VOIP

Truphone's VoIP app dials up iPhone

Getting poor Skype sound and want to cut down on international call costs? Truphone's new iPhone app might be worth checking out.

The London-based mobile VoIP operator has offered the service since 2006 for the E or N series Nokia phones. An iPhone version of Truphone's service hit Apple's App store Friday.

The VoIP service lets people send text messages or make calls to anywhere in the world for a low fee.

Calling a landline costs 6 cents per minute, and dialing a mobile phone costs 30 cents per minute. SMS text messaging costs 20 cents. Calling … Read more

Targus USB mouse doubles as VoIP phone, $17.95 (today only)

It's a mouse. No, it's a phone. It's two, two, two products in one! The Targus Portable USB Notebook Mouse and Internet Phone Combo (whew--exhausted from typing all that) is $17.95 (plus 5 bucks shipping) today only from Yugster, a deal-of-the-day site much like Woot.

On the surface, the TPUNMAIPC looks like a fairly typical USB-powered travel mouse--and $17.95 is not a bad price for such a rodent. But it also doubles as a voice-over-IP handset and speakerphone, meaning you can use it to take and make calls over Skype, Google Talk, Gizmo5, or whatever … Read more

Fring gets Facebook, other third-party add-ons

After so many announcements for this or that application's Facebook appearance, it's nice to see Facebook play a supporting role in kind.

On Tuesday, Fring, a VoIP and IM application for a range of mobile phones, added the ability to fold Facebook into the communicator, through a new Settings menu option called fringAdd-ons. Gmail Notifier, Orkut, vTap videos, and Yandex.mail are also in there, together representing the first extensions created by third-party developers using Fring's application programming interface.

Exactly how many add-ons join this handful will depend on Fring's popularity with casual developers. Fring is … Read more

Skype taps former Motorola exec for COO post

Internet calling provider Skype said Tuesday that it has hired Scott Durchslag, a former Motorola executive, to become its chief operating officer.

Durchslag spent more than five years at Motorola where he was most recently corporate vice president of global product and experience invention for the mobile devices business unit. Skype said that while in that position Durchslag "led product strategy, innovation, intellectual property, design, user interfaces, consumer experiences, partnerships, product marketing, and customer care."

The fact that Durchslag was in charge of "strategy" and "innovation" for Motorola's device business at a time when the company lost significant market share to competitors, … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 754: Molly.wood, here I come!

ICANN approves its plan to totally overhaul the Internet domain structure, but all we can do is make fun of the name "Winklevoss." Hee. "Winklevoss." Also today, Microsoft wants to shut off your gadgets from afar (or at least, their patent filing suggests that they do), the Samsung Instinct is totally the new iPhone, and torrent freaks think JJ Abrams' new show, Fringe, will be a hit. Phew! Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 754

Judge Ends Facebooks Feud With ConnectU http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/judge-ends-facebooks-feud-with-connectu/

Facebook suspends app that permitted … Read more

First look at the T-Mobile @Home service

The news has broke that T-Mobile will be offering a VoIP service called T-Mobile @Home in select cities nationwide. However, yours truly had a chance to get some hands-on time with the specially built T-Mobile HotSpot @Home HiPort wireless Linksys router made especially for this service. T-Mobile also sent me an optional VTech cordless phone so I can test it out.

Setting up the router is the same procedure as setting up any other router, save for one difference: You need to install a SIM card. T-Mobile provided me with one, which I then snapped into place in the back … Read more

T-Mobile's home phone service goes nationwide

T-Mobile USA plans to announce Wednesday that its new @Home voice service will be available nationwide starting July 2.

The cell phone operator has been testing the new Internet telephony service since February in Dallas and Seattle. And now the new service, which is meant to replace traditional home phones, will be offered to any T-Mobile cell phone customer.

Subscribers will be able to connect any regular home telephone to a T-Mobile router that will send calls over the Internet much the same way as services like Vonage operate. The service costs $10 a month plus taxes and fees for … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 748: At play in the Web of Misery

Somehow today's show suddenly turned into a poetry slam, replete with economic gloom, the devastating hackery of coffee pots, and the slow creep of a fox on fire. All right, that's about enough of that annoying crap. In other news that may or may not be news, a new study finds that folks who are enthusiastic about technology may also be enthusiastically jerky. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 748

Flickr co-founders depart Yahoo http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9971209-7.html

Statistics show Firefox 3 spreading fast http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9971672-7.html http://mashable.com/2008/06/18/firefox-record/… Read more

Get to know Skype 4.0 beta

It's been a while since a major Skype release, and on Wednesday, the eBay-owned VoIP communication service will issue the first of several planned version 4.0 beta builds for Windows that are anticipated to drop over the next few months.

The biggest changes to come with Skype 4.0 beta (download) are visual and organizational. For the first time, the program contains complete prompts for running sound and Webcam checks within the program set-up. After two failed tests buffered by common troubleshooting suggestions, Skype will recommend hardware--like headsets and a Webcam--to reverse incompatibility errors.

Redesigned interface Skype 4.… Read more