Skype invites you to try out its latest beta. (Credit: Skype)
The latest release of Skype's 5.0 beta will let you make video calls to as many as 10 people at the same time, according to details posted on the company's Thursday blog.
The 10-way calling is an upgrade from the first 5.0 beta, which offered only 5-way video chatting. But beyond tweaking the video calling, the engineers at Skype have outfitted beta 2 with other new features and tweaks.
Skype's new Home area will offer updates about the service, details on your call purchases, and videos to help newbies get started. The new offline IM feature will let you send messages to and receive them from other people who are offline. The messages are kept on hold and delivered once you or the other person is back online.
Beta 2 has also tried to improve both the quality and reliability of Skype calls. A built-in client messaging service tells you about any potential problems with a call and offers suggestions to improve its quality. Should your network connection go down, the new Skype beta will try to quickly re-establish that connection so the call doesn't get dropped. If the call is lost, Skype will quickly redial it for you.
The gurus at Skype have also tweaked the software's interface by displaying photos of your contacts and a history list of previous conversations.
You can learn a bit more and grab Skype 5.0 beta 2 at Skype's Web site. To install the beta, you'll need to be running Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7. (Sorry Mac users, an OS X beta won't be available until later this year.) And if you want to try out the 10-way calling, your Skype friends will need to install beta 2 as well.
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20015542-93.html#ixzz0yVdHBQ6J
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Giving a full review of the Samsung Captivate (Galaxy S) for AT&T. Super AMOLED vs. Retina Display: cuthut.com TechnoBuffalo: www.technobuffalo.com Follow me on twitter cuthut.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5
Posted in Mobiles by .
Sep 10
3
Photoscape – Reflection Filter
Apple plans to give iphone 4 users a free case in hopes of satisfying concerns about the design of its antenna and signal problems.
CEO Steve Jobs made the announcement (click here for the live blog) during a press conference at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., Friday morning in response to a public-relations crisis over signal issues reported with the iPhone 4, which was unveiled in June. iPhone 4 owners will apply for the free bumper (a case that protects just the outer rim of the phone) online at Apple's Web site, and owners who already purchased a bumper will get a full refund, Jobs said. (Apple will post a video of the conference here shortly, it's not live as of 11:57 a.m. PDT.)
"We're not perfect, phones aren't perfect. But we want to make all our users happy," Jobs said.
Jobs said Apple can't make enough bumpers for of all 3 million iPhone 4 customers, so it's contracting with third-party manufacturers and will offer customers a choice of cases.
Apple plans to continue offering these free cases until September 30, at which point Apple will re-evaluate whether or not that's still the best solution. Jobs admitted that Apple's internal iPhone 4 testing showed the phone dropped more calls than the iPhone 3GS, but said the number of additional dropped calls was extremely small and that competitive smartphones such as the Blackberry and the Droid suffer from similar problems.
After the press conference ended, Apple posted photos, videos, and details about its testing process that were shown during the event. The issue occurs when iPhone 4 users touch a small area on the lower-left side of the iPhone 4 where there is a gap in the iPhone 4's external antenna.
Jobs said just 0.55 percent of iPhone 4 owners called Apple to lodge complaints about the signal problems and return rates have been lower than they were for the iPhone 3GS. But a loud outcry against the design and Apple's response to complaints exploded on the Internet, which in Jobs' opinion was "blown way out of proportion."
Apple faced a similar outcry in 2007 when it drastically cut the price of the original iPhone from $599 to $399, and the company delivered a similar response: a $100 store credit.
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20010808-37.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody#ixzz0yQd0Em5l
Posted in Mobiles by .
Sep 10
3
Walkman beats iPod in Japan
Sony has eked out a small victory against Apple in the market for portable music players.
Sony's S-Series Walkman (Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)
Sales of Sony's Walkman line beat those of Apple's iPod line in Japan for the month of August, according to survey results released Thursday by BCN, a Tokyo-based research firm. During August, Sony took a 47.8 percent share of the portable music player market, while Apple captured 44 percent.
This marks the first time that Sony has inched ahead of Apple in a monthly tally since BCN began its surveys in 2001.
If it sounds like you've heard this news before, well, that's because you have. Sort of. It was a year ago almost to the day that BCN reported higher sales for Sony's player in late August--but that victory was just for a single week.
Of course, timing is everything. In both cases, the Walkman outsold the iPod just ahead of Apple's annual refresh of its iPod lineup. So Sony likely received a temporary boost from customers who held off buying iPods until the new models hit the market in September, according to BCN. The survey results also include only dedicated music players, leaving out Apple's iphone.
But also, BCN said, the Japanese electronics giant has been trying to push more affordable products, a strategy that may have helped Walkman sales last month as well.
Collectively, Apple and Sony own 90 percent of the portable audio player market in Japan, with about a dozen other vendors duking it out for the remaining 10 percent, according to BCN (Google Translate version).
On Wednesday, meanwhile, Sony used the IFA show in Berlin to unveil its new, cloud-based Music Unlimited service, venturing once again into waters dominated by Apple's iTunes service.
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20015401-37.html#ixzz0yQbHGnor
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