Glitches Prevent Users From Using Skype

Daily Mail: Skype goes offline: Glitch prevents users from making calls and logging in

* Skype says glitch makes users appear to be offline even if they are online
* The technical problem is thought to be affecting users around the world
* Microsoft, which owns Skype, said engineers were working to fix the issue

Skype users around the world have been left unable to make calls with service after a glitch made everyone appear as if they were offline.

Microsoft, which owns Skype, said the technical problem meant users signed into were unable to change their status and all contacts showed as offline even if they were online.

This meant users were unable to initiate calls to each other.

CSN editor: I needed Skype today .... but in the end I had to make a long distance phone call. Yup .... you never appreciate the tech that we have until we no longer have it.

No Police Surveillance Policy Change At Skype

Skype Denies Police Surveillance Policy Change -- BBC

Microsoft's online message, phone and video chat service Skype has denied making changes to its system "in order to provide law officers greater access" to its members' conversations.

It follows reports suggesting infrastructure upgrades had made it easier to hand on users' chat data.

Skype has now posted a blog saying the changes were made solely to improve user experience and reliability.

But it added it would pass on messages to law enforcement when "appropriate".

Read more ....

My Comment: But everyone now knows that the technology exists to make it possible .... a fact that Skype will never be able to discount. And while the focus is on police agencies .... no one is discussing what the intelligence agencies are doing.

Skype Now On The iPad

Skype For iPad Makes Its Debut -- Mashable

Skype has released its official iPad app to the iOS App Store, bringing its live video service to both 3G and Wi-Fi data connections.

Skype for iPad expands upon the iPhone app’s features, thanks to the iPad’s larger screen real estate. The iPad app includes all of the features you’d expect: video chat, instant messaging, phone calls and quick access to your contacts. Unlike the iPhone app, instant messaging can be used during video calls.

The Skype app works with both the iPad 1 and the iPad 2, although the iPad 1 only can receive video. The Skype iPad app can call anybody using Skype, whether it’s on the desktop or an iOS device. It requires iOS 4.0 or above.

Read more ....

Report: Facebook, Skype Planning Deep Integration

This screenshot uses real pictures with fake names and numbers to illustrate a Skype-Facebook integration.

From CNET:

You didn't think Facebook would integrate with Google Voice, did you?

Actually, according to sources close to the situation, Facebook and Skype are poised to announce a significant and wide-ranging partnership that will include integration of SMS, voice chat, and Facebook Connect.

The move by the pair--which have tested small contact importer integrations before--is a natural one for the social-networking giant, which is aiming to be the central communications and messaging platform for its users, across a range of media.

Read more ....

Verizon Users To Get Skype In Late March

From PC World:

Verizon Wireless has joined forces with Skype, and its subscribers will be able to start making calls using Skype on nine selected smartphones in late March, the operator said on Tuesday.

The two companies have built a new always-on application called Skype Mobile. The client will be available to owners of the following RIM (Research in Motion) phones: BlackBerry Storm, Storm 2, Curve 8330, Curve 8530, 8830 World Edition and the Tour 9630. It will also be available on the Motorola Droid, the HTC Droid Eris and the Motorola Devour.

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Skype Founders Wrestle Back $400m Share Of Company

Former eBay chief Meg Whitman engineered the purchase of Skype from Niklas Zennstrom and his partner, Janus Friis in 2005

From The Guardian:

• Creators receive 14% of stock in $2bn sale
• Deal ends long running dispute over company's future

The founders of Skype have regained a significant stake in the internet company after settling a contentious legal dispute that had threatened to derail its $2bn sale.

The deal, which was announced today, will give Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis a 14% stake in the internet telephony service they originally sold to auction website eBay in 2005 for $2.6bn.

Read more ....

Beginner’s Guide To Skype

(Rich Clabaugh/Staff)

From The Christian Science Monitor:

For some 500 million users, Skype turns their PC into a phone.

International calls can get mighty pricey. Perhaps that’s why so many people use Skype, a free way to make calls – and even have video chats – all over the world from the comfort of their computer screens.

Skype isn’t new. It launched in 2003 and now boasts 483 million registered accounts. But if you haven’t tried it yet, don’t fret. Here’s what you need to know.

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The End Of Skype?

Mario Tama / Getty

The Skype Founders' Revenge Against eBay -- Time Magazine

Just when eBay thought it had figured out a way to unload a majority interest in Skype, along came the Scandinavian founders of the world's biggest provider of Internet telephony to sink the $1.9 billion deal — and perhaps Skype itself.

Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis are suing eBay, based in San Jose, Calif., and a consortium of investors that includes private-equity firms Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz (co-owned by Netscape's Marc Andreessen) and the Canada Pension Plan over the breach of a software-licensing agreement.

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Firefox Use Reaches Critical Mass; Skype Reigns In IM

From Infoworld:

It finally happened. After years of building momentum -- and more than a few false starts -- Mozilla's Firefox Web browser has finally reached critical mass. There are now more users running some variant of Firefox (50.6 percent) than not running it, according to the latest statistics from the exo.performance.network, which tracks the actual usage and configurations of thousands of PCs globally, providing a real-world snapshot.

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Skype Could Be Cut Off For Good Over Dispute

(Paul Rogers/The Times)

From Times Online:

Skype might have to shut down because of a dispute over the core technology used to make the internet telephone system work.

EBay, which paid $2.6 billion (£1.6 billion) for the voice-over-the-internet system in 2005, is facing a court battle with the original founders of the company who retained the rights to the technology at the heart of the system.

EBay admitted in a regulatory filing that it might have to close down the company. It said it was trying to develop alternative software but if that did not work, or if eBay lost the right to the original software: "Skype would be severely and adversely affected and the continued operation of Skype's business as currently conducted would likely not be possible."

Read more ....