Skype has integrated Facebook-to-Facebook video-calls into its latest desktop client. This is another stage in the inexorable rise of social media.

Rick Osterloh, head of design at Skype, announced his company’s latest innovation in a blog post last week. He wrote: “ Back in July, Facebook video calling powered by Skype was launched. Today we are thrilled to announce our partnership with Facebook has reached yet another milestone with the launch of Skype 5.4 Beta for Mac and Skype 5.7 Beta for Windows allowing you to conduct a Facebook-to-Facebook call from within Skype.

“This new development in the Skype-Facebook partnership is the latest example of how Skype is removing communication barriers and making it easier to connect with friends, family and business colleagues. Our approach to social is about personal connections with people.

“We are on a mission to connect over one billion people and our continued partnership with Facebook brings us one step closer to this goal.”

Osterloh says that starting a Facebook-to-Facebook call from within Skype is quite easy; all users need to do is connect their Skype and Facebook accounts. They then select a Facebook friend and hit the video call button in Skype, at which point their friend picks up the call from Facebook.

The new feature is the latest in a raft of services offered in partnership with Facebook and Skype. Those already on offer include the ability to see when one’s Facebook friends are online and to read their status updates and IM them all from Skype.

Skype, the online telephone and instant messaging app, has bought the GroupMe messaging app in order to compete in the mobile group messaging space.

GroupMe lets users share texts, photos and locations in private groups. It won the ‘Breakout award’ at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive awards.  The conference is a major event in the tech industry and a reliable indicator of its trends.

Skype is rumoured to have bought GroupMe for US$80m (£48.5m). The start-up, which is based in New York, sees 100 million messages a month sent through its platform.

Group messaging is seen to be the next hot trend in social media, with Facebook, Apple and Google all launching their own versions. All of the social media platforms are competing with BlackBerry, whose BBM messaging service is hugely popular, especially with 16-24 year olds.

Tony Bates, chief executive of Skype, said: “We think the mobile group messaging space is very important. It means furthering the breaking down of barriers to global communications.”
Skype itself may be bought out in the near future. In May of this year, Microsoft signed a deal to acquire it for US$8.5bn (£5bn). This is subject to approval by the European Commission before the deal can close. It has already been approved by the US Federal Trade Commission.

Hey guys, it’s Thea here again at NSDesign, where we tend to love new things! New gadgets, new apps, new technology – you name it, we love it! So I was excited yesterday, when I discovered a Swedish VOIP company, REBTEL.

Now I don’t know about you, but Rebtel’s not a name I was familiar with,  so I decided to investigate. a little further. It turns out they’re billing themselves as the second VOIP network after Skype. Or put simply, from their site:

“International calls for the cost of a local call from your regular mobile phone and landline – No Computers, No Downloads, No Internet Connections.”

Free calls? I’m in!!

That said, having used Skype for more than a handful of years, I was a bit tentative about it all, that is until my “early-adopter” side won, and I couldn’t resist trying it out.

I started with my best friend in San Francisco since I talk to him more than just about anyone else on the phone! It would be more-than-handy to be able to call from my Blackberry, not just when I am at home and able to use my “free calls” option from my landline. So this is what initially sells me.

GETTING STARTED:

So if you fancy getting in on this Cheap/Free Phone Call Action here’s what you do:

1)  …start by registering yourself on the RebTel site.

2) Next, add your friend’s phone number to your contact list on REBTEL (NOTE: It assigns them a local number to you, which in my case, as it’s Glasgow, they gave me an 0141 number for each contact.)

3) Rebtel then, immediately, texts you the local number, you save it to your phone and voila you’re good to go! (They also email you the number).

4) The last step, once you’ve saved the number to you phone’s address book, is hit SEND and call your friend.

You repeat the process to add other family and friends. That bit may be time- consuming  initially, but once they’re stored in your phone, you can use them again and again.

This afternoon I added another friend (also in California) and since she was up at the crack of dawn, I was able to phone her straight away from my Blackberry. The call quality was totally fine – just like any normal mobile phone call. (NOTE: The first five minute call to them is free, after that there’s a fee. A list of pricing can be found on their site – choose which country you’re calling to/from.

NEW TECHNOLOGY

As I’ve just discovered them today, I am still trying to work out how it all works.

So far I’ve ascertained that they offer Cheap International Calls, FREE International calling, international SMS, and what I am presuming is an APP-to-APP feature (they do iPhone, Blackberry, Android thus far). I’ve added it to my iPod Touch which I am hoping will work similarly to the Skype-to-Skype feature and be free, but not entirely sure.

IN FOR A PENNY…

So to try out this service, I’ve added 10.00 dollars* credit to my account (*because my Paypal account is in dollars, but in the UK, your lowest credit deposit option is 7.00 pounds).

Over the next week or two I’ll test drive it, and I’ll report back to you on my experience of it.

To be honest, I am not sure it will lure me away from Skype, where I’ve been a (generally) happy Skype customer for many years, but in the spirit of loving new technology, I’ll give it a whirl.

TO SKYPE OR NOT TO SKYPE?

As I say, I already have a SKYPE phone which I am logged into nearly 24/7 – so why would I bother with this?

Well, the main advantage I see with having this Rebtel facility, is if I am ever out and about and need to speak to my dad, my sister, my aforementioned best friend and we’re not both on Skype, this means I can ring them straight up from my mobile and it won’t cost me an arm and a leg! Ringing anyone internationally from my Blackberry is not something I’d have ever considered before, but now I can and it won’t break my bank!

Oh and incidentally, through their website, I just sent a few text messages to my German friend (who is currently in Antigua) and my Australian friend and it doesn’t appeared to have cost me a penny. My balance is still $9.99.

So far so good. I’ll keep you posted.

This morning when arriving at NSDesign’s HQ, I did my usual routine of switching on my computers, making a tea and performing my  morning perusal of a emails, blogs and the like – when one LinkedIn group post caught my eye. It was all about one of my favourite things in the world – Skype!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am an absolute ambassador for the program. Truly. I’ve used for more than a handful of years to keep in contact with  family in friends (periodically) and my dad back in the Silicon Valley  daily. I love the program by and large. It’s on my Mac, my PC (which I seldom use anymore), Nokia phone, iPad and iPod, too. I am pretty much logged on to Skype 24/7.

Lately though, they’ve updated the Skype version for MAC version from 2.8 to 5.0 and ever since I’ve absolutely loathed the user experience. Well it turns out, I’m not the only one.

A whole blog this week was dedicated to the feedback they’ve been receiving on the latest MAC update.

Skype claims it’s trying to build for the Grannies in China to the students in New England and everything in between. Well, that’s, of course, fair enough. They certainly don’t have a “typical” user demographic.

But  instead of being more streamlined and sleek, the new version was bulky and constricting. It was less easy (impossible?) to have multiple chat windows going on (and multi-tasker that I am, I often carry on several conversations at once). Instead of it being the “simple” program I’ve known and loved it became too complex and no longer user-friendly to be enjoyable.

Enough about my opinion on Skype’s update though, what was really interesting here, to me, is how the company has used its blog to address issues and feedback and then adapt to it. It’s arguably a good case study of the advantage for adapting customer feedback on a blog.

There continues to be an exhaustive amount of feedback  on the subject continuing on:

“The new interface is horrible, frankly its down to where I only login if I know someone needs me otherwise I don’t run the app.” - alexrodriguez

“I have no complaints with 2.8. I’m not sure why you felt it needed such a drastic overhaul. I can multi-task, phone, IM and video just fine. So can my 70 year father and 90 year Grandma. Seriously. They tried Skype 5 and I had to revert it back for them. There is just too much going on there for it to be at all user friendly.” – selfpartwo

I am rather pleased to see that it appears that Skype is taking its criticisms on the chin and will hopefully go back to the drawing board with 5.0 and re-think it.

For those like me, who have been unhappy with this recent overhaul, Skype is now making the old version 2.8 available to download the foreseeable future.

As soon as I read it, I reverted and I feel like all is right in my world again.

Thanks Skype…

(Now if they could just sort out the recent upgrade on the Nokia handsets, I’d truly be over the moon. It’s as bad if not worse than the Mac upgrade.)

Popular voice software Skype has just launched an updated version for Windows. The software, which allows users to make and receive free voice calls across the internet, has greatly increased its functionality in several areas, optimising its utility as a business tool.

It has greatly increased its application for mobile internet, including the ability to create a group video call of up to ten people. The package has been tweaked to automatically show the participant speaking in an emphasised screen, enabling the entire group to keep easier track of the conversation. It also incorporates the ability to automatically recover dropped calls.

However, Skype 5.0’s biggest step forward is in its integration of social media. For the first time, Skype allows you to synchronise your Facebook profile with your Skype account. This allows you to see all Facebook features, including your newsfeed, from inside your Skype account.

The integration creates two new Facebook tabs, only visible to Skype users. These are ‘call’ or ‘sms’, which enables direct real-world contact with Facebook friends. If both Facebookers are Skype members, then any call is free. If one member is not on Skype, then the programme will automatically dial any phone number attached to that account, for a small fee.

The great thing about this integration is that it allows you to see which of your colleagues and friends are available to have a conversation, before beginning one. Through Facebook’s own ‘chat’ statuses, you can judge the optimum time to begin a call with whomever you need to speak.

For those non-Windows users, no news is forthcoming about these updates for other platforms yet, but hopefully it won’t be long!