skype

Microsoft has completed its $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype Global, giving the software company a major foothold in the growing market for Internet telephony services.

"Skype is a phenomenal product and brand that is loved by hundreds of millions of people around the world," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement late last night. "We look forward to working with the Skype team to create new ways for people to stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues--anytime, anywhere."

Microsoft announced in May the deal to acquire Skype. A final hurdle was cleared last … Read more

Today the European Commission green-lighted Microsoft's acquisition of Skype, a pioneer in personal VoIP communications.

Although Microsoft announced its intentions to buy Skype in May, the software giant had to clear international hurdles before it could complete its acquisition of Skype, which is based in Luxembourg.

"This is an important milestone, as we've now received clearance from both the United States and the European Union," Microsoft's Brad Smith, general counsel and executive vice president, said in a statement. "We look forward to completing soon the final steps needed to close the acquisition."

While … Read more

Microsoft might finally have all the pieces in place to finalize its Skype acquisition.

Joaquín Almunia, the European Union's competition commissioner, is ready to approve Microsoft's acquisition of Skype, the Financial Times is reporting. The publication says that Almunia will approve the deal without requiring Microsoft to give any concessions, indicating that the governing body does not feel the deal will stifle competition.

In May, Microsoft announced plans to acquire Skype for $8.5 billion. As part of the terms of the deal, Skype will become its own division within the software giant's operation, led … Read more

Meg Whitman's ascendency to CEO at Hewlett-Packard may be surprising, but this onetime eBay chief executive and California gubernatorial candidate is hardly unaccustomed to the limelight.

From building eBay up from a dot-com startup to an established Internet company, to her recent failed run to become California's governor, Whitman has proven herself as someone willing to take bold action, even if it doesn't always pay off. Having lived under the microscope of both Wall Street investors and the political media, she won't easily be deterred.

That's a good thing, because after a string of disastrous … Read more

A new security hole found in Skype for iOS could allow a hacker to access your entire address book, according to a blog post from security firm SuperEVR.

According to the post, "[a] Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability exists in the 'Chat Message' window in Skype 3.0.1 and earlier versions for iPhone and iPod Touch devices." So, what does this mean? Basically it means that when Skype users view a message, a hacker could have a JavaScript code that runs a check on a locally stored HTML file that is currently not encoded properly, revealing the user's … Read more

We now know that Americans blow billions of minutes each month on Facebook. It's no wonder folks get in a tizzy when a new feature rolls out.

This week has been a particularly busy one when it comes to Facebook-related improvements. Which of these shiny new features are you most enamored by?

Subscribe option: The subscribe button makes it easier to get just the information you want. Click on it and get updates from that profile in your news feed. This will even work for public updates from some profiles that you're not directly friends with.

Smart Lists: Smart Lists will automatically shuffle your gazillions of friends into groups related to school, work, city, and family. You can then make manual adjustments.

Skype adds Facebook for Mac: Mac users finally get the full Skype-loves-Facebook treatment that Windows users had already been enjoying. The Skype 5.4 for Mac beta lets you message friends, update your status, and read posts from within the program.

Less frequent e-mail alerts: Facebook e-mailed some users telling them to start expecting fewer e-mail notifications from the company. If you prefer to keep your e-mail alerts just the way they are, however, you can turn this new feature off.

Take a moment from updating your status to let us know what floats your social-networking boat. Which new Facebook feature are you most excited about? Vote in our poll and be sure to elaborate in the comments section.… Read more

Skype users on a Mac can now dive into their Facebook accounts courtesy of the same updates that the Windows version has offered for awhile.

The latest beta for the Mac--Skype 5.4 for Mac--integrates Facebook directly into the Skype software. This means that Mac users can IM their Facebook friends without leaving Skype. They can also access their Facebook pages to update their status and read and comment on their friends' posts.

The team at Skype recently published an infographic that shows the vast usage numbers associated with its free calling services.

According to the infographic, based on daily stats gathered in July, Skype usage represents more than 255 billion minutes (or 4.25 billion hours) of calls annually, which is roughly four times more than the service saw in 2008.

Despite the tremendous growth in usage, Skype may have as many detractors as it does proponents. Its services have suffered from a number of hiccups over the last few years, including a serious bout of downtime in December 2010.

For many … Read more

"Oh, hey there, Skype Home window. I was going to watch this movie but I see you've decided to randomly open a window over it instead. Thanks!" Sound familiar? If you're a Skype user who's updated to version 5.5, you've probably come across this issue (only happens if you use Compact mode). There isn't a way to disable the pop-up in the application (yet), so follow these steps if you'd like to get rid of it:

Step 1: Download and install the Kill Skype Home program from SourceForge.

Step 2: … Read more