ips

Skype has released the latest update to its online calling software for Windows, offering more options for Facebook users.

Officially out of beta since Wednesday, the latest Skype 5.5 for Windows lets you check which of your Facebook friends are online and available to chat, all without having to leave Skype. Simply clicking on the View menu in the Skype software and then choosing Facebook Friends shows you the list.

By clicking on and then closing the Skype Home screen, you can also update your Facebook status and scroll down to view your entire Facebook wall.

Beyond the Facebook … Read more

Supporters of a bill designed to block access to Web sites trafficking in counterfeit or pirated merchandise are pulling out the stops in their public relations campaign.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce began circulating a testimonial from a woman who says her friend died as a result of taking prescription medicine she bought over the Internet (you can watch her video above).

Glenda Billerbeck, a resident of Rhinebeck, Iowa, says Marcia Mooty Bergeron died in 2006, a day after Billerbeck concluded a visit to Bergeron's home in Canada. According to the statement from Billerbeck, her friend relied on … Read more

Web activist Aaron Swartz was arrested in Boston today, accused of stealing 4 million documents from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Jstor, an archive of scientific journals and academic papers, The New York Times is reporting.

It isn't clear why Swartz was allegedly after obtaining the documents, but according to a copy of the indictment, the charges against Swartz by the U.S. Attorney include wire fraud, computer fraud, obtaining information from a protected computer, and criminal forfeiture. If convicted, Swartz faces up to 35 years in prison and three years of supervised release, according to a Boston … Read more

Video chatting has made its way to Skype's Android app, the VoIP provider announced today.

Video is extremely important in the Skype ecosystem. At any given time, there are 30 million concurrent users on Skype, according to Skype vice president and general manager of product and marketing, Neil Stevens. At its peak, Skype sees 500,000 simultaneous video calls across its service.

When users download the free Skype for Android 2.0, they'll find that they can place or receive video calls with owners of other Android handsets, as well as those who use the platform on their … Read more

After installing an OS update, migrating your system, or otherwise performing a major change to your Mac, you may experience a problem where the system will no longer connect to the network, and upon checking your network settings it will show the system has a "self-assigned IP address." This may be the case even though other devices on the same network are working just fine. Additionally, while it may happen to some Macs, it may not happen to others that appear to be set up identically.

In attempting to fix this problem, people may try repairing permissions, booting … Read more

The people who are instrumental in getting technology start-ups off the ground are imploring Congress not to support a bill designed to give the government more freedom in combating Internet piracy and counterfeiting.

About 50 of some of tech's best-known venture capitalists, including Marc Andreessen, Fred Wilson, and Vinod Khosla, wrote an open letter to members of the U.S. Congress yesterday and outlined how the Protect IP Act would not only fail to achieve its goal of protecting intellectual property but would also "stifle investment in Internet services, throttle innovation, and hurt American competitiveness."

The Protect … Read more

Heads up, Skype.

Shortly after releasing software for audio and video chat as an open-source project called WebRTC as open-source software, Google is beginning to build it into its Chrome browser.

The real-time chat software originated from Google's 2010 acquisition of Global IP Solutions (GIPS), a company specializing in Internet telephony and videoconferencing.

The obvious beneficiary for the project is Gmail, whose audio and video communications ability today requires use of a proprietary plug-in. Gmail chat is getting more important as Google's VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) efforts mature and integrate with the Google Voice service.

But Google … Read more

Skype is bringing several new Facebook features to its voice over IP service.

Windows users who download the new Skype 5.5 Beta version will now be able to instant message with Facebook friends. According to the VoIP provider, the beta's users can also "like" and comment on a friend's Facebook status. A new Facebook Contacts tab has been added to Skype to help users more easily find and communicate with their friends on the social network.

Skype integrated Facebook in version 5.0 of its software last year, allowing users to check out their news … Read more

Lodsys, a group that's targeted companies big and small for infringing on its patents, is now in the crosshairs of a company offering to pay a bounty for research that seeks to invalidate those patents.

Article One Partners, a business that crowdsources intellectual property (IP) research, has launched three new studies into patents held by Lodsys (1,2,3). Each offers a reward to the party that finds prior art, or examples of pre-existing technologies or other IP that could be used as evidence to invalidate one or more of Lodsys' patents.

Article One Partners became involved in a … Read more