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Microsoft Teams is losing a feature that was launched back when many people were working remotely during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Microsoft, the company is saying "goodbye" to Together mode in Microsoft teams and "moving to a simpler layout experience."

For those unfamiliar with Microsoft Teams, it's a cloud-based communication and collaboration platform that many businesses use as its part of the Microsoft 365 suite. Along with messaging and file sharing features, Microsoft Teams also provides Zoom-like video conferencing. 

In the summer of 2020, when remote work was at all-time highs amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft rolled out Together mode in order to help users "feel like you're sitting in the same room with everyone else in the meeting or class." The feature basically removed the background for every user on a video meeting and put them in a virtual room. Basically, the feature gave everyone a shared background so it looked like they were in the same space.

An example of Together mode that Microsoft provided when the feature was first introduced in July 2020 can be seen in the image at the top of the article.

Microsoft says it's removing Together mode for a few reasons. The company says it "increases cognitive load for users," "fragments the meeting experience across desktop, web, mobile, and Teams Rooms," and "adds implementation complexity across platforms."

"Today, the core need Together mode was designed to support, namely seeing the people who matter in a meeting, can now be fully met by the modern Gallery view, which can display up to 49 participants at once," Microsoft said in its announcement.

Microsoft Teams will now focus on Gallery mode as the view option in video conferencing. This is the traditional boxed view in video meetings, popularized by Zoom. Microsoft says doing so will "simplify the meeting interface," "deliver higher and more stable video quality across meetings," and "free up service capacity that can be reinvested into foundational video improvements."

Microsoft said it's also removing scenes and custom scenes, including seat assignments, along with Together mode in Microsoft Teams as well.

I love Gemini in Android Auto; there are so many times it is better than the old Assistant. However, there are too many issues Google did not solve before putting it in cars. It's as if the company wanted to put it in cars before making sure everything worked. Some things make me really wish I could go back to Google Assistant, especially when I need a true assistant, and not just a conversation partner. I handle most things from my phone before driving off, so I don't need the extra help on the road.

If you've been using a trusty Kindle device for the past 15 years, this week might be tough for some of you.

In case you hadn't heard, Amazon announced recently that it is ending support for many older Kindle models on May 20. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to stop using the device entirely, but it does mean you need to be prepared for what comes next. Here is all the info you need for the old Kindle shutdown this week, including what you can still do with the device once it happens.

SEE ALSO: Durobo's Krono e-reader is the perfect palm-sized e-reader — and a great Kindle and Kobo alternative Amazon Kindle shutdown: What you can still do

For starters, it would be good to know exactly which devices are being affected this week:

• Kindle (1st generation)

• Kindle (2nd generation)

• Kindle DX

• Kindle DX Graphite

• Kindle Keyboard

• Kindle 4

• Kindle Touch

• Kindle 5

• Kindle Paperwhite (1st generation)

• Kindle Fire (1st generation)

• Kindle Fire (2nd generation)

• Kindle Fire HD 7

• Kindle Fire HD 8.9

In other words, basically every Kindle released before 2013 is included in the list. As I said, this will mostly apply to people who have been hanging onto the same device for a decade and a half.

Anyway, let's talk about what "ending support" means in this context. According to Amazon, all of the Kindle models listed above "will no longer be able to purchase, borrow, or download new content via the Kindle Store." They'll still turn on, and you can still use them to read books already installed on the device, but you will no longer be able to purchase or download new ones directly from the Kindle Store.

As for what you can do from here, there are a few options. Your first option is to just download as many books as you possibly can on the device in advance of this coming Wednesday, and live with the fact that those are the only books you can have on that particular Kindle.

Some users are finding ways to sideload books or jailbreak their devices, according to PCMag, though it's important to note that doing so almost certainly violates Amazon's terms of service.

If none of those options sound particularly appealing, your last and best bet will be to check out our list of the best e-readers of 2026 so far and purchase a new one. Spending money on a new e-reader isn't especially fun, but Amazon has sorta backed old Kindle owners into a corner here.

While multi-gig WAN (wide area network, your connection to the outside world) sounds great, it’s entirely unnecessary right now, at least, for getting multi-gig speeds on your LAN. A LAN is a local area network, and you can easily achieve multi-gig speeds using various other methods instead of replacing your router. In fact, replacing your router is the most expensive way to achieve 2.5GbE speeds on your LAN.

A Raspberry Pi is a decent self-hosting server if you're careful about what services you host. Unfortunately, Plex's default settings tend to be too much for even a Raspberry Pi 5 to handle.

Most people pick a browser once and never think about it again, which is how Chrome ends up with a hundred extensions, a cluttered toolbar, and a memory footprint that slows everything down. Samsung Browser on Windows is worth a serious look at because the integration between the two is genuinely useful in ways that go beyond basic bookmark syncing. Samsung Browser left Galaxy phones, and I'm so happy about it.

Fancy taking on some at-home projects to create smart gadgets without splashing too much cash? Here are 3 upgrades you can make to your tech to create a smart home, while only spending $24 on an Arduino board.

Excel automation doesn't have to mean writing macros or learning VBA. With a few built-in tools, you can make formulas expand automatically, clean up messy data, and speed through repetitive tasks in minutes. These simple tricks put your spreadsheets on autopilot.

If you have ever watched your monitor go completely dark after a routine hardware update, you already know the sinking feeling that follows. A standard driver installation finishes, the machine reboots, and instead of your desktop, you get a black screen or distorted graphics. It's easy to assume the worst, but I've come across this same issue and solved it with one of Windows' built-in repair tools.

The way Android handles notifications and Quick Settings has long been a stand-out feature. For good reason, the core functionality hasn’t changed much over the years. Recently, however, there seems to be some growing discontent with this system. I’m not happy about it.

If you're like me, you might have a bunch of retired storage devices sitting around the house. HDDs, SATA SSDs, NVMes ... Putting them to work for actual storage and backup purposes is great, but the reality is that some older SSDs are better suited to other tasks.

After Amazon announced that older Kindle models, such as my ancient Kindle 4, would lose access to new Kindle Store downloads, I decided to jailbreak it. I added the KOReader reading app and set it up so that it could display my Home Assistant dashboard, but I wondered how else I could use it. It sounded crazy, but could it work as a portable monitor?

Who would've thought that a day would come when an AI could hear your voice and speak just like you. I've used speech AI tools before, such as ElevenLabs. While those are great for voice cloning, they come with a price.

SAVE $20: As of May 18, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is on sale for $39.99 at Amazon. This is $20 off its list price of $59.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max $39.99 at Amazon
$59.99 Save $20   Get Deal

Summer's streaming lineup is already looking very exciting. If you've been hoping to get a new streaming device to watch everything in crisp 4K Ultra HD picture quality this year, it's worth checking out the Fire TV Stick 4K Max. At the moment, it's even discounted at Amazon during its Memorial Day sale.

As of May 18, Amazon has dropped the price of the Fire TV Stick 4K Max to $39.99. Usually it's listed for $59.99, so this is a great opportunity to pick it up for $20 off. It's only on sale for a limited time, so don't wait too long to take advantage of this offer.

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With support for 4K Ultra HD picture quality, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max will help make shows like House of the Dragon or The Bear stand out with clear, colorful detail. That's not all, though. Picture gets a further boost with support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+, alongside support for Dolby Atmos that surrounds you in crisp sound quality. It also supports WiFi 6E, so what you're streaming will come through smoothly.

For those moments when you're not watching anything, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max also comes with a cool feature called the Fire TV Ambient Experience. With this, you can put up pieces of art or photography on your TV, turning it into a fun display piece.

This offer may not last for long, so act fast to grab this excellent deal on the Fire TV Stick 4K Max at Amazon.

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Sometimes, life is too short to sit down and watch a three-hour movie or a show with episodes that push an hour. If you've only got time for a quick Netflix fix, here are some great shows that have episodes of around half an hour or less.

As I write this, there are basically two types of CPU that matter: x86 and ARM. The former belongs to Intel and AMD, which each hold critical patents necessary to make modern PC chips. ARM belongs to, well, ARM, and you'll find that in MacBooks, phones, tablets, and more.

Louis Theroux, legendary documentary-maker and the man behind that viral "Jiggle Jiggle" song, has such a long career in TV that he's created more than a few catch-phrases that beg to be parodied.

Fortunately he's clearly a very good sport about it, even popping up at the end of the SNL UK clip above in which cast members Larry Dean and Al Nash, and guest host Ncuti Gatwa, all play a version of Theroux.

Cue a lot of "Is that fair to say?" and "Shall we get started?"

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For most of the time I've been using Windows, voice dictation has been pretty fairly clunky. It worked as an accessibility feature or an interesting experiment, but it made for a difficult replacement compared to a mouse and keyboard. However, with the rise of AI, that has changed significantly.

Samsung has won an injunction partially blocking a planned strike by its South Korean workers later this week. However, it may not completely prevent all industrial action, with up to 50,000 Samsung employees poised to walk off the job this Thursday. If it goes ahead, it will be the largest strike in the tech company's history.

The dispute fuelling the planned workers' action primarily concerns bonuses. As reported by Yonhap, South Korea's state news agency, the union has requested that Samsung set aside 15 percent of operating profits for performance-based bonuses, as well as remove the cap on such payouts and commit to a fixed formula for calculating them. Samsung has reportedly offered to allocate 10 percent of operating profits for bonuses instead, as well as issue a one-time special compensation package. 

Samsung Electronics Co. workers outside the company's semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, on Apr. 23, 2026. Credit: SeongJoon Cho / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Initial talks collapsed last week after Samsung and the union were unable to reach an agreement, according to Reuters. Last-minute negotiations were resumed on Monday, which were facilitated by the South Korean government. Unless an agreement is reached, Samsung's unionised workers are set to go on an 18-day strike beginning on May 21.

However, a new injunction will restrict what the workers can do as part of the strike. As Yonhap reports, Suwon District Court ordered on Monday that Samsung's unionised workers cannot take over the company's facilities or disrupt other workers. Normal staffing levels must also be maintained where matters of safety and security are involved, the news agency reported, such as when maintenance work is required to prevent equipment damage.

It's currently unclear exactly how this will impact Samsung employees' strike plans. However, while the injunction may have tempered the threat of industrial action, it doesn't appear to have completely stopped it.

South Korean government works to prevent Samsung strike A Samsung union rally in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, on Apr. 23, 2026. Credit: SeongJoon Cho / Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Samsung strike is of significant concern to the South Korean government. Samsung accounted for over 13 percent of South Korea's GDP in 2024, according to the country's Edaily media group, and is its largest employer with over 125,000 employees. The planned industrial action is anticipated to involve over a third of this massive workforce, and could have a significant impact on South Korea's economy.

"Just one day of suspension at Samsung Electronics' semiconductor factory is expected ⁠to incur direct losses of as much as 1 trillion won [approximately $US667 million]," Prime Minister ‌Kim Min-seok said on Sunday, as reported by the South China Morning Post. "What is more concerning is that a temporary pause on semiconductor manufacturing ‌lines leads to months of inactivity."

Kim further stated that if Samsung and the union are unable to come to an agreement, the government will consider issuing an emergency arbitration order under South Korean law. Per The Korea Times, this enables the labor ministry to suspend any strike action for up to 30 days if it "it is deemed likely to seriously harm the national economy or disrupt the daily lives of citizens."

A Samsung union rally at the the Samsung Electronics Pyeongtaek Campus on Apr. 23, 2026. Credit: Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung also addressed the issue, taking to social media on Monday.

"Workers must be able to receive fair compensation for their labor in return for providing their services, and shareholders who bear risks and losses through their investments share in the company's profits," Lee wrote on X, translated by the platform. He later added, "Under the current Constitution, the fundamental rights of all citizens are guaranteed, but they may be restricted within the scope that does not infringe on their essential content for the sake of public welfare and other reasons."

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Samsung recently announced that its operating profit for Q1 this year was ₩57.2 trillion (approximately $US38.1 billion), an "all-time high" driven by the boom in demand for AI chips. This is a significant increase compared to the same quarter last year, when Samsung reported an operating profit of ₩6.7 trillion (approximately $US4.4 billion).

When you install the Home Assistant companion app on your phone, you can allow Home Assistant to track your location. By default, you get a device tracker entity that will toggle between home and not_home based on the Home location that you set up. There are plenty of useful automations you can trigger using the location of your phone.