Microsoft offers free Skype calls in Nepal, Facebook donates $2 million
The terrible repercussions of the earthquake in Nepal and the aftershocks continue to be felt. With thousands of people yet to be accounted for, Google and Facebook have already launched services to help connect with people in the affected areas.
Now Microsoft has entered the fray, offering free Skype calls to both landlines and mobiles in Nepal. Starting immediately, Skype users can make calls from within Nepal, or place them to the country regardless of whether they have any credit.
Skype for Business is now ready for prime time
Microsoft has announced the official availability of the new Skype for Business client and Skype for Business Online, only a month after releasing the first product as a technical preview. Rolling out now, Skype for Business is set to quickly replace Lync, with all customers expected to be upgraded by the end of May 2015.
The client is rolling out as part of the April monthly upgrade for Office 2013, while its Online counterpart just started to make its way to Office 365 customers across the globe. However, customers who need "a little more time" to migrate over to Skype for Business Online are given the option to switch between it and Lync.
Buy Skype Credit at Western Union -- Microsoft offers limited-time bonus
Skype is a fantastic communication service. What makes Skype so much better than its competitors, is the cross-platform availability. Microsoft supports pretty much all major platforms with this service. Whether you are on Windows, OS X, Android, Ubuntu, iOS or Windows Phone, you can utilize Skype.
Today, Microsoft announces a partnership with Western Union, giving Skype users a new way to buy Skype Credit. Plus, if a user buys Credit from the money-transfer company, they will receive bonus Credit too -- very cool!
The evolution of Lync is Skype for Business -- Technical Preview available now
In the world of business, the typical office is fading away. Yes, there are still places where employees are housed in the same location, but the reality is, talent is scattered across the globe. Less people are spending their entire careers at a single company, so the concept of uprooting an entire family to move for a job is no longer realistic.
The Internet, of course, has afforded talented professionals to work offsite from home or satellite locations (or even outdoors!). The problem is, email is not the most productive collaboration tool, as chains can become convoluted and hard to manage. Phone conferences alone can be quite unproductive as well, as employees mentally check out and mute themselves to work on other things. Microsoft's Lync has been a dream come true for project collaboration, and today, the first preview of the next-generation of the tool, now called Skype for Business, is released.
Video chat with your pets using Microsoft's Skype -- adorable puppy video inside!
I'm a dog guy. No, really; I'm all in on this canine thing. You know those weird people that dress up their dog in clothes? I'm that guy now. Having never owned a dog growning up, I used to laugh at people that did that, but now I am having birthday parties for my little puppy. Heck, I even dress her up for Halloween and go to Petco for the costume contest! Believe it or not, I'm not alone in this behavior. More and more people are treating their pets as family members and even treating them as equals.
Today, Microsoft touts a new use for its popular communication solution, Skype -- keeping a loving eye on your pets. Yes, some people cannot bear to be away from their pets for long amounts of time. With Skype, you can monitor your furry family member using a webcam. With that said, I must warn you; there is an adorable example video below that will melt your heart.
Windows 10-powered Surface Hub brings interactive whiteboards kicking and screaming into the 21st century
Surface got off to something of a stuttering start, but Microsoft's sort-of-tablet/sort-of-laptop has gained quite a following as it hit the third generation. With the launch of Windows 10 on the cards, the company is now thinking about not just software, but also new hardware formats. We've seen HoloLens, but the device that could transform both work and education is the Surface Hub.
Announced as an 84-inch Surface, it would be easy to dismiss this as a headline-grabbing gimmick, but it's more than that. Much more than that. It's a tool for the office, a tool for enterprise, and a tool for schools and colleges. This is Microsoft showing how Windows 10 can be used for collaborative work, bringing the interactive whiteboard kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
Microsoft's Windows 10 has tight Skype integration -- are Google Hangouts and Apple iMessage in danger?
I have been having difficulty staying in touch with friends and family lately. The problem? Everybody is using different services! Apple fans are on iMessage and Facetime. Google users are on Hangouts. Other people embrace Facebook Messager or SMS. Quite frankly, it is maddening. Lately, I have been considering embracing Skype, as it works on Windows, Linux, OS X, iOS, Android and Windows Phone. In other words, I don't have to worry about the platform the other person is on. I can have my friends and family use Skype to get in contact with me.
Luckily, Windows 10 will have Skype installed by default, meaning every user of that operating system can easily access it. I will not have to instruct people how to download and install it -- this is huge. Not only is it installed, but tightly integrated into the OS. Plus, with Lync being transformed into Skype for Business, Microsoft's communication solution may be poised to dominate.
Samson announces Meteorite and GoMic Direct USB microphones
Samson is not a company that everyone is familiar with, but it makes cool audio tech. I became aware of it when I was in the market for a high quality, yet low-cost, USB microphone. You see, the integrated microphones on a lot of computers are horrible, so I felt an investment in a quality model would pay off. Ultimately, I bought Samson's Meteor mic, which not only offers great performance, but is inexpensive and looks really sexy on my desk too.
Today, Samson is announcing two new USB microphones; the Meteorite and GoMic Direct. Continuing in the tradition of the original Meteor mic, these are both beautiful and affordable (each $39.99) .
The battle of the translators: man vs machine
Once, machine translation was only possible in a galaxy far, far away -- from Star Trek’s Universal Translator to Hitchhiker's Babel Fish. But now that Microsoft’s Skype Translator enables callers speaking different languages to converse in real-time via machine translation, that science fiction fantasy has become a non-fiction reality. But in the battle of the translators, who wins -- man or machine?
Skype’s new translator is an impressive technological feat that is able to take spoken words, convert them into text, translate the text, and then synthesize it back into spoken words in the language of the person on the other end of the call, all in a fraction of a second. All-in-all a platform that will be enormously helpful for breaking down barriers and enabling business and social conversations across the planet -- If you haven’t tried it, find a Spanish-speaking friend and check it out. You will be muy soprendido.
Skype offers free calls from India to US and Canada until March
Microsoft has an end-of-year present for Skype users in India. Starting now and running until the beginning of March, calls from India to the US and Canada are completely free of charge. Interestingly, this includes calls placed to mobiles as well as to landlines.
Unusually for such an offer, there's no commitment, no free trial and, seemingly, no catch -- just free calls for the next three months. The news comes just after Microsoft unveiled details of its Skype Translator preview, and is just in time for the holiday season when the number of phone calls placed tends to skyrocket.
Skype Translator preview breaks down the language barrier
Microsoft has shown more interest in Skype in recent years, including making it far more web-friendly, and introducing a business-centric version in place of Lync. The latest move is designed to break down more barriers, making it easier for people in different countries to communicate with each other, regardless of the language they speak.
Skype Translator preview is the first step towards making language irrelevant. Rather than relying on interpreters, users can communicate through Skype and translations will be automatically performed. English and Spanish are supported as spoken languages, but there is support for more than 40 written languages as well.
Skype for Windows 7.0 sports redesigned, touch-friendly interface
Microsoft has released Skype for Windows 7.0, unveiling a major redesign of its Skype desktop client in the process. Many of the new features debuted in a Preview pre-release that coincided with the release of Skype for Mac 7 back in October.
The final release adds several new features not present in the original preview build, including two new compact view options and support for touchscreen displays.
Skype for Web beta brings voice and video chats to your browser without plugins
Installed apps are becoming a thing of the past. Microsoft is just one of a raft of technology companies gradually moving to the cloud and the latest display of this is a new beta version of Skype for Web. The messaging tool has been designed to be used in a web browser without the need for plugins, extensions or other software. At least that is the aim. During the beta stages you'll still have to install a small plugin.
Work being carried out by the Internet Explorer developers should bring plugin-free Real-Time Communications (RTC) to browsers in the near future, and Skype for Web will be able to take advantage of this. The beta is not being made available to everyone straight away, so you'll need to check your account to see if you can try it out.
Microsoft to kill off Lync and rebrand as Skype for Business
As part of the simplification of its portfolio, Microsoft is dropping the Lync name as it rebrands the business messaging and conferencing tool. The name will change to Skype for Business in the first half of 2015, and interface tweaks will see the business version of the tools closely mimicking that of the consumer Skype product.
The aim is to create a more uniform experience for people using Microsoft's communication tools at home and in the office. After a decade of Skype, and bearing in mind the success of Lync, it was almost inevitable that the two products would ultimately become one, and that day is now almost here. As Microsoft puts it: "The magic of Skype and the power of Lync are coming together".
Electronic Frontier Foundation finds Skype, WhatsApp and more are disappointingly insecure
Secure communication is something we all crave online, particularly after Edward Snowden's NSA revelations increased public interest in privacy and security. With dozens of messaging tools to choose from, many claiming to be ultra-secure, it can be difficult to know which one to choose and which one to trust. Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has published its Secure Messaging Scorecard which rates a number of apps and services according to the level of security they offer.
It's a fairly exhaustive list that includes numerous well-known names, as well as several more niche products. What is concerning, however, is that many of the most popular tools -- WhatsApp, Yahoo Messenger, Skype, SnapChat, and Facebook chat -- received very low ratings for failing to protect users and their communication data.
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