💬 R.I.P. to the Desktop DMs

This week, Meta quietly pulled the plug on Messenger’s desktop app, ending years of half-hearted support and pushing users fully toward web and mobile. For some, that shift comes with a real risk losing encrypted chats unless they manually back them up, which turns a routine shutdown into a potential data headache. The bigger picture is competitive, as Meta steps back from desktop messaging, Slack, Teams, and Zoom get a clean opening to win over users who still expect serious chat tools to work properly on a computer.

💸 PayPal could be on the verge of making sending money abroad in Africa a breeze

PayPal’s wallet-to-wallet move could make cross border payments far less painful for African users and merchants, letting money move without forcing people to open yet another account. That puts real pressure on Stripe, WorldRemit, and even banks to rethink how international payments work, while opening a new fight over fintech partnerships. If it sticks, it could quietly make Africa a lot easier to plug into global commerce.

🎥 Hollywood’s biggest night is going digital, and YouTube is hosting

By taking the Oscars fully to YouTube by 2029, Hollywood is choosing reach and accessibility over old TV habits. YouTube strengthens its grip as the home for major live moments, while the Academy admits that prestige alone no longer pulls audiences without scale and constant digital presence. For viewers, it means the Oscars suddenly become easier to watch for more than 2 billion people worldwide.

🤖 Servers are getting smarter, with AI calling the shots

The global server market blew past $112 billion in Q3 2025 as AI spending went into overdrive, with GPUs now baked into more than half of all servers and non-x86 machines growing nearly 200%. The message is hard to miss: data centers are being rebuilt for AI first, and companies betting early on accelerated, AI-ready designs are the ones pulling ahead.