Skype just announced that it will now begin to show some of its users ads during 1:1 audio calls. These so-called “conversation ads” will only appear for users who don’t have Skype credit or a subscription and, for the time being, these ads will only appear on Skype for Windows, though chances are the company, which is now owned by Microsoft, will also bring these ads to its OS X client in the… → Read More
Skype introduced a new Facebook app this morning, and before you get your hopes up, it’s not some amazing new way to Skype from the browser plug-in free, or kick off multi-person video chat sessions right from the News Feed. Nope. The app is this goofy, ridiculous creation called “Skype Humoticons” which lets you use your webcam to post pictures of you mimicking Skype emoticons to Facebook. → Read More
A while ago, people opined that the PS Vita – despite horrible battery life and a dearth of compelling game titles – could become a sort of “gamers iPad,” a tool that ends up being more than just a console. That dream is coming closer to fruition with the announcement of Skype for Vita. → Read More
FriendCaller, a Skype alternative which, let’s face it, we haven’t heard much from in years, is today launching new web and mobile apps that support up to 7-way group video chats at once. The addition comes on the heels of FriendCaller’s earlier expansion this year into multi-point video and voice conferencing, the company says.
In addition to the seven video participants, the new apps also… → Read More
A series of job postings from Microsoft hint at – well, actually they come out and state that – Microsoft intends to bring Skype to the web browser. The posts, which describe positions for software development engineers, mention that the Skype web app would be built (thankfully) using HTML5 and JavaScript, not Microsoft’s own Silverlight or Adobe Flash, for example.
The addition of a web-based… → Read More
I lean on Skype (and Macs) pretty heavily, so when a fairly substantial update for the VOIP/messaging service goes live, my ears tend to perk up. The new Skype 5.6 update has me especially tickled — it’s now available for folks of the Mac persuasion, and it thankfully packs a handful of bugfixes as well as a slew of new (and arguably overdue) features. → Read More
As one big tech merger gets approved by the EU, another might get kicked back into play. Today, Cisco launched an appeal against the purchase of Skype by Microsoft, a deal that was originally unconditionally approved by the regulators back in October 2011. → Read More
The holidays are drawing ever closer, and with the holidays usually come embarrassing family moments. The folks at Skype, perhaps sensing the potential for capturing some comedic gold around ye old Christmas tree, have updated their Android app with support for picture and video messages.
The functionality works over both WiFi and 3G data connections, so even the most random holiday snafu can… → Read More
Microsoft-owned Skype is releasing a new version of its SkypeKit, which allows Skype calls, instant messaging, video chat and other features to be integrated by developers into consumer electronics. As Skype writes in its announcement today, the company opened up SkypeKit to the public in June to ‘accelerate Skype’s presence in the consumer electronics industry.’ Today, Skype is releasingthe… → Read More
Microsoft this morning announced that it has closed its $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype, a deal that was originally announced back in May.
They even made an infographic to showcase the importance of the deal completion. /sarcasm → Read More
Skype’s updated iOS app is turning out to be a bit of a mixed bag. It manages to add a few useful new features, like Bluetooth headset support and in-call video stabilization, but one addition may have some users groaning: in-app advertising. → Read More
If you’re using Skype for iOS on your iPhone or iPod touch, consider yourself warned: a cross-site scripting vulnerability looms in the “Chat Message” window in version 3.0.1 and earlier versions.
The hole allows attackers to execute malicious JavaScript code that runs when a victim views a chat message, enabling theft of information, including a user’s address book (see video below).
Skype… → Read More
Skype appears to have launched a new app directory in the cloud, allowing users to access all the third-party apps for both consumers and businesses built on top of Skype’s API.
The site is fairly simple in functionality for now, but Skype has sorted both consumer apps and business into groups by genre (call recording, video, desktop sharing etc.), and featured the top downloaded free and paid… → Read More
On Sunday we broke the news that Skype was acquiring group messaging service GroupMe. What we didn’t know was the price, and neither company disclosed any of the terms of the deal other than that GroupMe would remain a standalone brand for now, and the team would stay in New York.
A widely spread report said that Skype paid as much as $85 million for the year-old company. We’ve heard this… → Read More
Skype will acquire group messaging service GroupMe, a service that was born at a hackathon at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York in 2010. GroupMe was founded by Jared Hecht and Steve Martocci.
The terms of the deal, including price, aren’t being disclosed.
Just a couple of months after TechCrunch Disrupt the company closed a $850,000 round of financing from Betaworks, SV Angel, First Round… → Read More
Skype just launched a new iOS application that lets users locate Wi-Fi hotspots where they can pay for access using Skype Credit. It currently supports over 1 million hotspots worldwide, including those found in hotels, airports, train stations, convention centers, bars and restaurants. The advantage of using this app over buying a voucher directly with the hotspot service provider is that you… → Read More
At the end of June 2011, Skype added the ability to make one-to-one video calls over both WiFi and 3G connections to its Android application.
However, very few handsets were supported at the time, but now the company has released an update that brings two-way video calling to 17 more smartphones, including the HTC Desire and Desire HD, the Samsung Galaxy S and S II and Sony Ericsson Xperia… → Read More
Skype’s been popping up in headlines recently, mostly because of their “will they/won’t” they iPad app release. While it’s true that Apple’s iOS is a huge priority for companies looking to expand into the mobile space, let’s not forget that Microsoft paid out a cool $8.5 billion to pick up the communication juggernaut this past May. The big question, then, is where is the love for… → Read More
Marketing and advertising giant Dentsu has inked a deal (PDF) with Skype to offer display ads in Japan. Under the terms of the agreement, Dentsu will serve as the exclusive display advertising partner for Skype in Japan as of July 2011, at least for advertising campaigns that are not multi-national or multi-regional in nature.
In November 2010, Apple and Dentsu announced a partnership that made… → Read More
Silly hackers are always trying to ruin the Internet and they have found yet another target in the form of popular VOIP software Skype. According to the sweetest security report ever, linked from h-online’s recap:
“Skype suffers from a persistent Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability due to a lack
of input validation and output sanitization of the ‘mobile phone’ profile entry.
Other input fields may… → Read More
Soon Facebook will be expanding its Chat product with video calling functionality, powered by Skype. It won’t support group video calling, though, at least not at first, and we haven’t heard anything about support on mobile phones so far.
Next week, Tinychat will submit a group video chat application that will work on both iOS devices and desktop browsers, and supports video chat sessions of up… → Read More
One of the questions I had when I broke the news last week about the Facebook/Skype partnership: Would group video chat be part of the product, and if so would it be free?
The answer is no, there’s no group chat. Facebook says that one on one video chat is far more popular on Skype than group chat and so it makes sense to start there. But that’s misdirection – group chat on Skype requires that at… → Read More
Facebook announced a trio of related new chat products today: ad hoc group chat, a new chat design, and video calling powered by Skype. The ad hoc group chat lets Facebook users create group chats without first creating a group. The new design makes chat look better on wide screens. But the big announcement is around video calling, which we broke last week.
You can try the video calling now. … → Read More
Skype CEO Tony Bates just took the stage at today’s Facebook event announcing integrated video calling, group chat and new design today and revealed a number of new stats regarding video calling on the VoIP platform. Bates said that Skype users are averaging 300 million minutes per month of video calling. Bates says that 50 percent of Skype’s traffic is video calling .
Back in December, Skype… → Read More
Confirming our report last week, Facebook has just announced a major new feature that it’s launching in tandem with Skype: video calling.
It’s a feature that’s been rumored for quite a while, and it’s one that Facebook is putting a lot of weight behind. Now, whenever you browse to a friend’s profile, you’ll see a new button nestled between the ‘Message’ and ‘Poke’ buttons that says ‘Call’. → Read More
Right on the heels of releasing Skype 5.5 for Windows, featuring deep Facebook integration, the company has just rolled out a new version of its voice and video calling software solution for Mac.
Skype 5.2 for Mac is available now and is much more worth the download than the 5.1 updated version of the beta Mac software released back in November 2010.
With the new version, Skype for Mac users can… → Read More
The Gillmor Gang — Robert Scoble, John Borthwick, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor — joined the Circle Game as channelled by Joni Mitchell and Tom Rush. Google + seems to be a hit, which means it is soon to reach the critical mass where all social software must graduate from high school to beyond. For now, the service appears like a broader reimplementation of Friendfeed, which some of us felt… → Read More
Back in Skype’s early days, it was adding users so fast that it liked to boast that it was “the fastest growing, globally available communications tool in history.” Well, by at least one measure (registered users 9 months after launch), mobile video chat service Tango is outpacing Skype. Tango now has 17 million registered users across both Apple and Android devices, only 9 months after it… → Read More
Earlier this week while visiting Seattle, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tipped off Seattle press that the company would be launching an “awesome” new product next week that has been built by Facebook’s Seattle team. The press invitations to that event went out today, saying nothing more than “Please join us for an event at Facebook” on July 6.
So what is the new product? MG Siegler speculates… → Read More
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