Posts filed under 'Online Life'
Skype has released v1.4 of it’s Windows software adding a variety of new features including increased mobility options, new ways for callers to personalise Skype with original ringtones, sounds and pictures, better than ever sound quality, as well making it easy to find and connect to their friends, family and colleagues online.
“Skype pioneered free Internet phone calls, and even with more than 56 million people already registered, we’ve recently seen our growth accelerate to over 170,000 new registrations a day,” said Niklas Zennstrom, CEO and Co-founder of Skype. “We are passionate about really understanding what motivates people to want to make Internet communications a part of their everyday lives, and listening to our callers about what they want from Skype allows us to stay ahead of the game. Today, we are thrilled to be delivering on this promise by offering a new version of Skype which both new and existing callers will find adds powerful and innovative new features like call forwarding and personalization, as well as offering our best ever sound quality on our simplest product to install and use.”
Skype recently embarked on a comprehensive global survey to deepen an understanding of how Internet communications is used by people around the world and what they expect from next-generation personal communications services. According to the independent study, Skype is used once or several times a day by 76% of its callers, far surpassing the usage levels of traditional IM-based voice calling services. Callers also recognized Skype’s leadership in sound quality - 72% of Skype users consider call quality to be good to excellent. Skype callers are more international, with 85% communicating with people living abroad. Skype’s broad base of early adopters are eager to embrace new features, with 79% interested or very interested in receiving calls from landlines, and 73% interested or very interested in adopting call forwarding, key innovations unique to Skype.
The new Skype for Windows Version 1.4, which was first available in beta in August, incorporates two new premium services requested by Skype callers, and fortifies Skype’s role as a preferred complement to ordinary cell phones and landlines. It builds on Skype’s already extensive product offering which allows people to instant message, set up group chats, make conference calls, transfer files, send and receive voicemails, call and be called from a traditional phone system, and access Skype over Wi-Fi for extremely low rates.
Skype’s new Call Forwarding service will allow callers to forward incoming Skype calls to another Skype Name, or up to three landline or mobile numbers when they’re away from Skype, at no cost to the caller. Anyone using Skype may forward their calls to another Skype Name free of charge, or forward to traditional phone numbers at low SkypeOut rates. 83% of beta testers who have tried Call Forwarding have found it easy to use.
Skype’s new Personalise Skype features also allow callers to easily express themselves with original pictures, sounds and ringtones for as little as 1 euro ($1.20). This new feature opens up a new and exciting market for content providers looking to deliver great applications to Skype’s global callers and is initially offered in partnership with American Greetings, Qpass and Wee World. The global ringtone market is forecast to grow to $5.2 billion in 2006, and ringtones now account for over 10% of the $32.3 billion worldwide music market (Arc Group).
The new version of Skype makes it even easier for callers to extend their social network. It’s simple for callers to search Skype’s Global Directory, and import personal contacts from Outlook directly into their buddy lists. With the Skype Toolbars, users can make one-click calls to numbers and Skype Names from Internet Explorer and Outlook, adding tremendous value to popular desktop applications. Advanced Skype buttons allow webmasters and bloggers to create links that instantly initiate Skype actions, such as conference calls and chats.
September 29th, 2005
Opera has long been winning plaudits for its fast, secure web browser, but the problem was, only the most dedicated web-head had ever tried it. Standing in the way of world domination was a) convincing people that IE wasn’t the only browser on the planet (difficult) b) the fact that you had to pay for it, or put up with a version strwen with advertising.
That’s all changed with an ad-free, fully-featured Opera browser is now available for download – completely free of charge – at http://www.opera.com.
“Today we invite the entire Internet community to use Opera and experience Web browsing as it should be,” said Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. “Removing the ad banner and licensing fee will encourage many new users to discover the speed, security and unmatched usability of the Opera browser.”
“Opera fans around the globe made this day possible,” said von Tetzchner. “As we grow our userbase, our mission and our promise remain steadfast: we will always offer the best Internet experience to our users - on any device. Today this mission gains new ground.”
Cynics have suggested that the move to make Opera free was because it could not compete with other browsers on the market which have always been free. Opera deny this, claiming instead that the browser have acheived such a high level of market penetration that they can now afford to fund the software through affiliates alone.
Who knows where the truth lies. All we care about is that another great alternative to IE is now freely available.
About the Opera Browser
Already regarded as the world’s fastest, most secure browser, Opera speeds up your Web browsing with these innovative features:
- Navigate quickly using intuitive mouse gestures and browser tabs
- Start from where your last browsing session ended or save your entire session
- Access downloaded files quickly with the transfer manager
- Protect against identity theft and phishing with integrated security features
- Speak up: surf the Web hands-free using voice commands
- Shop Amazon, browse Ebay, and search the Web with Google right from the address bar
- Set reminders for Web pages you visit with the notes feature
September 21st, 2005
Creative has announced what they call a breakthrough in webcam design and TechSmec.com tends to agree with them.
Featuring MaxView, a combination of motorized Pan-n-Tilt and a ViewPlus 76-degree wide-angle lens, in addition to Smart Face Tracking, the WebCam Live! Motion quietly and smoothly follows user movements during video instant messaging. Capable of capturing high-resolution panoramic images with one easy click, the WebCam Live! Motion (fed up with that exclamation mark yet?) is now available for only $149.99 at www.us.creative.com.
The WebCam Live! Motion auto Pan-n-Tilt feature gives users the freedom of movement during video instant messaging with friends, family or business colleagues. The WebCam Live! Motion automatically follows users’ natural movements during conversations, so they don’t have to continually make manual adjustments to stay centered in the field of view. Users can select Smart Face Tracking so the WebCam Live! Motion follows the movements of one person, or they can leave it off to include the whole group. Ideal for broadband users, the Creative WebCam Live! Motion incorporates true high-speed USB 2.0 for delivering crisp, high-resolution video at up to twice the video frame rates of USB 1.1 cameras.
“We previewed the WebCam Live! Motion to the media in New York and San Francisco, and the journalists got really excited about how our WebCam physically moves to follow motion during video instant messaging, and how it quietly spans the room to take panoramic pictures,” said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and CEO of Creative. “And as much as we heard about the great performance, we also heard a lot of comments about how cool the WebCam Live! Motion looks.”
The WebCam Live! Motion features a high-quality CCD sensor, and it delivers video at VGA 640×480 quality and software-enhanced still images of up to 1.3 megapixels. An ultra-smooth, exceptionally quiet precision Pan-N-Tilt motor enables the camera to deliver fluid video without distracting motor noise.
The WebCam Live! Motion looks great on any desktop or notebook monitor. Available in either pearl white or charcoal gray with a luminescent blue glowing ring on each side, the WebCam Live! Motion commands attention as it sits atop any desktop or notebook PC. The patent-pending Multi-Attach base easily and securely attaches the webcam to any flat panel, CRT monitor or notebook display for optimal positioning during video instant messaging.
September 14th, 2005
The much-maligned Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), reeling from criticism that it has botched the rescue and relief mission in the southern states of the USA, is now under fire for the poor compatibility of its website.
Users can register at the site to apply for government help, only they can’t if they are using a Mac, or Linux, or for that matter a Windows PC running anything other than IE6.
When we tried to use the ‘Individual Assistance Center’ using Firefox 1.6 on XP, we got the message, “In order to use this site, you must have JavaScript Enabled and Internet Explorer version 6. Download it from Microsoft or call 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) to register.”
Nice.
Admittedly the problem will be lessened by the fact that those applying with probably not be doing so from work (they have lost their jobs) or home (it’s under several feet of what was formally known as water, but is now been called a noxious primordial slime) but instead will be using internet cafes or public internet access from libraries where IE6 is likely to be prevalent. Even so, there is simply no excuse for a Federal agency to exclude 15% of the population because they prefer a platform or a browser not created by Microsoft.
September 8th, 2005
There is chaos in the States as the Federal Communications Commission attempts to tidy up the 911 situation affecting users of VoIP (Voice Over IP) telephone services.
As VoIP users can make telephone calls from wherever there is a high-speed internet connection, it is difficult to route 911 call to an appropriate operator. Usually the caller’s telephone number is used to direct the call to a local control centre, but with VoIP, the number is not tied to a physical location. There is also the problem that VoIP systems are dependent on factors such as the PC being switched on and the appropriate microphone hardware being available.
The FCC has given operators until November 28 to provide full 911 capability.
In a further complication, the FCC ruled that VoIP operators must contact their customers and obtain acknowledgement of the limitations of the 911 service. If a customer did not respond they were to be cut off on 30 August, but the FCC has just extended that deadline to September 28 after it became clear that hundreds of thousands of users would be affected after a poor response to the information campaign, but that the companies involved were, in the main, making every effort to obtain the required acknowledgement.
“During this additional period of time, the bureau expects that all interconnected VoIP providers that qualify for this extension will continue to use all means available to them to obtain affirmative acknowledgements from all of their subscribers,” the FCC said.
The irony of this situation is that a VoIP user who doesn’t respond by September 28 might try to make a 911 call on that day (which would have probably been correctly handled by their provider) and find that their service had been terminated. VoIP carriers argue that it is unfair to punish consumers simply for not acknowledging a failure on the part of the service of which they are a customer.
August 28th, 2005
As rumoured Google has launched an IM rival to MSN and AOL in the form of Google Talk, a tool that not only allows instant messenging, but also online voice calls.
Google Talk stops short of being a direct competitor to Skype and other VoIP firms as you can only make calls via the Google Talk client and not to landlines or mobile phones.
Google Talk is based on open standards for IM and Google claim they will make the source code available so it can be adapted and included within other software packages.
So far the client only runs on Windows XP, but Google allows other Jabber/XMPP based IM clients to connect to Google Talk.
To download a beta version of the software go to http://www.google.com/talk. You’ll need a Gmail account to log on, but you’ll be able to access your Gmail inbox from within Google Talk and send e-mail. You will also be alerted about new messages received in your Gmail account.
August 24th, 2005
Motorola and Apple are silent on the news, but the US Federal Communications Commission has posted documents on its website granting regulatory approval to start selling a phone that runs a mobile version iTunes.
The Motorola E790 has stereo speakers, removable flash memory and Bluetooth support.
Motorola haven’t commented and Apple are only slightly less tight-lipped, confirming that an iTunes / Motorola partnership is in the works, but with an unspecified end result.
FCC approval is not an indication that the E790 will launch soon. Regulatory approval is merely one step that a company must go through to market a wireless device in the USA and it could happen at the end or the beginning of a product’s development.
The manual posted on the FCC website has quite a few typos, but it’s fairly clear about the iTunes support, with a section entitled ‘Use iTunes’.
“iTunes is a software application you use to manage the music on your computer and transfer music to your phone,” the manual states. “You can use iTunes to purchase and download music for your phone, listen to CDs and digital music, and create playlists of your favorite songs on your phone.”
Copying music to the phone seems pretty simple. “On your computer, open iTunes, connect your phone to your computer, and when the phone appears as a source, drag and drop music files to your phone.”
US government websites are often great sources of information. Notably, the manual for the Sony PSP was posted on the US Patent Office website, months in advance of the console going on sale.
August 23rd, 2005
Amazon.com customers can now print their photos online after the online retailer partnered with Shutterfly.
“Amazon is looking forward to working with Shutterfly,” said Glenn Cunningham, Vice President of Amazon’s Electronics store. “Our customers have come to expect a superior shopping experience from Amazon.com and we believe, with the addition of Shutterfly’s digital photography products and services, this will serve to enhance their shopping experience with us.”
The following Shutterfly photo products and services are now available to Amazon.com shoppers:
- Professionally developed photographs ranging in sizes from wallets to 20×30 large-formats
- Design-it-yourself photo cards, calendars, photo books and photo gifts, including mugs, t-shirts, and a variety of other personalized products, that can be shipped directly to friends and family all over the world
- Free online picture sharing including sharing a single album at a time and creating up to two free “Collections,” a personal address for storing and sharing an unlimited number of photo albums
- Easy-to-use image organization and uploading tools
- Free, unlimited online image storage
- Free image editing tools (i.e. cropping, red-eye removal, enhancing color effects and adding borders)
“We are very excited to welcome Amazon’s tens of millions of shoppers into Shutterfly’s community of users and to introduce them to all that they can accomplish with their digital images, online,” said Jeffrey Housenbold, President & CEO of Shutterfly. “Together, Amazon and Shutterfly will enable consumers to easily turn their precious memories into distinctive photographs and gifts.”
August 23rd, 2005
New research from intelligent broadband network equipment maker, Sandvine reveals that Skype is leading the VoIP provider pack in North America.
2004 was termed the ‘year of VoIP rollouts’ and the first half of 2005 has seen explosive consumer adoption. Yankee group projects that by year-end 2008, VoIP will serve 17.5 million U.S. households.
With over 1,100 VoIP providers identified Skype takes the lead and garners an astounding 35.8% of all VoIP calls in the US.
Skype takes an even more commanding lead of 46.2% when it comes to share of minutes, suggesting that Skype users are also making longer calls. Other PC-based VoIP services like Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL chat are distant seconds.
Third party paid VoIP providers represent 35.7% of all VoIP minutes. Broadband service providers hold the strongest position in this category since joining the race, quickly closing the gap with an 18.1% share of all VoIP minutes on their network. Vonage, Primus, and AT&T CallVantage capture the next three positions.
“VoIP consumes minimal bandwidth on a broadband service provider’s network. Understanding which subscribers are using VoIP, how much of it, and for how long gives service providers actionable data to prioritize VoIP traffic and ensure optimal quality of experience,” said Tom Donnelly, Sandvine executive vice president, marketing and sales.
“VoIP represents a small percentage of bandwidth, but a very large revenue opportunity for broadband service providers,” said Lindsay Schroth, senior analyst, Broadband Access Technologies, Yankee Group. “Broadband providers can capitalize on this opportunity by protecting their subscribers’ VoIP service and delivering a consistent, reliable, and high-quality service.”
Sandvine intelligent broadband management solutions monitor traffic across service provider networks representing over 40% of the US broadband market.
August 10th, 2005
In a very bizarre reaction, Google has stated that it will refuse to speak to reporters from giant tech website Cnet.com until June 2006 in a row over the invasion of privacy of one of its executives.
In an article about the ease of access to personal information stored in the Google listings, Cnet ‘googled’ the search engine’s CEO, Eric Schmidt. It found out his net worth and his hobbies - all information that was in the public domain and that was listed in the Google index.
For reasons known only to them, Google are claiming this is an invasion of privacy and are cold-shouldering Cnet as a result.
‘Googling’ people you know, or even yourself, is one of the most popular online activities and it is often amazing the information that you can dig up about a person in just a few minutes. Eric Schmidt must either be suffering a major sense of humour failure or is totally unaware of the uses that his own tool is being put to.
This can only result in bad publicity for Google.
August 9th, 2005
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