This week, action in The Division 2 moves back to New York, and how to improve travelling by hacking hotel TVs, and managing your iPhone battery. But first, Google and Microsoft are responding to COVID-19 with free software.

COVID-19 prompts Google and Microsoft to make conferencing and collaboration software available free

In the wake of COVID-19’s spread, conferences and work travel are being cancelled, and two leading tech companies are responding by making conferencing technology available for free.

Google is making advanced Hangout features available for free to G Suite and G Suite for Education customers.

This allows for larger meetings, live streaming, and recording.

Microsoft, meanwhile, is making Teams available for free for six months. That platform includes collaborative file sharing, video conferencing, and chat.

At Microsoft, the health and safety of employees, customers, partners and communities is our top priority. By making Teams available to all for free for six months, we hope that we can support public health and safety by making remote work even easier. https://t.co/e8aaocLzYD

— JP Courtois (@JP_Courtois) March 3, 2020

How to access the HDMI port on that hotel TV

One of the Hilton’s I stayed at had a panel on the wall next to the TV where I could plug in my own HDMI cable so I could throw my iPad video up on the big screen.

But not all hotels are so civilized. Deviant Ollam tells us how to easily circumvent this.

it is shocking to me that some turdball hotels still try to restrict guests' use of the in-room TVs, but if you didn't know this, here's a tip…

(thread)

let's say your in-room TV clearly has HDMI jacks but you can't select that input. the staff even says "that's impossible" pic.twitter.com/8YcCcnaSMd

— Deviant Ollam ツ (@deviantollam) February 13, 2020

Get more life out of your iPhone battery with optimised charging

The other thing you want to keep track of when travelling is the power level on your smartphone.

One way that you can help do this is by treating your iPhone battery properly, because it turns out that keeping your battery fully charged all the time can reduce its lifespan.

That’s one reason that iOS 13 includes a feature that tracks your typical use and uses it to keep your batttery to 80% when you’re charging it, and only charging to full right before you need it to be full.

You can turn on “optimised battery charging” in the Settings menu:

• Battery
• Battery health

Which is great when you’re at home and have a fairly regular routine that has you plugging in your phone every night.

When you’re travelling, though, you can turn this off so that your phone takes the charge when it can get it.

Ubisoft’s The Division 2 returns to New York from Washington D.C.

The Division 2 is Ubisoft’s online third-person shooter set in a near future in which the world has been decimated by a smallpox pandemic.

The new expansion for the game is now available, and it ratchets up the tension consderably.

Warlords of New York takes the story back to New York, where the first game was set before moving to Washington D.C.

Warlords raises the level cap to 40 and introduces new weapons and gear as players and their teams try and capture a rogue agent who is responsible for a biological attack.

Learn more about what’s changed in Warlords of New York, and move out.