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Well pass the lord and praise the ammunition: Skype for iPhone now works over 3G, allowing you to make Skype calls – presumably long distance – without using your regular minutes. According to the latest update you can “Call using your 3G connection. Skype-to-Skype calls on 3G are free until at least end of August 2010, after which there will be a small monthly fee (operator charges for data will still apply).”
This extra fee sounds a little rough if you ask me. It’s not like Skype is doing anything special with the bits it’s transferring, right?
What’s New in Version 2.0.0
Upgrades / improvements include:
- Call using your 3G connection. Skype-to-Skype calls on 3G are free until at least end of August 2010, after which there will be a small monthly fee (operator charges for data will still apply).
- Near CD-quality sound for Skype-to-Skype calls using wideband audio (SILK codec) on iPhone 3GS and 2nd generation iPod touch.
- Enhanced call quality indicator.
- Improved start-up time.
- Fast access to the dial pad from iPhone home screen.
Skype is coming to the big screen that is your home flat-screen HDTV. On Tuesday, Skype announced deals with LG and Panasonic to pair Skype software with new HDTVs. Panasonic's VIERA CAST-enabled HDTVs are set for a Spring 2010 launch, while LG Electronics HDTVs equipped with NetCast Entertainment Access will also be released this spring. Both will include embedded Skype software. Models featuring the software allow users to make free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls. Calls to other landline or mobile numbers qualify for Skype's low rates. Families can interact coast to coast from the comfort of their home, eliminating the need for costly travel or phone packages. Working from home?
TVs with Internet connectivity are nothing new, but this is pretty cool: As the world’s first TV makers, Panasonic and LG are cooperating with Skype to incorporate the software, which will make it possible to video chat in 720p HD quality, into TVs.
According to a Japanese media report [registration required, paid subscription], Americans will be able to buy the Pansasonic TVs first (as early as this spring), followed by Japanese and Europeans in the summer. Skype itself, however, speaks of a release in mid-2010 for both the LG and Panasonic TVs.
The Skype function, for which the report mentioned above says buyers have to pay “hundreds of dollars” more than for identical TVs without it, will be available in special VIERA models (the picture shows one Panasonic is currently selling in the US) and LG’s 26 LCD and plasma HDTVs with NetCast Entertainment Access.
Skype says the features include:
* Free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls
* Calls to landline or mobile phones at Skype’s low rates
* The option to receive inbound calls via a user’s online Skype number
* Skype voicemail, if it is set up
* Being invited to participate in voice conference calls with up to 24 other parties
* Support for up to 720p HD video calls, depending on the availability of high-speed broadband and a HD webcam
The TVs will feature a microphone and a built-in video camera, which – according to Skype – can pick up sound and video from a couch-distance. Skype has set up a dedicated website for those TVs for more information (but the link is currently dead).
Want a nice mic for recording your podcast? Talking on Skype? Laying down tracks for your magnum opus, Concerto for Swine and Dancing Girls? Get you a Go Mic. We’re giving one of these mics away to one lucky commenter.
To win drop a note below. Special thanks to Samson for the hook up.
eBay, the online auction giant and owner of the popular Skype software has finally sold Skype and the deal is complete. A message on the official Skype blog from company President Josh Silverman reads: "Great news – we've closed the deal with the new investors. The investor group is led by Silver Lake, and includes Andreessen Horowitz, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Joltid Limited and our founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis.
Skype is very well known software for those seeking to make video and audio calls to those they know, and is even handier considering it's available on Mac, PC and Linux. Now, however, the Linux community is about to get one step better: Skype will soon become open source. The news, initially reported by Olivier Faurax (link in French) and then Linux Crunch, came in the form of an email to Skype. It stated, "We understand that many users complain that there is no Mandriva version at present. We are happy to be able to inform you that Skype will from now on be part of the open source community.
Wow, if nothing else, new European music service Spotify, which is yet to launch in the U.S., has captured everyone's attention. TechCrunch Europe reports that Swedish telecommunication service provider Telia will soon release a Spotify-branded mobile phone.
A source with knowledge of the deal tells us that London, UK based INQ is developing the Spotify-branded phone. The company already creates phones with tight integrations to social networking services like Facebook, Skype and Windows Live Messenger.
INQ is backed by Li Ka-Shing, who recently invested in Spotify.
We're still gathering details on this, such as date of availability and price. The phone is in the design stage right now, and there are plans, we're told, to roll it out to all markets via partnerships with various carriers.
When I saw the Vue Personal Video Network a few months ago, I was impressed. The system is dead simple to install. You plug in a base station, sync two little wireless cameras that run on tiny batteries, and watch the video on any web browser, anywhere. It’s like a little mini-security system that you can connect anywhere you have Wired ethernet. Sadly, my joy was short lived.
The biggest issue I have with this kit is the correct usage scenario. It doesn’t have motion activation, for a good reason which I’ll explain shortly, so it’s not good for security. You can’t watch multiple streams at once so it’s not good for real home monitoring. The video quality isn’t quite good enough for, say, live web streaming porno involving you and a bottle of pomegranate juice, which is not to say I’ve ever tried.
Not a lot of action in that shot but you get the drift. So what is this good for, then? It’s good as a doorbell camera, for example. When you hear the doorbell, you switch to My.VueZone and start watching. There is no audio so you can’t hear what anyone is saying. You could also use this as a simple Skype-esque welcom for friends and family to watch – but not hear – you from afar.
But darn it if these cameras aren’t cool. The company, Avaak, originally designed these little things as smart military cameras. You’d throw them into a room and they’d start recording, allowing you to see what was going on from outside. They’re almost disposable and use a single battery. They only turn on when activated remotely which means they’re not surveying the scene at all times, thereby reducing their value as a security system.
The web-based user-interface uses an object model, allowing you to drag one or more cameras to a “viewing area” and then click play to watch only one at a time live. You can also extract video and stills you took using the cameras. The base station requires a wired Ethernet connection.
Their low-light sensitivity is better than the Linksys WVC54GCA I bought to police my front door but overall the video quality is far inferior to that device.
You could also use this in a puppy mill/nursery so you can watch the dog or the baby from afar. Again, you can’t hear them, which might be best.
The kit costs $299 on Amazon, on par with other wireless webcams. The design and size of these, plus the seamless browser integration, make them better than most models but the feature set is limited in hardware. The company has plans to introduce a more security-minded model soon but as it stands it’s a tough sell for those wanting to protect their McMansions from marauding super-zombies and/or kids selling magazines.
Bottom Line
Close but no cigar. $299 for a wireless security cam without motion detection is a bit steep.
As expected, the chairman of the FCC, Julius Genachowski, announced today his agency’s support for Net Neutrality. Odds are if you’re reading us then you have a basic idea of what Net Neutrality is, but if not it can be summed up like this: ISPs will be expected to treat all data equally, and not favor 0s and 1s from Company A or Company B, no matter what sweetheart a deal may be in place. (Wikipedia has more, of course.) The idea is that, since all data is treated equally, consumers will have better, unfettered access to the sites and services they choose to support.
Let’s say you’re a Cool ISP customer. You like Skype, and you use it to call your sister in Europe and your brother in Maine. Cool ISP, however, has a deal in place with Mad Good VoIP, which pays Cool ISP x-number of dollars per year to be the “preferred” VoIP application of Cool ISP. In exchange for those dollars, Cool ISP makes it so that Mad Good VoIP network traffic takes precedence over Skype. So if you want to make a call on Skype, but there’s a whole bunch of people currently using Mad Good VoIP, then your call quality necessarily suffers (“waiting to connect,” for example). Then you quit using Skype because the call quality stinks. Then Skype goes out of business. Then Mad Good VoIP can rest on its laurels, knowing that it’s the only VoIP service in town worth a damn. Then it raises its rates just because it can. You see where I’m going with this.
Today’s announcement should, theoretically, prevent all of that from happening. The FCC already has four principals, but today it added two: non-discrimination (the above example, where ISPs can’t favor one application or service over another); and transparency. That last one should be of interest to BitTorrent users: here, ISPs will have to make available their methods and rationale for managing their network. That is, Cool ISP (or Comcast!) won’t be able to arbitraily limiit all BitTorrent traffic just because it doesn’t like the strain it puts on its network—who’s to say what you’re sharing over BitTorrent isn’t considered free speech? That said, ISPs shouldn’t be expected to “eat it,” as it were: if you’re downloading 300GB of data per month, you may well have to pay more for that than Grandma who checks her e-email once per day.
All of this, of course, is being done to preserve the “free and open” Internet. If the Internet is to remain an engine of commerce and ingenuity, it needs to be totally free and open. As Genachowski said, if the FCC waits too long to ensure the free and open Internet it will be too late. Since Internet traffic is roughly doubling every two years, steps need to be taken now to ensure the Internet doesn’t burst into flames.
What I liked most about the speech was when Genachowski mentioned, in passing, people who, for some reason, are against Net Neutrality, which, again, merely means the preservation of a free and open Internet. Net Neutrality isn’t government regulation for regulation’s sake; who’s to say that your ISP doesn’t want you writing comments to Right Wing Blog or Left Wing Blog because it doesn’t agree with the politics therein, so it blocks access to that site? You’re damn right you want Net Neutrality in that instance.
Basically, this is common sense at work. Enjoy the rest of your day, and if you’re not too busy, you may want to poke around the FCC’s new Web site, OpenInternet.gov.
The original founders of online telephony service Skype have filled a lawsuit against Ebay, and an investment group who recently agreed to buy the service, seeking millions of dollars in damages for unlicensed use of a network technology they own. This latest lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction against Skype, as well as damages which the pair believe are increasing at a rate of more than $75 million a day. Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis founded Skype in 2003 before selling it to Ebay in 2005 for $2.6 billion. Ebay recently agreed to sell a 65 percent stake in Skype for $1.9 billion to a consortium of investors.
If you're a user and supporter of Skype's Extras program, which is aimed at helping third-party developers create useful add-ons for the software, then your fun is soon coming to an end. According to The Download Blog, the popular VoIP software developer will be ending the inclusion of this program beginning today, due to an unfortunate lack of usage. The news went out to customers through an email, as well as via a blog post on the official Skype blog.
We've all known that Skype has been expected to be sold in the near future, and it's finally been announced, on the official Skype blog, just today. eBay has announced that they have sold Skype in a 2.75 billion dollar (65% stake) deal this morning, detailing that the buyer is an investment group led by Silver Lake and includes Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investment Board. According to the Skype blog, eBay will retain about 35% of Skype in the deal, which is to be completed in late 2009. John Donahoe, eBay Inc.
The deal announced today, in which eBay has sold Skype for $1.9 billion while retaining a 35 percent stake in the company, is a win for both eBay and Skype.
There's been a fair bit of discussion about Skype in the technology world lately; whispers here and there have had some believe that it will soon be sold by its owner, eBay. The lads over at the New York Times have reason to believe that, on Tuesday, said deal will become a reality. The tip came from two people said to be briefed on the deal by the company itself. You might recall that eBay announced that it was looking to sell Skype back at the start of this year, though details were sketchy.
Skype Thursday urged regulators to intervene to ensure that users aren't blocked from using their mobile phones to access phone calls via the internet.
Building a Skype phone into a mouse has indeed been done before but here’s another implementation for your perusal. This one’s got a nice 128×64-pixel LCD display, too, which ought to make it easier to see who you’re drunk-dialing after a long night of drinking Mudslides.
Billed as the first ever sliding-cover VoIP mouse, the “Skype Travel Mouse” features a USB connection, 800-DPI optical sensor, built-in mic and speaker, and automatic detection between mouse and phone mode. That is to say, if it rings and you pick it up and put it next to your ear, it’ll know to work as a phone. Magic!
Two points for you if you guessed “older people.” The company’s average customer age is 50, and and live in retirement-friendly places like California or Florida.
MagicJack, if you have no idea what I’m on about, is a device that plugs into your computer’s USB port that in turn lets you make and receive phone calls through your Internet connection. The reason why it’s so popular, I guess, is that you get the first year of service for free, and after that it’s only $20 per year. That low price is especially appealing to people on fixed income, or for people whose regular phone bills are too high.
One side note: you do need to keep your computer on all the time for something like the MagicJack to work, so all that savings you’re getting by freeing yourself from the phone company may go straight toward powering your computer.
Well pass the lord and praise the ammunition: Skype for iPhone now works over 3G, allowing you to make Skype calls – presumably long distance – without using your regular minutes. According to the latest update you can “Call using your 3G connection. Skype-to-Skype calls on 3G are free until at least end of August 2010, after which there will be a small monthly fee (operator charges for data will still apply).”
Wow, if nothing else, new European music service 
