Microsoft Outlook gets emails that update themselves after you send them

After being announced at Microsoft Ignite last year, Loop components are now rolling out in Microsoft Outlook.

For those unfamiliar, Microsoft Loop is a new app that combines a powerful and flexible canvas with portable components that move freely and stay in sync across the software giant's apps. It is made up of three elements in the form of Loop components, Loop pages and Loop workspaces.

While Loop pages are flexible canvases where users can organize all of their Loop components in one place and Loop workspaces are shared spaces that allow teams to see and group everything important to a project, Loop components are an evolution of Fluid components that help users collaborate and get things done in chats, emails, meetings and documents.

Now Microsoft Outlook users will be able to leverage the power of Loop components when using the company’s email service.

Loop components in Outlook

According to a new post in the Microsoft 365 roadmap, Loop components are now rolling out in Microsoft Outlook and these live, interactive objects can be embedded in email messages to provide real-time collaboration.

In a support document, Microsoft highlights several of its Loop components that users can add to emails in Outlook or even messages in Microsoft Teams. These include bulleted lists, checklists, numbered lists, paragraphs, tables, task lists and more.

One of the nice things about Loop components is that they are automatically saved to OneDrive so that you’ll be able to easily find and use them again later.

With the addition of Loop components in Outlook, emails will become much more fluid as they’ll even be able to update themselves after being sent. Say you add a list of follow-up tasks to an email, collaborators can check off items as they complete them and all of the changes made to the Loop component will be reflected in the original email. This way users don’t have to waste time sending emails back and forth to one another once a task has been completed.

We’ll likely hear more from Microsoft regarding Loop components once Microsoft 365 users get a chance to test them out for themselves.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Send a Harry Styles preview track over an Instagram message in new update

Instagram has added three messaging improvements to its app that should make conversations easier to manage and more colorful.

The updates include the ability to quickly share a post, share a short clip of a music track, and customize the chat background to one that's not black and white anymore.

Meta's photo-sharing platform has been busy, recently enabling Instagram on the web, the return of the chronological feed, and a bigger focus on helping users message each other in easier ways.

These three features build on that last promise, especially in sharing posts without leaving your feed.

What do you get?

Quick send will enable you to hold down the share button on a post in your feed, and quickly send it to a friend or family member without going anywhere else in the app.

You can also share 30-second clips of music tracks from Apple Music, with Amazon Music and Spotify integration coming soon.

Finally, there's the new ability to change the background of the person you're chatting with, which means you can finally get rid of the black or white background. Instagram isn't breaking new ground here. WhatsApp chat has a similar feature.

But while some may think that these are minor updates, they're potentially substantial ones for those who use Instagram more than they use Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp. With the ability to personalize your chat background and more easily share content through the main feed, it looks as though Instagram isn't done refining how you can message others on its app, and we may see more improvements in this area later this year.


Analysis: why do these updates matter?

Instagram CEO, Adam Mosseri promised toward the end of 2021 that there would be a bigger focus on messaging and now the platform is delivering on that promise.

Messaging friends and family on Instagram has become more common in recent years, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sharing posts or just keeping in touch with those who only use Instagram has become a new standard for some users.

According to Instagram, 44% of its users are on the app to shop for products, so it's safe to assume that the majority would want to use messaging services to see where their purchases are, and if they want to receive special offers through the messaging side of Instagram.

However small these new features may sound for messaging, they leave us with the impression that this is an area of interest to Mosseri and the Instagram team. Granted, Meta also has Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp in the same category, but Instagram is on its own siloed island where you can't get the same content through these apps and Facebook.

Instagram has always set itself apart from others, building bespoke services like Instagram Stories, Reels, and shopping. Meta usually holds a yearly conference called Facebook F8, where it gives updates on its products and platforms. We may see a similar event this year but with a name change (we'd suggest “Meta8”). So, there's a good chance we may be hearing more about messages on Instagram in the near future.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Are Apple Services down? Users unable to access iCloud, send files through AirDrop

We're getting reports that Apple's online services such as the App Store, iCloud and others are seeing outages across the globe.

Reports of issues with Apple began to surface around 16.55 GMT, with hundreds of users signaled problems on the outage tracker site DownDetector.

The company has yet to confirm that there are problems for now, but it's best to keep track of Apple Status for now.

We're following the story live, so stay tuned and read all our latest updates below…

App Store, iCloud, and Music all look to be down for now, with our writer Rhys Wood reporting that AirDrop isn't working either for him.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Are Apple Services down? Users unable to access iCloud, send files through AirDrop

We're getting reports that Apple's online services such as the App Store, iCloud and others are seeing outages across the globe.

Reports of issues with Apple began to surface around 16.55 GMT, with hundreds of users signaled problems on the outage tracker site DownDetector.

The company has yet to confirm that there are problems for now, but it's best to keep track of Apple Status for now.

We're following the story live, so stay tuned and read all our latest updates below…

App Store, iCloud, and Music all look to be down for now, with our writer Rhys Wood reporting that AirDrop isn't working either for him.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Microsoft 365 will tell your boss almost immediately if you send an inappropriate message

Microsoft will soon roll out a new system that will help businesses identify inappropriate messages sent by employees over its productivity and collaboration software.

As noted in a new entry in the company’s product roadmap, the Microsoft 365 compliance center will receive an upgrade that will cut the time it takes to identify breaches of company communication policies drastically.

“This feature will reduce the detection to investigation time to under an hour, allowing your organization to respond to communication compliance alerts promptly,” Microsoft explained.

The Microsoft 365 update is currently still under development, but is scheduled to roll out in preview in April, ahead of a full launch in the autumn.

Employee monitoring with Microsoft 365

Unbeknownst to some, many businesses constantly monitor the way in which employees interact with one another over email and communication software.

Part of the justification for this practice, considered by some to be an unacceptable invasion of privacy, is that cybercriminal actors frequently target employees over these kinds of platforms, which can also be used by malicious insiders to exfiltrate data.

Another factor is the opportunity for business software to be used to bully or harass fellow employees, in breach of an organization’s official communications policy.

As explained in a Microsoft 365 blog post, the communication compliance facility tracks messages sent and received over email, Microsoft Teams, Yammer and third-party platforms. Once a message in breach of pre-defined policies has been identified, it is handed over to a designated team of reviewers.

After the Microsoft 365 update takes effect later this year, the time between initial detection and review will supposedly fall from roughly 24 hours to under an hour. As part of the change, Microsoft Teams users will also be encouraged to report “inappropriate or concerning messages” within chats and channels manually, a separate roadmap entry shows.

Although businesses will certainly benefit from the upgrade, it is unclear precisely how Microsoft will manage to cut the investigation time by such a significant margin. TechRadar Pro is awaiting a response to a request for clarification.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More