News
After Two Decades, Microsoft Announces Skype Shut Down
21 years after its creation, the service will come to an end on May 5, 2025, as Microsoft prioritizes its Teams platform.
Microsoft has officially announced plans to discontinue Skype, with the service set to go offline on May 5, 2025. The company will instead shift its focus to Microsoft Teams, which has become its primary communication and collaboration platform.
“The way we communicate has evolved significantly over the years. From instant messaging to video calls, technology has continuously transformed how we connect […] To streamline our free consumer communications offerings so we can more easily adapt to customer needs, we will be retiring Skype in May 2025 to focus on Microsoft Teams, our modern communications and collaboration hub,” Microsoft stated.
As part of this transition, Skype’s phone calling feature — including domestic and international calls — will also be phased out. Users who rely on Skype Numbers will need to transfer them to another provider before the shutdown. However, Microsoft will maintain interoperability between Skype and Teams, allowing users to send messages between the two platforms.
To ease the migration, Microsoft will enable Skype users to sign in to Teams using their existing credentials or export their Skype data to use with another provider. Additionally, Microsoft is ending pay-as-you-go calling services for new customers while existing subscribers can use their remaining credits until their next renewal period. The company has not clarified whether users will receive refunds for unused balances.
Skype’s shutdown doesn’t come as a surprise. Originally developed in 2003, the platform quickly gained traction, reaching 40 million users by 2005, which led to eBay acquiring it for $2.6 billion. Microsoft later purchased Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion, but over time, the platform struggled to maintain its dominance after the rise of competitors like Zoom and Slack.
Also Read: Top E-Commerce Websites In The Middle East In 2025
Microsoft’s introduction of Teams in 2017 as a direct competitor to Slack, also meant a gradual overshadowing of Skype. The platform became even more central to Microsoft’s ecosystem when it was made the default communication app for Windows 11. By December 2024, Microsoft had already stopped allowing Skype users to add credit or purchase new phone numbers, signaling its intent to phase out the platform completely.
Jeff Teper, president of Microsoft 365 collaborative apps and platforms, acknowledged the significance of the decision. “We know this is a big deal for our Skype users, and we’re very grateful for their support of Skype and all the learnings that have factored into Teams over the last seven years,” he said. “At this point, putting all our focus behind Teams will let us give a simpler message and drive faster innovation”.
News
Can AI Save Your Relationship? This New “Wingman” App Thinks It Can
Built by wives and designed for husbands, Good Husband is a new Claude-powered AI communication coach aiming to help men navigate difficult relationship conversations, one text at a time.
We’ve officially crossed the rubicon where artificial intelligence is no longer just optimizing our spreadsheets, fixing our code, or generating corporate slide decks. It’s moving into the most fragile, inherently messy sandbox of all: human relationships.
According to research from the Centre for the Governance of AI’s Global Dialogues study, a staggering 42.8% of people globally already lean on AI for emotional support or personal issues at least once a week. Now, a new consumer tech platform wants to institutionalize that habit for men who find themselves staring blankly at a text thread, totally at a loss for words.
Enter Good Husband, an AI-powered relationship communication wingman that has officially launched to help men navigate high-stakes, emotionally charged conversations with their partners.
Built by entrepreneurs and long-time business partners Zainab Imichi Alhassan and Sarah Curtis, the platform wasn’t designed to replace couples therapy. Instead, it acts as a real-time translator for the digitally tongue-tied. The premise is simple: many men care deeply about their partners but lock up when it comes to emotional articulation or resolving conflicts.
“Good Husband is for the man who already cares. He just needs the words,” co-founder Zainab Imichi Alhassan explained. “Often the issue is not a lack of care, it’s a lack of confidence in how to express what you’re trying to say in the moment”.
How It Works: Warm, Direct, Or “Your Voice”

Operating entirely in a web browser without the need for partner participation or lengthy onboarding, the platform allows users to paste a text message, describe a tense situation, or explain an ongoing argument. The AI then spits back three distinct text response options: Warm, Direct, and Your Voice.
For those who actually want to learn from their communication missteps rather than just copying and pasting a quick fix, the platform features a coaching mode. This tool deconstructs the underlying emotional dynamics of the conversation, explaining why a partner might be upset and how to address the root issue.
While the baseline platform runs on Anthropic’s Claude AI to handle multilingual, global conversations, subscribers can unlock a hyper-personalized layer called Better Husband. By feeding the AI a localized relationship profile — including love languages, key dates, communication preferences, and recurring areas of tension — the tool moves away from generic advice and moves toward bespoke conflict resolution.
This pivot toward emotional utility marks a fascinating shift in consumer tech. As we see more platforms leverage advanced language models to solve hyper-specific human pain points, the intersection of tech and regional innovation continues to prove that AI’s most valuable feature might not be productivity, but empathy amplification.
“The opportunity is not to replace human connection but to strengthen it,” says co-founder Sarah Curtis. “Technology has changed how we work, learn and communicate. We believe it can also help people become more thoughtful partners”.
Pricing And Future Roadmap
Good Husband is launching with a tiered subscription model:
- Free Plan: Includes 5 baseline conversations per month.
- Good Husband ($9/month): Unlocks unlimited conversations, Coaching Mode, tone selection, and the Better Husband profile.
- Great Husband ($19/month): Adds automated date reminders (birthdays, anniversaries), situation playbooks, and love language coaching.
The web-based launch is only phase one. The company is already building a WhatsApp-native experience — allowing men to pull their AI wingman directly into their daily chat flows — alongside a future mobile app featuring coaching streaks and proactive communication prompts.
Whether outsourcing your relationship articulation to a large language model sounds like the future of emotional intelligence or a dystopian shortcut, one thing is clear: the AI wingman era has arrived.
-
News2 months agoDJI Teases Dual-Camera Osmo Pocket 4P For 2026 Launch
-
Web31 month ago2026 Crypto Trends: Bitcoin, ETFs & The Future Of Payments
-
News2 months agoLebanon Ministers Meet Visa Over National Digital Payment Platform
-
News2 months agoAt I/O 2026, Sundar Pichai Concedes AI Must Deliver Real Value
