There is some bad news, enough to make you question how secure is your information when it comes to using Skype on your iOS device.Folks at Superevr claim to have found an XSS vulnerability that exists within the Skype chat window in Skype 3.0.1 for the older generations of the iPhone and the iPod Touch. This vulnerability exposes your information to hackers who can steal this information.
Skype finally drops the much needed update for the Android community by announcing earlier that it will be releasing support for video calling for numerous handsets. This had been in the pipeline for quite some time now and we users had been waiting in anticipation for this to come.
As rumored earlier Skype has officially released the video calling functionality for all iOS Devices. This includes your iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad. The version 3.0 of the app will support video calling capabilities with users of the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and the 4th Generation iPod Touch.
The latest version has support for the iPod Touch 3G and the iPad too. But since both devices lack a front facing camera, therefore you can receive video calls but can’t send a video back. The Skype app for the iOS device also supports video calls over 3G and can also receive calls from the traditional desktop Skype App. So you can communicate at ease with anyone back at home while you travel. The app also supports portrait and landscape mode.
There appears to be an interesting development within Facebook as reports suggest both the social network and Skype will be partnering with each other. If this happens users will be able send SMS and call Facebook friends from their Skype Messenger.
Behold the power of video calling, or should I say multiple video calling when it comes to Skype? It has released the latest version of the software for Windows which takes 5 calling twice ahead, enabling 10 video callers at a time. Brilliant by all means, though it’s still in beta and can be downloaded here.
The latest feature offers users quite a lot. The major introductions being:
The multitasking capabilities coming with the iOS4 are doing good for the apps, Skype for one is taking advantage of this with updating its application for the iPhone. Users will now be able to make and receive calls, running their application in the background. However the multitasking feature is available for the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 3GS, sorry for those with the older iPhone 3G and the ancient iPhone 2G.
While it has taken all the time it needed, eBay has finally sold Skype at a healthy $2.75 Billion valuation. Plus the confusion on stake holders getting a 65% share or not has moved away too as Silver Lake Partners gets a 70% stake. Apart from that the stakes are shard by Joltid along with others in the list. This all comes in good time as Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis plan to initiate a music startup, Rdio. Lets see how Skype fares all by itself.
If you had one successful startup under your belt that has been fought for hard by a giant then you have every reason to jump and try new things. Skype founders, Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström are putting their years of experience to push another startup: Rdio. Rdio is a digital music startup waiting for its launch and has quite a team to make it successful enough; including Carter Adamson the former GM of desktop products at Skype. The startup is still in the shadows and there isn’t much on it. I just hope it is able to perform as impressively as Skype.
I am not sure if it is going to become the most widely used communication tool but Skype continues to grow, faster. The registered users grew by more than 41% to reach a mammoth 521 million users and scored a healthy third quarter while eBay still tries to let go of it. The earnings have gone up to $185 Million which is quite, well impressive and that is not it, it has shown a the same exponential growth in everything, the free Skype to Skype minutes have grown by 74% to a staggering 27 billion free minutes. I am just wondering if this does continue the way it is, Skype may very well cross the $1 Billion yearly revenue in the next two years.
It is happening finally, eBay has agreed to sell 65% stakes of Skype for a healthy $1.9 Billion. The virtual phone service has been sold to a group of investors led by Silver Lake for Skype’s valuation at $2.75 Billion. Other investors included Andreessen Horowitz and Index Ventures and the buyout will be in cash value and will be closed in the fourth quarter.
