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Google Meet, Skype Meet Now and Facebook Messenger Rooms video meeting tools

Google, Microsoft and Facebook all announced changes or updates to their video meeting tools in April 2020. These are alternatives to the popular Zoom video chat software.

Video meeting tool Google Meet is now available free of charge for all users. This will be a gradual rollout within the next few weeks. Users must sign in with their Google account, but Meet works entirely in a web browser and does not require downloads first.

Skype Meet Now is a different video meeting tool which does not require a sign-up or installation. A unique Meet Now link can be requested from Skype or a web browser.

Facebook has also announced its new meeting tool – Facebook Messenger Rooms. Invited attendees do not need a Facebook account to attend the video meeting and downloads are not required. Rooms is not end-to-end encrypted. This is in addition to their Facebook Workplace and Facebook Work Groups services.

Credit bureaus giving free weekly credit reports now through April 2021

The three major U.S. credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – will now allow Americans to receive free weekly credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com for a year starting April 20th 2020. These credit reports were previously only free once a year under federal law.

National Emergency Library provides eBooks to students and general public

The Internet Archive has made available thousand of eBooks through its National Emergency Library program. This was done in order to help students, educators and the general public who may not have access to reading materials due to recent current events.

The National Emergency Library can be found at archive.org/details/nationalemergencylibrary. Frequently asked questions about the National Emergency Library may be found here.

GitHub now has free price option for developers

Github now has a free basic option for teams and developers as of April 2020. More information is at their FAQ and price list pages.

Apple releases new lower cost iPhone SE smartphone

Apple announced the release of its new iPhone SE smartphone on April 24th 2020, starting at a lower price of $399. The iPhone SE is water resistant and features 4K video, Dual SIM with eSIM, wireless charging, and one Lightning connector port.

Marriott Hotels report 2020 data breach

Marriott Hotels has reported a data breach in 2020 that affected the data for approximately 5.2 million guests. Customers can request more information at mysupport.marriott.com

Google services outages tracked on G Suite Status Dashboard

Google experienced some outages on March 26th 2020 that were tracked on its G Suite Status Dashboard. This included Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs and other services.

Ring now requires two-factor authentication

Ring now requires that customers use two-factor authentication when when they log into their accounts. Instructions on how to set up Ring two-factor authentication may be found here.

The Ring app also has a new Control Center for customers to manage their privacy and security settings.

TRACED Act sets fines for robocallers

The Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (TRACED Act) was signed into law on December 30, 2019. This new U.S. law will set fines on spam robocallers and requires phone companies to adapt call authentication technologies to deter robocalls. The FTC and FCC government agencies also have some instructions to reduce the number of received robocalls.

File income taxes for free using the IRS Free File Program

U.S. taxpayers have the option to file their income taxes for free using the Free File Program from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) if their Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is $69,000 or less (2019 tax year requirement). The tax preparer must start the filing process at www.irs.gov/freefile instead of a commercial tax software website in order to avoid being prompted for payment.

The Free File program is part of an agreement between the IRS and the Free File Alliance, a coalition of tax software companies.