New Skype Beta Out
According to the Skype Journal, Skype for Windows Beta 1.4 is out. Download it here. Looks like there are some exciting new features, including Call Forwarding.
Archive for August, 2005
Voice on IM Long Term
Om Malik on the Long Term Impact of Combining VoIP and IM. As he says "Voice will soon become an embedded feature in most applications" — a platform component. You will see voice in games, IM, business processes, web sites, and many many more places.
Why Google Talk?
Joe Laszlo, at Jupiter Research, offers the Top 5 reasons for Google Talk. Tongue firmly planted in cheek. Thanks Randy!
MSN Acquires Teleo
There’s a very interesting story on the wire this morning. Microsoft has acquired Teleo, a San Francisco VoIP startup, and plans to offer VoIP services (both paid and free) through MSN. Repeat after me: softphones are platforms, softphones are platforms.
You can read about it on:
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Seattle PI: The Seattle PI includes this interesting tidbit:
Teleo’s technology also includes a feature for clicking on a link to quickly launch a voice call. Because of that, the technology could also be incorporated into MSN Search results. In that setting, the company may end up allowing free PC-to-phone calls, making its money instead through related search-based advertising, Richardson said.
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The Boston Globe:
Microsoft is not interested in selling a service to replace traditional telephone calling, Irving said. Instead, the company wants to provide both free and paid services that let MSN Messenger customers call friends on their contact list or dial businesses they’ve searched for. For example, if a user looks for a pizza parlor, he could then click on the results to call the store and order a pie, Irving said.
"This acquisition opens up infinite opportunities for Microsoft to enable even more relationship-centric communications experiences for our customers in the future," Irving enthused.
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Om Malik’s site (he reported on the talks two months ago)
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Andy Abramson (he says it’s meaningless in the long run.)
There’s a certain bittersweet element to this. I built a business plan for a Teleo-like service in the fall of 2003, and shopped it around to numerous Canadian VC’s, none of whom would finance.
Rolling Stones: A Bigger Bang Online
The Stone’s new album, A Bigger Bang, is now completely available online at their website. Click here to stream the album. Includes "Sweet Neo Con" which I was disappointed they didn’t play on Sunday in Ottawa.
