Google just launched an "Inactive Account Manager" to help you deal with your data after you die. The tool lets you decide what to do with you data after your account has been inactive for three, six, nine or 12 months. This is Google's death tool.

The Inactive Account Manager is designed to either grant access to your data to others or delete your data after a certain period of inactivity. The Google products included in the service are +1s; Blogger; Contacts and Circles; Drive; Gmail; Google+ Profiles, Pages and Streams; and Picasa Web Albums.

THE END OF EXTENDED SUPPORT for Microsoft's Windows XP operating system (OS) is now exactly one year away.

Microsoft acknowledged the countdown to the end of support for Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003 almost a year ago, advising back then that it was is a good time for organisations that still have PCs running the software to migrate to a newer version, such as Windows 7.

Today marks the 365-day countdown, so the advice that Microsoft customers must abandon the Windows XP ship is now more relevant than ever.

According to a new report, Microsoft is working to merge Windows and Windows Phone — PC and mobile — under a new product called Windows Blue. This contradicts what we’ve previously heard — that Windows Blue was just a service/feature pack for Windows 8 — but it does make a lot of sense, and it aligns closely with what we believe to be Microsoft’s only chance of survival in the rapidly changing consumer computing market.

The report, emanating from Digitimes (which isn’t always accurate, but often is), says that the merged operating system — dubbed Windows Blue — is being developed by a new, distinct team that is separate from the Windows and Windows Phone teams. According to Digitimes, the amalgamated Windows Blue is intended to compete against Google’s Android and Chrome OSes.

Google purportedly is eyeing up mobile messaging service Whatsapp, with speculation suggesting that the app might be its next $1bn purchase.

That speculation comes from Digital Trends, which heard from an "inside source" that Google is in talks with Whatsapp to acquire the company.

According to the rumours, Whatsapp is "playing hardball" with Google in a bid to get a higher aquisition price, which reportedly is hovering around $1bn at present.

Nokia today launched its music app for Windows 8 and RT tablets and PCs, extending the Finnish handset maker's reach in the mobile market.

The free music streaming app, Nokia Music, first appeared on Nokia Lumia smartphones, and Nokia in January enhanced the service to include a premium version, dubbed Nokia Music+, for a monthly subscription fee of $3.99. With both, users are able to create their own mixes or stream from playlists curated by Nokia's team and artists. Mixes also can be saved for offline playback. The premium version gives users unlimited skips and unlimited downloads.