Skype 5.0 beta brings five-way video chat
Video chatting is on the rise. Yesterday, we got to take a look at Qik's mobile video chat client for the Sprint EVO 4G, and today, we get to take a look at Skype's latest development: five-way video chat.
Today, popular VoIP and chat client Skype launched a beta of Skype 5.0 for Windows, which includes a free trial of group video calling, a re-designed call view window, improved video snapshots gallery, and improved browser plugin performance.
Adobe attempts to counteract anti-Flash sentiment spurred by Apple
Adobe is running quite a cleanup campaign after Apple CEO Steve Jobs' recent criticism of the Flash platform, which he laid out in a letter called "Thoughts on Flash."
Adobe has released a flurry of responses, including a letter from Chuck Geschke and John Warnock Adobe's Cofounders and Chairmen of the company's board of directors called "Our thoughts on open markets," an advertising campaign called "Freedom of Choice" which includes the banner shown above (and display ads that say "We [love] Apple,") an information page titled "The Truth about Flash," and a full-page ad in today's Washington Post.
Qik shows impressive low latency two-way video chat on HTC EVO 4G
Streaming video service Qik first debuted just over two years ago, letting users turn their smartphones into live webcams with just a simple app and a strong connection. Users can stream video from their phones live to Qik's site, but with considerable buffering.
However, with the growth of faster 4G connections, Qik has been able to put together a new two-way video chat app that lets users communicate in streaming video with very little latency.
Emergency LTE broadband networks approved for construction in 21 markets
Part of the national broadband plan includes the construction of a nationwide 700MHz broadband network specifically for emergency first responders. Until now, there are no broadband connection services specifically for public safety, and they have been limited to commercial services.
Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted conditional approval of 21 petitions filed by cities, counties and states looking for waivers to move forward with the construction of regional interoperable wireless broadband networks. The Commission requires these broadband networks to be deployed under a common interoperability framework in coordination with the FCC's Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC). Under this framework, all networks will be technologically compatible and interoperable.
HTC sues Apple to block sales of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch in U.S.
In March, Apple sued smartphone maker HTC for 20 counts of patent infringement, alleging the company had "stolen [its] patented inventions" for the iPhone.
Today, HTC fired back at Apple in the same fashion, filing a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) to stop the sale of the iPhone, iPad and iPod in the United States. The complaint accuses Apple of five counts of infringement.
Windows Mobile 6.5 may suck, but Microsoft is hoping free Office Mobile will stop users from switching phones before Windows Phone 7 is ready
There is a lot of anticipation for Windows Phone 7, but little reason for new phone buyers to pick up a Windows Phone right now. Even with the extremely attractive and powerful HTC HD2, users won't be able to upgrade their devices to Windows Phone 7 when the new OS hits the market at the end of this year. It's quite a dead end.
Therefore, Microsoft has been working on sweetening up the Windows Mobile 6 environment by dishing out free software. Yesterday, the Redmond company announced that Windows Mobile 6.x users would be getting turn-by-turn navigation for free, today, the software giant announced that Office Mobile 2010 is now a free upgrade for all Windows Mobile 6.5 users with the previous version of Office Mobile.
What about the WiMAX networks that aren't Sprint/Clearwire?
With Clearwire and Sprint pushing for mobile WiMAX coverage in 80 U.S. markets by the end of 2010, and promising three new WiMAX-powered smartphones in the near future, it's easy to lose sight of the wireless technology as a solution for rural residential broadband.
Today, Kansas Broadband Internet (KBI) announced it is moving ahead with the construction of its own WiMAX network with PureWave as the exclusive hardware provider. The finished network will cover 18 counties, and more than 12,000 square miles. With only 33 residents per square mile, Kansas is one of the United States' ten least densely populated states.
Like Google and Nokia, Microsoft starts to offer free navigation for its phones
Google began offering free turn-by-turn navigation with Android 2.0 in late 2009, and Nokia announced at the beginning of 2010 that Ovi Maps navigation would be free on all its future handsets. Today Microsoft announced that it is following suit with free turn-by-turn navigation for Windows 6.x and up phones, powered by Bing Maps.
When getting directions with Bing, there will now be a "Navigate" button which starts the turn-by-turn voice navigation. The voice navigation feature was developed by the Microsoft Tellme team.
Verizon shows 8.55Mbps speeds in 4G LTE trial
Verizon Wireless recently published a marketing video that covers the company's LTE trial deployment in Boston, Massachusetts, and though the majority of the video is dedicated to consumer reactions, there is a brief glimpse of the system running at an average 8.55 Megabits per second downstream and 2.80 Megabits per second upstream.
These speeds are actually a bit lower than those reportedly attainable on the first commercial LTE deployment in Scandinavia. The LTE deployment in Sweden reportedly never exceeded 12Mbps downlink and 5Mbps uplink when tested by management consulting firm Northstream in January.
Maxed out in financial software, Intuit jumps into healthcare with $91m buy of Medfusion
Last week, we took a look at Mint's new app for Android, which lets users track their finances and budget on their mobile device in a safe, read-only app. Mint.com was acquired by Intuit Software in late 2009, meshing the free, Web-based personal finance service with Intuit's portfolio of financial, accounting, and budgeting services.
Today, Intuit announced it is expanding further into online healthcare services with its acquisition of North Carolina company Medfusion for an estimated $91 million in cash.
Twitter resets follow lists to zero because of 'auto-follow' bug
A few quick articles popped up in tech blogs this afternoon which confirmed a serious flaw in the Twitter follow system. Notably, the Gizmodo article entitled "How to Force Anyone to Follow you on Twitter," showed that by simply typing
"accept [username]" into the Twitter Web interface, you could turn anyone into your Twitter follower.
Immediately, users began turning celebrity Twitter users into their followers. Former late night talk show host Conan O'Brien, who makes a point of only following one person, immediately began following hundreds of profiles.
Android usurps iPhone in market share
Android is now the number two smartphone operating system in market share behind BlackBerry, NPD Group's Wireless Market Research report said today. This is the first time Google's open mobile platform has passed Apple's iPhone OS in market share since it debuted in October 2008.
According to NPD's data, BlackBerry still leads the smartphone market with 36% penetration, followed by Android with 28% and then iPhone with 21%.
WiGig publishes 7 Gbps wireless home networking spec
Exactly one year after making its public debut, the Wireless Gigabit Alliance (also known as WiGig) has published its spec for the unlicensed 60 GHz band, which it is pushing as a new, faster standard for home networking.
The 60 GHz WiGig spec is not meant to be a replacement to current 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi technologies, but instead to act as a complement that is targeted to devices requiring gigabit speeds, like HD video. While the new spec supports data transfer rates up to 7 Gbps, the high absorption of 60 GHz waves make it suitable only for short-distance communication.
Warner cheapens and expands DVD-to-Blu-ray exchange program
At about this time last year, Warner Brothers began an exchange program called Red2Blu that swapped HD DVDs for Blu-Ray discs, letting consumers trade their unsupported Warner Brothers HD DVDs and $4.95 for the same title on Blu-ray.
About six months later, the studio unveiled a similar project called DVD2Blu that let consumers trade in their standard DVDs (and $7.95-$9.95) for a Blu-ray upgrade. The upgrade program included 55 Warner Brothers titles.
Borders finally jumps into e-reader market, launches Kobo
Borders, the United States' second largest bookstore chain behind Barnes and Noble, announced it is now taking pre-orders on its Kobo e-reader, which will arrive on June 17.
At $149.99, the Kobo is considerably cheaper than Barnes & Noble's nook and Amazon's Kindle, both of which retail for $259.00, and it comes pre-loaded with 100 classic books. Borders has not yet launched its cross-platform eBook store, but says it will be open in June when Kobo ships.
Tim's Bio
Tim Conneally was born into dumpster tech. His father was an ARPANET research pioneer and equipped his kids with discarded tech gear, second-hand musical instruments, and government issue foreign language instruction tapes. After years of building Frankenstein computers from rubbish and playing raucous music in clubs across the country (and briefly on MTV) Tim grew into an adult with deep, twisted roots and an eye on the future. He most passionately covers mobile technology, user interfaces and applications, the science and policy of the wireless world, and watching different technologies shrink and converge.
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