conferencing

Google is making one of the most talked-about features of Google+, its Hangouts videoconferencing service, easier to find and use.

Now users can launch a Hangout directly from a Google+ post, starting a conversation with the person who posted the item.

"Certain posts act as kindling for face-to-face interaction," Google Senior Vice President Vic Gundotra wrote in a blog post announcing the new features.

So if a friend mentions taking a new job or a sibling announces their engagement on the social network, users can quickly launch a video chat to offer congratulations.

Google is also adding the … Read more

Google is encroaching just a little bit more in the telecommunications world.

Today, it began offering free voice calls in the United States and Canada from inside its Google+ Hangouts video conference service. Now, Google+ users can dial anyone in those two countries and have them join a Hangout, even if they're not online.

Google's Jarkko Oikarinen announced the new service via Google+.

Even though Oikarinen posted his note publically, Google isn't making the service easy to find. Rather than including it on the interface that launches when user click the "Start a Hangout" tab … Read more

Polycom today unveiled a new videoconferencing application, RealPresence Mobile, that will run on the iPad 2 and Android tablets.

The app runs on Polycom's RealPresence platform, which runs its standard videoconferencing rooms and terminals that include larger high-definition televisions and speaker systems. The idea is to encourage even more videoconferencing use by enabling the tablets to talk with the larger videoconference rooms.

Polycom is looking to play a bigger part in the white-hot mobile space, branching out from the videoconferencing rooms and audio equipment that make up its bread-and-butter business. Its main rival, Cisco Systems, has a number of … Read more

Video calling apps are still fairly few and far between on the iPhone, but Oovoo for iPhone is already a step ahead in offering video conference calls with Oovoo for iPhone.

Features-wise, Oovoo on iPhone, which quietly entered the app store last week as a beta, closely resembles its Android cousin. It has a clean design that shows off the contact list, dialer, communications history, IM, and settings.

With it, you'll be able to place free voice and video calls to up to five other contacts, as long as they're using Oovoo on the iPhone, Android phone, PC, … Read more

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates couldn't be more pleased to see his company acquire Skype.

"I think it's a great, great deal for Skype," he told the BBC in an interview published yesterday. "I think it's a great deal for Microsoft."

Microsoft announced its intentions to acquire Skype last week in a deal valued at $8.5 billion. If and when the deal closes later this year, the VoIP provider will become the Microsoft Skype Division under the leadership of its current CEO, Tony Bates.

Gates, who said he used his influence as chairman … Read more

I don't think video calls will ever fully replace regular phone calls, but there are indeed times when it's nice to see a face at the other end. And all you need to make that happen is a program like Skype and a Webcam.

If you're not happy with the low-resolution Webcam that came with your laptop or your computer just doesn't have one, here's a deal you're sure to like: Today only, Cowboom has a Creative Live Cam VF0415 1.3-megapixel Webcam for $4.99, plus $5 for shipping.

Unlike a lot of … Read more

Skype is expanding its video- and audio-conferencing options through a new deal that will let it tap into Citrix's popular GoToMeeting software.

Skype said yesterday that partnering with Citrix to integrate GoToMeeting technology will help it expand its business service by offering more robust and user-friendly collaboration and online meeting tools.

Specifically, the company plans to enhance its Skype for Business option with Web- and audio-conferencing features to add to the service's existing IM, video calling, and file-sharing tools. Business users will be able to more easily and quickly set up online audio conferences using either Skype or … Read more

Skype's VoIP calling is by now well known to most Mac users, and the ability to make computer-to-computer calls anywhere in the world for free is already extremely popular to international users. Skype's official version on the Mac is 2.8 and is still a bit behind its Windows counterpart (Skype 5 for Windows). But a beta release today brings the software to version 5.0 on the Mac, and the Skype team has added some great new features to get excited about.

Sporting a familiar, more iTunes-like interface, Skype makes it easy to search through contacts and … Read more

Part of the announcement at today's media event was a demonstration of Apple's FaceTime video-conferencing features on OS X, allowing the many iOS devices out there that support FaceTime to connect with people running Macs.

FaceTime is similar to any other video-conferencing tool, and by Steve Jobs' own admission, there is not much to it: you receive or make a call, the person answers, and you both are able to see each other. The software will automatically show portrait or landscape view, depending on how the other person is holding an iOS device, but beyond that, there is … Read more