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Skype rolls back its redesign by ditching stories, squiggles and over-the-top color

Just over a year after Skype introduced a colorful, Snapchat-inspired makeover which included its own version of “stories,” the company says it’s now going to refocus on simplicity – and it’s ditching stories along the way. The redesign had been met with a lot of backlash. Skype had clearly wanted to appeal to a more youthful demographic with its update, but in doing so, it cluttered the user experience with features no one had asked for or needed.

Japan to conduct first test as part of space elevator project

A team of researchers from Japan’s Shizuoka University and other institutions will conduct the first test in space this month as part of a project to build a space elevator, Japan’s The Mainichi reported last week. The space elevator essentially ferries people and cargo shipments in an elevator car travelling on a cable connecting Earth to a space station.

Astronauts find hole in the International Space Station, plug it with thumb

You think you woke up on the wrong side of the bed today? Spare a thought for the crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS). On Thursday morning, they woke up to the news that the station was slowly leaking air. Flight controllers had been monitoring the small drop in pressure overnight, deciding to let the crew sleep as the hole presented no danger.

Will 2018 be the year small phones die?

Sony is perhaps the last bastion of smaller smartphones. Or at least, it used to be. For years now, Sony has been making “Compact” versions of its top-tier handsets that are more or less flagships in their own right. Each generation of Sony’s latest XZ series of phones hasn’t deviated from this tradition until IFA 2018, where Sony announced the new Xperia XZ3, but no XZ3 Compact. Has the appetite for smaller phones finally vanished? Or are manufacturers content to let the hungry starve either way?

Doom II’s final secret unlocked after 24 years

It took nearly 24 years for someone to discover how to unlock Doom II’s last remaining secret without using cheats. The feat, recently shared on YouTube by user Zero Master, has since been confirmed by John Romero, one of the game’s original programmers.

Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Glitch Discovers Unseen Area Where Water Turns To Lava

By executing a glitch during the game’s The Master Trials DLC, YouTube user Mety333 has found a way to explore new, unseen areas within the game. Of course, these areas were never intended to be seen by players or even function correctly as any part of natural gameplay, and this results in some very strange, creepy, but fascinating finds.

Playing as Magneto in Grand Theft Auto V is as awesome as it sounds

This new mod enables virtually every superpower Magneto possesses. You can fly, create a bullet shield and pull off various melee attacks but the real fun, of course, involves manipulating the environment around you. Taking command of cars and creating a metal storm is easy. Pull lampposts and wind turbines from the ground and hurl them at innocent bystanders. Heck, you can even snatch a plane out of the sky and thrust it at a helicopter or derail a train.

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