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Qik Video Connect: New Video Directions from Skype

By on March 28, 2011

When entering the BlogHaus suite over three years ago at CES 2008, I quickly learned I had to be careful with my activities as Robert Scoble was running around with a Nokia N95 recording short video clips(and sometimes “instant” interviews) using a newly launched service called Qik. The basic idea was that (1) you could […]

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Skype for Mac 5, Skype for iPhone 3.0.1 –Upgrade Wednesday

By on February 10, 2011

Yesterday Skype issued two “hotfix” upgrades. Skype for Mac 5.0.0.7994 The latest Skype for Mac upgrade addresses an issue where Skype was taking over ownership of the video camera such that it could not be used with other software. Other issues addressed are outlined in this Skype Garage Blog post along with some known issues. […]

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Skype for Mac 5.0 Goes Gold: Incorporating Beta Feedback and More

By on January 28, 2011

Yesterday Skype released Skype for Mac 5.0 Gold version, addressing many of the concerns raised in the beta version released three months ago. And, rest assured, Skype received lots of feedback about the new user interface experienced in the beta version and the disruption it caused to those long time fans of the previous version […]

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Skype for TV: Demonstrations at CES 2011

By on January 10, 2011

When I started through the major TV manufacturers’ area yesterday afternoon I did not intend to be writing a post about Skype for TV. However, it quickly became apparent that several manufacturers had, at a minimum, a display panel or two where Skype for TV was running in some fashion. After three hours of wandering […]

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Skype for iPhone: Eating Up Your (iPhone) Battery Life?

By on December 31, 2010

With the launch of a limited multi-tasking capability in iOS4, many applications can be suspended in background or even triggered back into operating if they receive a “push” notification. One common complaint from many Skype for iPhone users has been the excessive battery drain caused when it is running in background. In fact, I have […]

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Skype 3.0 for iPhone: New Dimensions in Smartphone Video Calling

By on December 30, 2010

The evolution has been long and not without its hiccups. When I first used Skype five years ago video calling was just emerging with a 320 x 240 resolution and not the greatest speed; postage stamp-size video at best. Fast forward to late 2007 when Skype introduced High Quality Video supporting VGA (640 x 480) […]

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Skype for Windows 5.0 Upgrade: the Return of HD Video Calling

By on December 18, 2010

Last spring Skype launched Skype for Windows 4.2 with support for HD (720p) video calling at up to 22 fps using one of two Skype-certified HD webcams with an embedded H.264 processor to offload the video processing from the user’s PC.  However, it turned out the calling experience ranged from excellent (for example, the call […]

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Skype for Mac 5 Beta 1: Catching Up to Skype for Windows 5 But With a Mac Touch

By on November 4, 2010

This morning Skype released, for public feedback, Skype for Mac 5 Beta 1 with a range of new features and modifications of the legacy user interface. My first experiences with it over the past couple of days generate some interesting questions (that I’m sure many developers face when developing applications for both Windows and the […]

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Facetime for Mac: Adding Millions to the FaceTime User Base

By on October 21, 2010

Yesterday Apple released FaceTime for Mac, making its popular iPhone 4 Facetime application available to all owners of MackBooks and iMacs that are using the Snow Leopard (OS/X 10.6) operating system. Most significant about this announcement was the immediate expansion by several million of the user base who could be reached on FaceTime calls. (3.89 […]

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