Skype Being Shut: Latest Updates and Analysis

Skype is being shut down in favour of Microsoft Teams, and with it dies the best ring tone in the business

After over 22 years of being in service, Skype will be finally closing down on May 5, this year. Its replacement? That'll be Microsoft Teams, a much more business-oriented social app.

As spotted by XDA, the latest Skype preview has a single line of code saying "Starting in "May, Skype will no longer be available." Microsoft posted official confirmation in a blog entitled "The next chapter: Moving from "Skype to Microsoft Teams."

The blog post explains how to move over to Teams and clarifies that you can export data outside of Skype or Teams. But doesn't actually explain how. If you would like to move your data before it closes down in May. You can request a copy of conversations or files on Skype through Microsoft itself. However, this only gives the raw data, whereas moving to Microsoft Teams means you can effectively keep a conversation going.

Though the blog says Microsoft is retiring Skype. It isn't fully clear what that means just yet. We don't yet know if Skype consumers will not be able to access the app, can't send any message on it, or just won't be able to download it any more.

If you want to make the move to Microsoft Teams, you will be given the option in the next few days to simply sign into Teams with your Skype details, and. All your data will have migrated across.

Notably, this only moves people to a free Microsoft Teams account, which allows group calling for up to 60 minutes at a time with a max of 100 participants. It also allows unlimited chatting, 5 GB of cloud storage, and data encryption for files sent. If you want to do group calls of more than an hour, you will have to bump that up to a paid account—something you didn't have to pay for on Skype.

Microsoft Teams is much more businesslike than Skype and. Caters to a different audience than Skype traditionally. However, I myself haven't used Skype in quite some time. With the explosion in popularity of video calling services like Zoom in the last few years, and the wider migration to social spaces like Discord, I can't say I'll really miss the app.

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However. One thing I will miss somewhat is the ringer noise. Ubiquitous with the app, signing into Microsoft Teams with your Skype account will move conversations and people across but won't bring across that iconic sound. The Microsoft Teams ringer is similar to the Skype one, but not quite the same. Annoyingly, you can actually change the call sound on Microsoft Teams (though not to the original Skype call sound), but only if you have a paid account.

So long, Skype, and. Thanks for the memories.

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The Delightful Cozy Game Islanders Is Getting A Sequel

It's been almost five years since Islanders gave cozy-game lovers a casually engaging city-building experience. Now, Coatsink has presented that a sequel, Islanders: New Shores, is coming to consoles and PC this summer. In the first-look video below, New Shores retains the appealing aspects of the first Islanders while teasing some of the new elements that will be integrated into the gameplay.

As in the first game, New Shores allows players to develop cities and. Structures on a series of breathtakingly gorgeous islands and transform them as they see fit. Each level begins with a number of buildings at players' disposal, but they also have consider where the structures should be placed in order to get the maximum amount of points during the stage. Earning those points allows additional buildings to be unlocked, which opens the door to even more options.

One of the new elements introduced in New Shores is called boons. It's a one-time power-up that's unlocked on each stage as players collect points. Boons can allow players to perform some of the more difficult tasks in a single action, including the creation of duplicate buildings and. The destruction of others to make way for something new. However, boons should be used sparingly, since some of the trickier levels may need them more than the earlier levels do.

New Shores is introducing an additional sandbox mode that has a save system that is separate from the high score mode. A photo mode has also been added to preserve players' favorite creations or even just pictures of the beautiful islands themselves. To share the experience, Coatsink is adding Twitch integration to New Shores, as well as the option for viewers to vote on which buildings to pick.

Islanders: New Shores will be available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5. And PC. Beyond the Summer 2025 window, Coatsink hasn't set a specific release date yet.

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The new Witcher novel is a prequel called Crossroads of Ravens where Geralt is 18 years old, and it'll be available in English in September

Last year, Andrzej Sapkowski finished writing another Witcher book, marking his second return to the series. Though he declared he'd finished the Witcher saga in 1999, he returned to it in 2013 with Season of Storms, an interquel mostly set between existing stories. And left the door open for more books set before or during the saga. This new book, called Crossroads of Ravens in English and Rozdroże Kruków in Polish, will be a prequel.

-language publishers Gollancz and. Orbit, it's about an 18-year-old version of Geralt. They say that most people spend their 20s figuring out who they are and their 30s trying to tell people who they are. But who knows anything when they're 18? You're barely a person yet.

So it'll presumably be a more naive Geralt, not even "of Rivia" yet. Who sets out from Kaer Morhen on his first mission in Crossroads of Ravens. During that mission he'll "discover monsters, traitors, some new friends and some familiar faces, and just how deeply feared and despised Witchers can be."

"In Rozdroże Kruków," Sapkowski noted, "I return to the roots of Geralt's journey—not the fearless monster slayer we know. But a young Witcher just beginning to understand the burden of his destiny. Imagine Geralt, but younger, with fewer scars and a bit more haughtiness. This is a story of growth, of idealism meeting harsh reality, and of choices that forge a legend. It's about finding your place in a world that's constantly challenging you to be more than you thought you could be. As this new story finds its way to readers across the globe this year, I can't wait for them to walk alongside a younger Geralt—experiencing the trials that forged him and the journey that set him on the road to his destiny."

It'll be released in English, and. More than 19 other languages, on September 30. The translation is by David French, who translated six of the previous eight Witcher books into English. The remaining two, The Last Wish and Blood of Elves, will be reprinted with new English translations by French next year.

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