Sony posts Skype-packing PSP firmware update
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Go!Messenger teaser included too Todayâs the day that Skype finally comes to the PlayStation Portable (PSP), along with a teaser for the forthcoming Go!Messenger application.â¦
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Newly released Skype devices that connect to Wi-Fi networks aren't portable like cellphones, but they can be handy at home
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(InfoWorld) - Sales of new Wi-Fi mobile handsets that use Skype software and do not require a PC to make calls are gaining momentum ahead of the holidays, companies report. The Wi-Fi mobile phones are rousing interest for two reasons: the low cost of using Skype services to make calls, and because people can use them more like a traditional mobile phone, without the aid of a PC.Â Skype is offeringÂ the WSKP100 by SMC Networks in a package on its Web site that includes the handset, a Wi-Fi router, 500 minutes of calls to regular mobile phones and landlines (SkypeOut) and 12 months of Skype voicemail for just Â£99 ($196). "Sales are going great so far," said Brian Nickell, product manager at SMC Networks. He said SMC is currently selling its Wi-Fi Skype handset, the WSKP100, in North America, Europe, and Asia, and that the company will release more local language models soon. The Chinese language version of the handset became available Tuesday in Taiwan. Users can download a firmware upgrade at SMC's Taiwan Web site. The SMC model is identical to the VM1185T by Accton Technology and the F1PP000GN-SK by Belkin International for a reason. SMC is the U.S. marketing subsidiary of Accton, whichÂ developed the Wi-Fi handset. The Taiwanese company reported that its overall sales in November rose 13 percent over October thanks to the handset, a sign users may find them in their stockings this holiday season. The company's November sales reached NT$1.38 billion (US$42.7 million), up from NT$1.22 billion in October, it said Tuesday. The Wi-Fi handset offers Skype VOIP (voice over Internet protocol) software, and features such as 802.11b/g compatibility with added security features to keep conversations private. Users can use the handsets anywhere they canÂ access Skype services, such as Wi-Fi networks at Starbucks coffee shops or on college campuses. It automatically searches for Wi-Fi signals. The SMC and Belkin versions of the handset can be found at reseller shops for around $190.ADVERTISEMENTNEW IT SERVICES FROM IBM: EASIER TO BUY AND IMPLEMENTDiscover a simpler, more cost-effective way to get the solutions your company needs to grow more flexible and efficient.
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Live Meeting update will add media sharing, simultaneous VOIP and landline phone access, and a new interface.
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Handsets pulled to apply audio glitch fix, reports suggest
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(InfoWorld) - SkypeÂ is working to make its Internet telephony service more enterprise friendly, and expects to introduce a beta version of its software with support for enterprise management functions within weeks. The update will allow system administrators to use standard Windows management tools to set how the Skype software connects to the Internet, or to disable any of half a dozen functions, including file transfers, said Skype's vice president of telecommunications and Skype for business, Michael Jackson. Use of Skype in business is widespread: Of Skype's 113 million registered users, 30 percent say they use it for business, Jackson said, speaking at the IDC European IT Forum in Paris on Monday. The proprietary and hard-to-block connection protocols used by Skype's peer-to-peer communications system have raised concerns about security in some businesses. "There was a rumor we disrupt networks to get around things," Jackson said. That started, Jackson said, "because we design things for consumers so they work in any network environment. The back end of that is, it works in any network environment." That makes it difficult for enterprises to block the software, he said. That was a concern for Intel's chief information officer, John N. Johnson, when some Intel employees installed Skype software on their own initiative. "What if some vulnerability developed, or if someone came up with a way to use it as a transport into the enterprise? We couldn't tell who was using it, or where, if it needed to be patched," said Johnson, speaking on the sidelines of the forum. Skype has worked with Intel to meet the company's security requirements, Johnson said. Together, they came up with a proxy server approach, allowing Johnson to cut off the software's network access if a security problem is identified. "It doesn't go straight out onto the Internet any more," Johnson said. To make Skype connect via the proxy server, Intel forced its Skype-using employees to upgrade their software client to a version supporting proxy connections. For Johnson, that presented no problem: "I have a way to scan the environment to see what's installed." Skype, designed for consumer use, has much in common with text instant messaging, Johnson said. "IM started as a consumer technology. Now most businesses couldn't work without it." Johnson himself used Skype "for a bit," he said -- but stopped because Skype wasn't part of the standard software image on a new computer. "I keep changing computers, and I don't have time to reload every little thing on it," he said.
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Latest PECL Releases:uploadprogress 0.3.0htscanner 0.6.0SCA_SDO 1.1.1sam 0.3.0courierauth 0.1.0
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(InfoWorld) - Nearly one year after Skype stole the headlines at the 3GSM World Congress with itsÂ plans to offer a mobile versionÂ of its Internet phone, a couple of nimble startups -- and not the Net telephony pioneer itself -- appear to have found a way to make this type of service work, both technically and commercially. Earlier this week, JajahÂ announced aÂ new mobile VOIPÂ serviceÂ that allows smart-phone users to make low-cost and, in some cases, free international calls. Customers simply enter Jajah's mobile Web portal through their handset's browser, enter their user name and password and then make a either a free or low-cost call. The launch of Jajah Mobile Web comes on the heals of a mobile VOIP (voice over IP) offering by Fring, which, unlike Jajah, requires users to download software and install it in their Internet-enabled handsets. The Fring service gives mobile users access to P-to-P (peer-to-peer) VOIP offerings such as Skype and Google Talk. Microsoft appears to have its finger on the pulse of mobile VOIP, too. Next week in Barcelona, the U.S. software giant will unwrap aÂ new version of its Windows Mobile OSÂ that will supposedly enable carriers and device maker to add VOIP functionality to Windows Mobile devices. All these announcements -- and the many more expected at this year's 3GSM World Congress -- come as Skype, which essentially stunned the mobile phone industry last year with its VOIP plans, acknowledges technical and commercial hurdles. In a recent interview in Finnish newspaper, Skype co-founder and CEO Niklas ZennstrÃ¶m spoke of "technical obstacles" and conceded that efforts to make Skype work had been taking "much longer than expected." At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month, Eric Lagier, Skype director of business development for hardware and mobile, called the lack of attractive flat-rate fees for most mobile phone services a key commercial hurdle to mobile VOIP usage. He said the company didn't want to be in a position of claiming that its service is free, but facing users who at the end of the month are docked with a huge broadband usage fee. At last year's 3GSM World Congress, Skype and the Hutchison 3 Group (Hutchison 3G)Â announced a partnershipÂ to provide what they had hoped to become the world's first commercial VOIP service for mobile phones. Hutchison 3G, which operates IP-based mobile broadband networks in several European markets, was one of the first mobile phone operators to embrace VOIP, a technology many in the industry view as a major threat to their cash-cow voice business. But industry experts admit that challenges remain.Â One hurdle in providing quality VOIP serviceÂ over mobile handsets is the uplink, which is currently too slow to support quality voice calls, John Giere, chief marketing officer at Alcatel-Lucent, said in an earlier interview. To increase uplink speeds, operators of GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) networks, which dominate Europe and many parts of Asia and Latin America, will need to upgrade their networks with HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access) technology, which will give operators "the bidirectional capability they need to run real VOIP," he said. The high-speed technology is not expected to become commercially available in volume until the latter part of 2007 or early 2008. Operators are presently busy rolling out the downlink counterpart HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access).
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Sony said Monday that it had teamed up with Skype to enable users of its new slim PlayStation Portable handheld video game machine to make free or low cost telephone calls around the world.
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Latest PECL Releases:PHK 1.4.0automap 1.1.0mqseries 0.11.0perforce 1.0.0
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Sony announces new functionality for both its PS3 and PSP gaming hardware.
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Latest PECL Releases:sam 0.2.0PDO_IBM 1.0.0SCA_SDO 1.1.0zip 1.8.1
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Ecamm Networks revamps its Call Recorder program to support Skype 2.3.
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The Siemens USB adaptor is loaded with Skype software that enables users of Siemens phones to access Skype&#39;s free Internet calling service as well as other features, such as buddy lists and conference calling.
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Internet voice and video calls are on the cards for some PlayStation Portable (PSP) owners later this year.
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ZappTek has updated iPDA, which extends an iPod's PDA features and now downloads Gmail conversations.
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GSM Association spills Sony Ericsson beans Sony Ericsson's as yet unannounced W999 Walkman slider phone has appeared on the web in an official capacity, turning up among the GSM Association's list of HSDPA-compatible handsets.â¦