Skype Introduces Skype Wi-Fi:Now Pay for Wi-Fi on per Minute Usage at One Million Hotspots

From: http://www.techieapps.com/

Skype has just launched its Skype Wi-Fi, a free iOS app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch that permits users to use more than one million paid Wi-Fi hotspots across the globe and users can pay for them via Skype Wi-Fi Access.

Unlike hotspot app Boingo which powers Skype’s mobile Wi-Fi service, which need a day or a monthly plan, Skype Wi-Fi charges Wi-Fi customers on per minute basis. Usage charges begin at $0.06 per minute, but you may be charged slightly more depending on the service provider. This service has formerly been accessible for laptops under the tag “Skype Access”.

Here’s how it works: Let’s assume that you are in Washington DC, USA and you have got your AT&T iPhone with you. You have got data roaming turned off because you don’t desire to get a mammoth bill, but you are at a railway station that proffers a Wi-Fi hotspot. However, the Wi-Fi hotspot will cost you. Maybe you don’t feel like entering your credit card details in on the spot for safety reasons, or maybe the directions for how to pay are in a language which you don’t understand, or maybe the hotspot pressurizes you to subscribe a day’s access for $20. You can bypass all of these limitations with Skype Wi-Fi.

Why would someone desire to compensate for Internet if they are having mobile phone with a data plan? In an official Skype’s blog post about the fresh innovative skype app, Skype advises it will be obliging for shunning data roaming overseas. We might include that it is enormously functional when your iPhone’s 3G signal is feeble, and you immediately desire to download that one very important mail.

If you discover mobile access to pay-per-minute Wi-Fi attractive, you can try Skype Wi-Fi for free this weekend for 1 hour. We will have to examine it out going ahead and see if it is a great a solution as it appears.

Apple Releases Public Beta Of FaceTime For Mac

by Ray Willington

from: http://hothardware.com/

 

Apple hosted a huge event in California this week, and it was all centered about the Mac. We figured by the look of the invite that software would be a huge part of the discussion, and indeed it was. One of the major introductions at the event surrounded FaceTime. That's Apple's own video calling software, and while it's definitely not new (Skype has enabled video chats for quite some time), it's one of the more fluid implementations. But there's just one major problem: it's only available between iPhone 4/iPod touch users.

No longer. Apple today introduced the public beta of FaceTime for Mac, which is a standalone app that is separate from iChat and enables Mac users to video call iPhone 4 and iPod touch users as well as other Mac users. The app Mac automatically uses your Address Book contacts, and it works seamlessly with the built-in camera and mic on Mac notebooks, iMac and Apple LED Cinema Displays.

It's available to download today for free, but OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is required. Give it a shot if you have been meaning to speak to your folks back in Canada. Or wherever they are.

Apple Brings FaceTime to the Mac

Macs Can Video Call Over 19 Million iPhone 4 & iPod touch Users

CUPERTINO, California—October 20, 2010—Apple® today announced the public beta of FaceTime® for Mac®, an entirely new application that allows Mac users to video call iPhone® 4 and iPod touch®* users as well as other Macs. Featuring an easy to use interface, FaceTime for Mac automatically uses your Address Book contacts so there’s no need to create special buddy lists, and it works seamlessly with the built-in camera and mic on Mac notebooks, iMac® and Apple LED Cinema Displays.

“FaceTime makes video calling to or from mobile devices easy for the first time,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve sold more than 19 million FaceTime-ready iPhone 4 and iPod touch devices in the past four months, and now those users can make FaceTime calls with tens of millions of Mac users.”

FaceTime for Mac requires Mac OS® X Snow Leopard® and is easy to set up with an Apple ID. The public beta is available immediately as a free download at www.apple.com/mac/facetime. 

Unlike Skype, a New iPhone App Makes VoIP Calls Over 3G

By Om Malik
From http://gigaom.com/

Peter Sisson, the founder and chief executive officer of Toktumi, a San Francisco-based VoIP startup, is elated. He was jumping with joy when I spoke with him earlier today. Why? Because Apple just approved the latest version (2.0) of his company’s mobile VoIP app, Line2. The app, which costs 99 cents, allows you to call and receive phone calls over both 3G and Wi-Fi networks.

What Toktumi has done is build a back end similar to that of Google Voice — but unlike Google, it’s gotten Apple’s blessing. It’s one of the more complete mobile VoIP apps currently available for download; I especially like the fact that it allows you to receive calls straight to your mobile phone over a cellular network even if you don’t have 3G or Wi-Fi coverage. It comes with its own features such as call waiting, conference calling, call transfer and even voice mails — in other words, the service is like a virtual second line on your phone. The service costs $14.95 a month for unlimited calls in the U.S. and Canada.

Toktumi, which launched at DEMO 2008, has had to traverse a difficult path to get to where it is today, and Sisson is understandably excited about the kind of exposure the approval from Apple of its app will bring. Sisson, a veteran of the VoIP business, sold his last company, Teleo, to Microsoft.

Cheap Mobile Calls, Even Overseas

By JOANNA STERN

From: http://www.nytimes.com/

Recently, my parents returned from Italy with a few bottles of Chianti and $750 in AT&T calling charges. Buon giorno!

Enlarge This Image

With Skype Mobile, users can make free calls to other Skype phones, or calls to non-Skype phones for a fee.

Truphone permits you to make free calls to other Truphone users or to sign on to your Skype account.

Fring offers calls over Wi-Fi and 3G networks and connects to Skype, Google Talk and MSN Messenger.

Racking up exorbitant mobile charges is easy to do if you are not careful about using your cellphone internationally. AT&T charges 99 cents a minute to use your phone in Italy (rates vary by country), and that is if you pay for the carrier’s international calling plan. If you do not, the charge goes up to $1.29 a minute.
What my parents did not realize was that they could have nearly eliminated those charges if they had set up their (in this case) iPhone and BlackBerry to take advantage of mobile Internet calling services: That $1.29-a-minute charge would have gone down to a much more reasonable 2.4 cents a minute (or nothing at all if they were on a Wi-Fi network).

The Internet has been used to make calls for some time. One of the largest providers of the service, Skype, was founded in 2003 and has more than half a billion user accounts. And while many people gather around the PC to talk to far-flung friends and family, new apps and services can replicate that experience (and that savings) on cellphones.

To transform your mobile phone into a device capable of making cheap international calls, you need to consider a few things. Ideally, you have a smartphone that can access Wi-Fi, like an iPhone or a Droid. Wi-Fi ensures the best call quality, since it’s carried over a high-speed Internet connection rather than through third-generation, or 3G, cellular networks.

But if you don’t have a Wi-Fi-enabled smartphone, you are not out of luck. There are calling services that use local phone numbers rather than wireless data connections to place calls, making them compatible with a wide range of devices. Applications can dial a local access number as if you were placing a regular call; and your call is routed over the Internet at similarly discounted rates.

There are also free calling mobile applications, each with its own layout, feature list and call quality. In my tests of more than six different applications by calling friends in Europe and Africa, these stood out:
SKYPE FOR MOBILE Like the program for Mac and PCs, Skype Mobile lets you make free calls and send instant messages to fellow Skype users. You can also call non-Skype landlines and cellphones using Skype Credit, a fee-based service that charges pennies per minute for international calls.

Skype offers several mobile versions, including Skype for the iPhone and iPod Touch, Skype Lite for Java and Android phones, and Skype for Windows phones.

The application for the iPhone and iPod Touch most closely resembles Skype’s familiar desktop program. Though I could send text-based chat messages to my Skype-using friend in Belgrade over AT&T’s 3G network, I needed to connect the phone to a Wi-Fi network to make a call. (You currently cannot make Skype or other Internet-based calls on the iPhone via AT&T’s 3G network, though that could change soon.) After a simple tap of the call button, I could clearly hear his familiar accent without any noticeable lag or choppiness.

Similarly, a call I made to a friend’s cellphone in Senegal using Skype Credit was crystal clear in sound and connected in only 15 seconds. We chatted for 10 minutes, which cost me only $2.40. That same call on AT&T, even if I signed on to its international calling plan (which costs $4 a month), would have cost $8.80. Without the international calling plan, the fee would have climbed to $27.80.

For those without iPhones or Windows Mobile devices, Skype provides its Skype Lite application. Skype Lite cannot make calls over Wi-Fi or 3G networks, but instead routes calls through a local cellphone number.
It isn’t as complicated as it sounds: when using a MyTouch 3G phone, I selected a Skype contact in London. The application started the phone’s dialer and automatically routed the call to a local number. My British pal came through clear and static-free.

One thing to remember is that while calls made with Skype Lite are local and your carrier won’t exact a long-distance fee, you are technically making a call. So those calls will count against the minutes in your calling plan.

FRING Picking up where Skype Mobile leaves off, Fring provides an even richer experience on more phones. It supports calling over Wi-Fi and 3G on Android and Nokia devices; iPhone 3G calling is on the way. In addition to free calling to Fring members anywhere in the world, the service connects to Skype, Google Talk and MSN Messenger contacts.

After installing the Fring application from the Android Marketplace on Sprint’s HTC Hero, I tapped into my Skype account to call my Belgrade friend over Sprint’s network. Since I didn’t need to be in a Wi-Fi hotspot, I made the call while walking down a noisy New York street.

Unfortunately, because 3G data networks weren’t built for packets of data as fast-moving as a cellphone call, the connection was weak and kept fading in and out. When I was standing still, the call was slightly clearer but like a dialogue between in-studio anchors and on-the-ground news correspondents, there was a noticeable lag in the conversation.

That all disappeared when I connected the Hero to a Wi-Fi network; we talked for five minutes with no interruptions or delay.

If you are a fan of Skype’s desktop video-calling service, you may be wondering when it will be appearing on its mobile app. Fring’s already beaten Skype to the punch on this feature. The company recently updated its iPhone application with one-way video calling. “One-way,” because the iPhone doesn’t have a front-facing camera — so you can see your caller but your caller can’t see you.

TRUPHONE Truphone, which works a bit differently from Skype and Fring, is available for a number of devices including the iPhone, the iPod Touch and Android, Nokia and BlackBerry handsets.
Truphone doesn’t have a 3G calling option, but offers calling over Wi-Fi for Android, Nokia and iPhone handsets. The company offers Truphone Anywhere, a service similar to Skype’s Lite application that routes long-distance calls first over a local number and then via the Internet for lower rates.

Though Truphone permits you to sign into your Skype account and call Skype users, you can also make free calls to other Truphone users. When I called a Truphone friend in London on his cell using a Wi-Fi network, call quality was decent and there was no background hissing.

Blending the functionality of both Fring and Skype, I discovered the true beauty of Truphone when I ventured outside of Wi-Fi territory and was able to automatically call Truphone users and international numbers by using my phone’s own dialing capabilities. Although I needed to buy Truphone credit, the call was routed over a local number and then to Truphone’s network.

What’s the benefit of that, rather than it switching to 3G like Fring? Much better call quality. Just as with Skype Lite, when I dialed my friend in Israel, Truphone called a local New York City number, and connected me to her cell. Her voice was as clear as if she was sitting right next to me.

Clearly, making a choice about which service to use to reduce the cost of international calling will depend heavily on what cellphone you have and whether you have easy access to a Wi-Fi network.
But no matter which option you select, you will definitely save some money. AT&T may have heavily charged my parents one time for their globetrotting calling habits, but with so many new and cheaper options, that won’t happen again.

AT&T Changes Tune, Allows VoIP Over Cell Network

Dan Moren, Macworld.com

All engines, full reverse! That's the order AT&T seemed to be giving on Tuesday when it announced that it would be altering its existing policy to allow Internet phone applications such as Skype to place calls over the iPhone's cellular data connection.

Previously Skype and other Voice over IP (VoIP) applications for the iPhone, such as Fring, were relegated to Wi-Fi connections, prompting calls of foul play by consumers who often wanted to take advantage of features like the services' cheaper rates for international calling. An FCC investigation was launched in April at the behest of Internet advocacy group Free Press, shortly after the Skype app was released for the iPhone.

Notably, the ban did not apply to non-iPhone devices on AT&T's network. "Today's decision was made after evaluating our customers' expectations and use of the (iPhone) compared to dozens of others we offer," AT&T Wireless CEO Ralph de la Vega told The Wall Street Journal.

While some alleged that AT&T's desire in keeping Skype off its data network was a way of stifling competition and forcing customers to use the wireless company's international calling options, it's also been suggested that AT&T was worried about the amount of traffic the immensely popular iPhone could bring to bear on its network.

Somewhat coincidentally--if you believe in such things--earlier in the day, Google and Verizon held a joint press conference to announce their new partnership, in which the two companies stressed network openness.

The decision today does not apparently affect other applications that suffer from similar restrictions, such as the iPhone version of SlingPlayer Mobile, which allows users to stream video from their home devices only over Wi-Fi connections. Nor does it affect the contentious Google Voice service, which uses the standard telephone functions of the cellular network to route phone calls to and from users.

New Version of Skype Adds Screen Sharing

Written by Frederic Lardinois

Skype, the popular VOIP client formerly owned by eBay, just released a new beta version of its Windows client. The new version finally brings screen sharing to the Windows client, something which already became available in the last beta version of the Mac client in January. In addition, Skype now also allows users to import their contacts from Gmail, Windows Live, Hotmail, AOL, LinkedIn, and Yahoo.

Thanks to this update, Mac users (who use the latest beta version) can now also finally share their screens with PC users, which wasn't possible until now.

Screen Sharing

Overall, while it works perfectly well, Skype's screen sharing features are pretty basic and allow users to either share the full screen or select a part of the screen they want to share. A number of third-party developers already offered Skype plugins that allow users to share their screens with their contacts. And quite a few of these offer a wider range of features than Skype's own solution, including white-board functionality.

The image of the screen is great, as one would expect. But in order to share a screen, a voice call has to be initiated, which might not always be what you really want to do, especially if you are like a lot of us here at RWW who often use Skype for text-only chats as well. Sadly, it also doesn't look like it is possible to share a screen with a group of contacts or a Skype room. For now, you will still need dedicated screen sharing programs like Yuuguu for this kind of functionality.

More New Features

Skype also added additional support for visually impaired users who use screen reading software, as well as birthday reminders that will alert you when it's one of your contacts' birthdays.

As always, we need to point out that this is beta software and you might still find some bugs in it. Overall, though, Skype's beta releases have generally been very stable. A full set of release notes is available here (PDF).

Wireless Carriers Are Wrong to Cripple Skype for iPhone

Jeff Bertolucci, PC World

Everybody loves the idea of cheap VoIP calls on cell phones. Everybody, that is, except for wireless carriers who charge usurious fees for voice and data plans. Cellular providers around the globe are placing restrictions on Skype for iPhone and other Internet phone services, and that’s bad news for consumers.

In the United States, AT&T limits Skype for iPhone calls to Wi-Fi connections. This means the VoIP app won’t work over AT&T’s 3G or EDGE data networks. (9to5 Mac says it got Skype to work on beta iPhone 3.0 software, but it’s likely that Apple and AT&T will close that loophole in a hurry.) In Germany, telecom giant Deutsche Telekom AG has prohibited the use of VoIP software for one and a half years. And in Canada, iPhone users won’t be allow to download Skype due to “vague restrictions” in technology licenses, according to Skype. According to a Toronto Star report, however, Canada’s cellular providers may be to blame:

“Some have speculated that the holdup is due to resistance from Canada's wireless carriers, which rely heavily on revenue from conventional voice calling.”

Wireless carriers have made it clear that they’re simply protecting their turf. Cellular voice plans are big moneymakers, and providers don’t intend to let low-cost VoIP upstarts like Skype take their business. But that argument doesn’t wash. ISPs that offer home Internet access -- including Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon -- aren’t allowed to cripple Net phone services like Skype and Vonage, despite the fact that VoIP providers compete with the ISPs’ home phone plans.

The wireless carriers’ actions clearly violate Net neutrality principles too. As summarized by Brad Reed of Network World, the tenets of Net neutrality, as outlined by the Federal Communications Commission in 2005, clearly side with the consumer:

“These principles state that networks must allow users to access any lawful Internet content of their choice, to run any legal Web applications of their choice, and to connect to the network using any device that does not harm the network. Additionally, the principles state that consumers are ‘entitled to competition among network providers, application and service providers and content providers.’ ”

This doesn’t mean that wireless carriers will unshackle VoIP anytime soon. But with enough consumer outcry and a little governmental assistance, they may be forced to.

Skype for iPhone goes live in Japan

by Darren Murph

When they said "Tuesday," they meant it. Not long ago, the clock struck midnight in the Land of the Rising Sun, and sure enough, the bona fide Skype application (v1.0.0.63) for Apple's iPhone has gone live. It's absolutely free to download, and early reports from Japan have been pretty stellar in regard to sound quality. We're fully expecting it to roll out elsewhere as Tuesday (March 31st) arrives in various time zones, so make sure you (and at least one Skype buddy) stay up late to try 'er out. [Warning: iTunes read link may not work for all time zones yet.]
[Via Engadget Japanese]

Gallery: Skype for iPhone goes live in Japan

Rumour: Google to buy Skype

Is eBay looking to offload its VoIP cash-cow?

Is eBay looking to sell Skype to Google?

Leading VoIP service Skype goes from strength to strength, with revenues rising by 26 per cent last quarter. Yet despite this success, parent company eBay is rumoured to be looking to offload its cash-cow to none other than Google.

The rumours seem credible when you consider that eBay's latest financial results were pretty poor (revenue down 7 per cent to $2.04bn), well below the market expectations for what is traditionally retail's busiest quarter.

No eBay/Skype synergy

"Even eBay has now admitted that its $2.6bn purchase of Skype in 2005 was too much. With still no logical integration between the telephony service and the auction site, speculation over a potential sale is again intensifying," says Jemima Kiss in The Guardian.

According to The Times, eBay's Chief Executive, John Donahoe, told analysts earlier this month that: "synergies between Skype and the other parts of our portfolio are minimal." He also said that Skype is "a great standalone business".

The Times report mentions US telcos AT&T and Verizon as potential buyers, while Jemima Kiss speculates in The Guardian that: "Google was rumoured to be interested as far back at November 2007, and that would fit with just one of the many pies in which Google has its fingers."

TechRadar has contacted Skype's UK press office for further information on this story, so stay tuned for updates.

By Adam Hartley

Skype 2.8 for Mac to launch Tuesday

Posted by Rafe Needleman

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.

Rafe Needleman writes about start-ups, new technologies, and Web 2.0 products, as editor of CNET's Webware. E-mail Rafe.