Articles about Messaging and Collaboration

iOS users now have an updated VoIP app to work with following the release of Skype 4.0 for iPad and Skype 4.0 for iPhone. The latest version focuses mainly on stability and accessibility improvements, but there are also a few other enhancements and new features to enjoy. There’s a new sign in screen in addition to a number of minor UI tweaks.

Anyone who finds the app prone to crashing should be happier with this new version. Skype promises generally-improved stability, and auto-restart in the event of a crash. This is hardly a ringing endorsement for a chat tool, but it’s a step in the right direction. Surely, it's better than untimely disconnects during an important video chat.

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Cloud was the big news this past week, and there were exciting developments in the world of online storage. After what seems like years of waiting, Google Drive 1.0 finally released, extending the idea of Docs and providing users with the opportunity to store any files they want online and keept them synched with their computers. There’s also a mobile version of the app available, Google Drive for Android 1.0.77, that enables access toyour files on the move.

Ubuntu One 2.0.3 has nothing whatsoever to do with the operating system of the same name, but provides you with 5GB of free space for storage and backups. Cloud storage stalwart Dropbox 1.4.0 has been updated and finally becomes stable, as well as adding batch uploading and importing of photos Meanwhile, Microsoft released Microsoft SkyDrive 2012 v16.4 and Microsoft SkyDrive 2.0 iOS with reduced storage levels.

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Inspired by the look of Windows Metro, MetroTwit is a unique-looking, clean Twitter client that oozes style and simplicity. The app has just hit version 1.0, having already proved itself to be worthy of note in the beta stages. The official release sees the addition of a number of important new features including highly configurable filtering that helps you to ensure that your stream is not cluttered up with tweets you are not interested in.

In a similar vein to TweetDeck, the MetroTwit interface includes multiple columns that can be used to display different aspects of your Twitter account, and there is great integration with Windows 7 that sees notification area popups revealing direct messages and other interactions.

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The house of Mozilla is pumping out application updates faster than ever, and while we have now become used to the accelerated release schedule of Firefox, and indeed other browsers, this is not the only app to be given the fast-track treatment.

Mozilla’s email client, Thunderbird has also been moved onto the same rapid release cycle and this means that there are new alphas and betas to look forward to more frequently. Whether you’re only interested in running the most stable version of the software, or you’d prefer to try out the latest and greatest features as soon as possible, there is a version of the application for you.

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Mozilla has updated its email messaging client with the release of Thunderbird 11 FINAL. Version 11 introduces a slightly tweaked user interface -- tabs are now placed above the menu bar -- and promises to improve startup times and overall responsiveness.

Version 11’s lack of notable new features is disappointing, but Mozilla’s release of Earlybird 13.0a2, an early alpha version of Thunderbird, hints at more radical changes to follow.

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Today, SalesCrunch publicly disclosed its unsolicited -- what some would call outrageous, low-ball -- offer for WebEx. The online communications platform startup would pay Cisco Systems one dollar plus a 15-percent stake. Essentially, SalesCrunch offers nothing for WebEx, and really asks the tech giant to pay for the privilege of unloading the online-collaboration suite.

Cisco acquired WebEx for $3.2 billion in 2007. A single dollar might as well be nothing. But it's more than that. SalesCrunch wants WebEx assets to build out its own platform, and, of course, the customers. Cisco's involvement could instill confidence, and the bold play for WebEx demonstrate SalesCrunch's hunger to succeed by thinking outside the box. The 15-percent stake could assist the startup winning new rounds of funding or enticing new investors -- hence the concept asking the communications giant to pay SalesCrunch to take on the business.

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It used to be that there were numerous chat clients to choose from -- the likes of AIM, MSN and Yahoo! -- but nowadays there are also social networks to consider. Trillian has always been a great tool for anyone who wants to keep in touch with friends that are using different chat networks, and support for this likes of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and more has been added as the app has developed over time.

This latest update not only fixes a number of known problems, but also improves the app’s support for Twitter. The Twitter engine has received an overhaul so there is now support for native retweeting as well as the userstream.

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Apple dominated news the second week of March, but, not to be outdone, Microsoft released a couple of interesting tools that are well worth a look. Microsoft Research Cliplets 1.0.1 32-bit is a quite unique program that can be used to create something very impressive from your video clips. In short you can select a short video file and choose an area that should be played as normal while the remainder is montionless. You can come up with some very eye-catching results, and if you’re using a 64-bit version of Windows you should take a look at Microsoft Research Cliplets 1.0.1 64-bit.

You may have taken the plunge and installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Microsoft Device Center Beta 32-bit is available to help you to take full advantage of the Windows 8 specific features of Microsoft keyboards and mice. Again, if you are using a 64-bit version of Windows, there is a version for you in the form of Microsoft Device Center Beta 64-bit.

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Mac owners with Skype installed have a new version of the chat tool to install, and despite the small increase in the version number, there’s actually a lot packed in.

One of the biggest improvements in Skype 5.6 for Mac is the addition of automatic updates -- this is something that will be welcomes by anyone who likes to ensure that they always have the very latest version installed. It is an important security measure, too, as it means that any problems that have been detected with previous versions can be fixed automatically.

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The popularity of Facebook shows no signs of abating, and after annoying a large percentage of its users with the forced introduction of the timeline, the social network has released a Windows app to help irate visitors fall back in love with the site.

Facebook Messenger for Windows is a standalone app that provides access to your online friends ready for chatting and keeps you up to date with everything that is happening with your Facebook account without the need to visit the site itself.

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Postbox, Inc. has updated its cross-platform, commercial email client with a minor update. Postbox 3.0.3 includes a number of enhancements, some platform-specific, plus fixes a number of issues, including one that meant the “Check this folder for new Mail” feature didn’t work with IMAP accounts.

Postbox 3.0 released last November and introduced tighter integration with a range of third-party apps and services, including Gmail, Dropbox, Facebook and Twitter. The full version costs $29.95, and a 30-day trial is available.

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Say you are building a mobile operating system. What are the major applications you build into that OS? Email, calendar, and contacts apps right? Not Research in Motion. The company that built its business on business productivity failed to include that in the original PlayBook OS.

Fast forward to today. RIM attempts to right the sinking ship and fix the disastrous initial release of Playbook OS 1.0 with the second version of that mobile operating system. You guessed it: the signature additions to the operating system are those native email, calendar, and contacts apps missing from RIM's first try.

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If last week’s Outlook Configuration Analyzer hasn’t helped to sort out your Outlook problems then you’ll probably need to resort to the usual manual troubleshooting approach, which for instance might involve launching the program with one of its command line switches.

You’ll first need to figure out which switch is appropriate, though, and then manually apply it to your copy of Outlook, which isn’t exactly convenient. But fortunately the free and portable OutlookParameterGUI does a good job of simplifying the whole process.

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Can’t wait for the summer release of Mountain Lion, the next version of OS X? If so, then you might be interested to learn that while developers are getting their hands on a preview version of Mountain Lion, humble users like you and me can get a glimpse into one of its new features right now.

That’s right, if you’re a Lion user who’s nicely updated to OS X 10.7.3, you can try out a beta of Apple Messages, Mountain Lion’s successor to the iChat application.

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The update rate for web browsers is faster than ever, and this has been a particularly busy week for Firefox, starting off with the release of Firefox 10 FINAL. While there aren’t a huge number of big, notable changes, aside from perhaps the rejigged forward button that hides until it is needed, this is still an important milestone and offers impressive performance and stability improvements over previous version as well as better support for third-party addons.

There is also a portable version of the browser available in the form of Firefox Portable 10.0. The release of a new stable version of Firefox means that there has been a spate of releases in the other channels, including Firefox 11 Beta 1. If you’d like to peer a little further into the future, Firefox Aurora 12.0a2 gives a taste of what to expect from upcoming releases.

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