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Microsoft has launched an all new travel app named Outings.  The app was actually released last month by the Redmond company made no announcements about it so it went pretty much unnoticed.  That’s a shame because Outings is a really beautifully designed app.

The idea behind the app is simple:  You provide at least five topics of interest and the app will provide you suggestions for those interests.  The content is curated from various travel sites and blogs with outstanding information and photography for those locations.  Once you find one of interest, you can save it or you can indicate that you have been to that location.

Last month I wrote about the changing of the default search engine from Yahoo to Google in the latest Mozilla browser.  At the time, Yahoo had just been purchased by Verizon and had been assimilated into the new Oath business of the company.  The agreement between then Yahoo and Mozilla was for some $750 million but Mozilla, based on the purchase of Yahoo, felt they had a way out of the agreement and still get paid.

My quote at the time:  Right, so pay attention on this one because this is going to get interesting.

Well, it just got interesting.

Yahoo filed a lawsuit on December 1st claiming that Mozilla was in breach of contract for changing the default search engine.  Mozilla then counter sued on December 5th stating that Yahoo owed them the remainder of the contract fees and that they were within their contractural rights to cancel the agreement.

For those of you who have an Android Wear 2.0 device, Android Oreo is coming to you.  Google has officially released the Oreo update for Wear, bringing with it several improvements and tweaks to the platform.  News of the release came from Googler Hoi Lam via Google+.

As for new features, here is the brief rundown:

• Notification vibration strength setting
• Touch lock option for wet conditions
• Support for 7 new countries / languages
• Notification channels
• Battery saving background limits

In other words, lots of the great features of Oreo now on your wrist.

Google, through various partnerships in Latin America, has announced that RCS Messaging will be rolling out to various carriers in the region over the coming months.

Today we’re excited to announce that we’re working with leading carriers América Móvil, AT&T in México, Oi and Telefónica to bring RCS messaging to people across Latin America. In collaboration with these carriers, we’ll roll out RCS messaging in the countries where they operate over time, bringing better messaging to more than two thirds of all mobile subscribers in Latin America.

The news means that subscribers to these carriers will be able to communicate in a more rich way than plain SMS, offering the ability to send GIFs and other rich media as well as have group messaging across international borders.

For those who are not familiar, RCS Messaging is Rich Communication Services and has been rolling out here in the United States and Europe for a while now.  It offers a more “smartphone” experience over SMS as Google likes to say.