Switch from an iPhone and not receiving text messages? You may still be registered as an iMessage user. Apple has finally released a tool to fix the problem.

Customers who switched away from the iPhones have always had one nagging problem: iMessage. Apple has finally come out with a quick fix for that.

Apple quietly introduced a new tool over the last couple of days that solves one of the biggest headaches for former iPhone owners - lost messages.

The problem begins when iPhone users sign up for iMessage in the first place. The service, which Apple introduced in 2011, helps iPhone users communicate with one another over data networks and Wi-Fi, instead of using text messages on cellular networks. To do this, Apple keeps track of a user's phone number so that when another iPhone user tries to send a message, it can shift to iMessage instead.

What happens if users no longer own an iPhone? Until now, they had to turn off iMessage on their old phone before turning on a new Android / Windows Phone / Blackberry device. Some users, however, have said turning off iMessage doesn't always solve the problem.

Unhappy and former iPhone owners have sued Apple over the issue, stating that they fell into a void where iMessage texts do not travel. Worse, the sender usually thinks the message was delivered even though it never was.

Apple's new tool includes step-by-step instructions for unregistering iPhones still in the possession of their former users. And for those who longer have their iPhone, the page includes an option for typing in their phone number and receiving a confirmation code that can be entered to confirm their choice.

Find more information and unregister your number at this link: https://selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage

Meet Microsoft's version of Siri - Cortana.

Cortana is part of Microsoft's new Windows Phone 8.1 software, the mobile platform's first major update in 18 months. The "personal digital assistant," has the ability to search the Internet, set up alarms, shift calendar appointments, find restaurants, send messages, place calls and more.

Interacting with Cortana is very similar to using Apple's Siri. Push an on screen button, ask a question in a conversational manner, and Cortana will go to work.

Like Google Now, Cortana also has the ability to tap into apps and the phone's core services to deliver you contextual information. It can offer the weather where you're located, deliver favorite sports scores, or scan email and provide updates on a flight status or package delivery.

Cortana also has the ability to figure out what your habits are (when you wake up, when you're at work, what you frequently search for), and use that information to predict your next move.

Similar as it may be to Siri and Google Now, Cortana isn't a straight clone either. Unlike the other two services, Microsoft will not only allow third-party apps to utilize Cortana's service, either by controlling apps via voice or fetching data for predictive search.

But Cortana has one feature that its rivals don't: Cortana can actually push the results of its searches over to other apps.

One such example was using the Bing health tracker app. In a demonstration at Build, Joe Belfiore, Microsoft's Windows Phone design chief, used Cortana to search for the number of calories in a banana. When the results came back, he was presented with option to add the banana to Bing's health tracker as something he ate.

Source: CNN Money