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NEWS ABOUT: Skype

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Skype Buys GroupMe for $50M+

Group-texting firm will stay in New York

(Newser) - Skype has purchased group text-messaging firm GroupMe in a deal worth somewhere between $50 million and $100 million. The startup will remain independent but will likely play a major role in Skype’s mobile and social arenas. It’s a big success for the year-old firm, writes Ben Popper for... More »

Facebook Brings Video Chat Into Mainstream

But lots of tech writers pointing out that Google got there first

(Newser) - Some quick reactions to Facebook's announcement about incorporating video calling from Skype into the site:
  • Andrew Tarantola, Gizmodo : "By integrating video calling directly into the Facebook experience they're able to drop this technology directly into the mainstream. You thought getting Friend Requests from your parents was a
... More »

Facebook Adding Video Chat Via Skype

Mark Zuckerberg confirms rumors, says site now has 750M users

(Newser) - Tech bloggers had this one right: Facebook is indeed adding video calling to the site in a deal with Skype. Mark Zuckerberg confirmed today at a news conference, and the Facebook blog has details, reports the Digits blog at the Wall Street Journal. The feature, which comes a week after... More »

Facebook Looks to Add Skype Video

Deal would reportedly help further integrate Microsoft and Facebook

(Newser) - Facebook's "awesome" new product , set to be announced Wednesday, looks like it's going to be Skype video chats that work in your browser, reports TechCrunch . Details are still hazy—will it just work on its own or will users need to download software?—however, "it’s... More »

Microsoft Buys Skype for $8.5B

It is the largest buy in Microsoft history

(Newser) - It's official: Microsoft will buy popular online telephone service Skype for $8.5 billion in cash, reports the Wall Street Journal . The deal is the largest in Microsoft history, besting the company's 2007 acquisition of online ad service aQuantive for $6 billion. Though Microsoft produces the world's... More »

Facebook Considering Buying Skype

Meanwhile, Google holds talks with Skype for joint venture

(Newser) - Skype is suddenly the prettiest girl in school now that it’s pushed back its IPO. Google is in talks for a joint venture with the online calling company, and Facebook is considering buying it outright, sources tell Reuters . Skype is expected to rake in about $1 billion if it... More »

Google Voice Launches Number Porting

Users now allowed to move cell numbers to service

(AP) - Google's Voice calling application is adding a long-promised feature: the ability to move a phone number from a cell phone to Google's service. Previously, Google Voice assigned each user a new number,making it more difficult to take advantage of its features, which include cheaper international calls and the ability... More »

New for Skype on iPhone: Video Calls

Service will be free for Skype-to-Skype users

(Newser) - As of today, Skype users are no longer limited to their computers when it’s time to make a free video call. The service added video chatting to its iPhone application, allowing users to make Skype-to-Skype video calls over the 3G network or WiFi for the first time, the New ... More »

Skype Blackout Hits Millions Worldwide

Firm says service slowing returning

(Newser) - Millions worldwide have been hit with a Skype outage that began yesterday, the BBC reports. The online communications service says that failed “supernodes,” which “act a bit like phone directories,” are at fault. Now, Skype is trying to build “mega-supernodes” to fix the issue. The... More »

Husband Accidentally Divorces Wife on Skype

Tells clerics he didn't mean it, to no avail

(Newser) - A Qatar man is paying a heavy price for a joke he made in a Skype chat—his marriage. He jokingly wrote "talak, talak, talak" ("I divorce thee, I divorce thee, I divorce thee") to his wife. He then apparently got worried and wrote to Islamic authorities... More »

Skype Partners With Facebook

You can now call 'friends' via Skype, video chat in groups

(Newser) - Skype just got a lot more social. The voice and video calling service has announced a new partnership with Facebook, reports CNN . The new service will allow you to see your Facebook "news feed" while you Skype, and give users the ability to call 'friends' who use "Facebook... More »

Calls Made Via Gmail: 'Loud and Mostly Clear'

Also, the real target is Facebook, not Skype

(Newser) - With Google rolling out an initiative to allow Gmail users to make and receive calls , Jessica Dolcourt of CNET decided to give it a spin and found that it was ... pretty good. "We were pleased with the call quality, overall, which we tested with other US callers using landlines... More »

Google Takes on Skype With Free Gmail Calls

Search giant rolls out email-linked phone service

(Newser) - Google took a bold stride onto Skype's turf yesterday, announcing that Gmail users will now be able to call landline and cell phones directly from their email. The company says Gmail users will be allowed to call phones in the US and Canada free for at least the rest of... More »

Murdoch Firm: We Own the 'Sky' in Skype

Court fight over 'confusingly similar' names

(Newser) - Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB satellite TV company is fighting to force Skype to change its name, according to newly released legal documents. The Murdoch company argues that Skype's name and logo are too close to its own, and is seeking to prevent it from registering trademarks, the Independent reports. BSkyB has... More »

See You Soon, But Not on Skype

If you're looking at a person, ignoring the conversation is tough

(Newser) - When Joel Stein is on the phone with you, here’s what happens. “As soon as you begin to talk, I feel trapped and desperately scan the room for tasks I can do to justify the enormous waste of time that is your talking. I wash dishes, I file... More »

AT&T Reverses, Will Allow Skype on iPhones

(Newser) - AT&T has had a change of heart—perhaps prompted by an ongoing FCC inquiry into competition—and will now allow iPhone users to connect with Skype and other Internet phone services over its 3G wireless network. Previously, AT&T had allowed such services in only a limited capacity—through... More »

On Net Neutrality, Feds Go With Google, Against ISPs

Proposed new rules wouldn't allow bandwidth-hogging services to be blocked

(Newser) - Consumers stand to benefit under a proposal, coming Monday, from the Federal Communications Commission that would mandate so-called net neutrality, forcing Internet service providers to treat all Web content equally and not restrict access to sites and services that take up more bandwidth. The Obama administration is siding with the... More »

Skype Sale in Doubt as Founders Sue eBay

Techies alleges copyright violation costing them $75M a day

(Newser) - The founders of Skype are suing eBay and the investor consortium buying the Internet phone company, accusing them of copyright violation, reports the Wall Street Journal. The suit is only the latest bump in eBay's disastrous ownership of Skype and may complicate the planned $2 billion sale. Janus Friis and... More »

EBay to Unload Skype for $2B

Private investors bring end to auction site's troubled ownership

(Newser) - EBay is selling Skype, the audiovisual chat service it calamitously bought in 2005, to a group of private investors, sources tell the New York Times. Although the price is unknown, eBay recently said it wanted about $2 billion for the the company, which is expected to pull in $600 million... More »

Why One Mom Drew the Line at Skype

Technology that brings us together can pull us apart, she writes

(Newser) - Today’s world of cellphones, tweets, and texts makes it possible to stay constantly in touch—but where do we draw the line between contact and privacy, connection and independence? When it comes to family intimacy over distance, that question comes into sharp relief, Peggy Orenstein reflects in the New ... More »

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