Facebook Announces Skype Video Chat Feature

Facebook Announces Skype Video Chat Feature... This is the world's easiest one-click way to chat over video, Facebook engineer Philip Su said at the news conference here. The Seattle programmer was Facebook's only full-time engineer working on its development along with Skype, a Facebook spokeswoman said

Facebook is encouraging its members to talk face to face -- over the computer.

The social networking giant introduced a video-calling feature on Wednesday in partnership with Skype, the popular Internet video-chat provider.

The product comes a week after Google launched a competing social network, called Google+, which also includes a video-chatting program.

Facebook's version will show up on the site as a "call" button at the top of users' profile pages. By clicking that or finding someone in a new "buddy list" bar on the right-hand side, Facebook users can talk to each other as long as they have webcams. The company began turning that service on for millions of users on Wednesday and will add it to more accounts over time, spokespeople said.

This is "the world's easiest one-click way" to chat over video, Facebook engineer Philip Su said at the news conference here. The Seattle programmer was Facebook's only full-time engineer working on its development along with Skype, a Facebook spokeswoman said.

Facebook on Wednesday also introduced a change to its instant-messaging service, which now allows people to create on-the-fly group conversations.

"This is their response to Google+ right now," said Ray Valdes, an Internet analyst at Gartner Research. "I think it's a little bit of catchup in terms of features."

Google bills its new network as a better way to communicate certain messages to subsections of friends. Google+ also has drawn praise for its ability, with a service called Hangouts, to let users video chat with several friends at a time.

Facebook's new video feature does not allow for group chats. However, Skype CEO Tony Bates noted that the union with Facebook leaves an opening to add new features later, such as group calling or paid features like calling to landlines.

What Facebook does have, however, is 750 million people actively using its service, said Mark Zuckerberg, the company's CEO. Google+ is nary a week old and only available to people who managed to procure an invite from a member of the media or a tech-savvy friend.

Zuckerberg took subtle jabs Wednesday at the new Google network, saying Facebook provides the best way for people to organize their friends into groups -- with minimal effort.

"If you think about it, it makes it so that your networking community can do the work of organizing your communities for you," Zuckerberg said of Facebook's grouping features. "You don't have to curate."

Facebook Announces Skype Video Chat Feature

Is Email Killing the Post Office?

Is Email Killing the Post Office?  The rise of mobile, and smartphones in particular, must also play a role, as it caters to increased use in email and social media, not to mention text messaging, and even….the phone call!

Is email killing the post office? It’s not a new question. In fact, it’s been around nearly as long as the mainstream use of email itself, but it’s also not gone away, and the USPS has seen better days. I’m not normally one to buy too much into the typical x is killing y kind of hype, but the Postal Service is clearly severely injured.

BusinessWeek.com has put out a lengthy report looking at the decline of the USPS and its contributing factors. While the seven-page pice just briefly touches upon the subject of email, comparing the performance of the USPS to that of FedEx, UPS, and DHL, as well as counterparts in other countries, there’s no question that email and online communication in general have done their fair share of damage. 

People have been using email for years now, and despite some predicting the death of email (at the hands of social media), it’s clear that it’s hear to stay for quite some time. Even if email were to die, it wouldn’t do much to help the postal service. 

As we’ve seen just in the past week alone, email is an incredibly important part of business for companies like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Twitter. Even Facebook has its own email now, and social networks all still rely on email to keep users engaged – that goes for the professionals too (ie: the newly public LinkedIn). 

In a recent study, 45% said that their use of email at work will most likely increase in the next five years. 51% said that it would likely stay the same. Only 4% thought it would decrease. At home, 36% of those surveyed thought their email use will increase, 55% said it will stand pat and 6% said it will likely decrease.

The majority of important online communication still takes place through email, whether that be B2B or B2C. C2C online communication may be trending more toward social media, but again, email still plays a role here, in terms of notifications, and there is still plenty of C2C communication through email. Even from heavy users of social media. Not everyone is on the same social network. That even goes for Facebook. Email is universal. You pretty much need an email address to have any kind of account online. 

The rise of mobile, and smartphones in particular, must also play a role, as it caters to increased use in email and social media, not to mention text messaging, and even….the phone call! The point is, communication is always as close as your pocket. It’s a lot easier and cheaper (at least on an individual interaction basis) than writing letters. And it’s in real time. 

“With the rise of e-mail and the decline of letters, mail volume is falling at a staggering rate, and the postal service’s survival plan isn’t reassuring,” Devin Leonard says in the Bloomberg BusinessWeek report, noting that the USPS is the country’s second-largest civilian employer after Walmart (with more post offices than the retail outlets of Walmart, Starbucks and McDonald’s combined). Last year its revenues were $67 billion, with even greater expenses, he says. 

According to the report, first-class mail, which the USPS gets the majority of its money from, has been steadily declining, and in 2005 fell below junk mail for the first time. Total mail volume has decreased 20% just from 2006 to 2010. The USPS hasn’t been able to cover its annual budget in three years. 

Well, there’s still packages right? Sure, but there’s also stiff competition from companies like FedEx, UPS, and DHL, along with an increase in digital goods replacing physical goods. Think movies, music, and books. Amazon, the largest retailer on the web, announced last week that Kindle books are outselling print books. Never mind that there are a bunch of free ones too. 

Plus, everybody’s going paperless these days. The Director of Physical Infrastructure at the U.S. Government Accountability Office is quoted as saying, “What happens when Bank of America or Citigroup says you are going to have to pay to get your statement on paper? That’s going to change a lot of behavior. It’s going to affect the postal service. That’s how they make most of their money.”

The Bloomberg BusinessWeek report includes some interesting ideas on how the Postal Service could get back on track, at least to some extent, but the outlook is looking pretty bleak. You have to wonder what this will mean for the future of digital communication like email.

Is Email Killing the Post Office?

Microsoft Buy Skype

Microsoft  Buy Skype. The team also discuss an apparent schism within Anonymous, and examine the group's denial of an attack in which credit card details were stolen from Sony's PlayStation Network

This week Aleks Krotoski and Charles Arthur are joined by Tom Loosemore to analyse this week's biggest tech stories.

We begin with Microsoft's purchase of Skype for $8.5bn. At the time of recording, the deal was only expected, and so the team look back at Skype's 7 year life, and how it has changed hands in that time. Charles finds it hard to see why Microsoft needs the VoIP service - and predicts a hard time for it within their Redmond HQ.

Charles also takes a look at the latest sales figures of mobile phones in western Europe, and finds Nokia has been pushed into second place by Samsung and Apple in the handset and smartphone markets respectively. It's more bad news for Nokia, and neither Tom nor Charles can foresee a rosy future for Nokia - with Tom predicting fatal consequences for the company.

The team also discuss an apparent schism within Anonymous, and examine the group's denial of an attack in which credit card details were stolen from Sony's PlayStation Network. Aleks, Charles and Tom talk through the group's aims, ponder the ramifications of a split, and attempt to describe the structure and motivation of Anonymous - with mixed success.

And finally, Tom talks to us about his attempts to build a single, central government website which will deliver information and services from recommendations made by the UK's digital champion Martha Lane Fox. Tom explains what his aims are for Alphagov and what it has been like working on such a large project, and within a huge government bureaucracy.

Microsoft  Buy Skype

Software Translate Skype Text Chat Message

Software Translate Skype Text Chat  Message

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Skype Calls Voice Recorder to MP3 Audio Format - PrettyMay

This is a skype tool that work to record any incoming call of Skype and save it in MP3 Audio Format. That meant you will have a history call that you been done in Skype. This Skype Call Audio Recorder has a name : Pretty May. 

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PrettyMay is your personal voice assistant for Skype, You can record and replay any Skype call easily and simply.

PrettyMay is an add-on (or plug-in) for Skype. PrettyMay auto answers calls and chats for you when you are away or don't want to be disturbed, it can also do a lot of other things,for example,it's also very simple to share your recordings with your friends.

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Skype Translator - SkypeTrance

What is SkypeTrance? SkypeTrance is a software module allowing automatic translation of chat messages in Skype from and to English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Bulgarian. Sensible, not literal translation is a challenge to many people learning a foreign language. The goal of WebTrance is understandable translation of complete sentences, not just another computer dictionary. Following this goal, WebTrance is constantly being improved.


This is a Skype tools that has a purpose to translate incoming message chat in Skype. Only available translate from English to French, Germany, Spanish, Italian and Bulgarian. SkypeTrace is Freeware software. If you want to talk with a person who only can speak French and you can only speaks English via Skype, this SkypeTrans would be your best assistance Translator Skype Instant Message. Downlaod SkypeTrance.

Portable Pidgin Miranda IM Windows Live Messenger Yahoo Messenger Skype

Below is the Portable Application for Multi Protocol Messenger aka All in One Messenger: Portable Miranda and Portable Pidgin Chat Clients. I give you also the download link of Portable Windows Live Messenger and Portable Yahoo Messenger, and also Portable Skype Chat Clients. Remember Portable means you can use this software without need to install on Portable Devices, such as USB Flash Drive Disk or Compact Disk aka CD,
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