skype

Skype said today that users who do not have Skype Credit or subscriptions will now see advertisements in their call windows when they are making one-on-one audio calls using Skype for Windows.

Marketers can purchase these conversation ads in 55 markets where Skype is available. There's no mention of the display ads showing up on Macs or on mobile devices.

The company is portraying the change as a "an opportunity for marketers to reach our hundreds of millions of connected users in a place where they can have meaningful conversations about brands in a highly engaging environment." … Read more

PALOS VERDES, Calif. -- At the D10 conference, Microsoft's Tony Bates, president of the Skype division, laid out two of the major growth opportunities and challenges for the communications service: mobile and video.

Announcing today that Skye now has 250 million connected users, up from 170 million the last time he reported, he said that over 50 percent of his traffic is now video communications.

Skype is "doubling down" on Windows 8 he said (also doubling down on secrecy), which Bates says is excellent for Skype because of its focus on people. "Windows 8 really represents … Read more

Nokia and Microsoft have run into problems with the new Nokia Lumia 610. While trying to avoid the fragmentation issues faced by Android, Windows Phone has properly shot itself in the foot -- with a catapult and an Angry Bird.

The budget Lumia 610 is the first phone powered by Microsoft's Windows Phone software to arrive with just 256MB of RAM -- and it turns out many Windows Phone apps just won't work on the phone. That includes Angry Birds, the smash-hit game from Nokia's fellow Finns Rovio, and even worse, Skype, which is owned by Microsoft. As snafus go, this one is pretty delicious.

Read more of "Nokia Lumia 610 can't install Angry Birds, Skype and more" at Crave UK. … Read more

Microsoft paid $8.5 billion for Skype and it's trying to walk a line between leaving the Internet communications service independent and integrating it with its vast array of products.

It's one tough line to walk. The New York Times details Microsoft's integration of Skype so far and the software giant has erred on the side of independence. Skype is developing software for Android, iOS and other services as usual. Ironically, Skype is having issues with Windows Phone.

You see where Microsoft wants to go. Skype for Xbox with cool features. Integration with Windows 8, Lync, Windows … Read more

Because we are all children, we always want more. Technology tries to give it to us, especially because those who create it are always trying to put more of the new into the world.

Yet sometimes technology can expose us to a "more" that we had never imagined and one that we might wish never to have experienced.

No one can conceive what it must have been like when Susan Clark watched her husband -- stationed in Afghanistan -- die during a Skype call.

According to the Associated Press, Capt. Bruce Kevin Clark, 43, was on an apparently … Read more

The tablecloth was fresh, the juice was chilled. Francina Richardson and her family were ready for company. But instead of waiting for the doorbell to ring, this Sonoma, Calif., grandmother was listening for the distinctive trill of a Skype phone call. And her guests were joining her as part of a pioneering new initiative called the Virtual Dinner Guest Project.

Right on time, a group of youth in Cairo took a "seat" at the breakfast table. Introductions were made on both sides of the computer screen, and then, a natural conversation began. The young Egyptians, most of them … Read more

A "reliable source" has informed 9to5Mac that Facebook is currently developing its Facebook Messenger app for Apple's iPad.

According to screenshots provided by 9to5Mac, the iPad version of the Messenger app looks fairly similar to Facebook's current standalone app for iPhone. The app includes one-to-one chats, group chats, and supports push notifications.

Facebook's Messenger app also allows users to see their friends' locations on a map.

Though no timeline for release was mentioned by the source, it did also suggest that Facebook would be adding video chat support through Skype for at least the iPhone … Read more

A popular choice for VoIP users and those who make international and video calls, Skype (free for iPhone or iPad) received a few improvements that tweak the interface and give you more control over your video calls.

The overall interface has been slightly tweaked to look a bit smoother with a new header and buttons that are more aesthetically pleasing and better match the colors of the rest of the interface. The contact view now shows more contacts on screen, with smaller icons that don't take up as much space as they did in previous versions.

The most noticeable new enhancement is the ability to touch and drag your video preview (the picture in picture view where you can see yourself during a video call) so you can move it anywhere on the screen during a call.… Read more

A simple Skype exploit can reveal IP addresses -- remote and local -- of any user.

A blog post by skype-open-source runs through the process of obtaining a user's IP address. Essentially, all a person has to do is start the process of adding a contact with a specific user name. Instead of sending a contact confirmation, the person can click on the information card to obtain the IP address of that particular user.

The process only works if the other user is online. The only method of protecting against this is to log off of Skype when you'… Read more