skype

Featured Freeware: Skype

Skype for Windows and Mac is well-regarded for offering stable, free VoIP to other Skype users and affordable computer-to-phone calls, to both landlines and cell phones. Call quality still varies depending on your Internet connection and what else you're doing with it while using Skype, although the latest version indicates some progress in ameliorating that through audio engine tweaks.

Since the introduction of free long distance to U.S. cell phones, Skype may have dropped a bit in popularity for domestic calls. For international purposes, though, it's still the standard and extremely popular. Newer features include conference calling … Read more

All clear for Skype 3.8

Skype for Windows upgrades a bunch of back-end and minor features aimed at improving user experience, most notably tweaks that should improve call quality.

For users who regularly suffer from excessive background noise or dropped calls, the changes to the audio engine should cut down on those problems. Vista users who suffered from their screensavers turning on during video calls should suffer no more.

Also, incoming requests will no longer display profile images, a boon to those who mix their Skyping with their office hours and don't want that NSFW image of their hottie's avatar popping up. Other … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 711: Cat co-host

Brian Cooley fills in for Molly and Jason (tall order). We also meet his kitten Moneypenny, unfortunately she doesn't say much. Even when we talked about kitten CAPTCHA. Oh well.

--Tom Listen now: Download today's podcast

Episode 711

Version 1.0 of Yahoo’s new platform due later this year http://www.news.com/8301-13953_3-9928557-80.html?tag=nefd.top

3G iPhone due on June 9, analysts say http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20080424/tc_pcworld/145082;_ylt=AiWJ7KalUxL4TjEG6rMYj3AjtBAF

DOD may push back on Apple’s P.A. Semi bid http://eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207401605… Read more

Microsoft mistakes Skype for a Trojan

Users of Microsoft Windows Live OneCare may have found their antivirus protection a little too proactive. Over the weekend, OneCare informed some Skype users that the popular voice-over-IP application was infected with the Trojan Win32/Vundo.gen!D.

Not true, says Skype, which noted that Microsoft has since repaired its overzealous signature file.

On Friday, OneCare subscribers started seeing their access to Skype blocked. Microsoft says it was trying to block a multiple-component family of programs that deliver "out of context" pop-up advertisements, and mistakenly included Skype.

On Tuesday, four days later, it sent out a revised signature … Read more

Webware 100 winner: Skype

Skype is a text, voice, and video-chatting platform that works using your Internet connection. Skype has branched off from a desktop software solution to work in mobile phones and household phones that just need a Wi-Fi or Internet connection to run. Like instant-messaging clients, Skype gives users a buddy list instead of a set of phone numbers.

Over the years, Skype has also introduced a number of new features. One of the more interesting ones is SkypeOut, a service that lets Skype users call outside numbers, both long distance and international. There's also SkypePrime, a service that lets users … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 707: Space is cancelled

The Russians have canceled their space tourism program, because space is too serious to monetize. Also, Skype offers unlimited long-distance on...phones. VoIP is so dead. You heard it here first. In other news, Microsoft bonanza: Windows predictions, welcoming ethical hackers, and burning down your house. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 707

Skype offers unlimited long-distance plan http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN2141013920080421

Google tops Microsoft, Apple in brand power http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9924273-7.html

Britannica makes content free with widgets, publisher registration http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9923867-7.html

Hackers cancel attack on CNN http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/144850/hackers_cancel_attack_on_cnn.html… Read more

Skype to offer unlimited overseas calls

Updated April 21, 5:36 AM PDT to reflect the actual announcement by Skype.

Skype on Monday said it is now offering unlimited calls from the U.S. to phones in a wide range of international locations.

For $9.95 per month, callers will be able to ring folks abroad in 34 countries, including many in Europe, along with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Malaysia. (The details of the new flat-rate subscriptions were first published in an Associated Press story Sunday evening.) There is one limit--in most of those countries, the calls must be … Read more

eBay will consider selling Skype

Has eBay about had it with Skype?

New eBay CEO John Donahoe told the Financial Times the online auctioneer will consider selling Skype if it can't find a way to make the service better help eBay's e-commerce business.

"What we're testing this year are the synergies," Donahoe told the Financial Times. "If the synergies are strong, we'll keep it in our portfolio. If not, we'll reassess it."

Donahoe did say Skype is doing well. It generated $126 million in the first quarter, up 61 percent from a year ago. This year, … Read more

eBay earnings up significantly in Q1

eBay announced Wednesday its second straight $2 billion quarter and said its first-quarter revenue was up 24 percent from a year ago.

The auction giant said that it brought in Q1 revenue of $2.19 billion, up 24 percent from the $1.77 billion it brought in during the same period a year earlier. In addition, the company's Q1 profit of $460 million, or 34 cents a share, was up 22 percent from its Q1 2007 earnings of $377 million, or 27 cents.

In a release, eBay attributed its strong quarter to several factors, including global business classifieds, growth … Read more