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Verizon quietly pushes Skype Mobile onto select non-smartphones

Posted on 18. Aug, 2010 by IBM. 

Back in February, Verizon Wireless made it quite clear what phones could be used with Skype Mobile, and the whole lot were smartphones. Sometime between then and now, however, it seems as if the carrier (or Skype… or both) has had a change of heart,…

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MagicJack announces software for completely free internet-to-phone calls, places femtocell on hold

Posted on 15. Aug, 2010 by IBM. 

For $40 (plus $20 per year), MagicJack’s USB VoIP dongle will let you make free unlimited telephone-to-telephone calls, but this week the company’s announced MagicTalk, a piece of software for internet-connected phones and computers that will waive ev…

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Apple Peel 520 gets reviewed: turns your iPod touch into an iPhone, but quirks exist

Posted on 05. Aug, 2010 by IBM. 

No one expressly said that the Apple Peel 520 would change your life, but if you play your cards right, that’s not entirely out of the question. The mysterious doodad — which wraps around your iPod touch and holds an extended battery and SIM card — …

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Skype updated for iOS 4, background VoIP is a go (update: no plans to charge for 3G use)

Posted on 21. Jul, 2010 by IBM. 

Well, it’s about time. Touted back in March as one of the pillar apps to benefit from the new multitasking API, Skype has finally been updated to iOS 4 compatibility. We’re seeing crisper, more retina display-friendly graphics and, more importantly, b…

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FaceTime video call works beautifully on airplane’s in-flight WiFi (video)

Posted on 13. Jul, 2010 by IBM. 

Yeah, seriously. While Aircell’s Gogo in-flight WiFi service has been blocking VoIP calling services (Skype being the most obvious example) from day one, it’s apparently not throwing the same brick wall in the face of Apple’s new standard. Our good pals over at TUAW managed to record a (relatively) solid two minute FaceTime conversation with an iPhone 4 owner, and only after you realize that said owner is a few thousand feet above the Earth’s surface does this all become a lot more interesting. We know for a fact that certain iPhone 4 owners have had difficulty with FaceTime conversations when using highly firewalled access points (like those found in hotels and corporate offices), but it seems as if seat 16A is cleared for transmission. For now, anyway. Head on past the break to peek the FaceTime ad that Apple forgot to make.

Continue reading FaceTime video call works beautifully on airplane’s in-flight WiFi (video)

FaceTime video call works beautifully on airplane’s in-flight WiFi (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 22:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Latest VoLGA specs for LTE voice include HSPA option

Posted on 12. Jul, 2010 by IBM. 

Verizon is lining up to use IMS for its 4G voice solution, but an alternative spec coming out of the VoLGA Forum — which counts Deutsche Telekom, HTC, Samsung, and LG among its members — is shaping up with a revised version this week that includes so…

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No one to test FaceTime with? Call Apple.

Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by IBM. 

Be it because you have no friends, or simply no friends with an iPhone 4, Apple’s got your back if you’re looking for a chum to test that curiously intriguing FaceTime feature. Just dial up 1-888-FACETIME (after cleaning yourself up a bit, of course) …

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How-to: stay connected while traveling internationally

Posted on 09. Jun, 2010 by IBM. 

It’s a harsh reality that every avid traveler faces, and unless you’re fortunate enough to have been born in a generation where you’re not expected to check your inbox every half-hour, glance over Twitter updates every 7.23 minutes seconds and tell th…

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Skype eager to work with Apple FaceTime, pretty much anyone else

Posted on 08. Jun, 2010 by IBM. 

We’re still playing the wait-and-see game when it comes to Skype on webOS and Windows Phone 7, but it looks as if to-be iPhone 4 owners won’t have to wait long before Skype-based video chatting becomes a reality… if Skype has its way, that is. Accor…

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Charges for Skype 2.0 calling on iPhone put off until 2011

Posted on 01. Jun, 2010 by IBM. 

When Skype 2.0 for the iPhone was released, our first reaction was: “It supports free calling over 3G, hooray!” That was, of course, followed quickly by: “It’s only free until August, boo!” However, there’s some slightly good news on that latter front, with free calling receiving something of a stay of execution. You can now stick it to the man until the end of 2010, at which point the whole “mobile subscription” thing comes into play. Why the delay, and what will you be paying for the privilege when the new decade really starts rolling? That we just don’t know.

Charges for Skype 2.0 calling on iPhone put off until 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 08:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Skype 2.0 app for the iPhone allows voice calls over 3G

Posted on 29. May, 2010 by IBM. 

Plenty of other VoIP apps have managed to work in this functionality since Apple / AT&T started allowing it last year, but the official Skype app has been a notable holdout. Now, two months after Skype started doing 3G calls on Android with Verizon, there’s a 2.0 version of the app for iPhone that brings voice calls over 3G at last. Mobile iPhone calls are free until August, after which you’ll need a “mobile subscription.” We’re testing out the app as we write this and it seems to work about as well any other 3G VoIP app we’ve tried: passable, not revolutionary.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

New Skype 2.0 app for the iPhone allows voice calls over 3G originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 May 2010 17:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skype Mobile with video support coming to Android Market later this year?

Posted on 28. May, 2010 by IBM. 

Skype’s PR folks have been unusually loquacious today, as they’ve responded to a query about whether HTC’s EVO 4G would get a Skype client with a deep and meaningful forward-looking statement, underpinned by a promise of an Android app “for all consumers globally to download regardless of carriers.” This universally available addition to the Market should arrive “later this year,” but what’s important about it is that it’s preceded by a lengthy spiel about Skype’s ambition to “set the bar on mobile video calling,” which it also intends to do this year. Does this necessarily mean that Skype video calling is coming to Android in time for us to wish granny happy Hanukkah over video chat? No. Is it a well constructed insinuation to that effect? Hell yes. Read the full statement at the source, or find the juiciest excerpt after the break.

[Thanks, Jeremy]

Continue reading Skype Mobile with video support coming to Android Market later this year?

Skype Mobile with video support coming to Android Market later this year? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 06:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ooma Bluetooth Adapter ships, unites cellphone and VoIP in holy matrimony

Posted on 24. May, 2010 by IBM. 

The home VoIP gurus over at Ooma have started shipping their Bluetooth Adapter, a $29.95 dongle that you plug into your Telo to make awesome things happen. The accessory actually works two totally different ways: it makes it so that you can answer Ooma calls on your Bluetooth headset, and it also acts as a handsfree for your cellphone, letting you answer mobile calls on any landline receiver in your house — a pretty neat trick, if you ask us. The adapter’s only available online through Ooma’s site for the moment; follow the break for the company’s full press release.

Continue reading Ooma Bluetooth Adapter ships, unites cellphone and VoIP in holy matrimony

Ooma Bluetooth Adapter ships, unites cellphone and VoIP in holy matrimony originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 May 2010 19:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google’s VOIP buying spree continues with Global IP Solutions offer

Posted on 18. May, 2010 by IBM. 

We’re not entirely sure what Google is up to, but we’re inclined to think that there’s an awful lot of voice over IP magic coming, with the company announcing the anticipated acquisition of another VOIP company. Back in November it acquired Gizmo5 for about $30 million, and now it has made a $68.2 million offer for Global IP Solutions. That company provides VOIP solutions for a number of clients, including Yahoo, and recently announced plans to release an Android library that would enable easy video conferencing in apps. We’re guessing someone in Menlo Park liked what they saw and decided to bake it right into the OS, but that’s pure, unfounded speculation. This offer still needs to be approved by 90% of Global IP’s shareholders but, since that $68.2 million represents a nearly 30 percent boost in the company’s stock price last week, we don’t think there will be any problem there — but there we go speculating again.

Continue reading Google’s VOIP buying spree continues with Global IP Solutions offer

Google’s VOIP buying spree continues with Global IP Solutions offer originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 May 2010 10:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skype VP says company isn’t developing software for Windows Phone 7 (Update: it’s ‘on the roadmap’)

Posted on 13. May, 2010 by IBM. 

Consider the bombshell dropped. Skype, the godfather of VoIP apps and an increasingly ubiquitous piece of mobile as well as desktop software, has just let it be known that it’s not planning on bringing its goodies to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 OS. Dan Neary, the company’s Vice President for the Asia Pacific region, said that it’s “not developing software for the new Windows Mobile software due later this year,” but seemed reluctant to expand on the reasons why. Perhaps, like Mozilla, the Skype devs felt they weren’t getting access to the right tools. Whatever the reason, this would be a major competitive disadvantage for Microsoft’s great new hope on the mobile front, which is already expected to launch with a few things missing. Then again, we shouldn’t get too far ahead of ourselves as this isn’t an official renouncement from Skype, merely a statement of the status quo — and from a regional exec at that. All we can take away from it for now is that the road ahead looks a bit bumpier than before for WP7.

Update: Looks like this quote might’ve been taken out of context. MobileTechWorld followed up and learned that while Dan Neary left out Windows Mobile and Windows Phone from a list of currently supported platforms (which makes sense, since one is dying and the other isn’t out yet), he said Windows Phone 7 “is on the roadmap.” The question seems to be more of a “when” than an “if” they’ll start building it.

Skype VP says company isn’t developing software for Windows Phone 7 (Update: it’s ‘on the roadmap’) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 May 2010 03:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM’s BlackBerry Mobile Voice System 5 lets you stay tied to your desk without being tied to your desk

Posted on 26. Apr, 2010 by IBM. 

Though the Bold 9650 and Pearl 3G are clearly the big announcements out of Orlando at RIM’s WES conference this morning, there was a third bit of news in the mix, too — with a decidedly heavier enterprise slant, that is. BlackBerry Mobile Voice System 5 extends the existing product with SIP support, allowing calls to transition seamlessly between cellular and WiFi networks. What’s more, it’ll work on pretty much any open WiFi hotspot (subject to enterprise policy, we’re assuming), so this is just about the best way in the business to keep you desk phone with you at all times. Assuming you’re enough of a glutton for punishment, that is.

RIM’s BlackBerry Mobile Voice System 5 lets you stay tied to your desk without being tied to your desk originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 08:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Navoto urges you to wait, buy a Skype GSM adapter instead of paying roaming fees

Posted on 20. Apr, 2010 by IBM. 

The Qool SkyQube² was apparently an idea ahead of its time. Four years ago, the small, rounded box promised to bridge the worlds of cheap VoIP telephony and pricy GSM roaming by automatically routing international calls through Skype, but after CES 2007, we never saw the device again. Until now, of course. Skype Journal reports that SkyQube has become the Navoto, and its original creator has built a firm called UGI Telecom to introduce it to market quite soon at an undisclosed price. Near as we can tell, the basic functionality is as complex as ever, requiring a SIM card swap and an always-on PC to do the heavy lifting, while the Navoto itself simply directs landline and 3G calls to SkypeOut. When that glorious day comes that all carriers let you do this on a smartphone, this device will quickly become obsolete, but for now we could see some falling for UGI’s ludicrous infomercials (videos after the break) to avoid receiving a gigantic roaming bill. Hit our more coverage links for the photos and diagrams required to understand how it all works.

Continue reading Navoto urges you to wait, buy a Skype GSM adapter instead of paying roaming fees

Navoto urges you to wait, buy a Skype GSM adapter instead of paying roaming fees originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 06:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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