Skype 2.8 for Mac to launch Tuesday

Skype 2.8 for Mac will ship on Tuesday, with new features including screen sharing and an integrated Wi-Fi hot spot connector.

Available only for Mac OS X at first, the new version will add screen-sharing capabilities to the app's voice, video, and chat communications features. Skype spokespeople told me that users will be able to run all four channels at once with acceptable performance.

Screen sharing is useful in business settings (I get a lot of demos over apps like Webex, for example), but it has personal applications as well: People could share photographs, and presumably videos as well, using the feature.

Skype is also getting a feature that will allow users to access WiFi hotspots on the Boingo network for 19 cents a minute. The funds will be deducted from users' Skype accounts. Boingo has about 85,000 hot spots worldwide, a Boingo rep told me. TMobile, the primary Wi-Fi provider at U.S. airports, is on the Boingo network.

The Wi-Fi access feature makes Skype a more useful product for people who use the VoIP app from their Mac laptops, and the per-minute payment scheme makes sense for highly mobile users for whom buying access by the hour or month would leave a lot of unused credits behind.

Skype co-founder Nicklas Zennstrom also started a Wi-Fi network called Fon, but Skype 2.8 doesn't yet integrate with that system.

Disruptive Telephony covered other new features in Skype 2.8, including a new way to update your Skype "mood" and to follow users in a Twitter-like fashion, bigger Avatar images, and a new way to manage and prioritize chat windows.

Also, regarding Boingo: That company announced a new Apple product: A connector app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. For $7.95 a month, users of those devices can access the entire Boingo Wi-Fi network. For U.S.-based iPhone users on the AT&T network, this is not such a great product since AT&T-provided Wi-Fi is now free for them, but international users and travelers, and iPod Touch users (perhaps those who use TruPhone for VOIP calls) may find it a good deal.

[albertxiaoyu]

It is a good news

[yokenthwaite]

Rafe, please tell us ur not Cnet's Mac expert now..........Not moaning on about windows now are u??

[rafe]

At the current time, I am an equal-opportunity moaner. I complain about Windows for being a pain (which is why i was so willing to give the Mac a shot), and I dislike the Mac for being harder to switch to than I wanted. But you know you, we only criticize the ones we love...

[ethana2]

I actually criticize all of them.. but when it comes to Ubuntu, I try to keep it a bit more focused and helpful..

[3rdalbum]

When will Skype tackle the real problems? Spam is a real issue on Skype, even more so than on MSN. Something needs to be done about the Chinese Skype users who keep Skyping random people from English-speaking countries with the hope of getting free language lessons. I even had someone from Sri Lanka trying to get me to rewrite his business documents in "good English".

There needs to be some eBay-like system of giving feedback on someone who has initiated a call or message with you, and you can block people with feedback of -5 or below, for instance.

Also, the Skype client on Linux needs some improvement.

[alansky]

Feedback system? How's about just not answering calls from people you don't know!!!

[G-Skaf]

I agree, how about updating Skype for Linux, as well? It's been stuck at version 2.0 for ages.

[Penguinisto]

Heh - now for the $64 question: when will there be Skype for the iPhone and the Blackberry?

I have a Blackberry w/ Wifi (TMobile)... and while it does allow me to dodge connect fees and such for calls made over wifi, it would be pretty cool to have options.

[Eal2000]

What about iVisit Mobile. It does everything skype does plus multi party video conferencing and other features. It allows for mobile to mobile, mobile to desktop, and desktop to desktop.

iPhone Alpha version already exists, and there will be a public Beta sometime soon

http://www.ivisit.com/features

[nicmart]

Still no multi-party video conferencing?

[peteratskype]

@3rdalbum - you can adjust your privacy settings to block instant messages and calls from people you don't know: http://www.skype.com/security/safety/safety.html

[davidredekop]

Curious how you received this information considering it is actually already Wednesday (GMT) as I write this message, and there's still no sign of 2.8 on the Skype download page.

[jthrock]

Now it's Thursday the 8, and there is still no sign of 2.8.
Maybe Rafe meant next Tues?

[jthrock]

Well it just so happens that this release is actually a beta. I was on iusethis.com and came across skype and it had the new 2.8 listed on there. You can download it from there via the link.
http://osx.iusethis.com/app/skype

[zlguocius]

How long is 2.8 going to remain in beta? It's been almost six months now. Does that seem crazy to anyone else?

[zlguocius]

Well, at least it's out of beta now. Way to go, Skype.