telephony

eBay wants to spin off telephony service Skype into a separate publicly traded company, but something's standing in the way: Skype's founders are threatening to take back some of the technology in the midst of a licensing dispute.

The auction giant's solution, according to a Bloomberg report on Thursday: Build a new one.

This was revealed in a 10-Q regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission; eBay is not commenting beyond the filing. You can decide whether "Frankenskype" or "Skypenstein" is a better name for the hypothetical creation.

Here's what has … Read more

What if Digsby and Skype merged into one seemingly all-powerful VoIP and messaging communications tool is the question that VoxOx seeks to answer. VoxOx's many features have not yet been seen in one package, and version 2 of the program introduces even more features. Whether their execution suits your needs may be another matter.

VoxOx 2 offers all that came before, and more. It's got multi-protocol chat, social networking support, and Web mail integration. It also offers a telephony service that includes call encryption, mobile-to-mobile calls initiated by either SMS or via a Web site. New in this … Read more

What if Digsby and Skype merged into one seemingly all-powerful VoIP and messaging communications tool is the question that VoxOx seeks to answer. VoxOx's many features have not yet been seen in one package, and version 2 of the program introduces even more features. Whether their execution suits your needs may be another matter.

VoxOx 2 offers all that came before, and more. It's got multiprotocol chat, social networking support, and Web mail integration. It also offers a telephony service that includes call encryption, mobile-to-mobile calls initiated by either SMS or via a Web site. New in this … Read more

When VoxOx was released last November, it was hard to deny that the communication tools it offered were impressive. Multi-protocol chat, VoIP, some rudimentary e-mail updates, and an SMS-callback feature to initiate international calls for the cost of a local call were all rounded up under one roof. It had a problem, though: stability.

VoxOx 2, available for Windows and Intel Macs running Leopard but no longer for PPC Macs, truly looks like it's fixed the stability issue. Along the way, its publisher TelCentris, has gifted it with a robust Personal Assistant feature, a super-address book that attempts to … Read more

Google hasn't yet launched Google Voice publicly, but it did take a step in that direction on Thursday by starting to extend invitations to those who signed up on a waiting list for the Net-augmented telephone service.

Google Voice, based on technology from a start-up called GrandCentral that Google acquired in 2007, offers users a new phone number that can simplify reaching that user.

When a person calls the Google Voice number, the user's home, work, and mobile phones all can ring simultaneously. The user can set up the service so specific phones ring for different callers or … Read more

Update: VoxOx has extended the deal from Thursday, April 9, at 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. PDT. Also, $5 normally buys 500 VoxOx points, not 250 as previously stated.

Multiprotocol chat client VoxOx is offering a deal to CNET readers until 2:30 p.m. PST on Thursday, April 9. If you buy $5 worth of VoxPoints, instead of the usual 500 points, CNET readers will get 1,500 points. This is triple the number of points VoxOx is offering readers who sign on through VoxOx's own site. Each point converts to 1 minute's worth … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Google plans to unveil a service called Google Voice on Thursday that indicates Google wants to do with your telephone communications what companies such as Yahoo have done with e-mail.

Google Voice, the new version of the GrandCentral technology Google acquired in July 2007, has the potential to make the search giant a middleman in an important part of people's lives, telephone communications. With the service, people can pick a new phone number from Google Voice; when others call it, Google can ring all the actual phones a person uses and handle voice mail.

The old version could let people centralize telephone services, screen their calls, and listen to voice mail over the Web. But the new version offers several significant new features, though. Google now uses its speech-to-text technology to transcribe voice mail, making it possible to search for particular words. Gmail's contacts now is used to instruct Google Voice how to treat various callers. And Google Voice now can send and receive SMS text messages and set up conference calls. … Read more

What if Digsby and Skype merged into one seemingly all-powerful VoIP and messaging communications tool is the question that VoxOx seeks to answer. VoxOx's many features have not yet been seen in one package. It's got multiprotocol chat abilities, social networking support, and Web-mail integration. It also offers a telephony service that includes call encryption, mobile-to-mobile calls initiated by either SMS or via a Web site, a free personal assistant-style call forwarding service, and a system for earning minutes by watching ads or responding to surveys.

In addition to the features listed above, VoxOx offers 120 free minutes … Read more

What if Digsby and Skype merged into one seemingly all-powerful VoIP and messaging communications tool is the question that VoxOx seeks to answer. VoxOx's many features have not yet been seen in one package. It's got multiprotocol chat abilities, social networking support, and Web-mail integration. It also offers a telephony service that includes call encryption, mobile-to-mobile calls initiated by either SMS or via a Web site, a free personal assistant-style call forwarding service, and a system for earning minutes by watching ads or responding to surveys.

In addition to the features listed above, VoxOx offers 120 free minutes … Read more