Apps

Looking for the best video conferencing service? Here’s a guide

We’ve got you covered for work as well as casual meetings

Published

May 6, 2020

Shivam Vahia

The Coronavirus pandemic has forced everyone indoors and companies are scrambling to adopt the work-from-home model. While larger companies deal directly with service providers under the B2B setup, individuals or smaller teams are having a hard time picking the right video conferencing service or app.

Before we get started, you need to ask yourself about your requirements. How big is your team? How well equipped is your team? Most importantly, how do you intend to use the service?

1. Zoom

Zoom is among the most popular video conferencing platforms for businesses. It is feature-rich, with various plans based on size and needs. Prices range from free for basic personal meetings to US$ 19.99/month/host for large enterprises with a minimum of 100 hosts. It’s desktop as well as mobile apps are straightforward and require bare-minimum hardware to run.

However, the service has risen to fame too soon amid the pandemic and couldn’t keep up with stringent safety as well as privacy norms. If your business deals with sensitive information that needs guaranteed protection, we’d suggest staying away from this service for now. But, it isn’t that unsafe to use and is perfect for general domestic as well as business needs.

2. Skype / Microsoft Teams

The name is synonymous with video conferencing and pioneered the industry more a decade ago. Now owned by Microsoft, it’s a robust platform that’s well integrated with other Microsoft services like Outlook and even Office. If your workflow is based on the Microsoft ecosystem, this should be your go-to option. However, Skype is limited inherently and recommended for individual or casual meetings with friends and family.

For work or businesses, Microsoft Teams is a collaborating tool like Slack that intends to replace emails and make workplace connectivity even more streamlined. You can add up to 100 participants in one call and that’ll be soon upgraded to 250 in the coming weeks. Both the services have free as well as paid plans depending on the requirement.

3. Google Hangouts / Google Meet

Just like Microsoft’s offering, Google Hangouts has been around for a long time and the go-to option for many. It was designed to offer group video calling, but for domestic or casual use. It’s also deeply integrated into Google’s ecosystem of services and often competes against the companies another offering — Google Duo.

For work or business-related usage, Google was quick to launch Google Meet. In simpler terms, it’s an upgraded version of Google Hangouts and can accommodate up to 100 users at once and has both, paid as well as free plans. However, it’s more generous than Zoom and gives free users a 60-minute usage window than just 40.

4. Facebook Messenger Rooms:

While every tech giant is going after the video-conferencing trend, Facebook felt left out as well and debuted a feature called Messenger Rooms. It allows up to 50 people to take part in a video chat, even if they don’t have Facebook accounts. In line with Facebook’s history with Instagram, it lets you add augmented reality (AR) filters like bunny ears and more.

We’d suggest using this app for casual calls with your friends and acquaintances or hosting informal “rooms” with your colleagues or Meetup events. Facebook’s history with privacy hasn’t been spick-and-span and we don’t encourage enterprises to use this service.

5. WhatsApp / FaceTime:

WhatsApp is the most popular instant messaging app and is known for its simplicity yet feature-rich offerings. When compared to the rest of the services, this one lets you add only eight users in a group video call. And, that’s the intended purpose. The app is super casual and best for waking up that one friend who has been sleeping too much during the lockdown.

The same goes for FaceTime, Apple’s in-house messaging, and video calling service. If you’re a micro-team, these solutions would very well work for you. But as you grow, these tools are insufficient to get work done and are standalone apps that offer nothing more than just the basics.

Apps

ChatGPT will soon allow NSFW conversations

The platform will start age-gating users in December.

Published

October 16, 2025

Luigi Leonardo

Every day, we inch closer and closer to the strange reality of Joaquin Phoenix’s Her. Today’s AI-powered chatbots have inevitably adapted to address our more carnal desires. Some, such as those offered by xAI, are even explicitly designed to only flirt with the user. Soon, ChatGPT will offer the same thing: a way for adult users to… well, be adults.

Through a post on X, OpenAI’s Sam Altman reiterated ChatGPT’s impending drive to introduce age-gating in December. Keeping younger users from the platform will open ChatGPT to more “mature” conversations. Altman specifically names “erotica” as one of the potential uses of a looser platform.

We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.

Now that we have…

— Sam Altman (@sama) October 14, 2025

Additionally, ChatGPT is rolling out an update which will make the platform more personable and comparable to actual conversations. This includes using more emojis or talking like a friend.

The platform is also adding more safeguards when it comes to mental health issues, given that more people are using it as a makeshift therapist. Recently, Altman made sure that ChatGPT treated mental health with more delicateness. To some, especially those without such issues, the platform became more unusable. To bring back how it used to be, the platform will add better tools to detect whether the user is in “mental distress.”

Finally, OpenAI is implementing a backend solution to mental health by creating a new council of researchers and experts to accurately determine the impact of AI on mental health. Currently, it’s still unknown how much this new technology is helping (or harming) our wellbeing.

Apps

YouTube is getting a redesign

The update looks a bit like Liquid Glass.

Published

October 15, 2025

Luigi Leonardo

What’s your favorite YouTube design? I still hold a bit of nostalgia for the silver era, but the practicality of the current minimalist design is remarkable. Now, it’s time for a change. YouTube is refreshing its design starting this week.

Much like Apple with Liquid Glass, YouTube is going for a more transparent approach. The new design lets more content through the interface. It also features rounder buttons, in contrast to today’s blockier features.

The comments section is also getting a bit of an upgrade to allow for more structure between original posts and replies.

For engagement with actual videos, some videos will now have custom like animations. The update gives an example of a music video which puts out a musical note when liked. Adding a video to a custom playlist or the Watch Later list is also more natural.

YouTube is rolling out these updates starting this week. It will also be available for web, mobile, and TV users.

Apps

ChatGPT Go now available in the Philippines, more Asian countries

Access to more popular ChatGPT features for an affordable subscription plan

Published

October 9, 2025

GadgetMatch

Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

OpenAI has officially launched ChatGPT Go in 16 Asian countries, including the Philippines. This is the most cost-friendly subscription option yet at just PhP 300 (~ US$ 5.15).

This development gives users in the serviced regions greater access to ChatGPT’s advanced capabilities at a more affordable price.

To get started, simply visit chat.openai.com or download the ChatGPT mobile app, then create an account and select ChatGPT Go as your plan. The payment process is simple.

On the other hand, those who already have accounts may simply upgrade to Go.

The launch comes amid strong growth adoption of OpenAI’s tools in the Philippines. In fact, the country ranks among the top five countries for weekly ChatGPT users in Asia.

In addition, the top five use cases locally are tutoring, editing, personal writing, “how to” advice, and creative ideation.

At PhP 300 a month, ChatGPT Go subscribers will gain access to ChatGPT’s most popular features, including higher message limits, image generation, file uploads, and memory.

These are all powered by GPT-5, OpenAI’s most-advanced model.

Specifically, here’s the perks for the Go plan compared to free:

10x higher message limits
10x more image generations per day
10x more file or image uploads per day
2x longer memory for personalized responses

ChatGPT Go will join existing subscription options Plus (PhP 1,100) and Pro (PhP 9,900).

Plus is for subscribers who need more advanced thinking models and features like deep research, agent mode, and Sora video creation.

Meanwhile, Pro is for professionals, researchers, or organizations who need enterprise-grade scale, pro-level reasoning, and the most advanced features.