Updated :
Skype released an update to Skype for Windows, which allows you to make group video calls with up to ten people. This is in beta. There is also a new design. Skype's Peter Parkes writes, "You'll notice that the new-look Skype is sleeker, neater and crisper than before, and we're proud of the work our interface designers have done to refine and mature the interface for this version. We've also added Skype Home, where you can follow your contacts' mood messages, set your profile picture and mood message, receive account notifications and learn more about using Skype." Other improvements include: - Skype Home experience - Offline instant messaging - New contact search and add experience - Enhanced call experience under problematic conditions - Post call experience This version of Skype can be downloaded here. Remember, everyone participating in the video call has to be using this version.
Publ.Date : Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:16:40 -0400
Twitter CEO Evan Williams revealed some numbers about Twitter usage on the company blog, while talking about how the Twitter ecosystem (of third-party developers and apps) continues to play an important role in the company's success. Twitter has over 145 million registered users, he says. Not that this is a surprise by any means, but mobile is also playing an increasingly important role. "Total mobile users has jumped 62 percent since mid-April, and, remarkably, 16 percent of all new users to Twitter start on mobile now, as opposed to the five percent before we launched our first Twitter-branded mobile client," says Williams. "As we had hoped in April, these clients are bringing more people into Twitter, and, even better, they are attracting and retaining active users. Indeed, 46 percent of active users make mobile a regular part of their Twitter experience." Speaking of mobile, it has been confirmed that Twitter is testing push notifications for its iPhone app. MG Siegler shares a statement from the company: We've been testing push notifications internally. When we launched Twitter for iPad, there was a configuration error that caused us to offer push messages to a small set of users. We've stopped sending push messages, but users may see an option to turn on push until we release an updated version of the app. So, push isn't ready yet but we look forward to rolling this out soon. Williams provided the following chart of applications showing how people are actually using Twitter: "And, while the percentage of overall users drops off pretty sharply after the few listed here, there are a tremendous number of other apps that people are using, not necessarily as their main Twitter client, but as an alternative way to create or view Tweets," Williams says. "The number of registered OAuth applications is now at almost 300,000—this number has nearly tripled since Chirp. (This can include multiple instances of the same software.)" Willimas spoke last night in San Francisco. Liz Gannes has a summary of what he had to say, which was mostly about how Twitter is diferent than email and Google, but Willimas also hinted at some upcoming features. Gannes reports, "Williams also said to expect forthcoming products that would help filter relevant tweets around events, similar to what it’s doing with location. This would go beyond the user-developed convention of hashtags, he said, though he didn’t elaborate." The biggest thing Twitter has done to reduce noise since its launch has been the launch of lists. This has helped significantly, but I think Twitter users will gladly accept other ways to accomplish this.
Publ.Date : Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:52:08 -0400
Update 2: Swisher reports that Facebook blocked API access to Ping after failing to strike an agreement with Apple, so Apple removed the feature after launch. She credits "sources familiar with Facebook's platform" with this information.
Update: With regards to Facebook and Ping, Dan Frommer points out that the screenshots Apple used in its prsentation actually did show Facebook integration. MG Siegler also notes that he actually was able to connect to Ping with Facebook, but then it disappeared. It appears that Apple may have pulled Facebook from it at the last minute. Siegler writes: I can tell you for sure that yesterday Facebook Connect was a part of Ping — because I used it. When I first loaded iTunes 10 yesterday and started up Ping, connecting with Facebook was the first thing I did to find friends. At first, I will say that it didn’t work. I hit the Connect button, entered my credentials, and nothing happened. But I tried again and it worked perfectly. I found a handful of Facebook friends who had just started using Ping as well and connected with them. He also claims that he's still connected to the Ping app from within Facebook and that while Facebook isn't on iTunes, it's still live. Original Article: At Apple's music event yesterday, where the company launched a new version of iOS, a new version of iTunes with a new social network (Ping), a new line of iPods, and a new version of Apple TV, Steve Jobs took a shot at Google involving numbers of smartphone activations.
Last month, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that Android gets over 200,000 devices a day.
"People throw out a lot of numbers about how many devices they're activating per day," Jobs is quoted as saying. "We are doing 230,000 activations a day. We think our friends may be counting upgrades - if we were counting upgrades, that would be way higher."
Fortune has a quote from a Google spokesperson responding to those comments: "The Android activation numbers do not include upgrades and are, in fact, only a portion of the Android devices in the market since we only include devices that have Google services."
Ping, the iTunes social network, is like Facebook or Twitter meets iTunes. That's the way Jobs described it in the announcement, anyway. While that may be the case, and it may even resemble Facebook, there is no integration with either Facebook or Twitter (or other social networks).
Kara Swisher was able to speak to Jobs about this, who said Facebook wanted "onerous terms that we could not agree to." When asked about integrating Facebook Connect to help people find their friends, Swisher quotes him saying (or shrugging rather), "We could, I guess."
She also got this statement from Facebook on the matter: "Facebook believes in connecting people with their interests and we've partnered with innovative developers around the world who share this vision. Facebook and Apple have cooperated successfully in the past to offer people great social experiences and we look forward to doing so in the future."
Om Malik at GigaOm calls Ping "the future of social commerce". "From a content perspective, there are three different types of media we love to talk about: movies we see, music we listen to and books we are reading," he says. "These are accepted social norms. In fact, many relationships are made on the basis of collective love of a movie and many friendships have started with mixed tapes."
Boxee, whose Boxee Box is due out in November, had some comments on Apple's Apple TV announcement. These two are now direct competitors. On the Boxee blog, Avner Ronen writes:
We think people want to be able to watch anything that they can watch on their computer, only on their bigscreen TV. There is an overwhelming consumer expectation that the content we can consume in our cubicles, our dorm rooms, and in our laps should be available in our living rooms, in full 1080p with a gorgeous interface. It’s a simple premise, but the challenge is to do it in a way that makes sense in that space, so you can put your feet up, grab a remote and start watching. No keyboards, mice, windows or labyrinthine menus. It should be calm and it should be beautiful. And it *must* be open.
We all watched the Apple announcement. We walked away feeling strongly confident about the space it left for Boxee to compete. We have a different view of what users want in their living rooms. We are taking different paths to get there. The Boxee Box is going to be $100 more expensive than the Apple TV, but will give you the freedom to watch what you want.
We think it’s worth it.
NewTeeVee has a comparison of Apple TV, the Boxee Box, and Roku, which some have also said is superior to the new Apple TV.
Publ.Date : Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:38:24 -0400
Facebook is testing a feature that lets users "subscribe" to other users. Nick O'Neill at AllFacebook shares an official statement from Facebook: "This feature is being tested with a small percent of users. It lets people subscribe to friends and pages to receive notifications whenever the person they've subscribed to updates their status or posts new content (photos, videos, links, or notes)." This could make Facebook more attractive as a news reader, a way Facebook has encouraged users to use the service in the past, and a functionality that is probably more often associated with Twitter, though the capabilities are clearly both there with either service. Notifications of updates would only enhance Facebook for this purpose. O'Neill shows a screenshot, which shows a simple link to subscribe to a user under their profile picture, and an update from that person appearing in the notifications along with all the other ones. Keep in mind, this is just a feature they're testing, and it's possible that it won't ever become available, but I can't see too many downsides to it as long as users have to opt in to subscriptions. Facebook also announced that users will soon have a new way to control their accounts, with a remote log-out feature (pictured above). Users will be about to log out of any Facebook session from another computer or device. More on that here.
Publ.Date : Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:56:14 -0400
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