Vdio just confirmed the story we broke earlier today: The new video startup was founded by Skype cofounder Janus Friis, and the team includes veterans from Skype and Joost. Vdio hasn’t publicly launched yet, but it’s already taking swipes at Netflix and Lovefilm. Read more »
First there was Rdio, now there is Vdio: The Skype founders have stealthily been working on a new video service that seems to be gunning straight for Netflix. Vdio hasn’t publicly launched yet, but we uncovered many details about the company and the people behind it. Read more »
Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) today finally got the keys to Skype, so to speak: the deal for Microsoft to buy the internet telephony giant for $8.5… Read more at paidContent »
No, T-Mobile is still the only major carrier in the U.S. without the iPhone. But it is finding ways of targeting those high-spending, loyal… Read more at paidContent »
Spending in the mobile advertising space will be approximately $4 billion worldwide this year, so despite perceptions to the contrary, we can safely assume it’s an area to watch in the coming years. To get a clearer picture of mobile advertising’s future, it helps to first explore the current landscape — the key drivers and players involved today. With these as a backdrop, a five-year outlook such as this comes into greater focus and leads to a discussion of the major players to watch as 2016 approaches. Companies mentioned in this report include Foursquare, LivingSocial and Zynga. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Even as the FCC moves to dimiss Verizon’s lawsuit against its network neutrality rules, Big Red gained a victory as the the courts consolidated the lawsuits at the same court that gutted the FCC’s authority in the Comcast P2P case. Read more »
It looks like Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) could be jumping its last major regulatory hurdle in its bid to buy Skype: it is expected to get cleara… Read more at paidContent »
A report published today in the UK labels arguments against network neutrality as “myths” — and suggests that attempts by broadband providers to manage online traffic will end up doing long-term damage to the entire Internet industry. Read more »
Some of Web 2.0′s brightest talents are returning with new projects, from revitalized bookmarking sites to fresh online games. But the challenges they face today are different than back in 2005, because the internet is radically changed — not least because of Facebook. Can they succeed? Read more »
Skype has updated its iPhone and iPad apps as of Tuesday, introducing some new features. Bluetooth headsets are now supported on select devices, and video has been improved with image stabilization, but these enhancements will cost you: The apps now display ads for non-paying users. Read more »
As our demand for data increases, so too do the number of mobile devices and services. Add to that the infrastructure needed to support such connectivity, and a wide, complex picture of the mobile industry emerges. This report examines the various sectors of the mobile landscape and what the future holds for each. Hardware, cloud services, mobile search, advertising, location-based services and the growing ubiquity of the Internet of Things will all play an important role in the concept of mobility as it shifts and evolves over the next several years. With the help of more than a dozen contributors, GigaOM Pro presents a comprehensive analysis of the companies and trends that will lead us into the next era of mobile. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
A look at some of the big stories in mobile today:
» Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) stock reached an all-time high yesterday, closing at $411… Read more at paidContent »
Sometimes tech trends end up disrupting huge industries, like when the idea of Skype and free web calls, collided with the phone companies. However, sometimes tech ideas have all the makings of these kind of disruptions but ultimately end up flaming out. Here’s why: Read more »
Skype released a new beta for Mac users on Thursday, which features Facebook integration. You can now chat directly with your Facebook friends, check your news feed and update your status. But it comes at a cost: This beta also introduces ads for nonpaying Skype users. Read more »
We can now check emails on the move, hold video conferences, proof documents and log in to check their bank balance when sitting on the train or working from a cafe. Our obsession has been fueled by just the right apps to help us accomplish these tasks. Read more »
Cisco’s ongoing retrenchment in its core markets looks like it may need a boost when it comes to enterprise telephony systems. The communications giant has lost market share in the IP telephony market to Avaya in the last few quarters. Read more »
Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA) is a doohickey that allows you to use an old-fashioned phone handset to make Internet calls. Vonage was using low cost ATAs to lure customers, and now Skype has joined the party, making it easier to make calls from your home phone. Read more »
Consider this: managers spend between 30 to 80 percent of their time in meetings and more than 50 percent of them consider many meetings to be a “waste of time.” oDesk CEO Gary Swart shares his proven techniques for running a successful company meeting. Read more »
There’s nothing flashy about broadband services, but that won’t stop many operators from making those services a core focus as time goes on. Due to growing consumer adoption and better profit margins than traditional video services’, high-speed Internet is likely to be the future of the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Microsoft’s hardware requirements for Windows Phone 7 Mango devices will add support for front-facing cameras, and Skype will support them. To help broaden the appeal of Windows Phone 7 smartphones, Microsoft should deeply integrate Skype into the platform and consider adding unique services. Read more »
Skype is helping introduce its third-party apps to consumers with a new app directory that lets people browse and access apps that are built on Skype’s API. The directory features dozens of free and paid apps that are available on both Windows and Mac. Read more »
Mobile video provider Qik hasn’t lost a step since getting bought by Skype and said its user base has doubled to 10 million users since the purchase was announced in January. The company is also releasing Qik Premium for Android users. Read more »
Europe’s web scene is now thriving, and we’ve compiled a list featuring some of the best and brightest European web startups — what we’re dubbing the GigaOM Euro 20. Depending on how closely you watch Europe’s online scene, some of these companies may be familiar to you. Others you may not have heard of. But all of them are worth watching closely. In this report, we profile the 20 startups that we feel best represent Europe’s current tech scene. We have organized our list around perception, and as lists go, it is intended to be a guideline rather than a rule book. It’s not exhaustive, and clearly, with such a diverse and vibrant continent as our playing field, it never could be. Companies mentioned in this report include GetJar, Huddle, Made.com and Songkick. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
There’s nothing like a face-to-face conversation, but that hasn’t stopped businesses and technologists from bridging the distance that separates us using telephones, video conferencing, fancy robots, and now wormholes, to give the illusion of being there. So what do these services need to succeed? Read more »
Skype’s purchase of GroupMe has largely revolved around the communications side of the deal. But a big component is also GroupMe’s plans to monetize conversations by presenting local offers and discounts that help people make group decisions in real time. Read more »
Skype has acquired group messaging startup GroupMe for a rumored $85 million. The deal, while a good move on paper, isn’t going to be enough, as Skype itself is going through an identity crisis — whether it wants to be a consumer or an enterprise communications company. Read more »
Skype announced that it is acquiring GroupMe, just a year after the group-messaging startup officially launched to the public. While Skype has been focused on adding video calling to its mobile applications, the GroupMe buy gives it expertise in the text-based group-messaging field. Read more »
In the age of blogs, companies give scoops to the media outlet with the ability to instantly amplify news. But this instant amplification of the news is changing the very idea of what a scoop is, and that change alters the very nature of news. Read more »
The decision by British Telecom to buy internet telephony service Ribbit for $105m in 2008 drew out plenty of questions. Three years later the criticisms have come full circle, with news that the most visible part of the business is being shut down. Read more »
Greylock Partners, the VC firm backing companies such as Cloudera, Airbnb and ZipCar hired DJ Patil, formerly the chief product officer at Color, as a data scientist in residence. Greylock’s trying to help its companies monetize the rich vein of user data on the web. Read more »
Skype just dropped an update for its Mac client. Version 5.3 includes support for HD video, so long as your Mac is equipped with one of the new FaceTime HD cameras introduced in MacBook Pros earlier this year, or a third-party camera that supports HD resolution. Read more »
Any video call between users of Skype’s newest Windows client automatically uses Google’s open video codec VP8. Being embraced by a company that’s soon part of Microsoft is a big boost for Google’s open video strategy, and it could quell potential fears of patent lawsuits. Read more »
Late Monday night, Skype for iPad finally went live in the U.S. App Store, but only temporarily. We managed to grab the app before it disappeared (you can still find it in some international stores), and here’s what you can expect now that it has returned. Read more »
The second quarter of 2011 was a fast-paced one for the connected consumer segment, with every sector of the digital media landscape — music, e-books, online video and gaming — experiencing significant events and changes. Media consumption, purchase and management continued its shift towards the cloud, ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
A young woman held against her will, a mysterious Chinese takeout receipt, a laptop that offers access to YouTube and Facebook but not Google Earth: Those are some of the puzzle pieces of a new interactive movie called The Inside Experience, unveiled by Intel Monday. Read more »
Tango has raised an additional $42 million led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson. The mobile video chat provider will use that to ramp up hiring and compete against offerings from Skype and others. To do that, it will soon launch a desktop video chat app. Read more »
8×8 Virtual Room is designed to appeal to small and medium-sized businesses looking for video conferencing services. At $199 a month, it provides unlimited multi-user chat sessions with up to 20 participants at a time. But can it compete with free offerings like Google+ Hangouts? Read more »
Last weekend I had on of my eureka moments around mobile video chat. It’s gonna be big, perhaps as big as 29.6 billion video calls made in 2015. So to all the naysayers who think video chat is just plain weird, hear me out. Read more »
UPDATED: Last week, Facebook and Skype launched a new video calling application, hosted at facebook.com/videocalling. But Samuday Web Technologies says it was at that domain first. Samuday now says its video chat app was unceremoniously kicked off of Facebook to make way for the new Skype feature. Read more »
For once, the biggest news in social media and real-time technologies didn’t come from Facebook. Rather, it was Google that, at the end of the second quarter, introduced an innovative collection of technologies, under the Google+ label. Another big headline was the return of digital music: Pandora filed a successful IPO, and Google and Apple unrolled cloud-based music offerings. Meanwhile, other social networks generated valuable lessons about technology and business strategies. LinkedIn went public, while Myspace was sold. And Apple essentially appointed Twitter its mobile social network infrastructure supplier. Additional companies mentioned in this report include Skype, Groupon, Turntable.fm and Amazon. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
