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 be easily sent to your Skype contacts. The update also packs a fix meant for Tegra 2-powered devices that have experienced lower battery life and iffy video quality, so G2x owners will want to get on the ball. → 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 Developer Preview of SkypeKit 4.02, which extends funcionaluty include desktop applications.
Developers can integrate Skype into their Windows, Mac and Linux desktop applications via SkypeKit for Desktop, which adds native Skype functionality directly into partner applications or via the Skype Desktop API, which allows developers to extend the functionality of Skype for Windows, Skype for Mac and Skype for Linux.
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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 says it is aware of the security issue, and had issued the following statement: → 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 apps, top rated apps and the newest apps across the board and by genre. For example, Skype recording app VodBurner is the most downloaded app across all categories. → 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 number is a bit high. What’s the real price? → 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 Capital, Lerer Ventures and a number of prominent angels. Early this year the company raised $10.6 million more from Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst and previous investors. → 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 would only pay for the actual minutes you use, explains Skype.
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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 devices.
As usual, you can download the updated Skype 2.1 for Android app from the Android Market or point your browser to Skype.com/m from your phone. → 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 Windows devices?
Skype’s move into Windows Phone 7 seems to have been on the backburner for a while, but if the new positions popping up on Skype Careers are any indication, they may finally be getting a move on. → 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 the latter responsible for selling iAds in Japan. → 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 also be affected.” → 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 to 12 people at the same time. → 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 least one user be paying $4.49/month for premium service. So not a lot of group video chat happens on Skype.
Google’s new hangout product is all about group chat, and it’s free. Up to ten people can use it at once. Google is smart about this, figuring out which person is talking and focusing the video stream on them until someone else takes over. If you want to have fun with a group of friends, or hold a dead simple video team call, Google Hangouts is perfect for that. → 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. It browser-based inside Facebook, and is currently only one-to-one video calling. (Skype charges for group video chat). One ice feature is that you can leave your friends video voicemails if they don’t answer, so it is both live and asynchronous. → 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 told us that video calling represented 40 percent of all Skype calls, so clearly the interaction with video is growing. → 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’. Click that, the other user will see a popup asking if they want to accept a call, and you’ll be immediately connected (you’ll need to install a small plugin the first time you use the service).
You’ll also see video calling integrated into Facebook’s Chat product. Really, you can’t miss it — Facebook is launching a new chat sidebar today that by default it takes the entire right side of the screen, and the first time you click on any user you’ll see a prompt asking if you’d like to make your first video 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 not only do group video calls (which was already available in the beta product) but also share their screens during such calls. → Read More
