skype
Latest
Microsoft is reportedly taking on Slack with 'Skype Teams'
Microsoft is building Skype Teams, a group messaging service that's similar to Slack, according to a report from Microsoft news blog MSPoweruser. Skype Teams takes a lot of the features that makes Slack so popular, including the ability to add channels, share files and privately message people, and it adds a few more functions.
Italian earthquake victims asked to disable WiFi passwords
Early Wednesday a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck central Italy, killing at least 120 people and trapping countless others under debris. To help ease communications for search and recovery, multiple disaster relief institutions are urging locals to temporarily remove their WiFi passwords.
Skype rolls out its suite of third-party app chatbots
Skype is the latest service to be joining in on the bot craze. After deploying a preview of Skype Bots back in April, the company is pushing a new series of chatbots out into the Skype Bot directory across Windows, Android, iOS, Mac and Web apps.
The best tech for students studying abroad
There's nothing quite as exciting or daunting as packing up your stuff and heading overseas for a semester. You'll have an opportunity to immerse yourself in a new culture, a foreign language and a whole ocean of unique tech challenges. But don't worry, we're here to help you navigate those obstacles. In our guide you'll find top notch cameras to capture all those transformational memories, luggage that is basically impossible to lose, a backpack that hides a spare battery for charging your phone and, of course, some noise-cancelling headphones for those long flights filled with screaming children. But you'll also need a lightweight laptop with solid battery life (like the HP Spectre 13.3) and a phone with a couple of SIM slots for doing a little border hopping. Check out the gallery below for all our recommendations for students studying abroad. And make sure to check out our full back-to-school guide right here.
Skype no longer supporting Windows Phone or older Android versions
Microsoft is making some changes to its Skype app going forward, and it may end up making some Android and Windows Phone users frustrated. Today, Microsoft announced it would continue to support Skype across iOS 8, Android 4.03 and Windows 10 Mobile, but is ceasing support for those using Windows Phone 8 or older versions of Android.
Skype bots get new features and will work in group chats
Microsoft announced that it would integrate bots into Skype back in March with the promise that they'd provide useful and fun interactions. In practice, they operated more like search engines that missed out on context. But today, they're rolling them into group chat, meaning you can finally order a pizza straight from your online work conversation. Following the release of Skype Meetings earlier this week, Microsoft is clearly looking to boost the messaging platform's appeal as a work productivity tool.
Microsoft launches Skype Meetings, a group video chat tool
Microsoft has unveiled a free HD Skype tool for small business users called Skype Meetings. It runs on a browser and will let you meet with up to 10 people for the first 60 days, and a maximum of three after that. Users can also share screens and PowerPoint presentations, and the organizer can wield a virtual "laser pointer" or mute users. Such features are already available with Skype Business, but that app requires a paid Office 365 subscription. With Skype Meetings, however, anyone with a link can join a chat.
Microsoft drops Windows 10's 'messaging everywhere' feature
When the Windows 10 Anniversary update arrives this summer, it will be missing one thing we were expecting: messaging everywhere. The feature Microsoft has been testing was similar to Apple's crossplatform iMessage integration, and Google's SMS-via-Hangouts. Switching on "Send texts on all my Windows devices" enabled users to send and receive text messages from the Messaging app on their computer that synced directly with the app on their phone.
Microsoft buys LinkedIn for $26.2 billion
You probably didn't expect your week to start this way: Microsoft has acquired LinkedIn for $26.2 billion. The company plans to integrate the career-oriented social network into many of its apps and services, including Office, Skype and Cortana. You'd get the details of the person you're meeting for a business deal, for example, or get help from an expert when you're working on an Office 365 project. Microsoft is vowing to maintain LinkedIn's overall independence, including the role of CEO Jeff Weiner, and hopes to close the deal sometime in 2016.
Skype's chat bots come to Macs and the web
You no longer have to be quite so picky about where you chat with Skype's chat bots. The Skype team has made preview bots available on both the native Mac app and the web, giving you a way to ask AI for assistance on your platform of choice. The experience won't be much different than what you've seen in Windows, but there are two new preview bots to try: Murphy (which finds and creates images to answer questions) and Summarize (which recaps a web page). Give this a shot if you've been waiting for first-hand experience with Microsoft's software helpers.
Skype nixes plug-in requirement for web-based chats
Skype for Web offers a handy way to bring your chats and calls to your browser. However, to us it on the web, you had to install a plug-in or extension before you could make audio or video calls. As of today, those extras are no longer a requirement, making good on a promise the company made back in 2014. With the Microsoft Edge browser, Skype for Web won't make you install a plug-in to communicate via audio or video. And yes, group chats are included as well.
Chatting with Skype bots feels like talking to a search engine
Earlier today, Microsoft announced that it would be integrating chat bots into Skype, thus allowing you to have quick conversations with a variety of businesses and services. At the Build 2016 keynote, we saw examples of how you could book a hotel through a WestinBot or order a pizza though a Domino's Bot. Those specific bots are unfortunately not available to the public just yet, but if you update Skype today, you'll be able to play around with at least a few chat bots to get an idea of how it all works.
Skype gets HoloLens support and help from Cortana
Microsoft isn't just content to work on a universal Skype app -- it has much bigger plans in store. It's developing a version of Skype for HoloLens that, as you'd expect, lets you chat and collaborate with friends using the augmented reality headset. Its exact functionality isn't clear yet, but the allure is clear: you can hold a hands-free video chat while you're walking around the room. Needless to say, that's helpful if you're working on a group project or have your hands full with other tasks. Don't worry if you can't drop $3,000 on a HoloLens unit to try it out, though, as there's plenty coming for regular users.
Bowie tribute concert at Radio City will be streamed on Skype
A pair of concerts will offer a tribute to David Bowie in New York City this week, and you'll be able to stream one of them. Due to "unprecedented interest," concert organizers are teaming up with Skype and Ammado so that Bowie fans around that world can watch live performances from Radio City Music Hall on April 1st. This is actually the second show, added after the response for the first event that's set for Thursday at Carnegie Hall. The Carnegie Hall date for "The Music of David Bowie," a tribute show that will raise money for music education, was announced just before the singer passed away in January. Both nights sold out immediately.
Microsoft readies a universal Skype app for Windows 10
Microsoft is developing a new version of Skype that works across all Windows 10 devices, including desktop PCs, tablets and smartphones. At the moment, it's called the rather convoluted "Skype Universal Windows Platform Preview," and will be available to Windows Insiders in the coming weeks. The first build will be focused on the desktop and include most of Skype's usual features, such as group chats, one-to-one voice and video calls. Group voice and video calling are noticeably absent, but Microsoft has promised to add them "in the next couple of releases."
Skype for Web lets you make calls to mobile phones and landlines
Skype for Web arrived last summer, delivering voice and video calls alongside IM-style chatting in your browser. To deliver more functionality, the web-based version of the service is getting a few updates that will make it work more like the desktop and mobile apps. First, you can now call landline or mobile phones with Skype for Web. Before now, you could only dial up other Skype users, so this is certainly a welcome addition. This means you'll be able to make those international calls as needed, but you'll have to buy some credits or a subscription to employ the feature.
Watch astronauts make outer space Skype calls with HoloLens
So why exactly did the crew International Space Station need those HoloLens headsets? For a holographic instruction manual and VoIP calls, of course. Prior to entering orbit, the headset was certified for use on the Weightless Wonder C9 a number of times to ensure it'd work in a zero-G environment in addition to the NEEMO underwater space station analog, according to Victor Luo, the technical lead of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. Astronaut Scott Kelly used it to make the first Skype call from outer space to mission control and says he fiddled around with it for about two hours, too.
Microsoft is ending support for Skype on TVs
Microsoft announced the integration of Skype in Office Online late last year. So you could collaborate and co-edit documents using the video call and chat service. Starting today you can do the same in OneDrive. The conversations will stay linked to the document-in-progress so you can have all the context and history slapped on for future reference. While Skype is being integrated firmly into online tools to boost interaction, Microsoft has decided to discontinue the Skype for TV app.
Skype's live translator feature now supports Arabic
Skype is probably best-known as a video chat client, but Microsoft wants it to be all things chat to all people -- even if they aren't speaking the same language. Back in 2014, the app gained the ability to take your speech and translate it into selected other languages so people who didn't speak the same language could still communicate. Today, Skype is officially rolling out support for its eighth spoken language: Arabic.
Skype's Android and iOS apps let you video chat with 24 other people
Group video calling on our smartphones isn't a new idea, but Skype -- arguably the most well-known name in video calls -- hasn't supported it, until now. Today, Microsoft announced that group video calling will start rolling out in the Skype iOS and Android apps. For starters, the capability is going to be available to Skype users in North American and western Europe, but full worldwide availability is planned for the end of the month.
