoft 365 products, and Amazon’s Prime Day has been officially cancelled in Canada.
It’s all the tech news that’s trending right now, welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Monday, July 19, and I’m your host, Tom Li.
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WhatsApp’s popularity needs no introduction; the app has more than two billion users according to Facebook. With that said, the app has historically been only available on mobile. That’s all about to change, however, as WhatsApp is now testing a new feature that will let people send messages across multiple devices. The new feature, which will complement WhatsApp Web, is a step towards a “multi-device architecture” and represents a rethink of how the app operates. Once it releases, WhatsApp’s features will be more on par with its rivals Signal, which uses the same encryption scheme WhatsApp is based on.
Here comes a dose of nostalgia. Microsoft Office users in the 90s would undoubtedly remember Clippy, Microsoft’s virtual assistant that was always ready to pull up the help menu. Although Clippy has been absent from Microsoft Office for nearly 15 years now, it will be returning as an emoji. Clippy would replace the paper clip emoji in Microsoft 365 products, including Microsoft’s cloud services and the online version of Office. Microsoft had originally planned to make the change if the announcement received 20,000 likes on Twitter. But within hours, the post got more than 100,000 likes. And just like that, Clippy’s legacy continues.
A bit of a downer on a Monday morning but Amazon Prime Day has been cancelled due to the pandemic. Amazon had originally said that Prime Day would be delayed in Canada, but decided to cancel it due to concerns for the safety of its employees, according to a message to its sellers. Although the company said that it would work closely with sellers to minimize losses, it would still likely be a major blow to everyone involved. To put things into perspective, last year’s Amazon Prime Day saw $3.5 billion in worldwide sales.
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing. Make sure to sign up for our Daily IT Wire Newsletter to get all the news that matters directly in your inbox every day. Also, catch the next episode of Hashtag Tendances, our weekly Hashtag Trending episode in French, which drops every Friday at 3 pm. Thanks for listening, I’m Tom Li.
