Skype 2.8 for Mac set for release
Published: 06 Jan 2009 09:14 GMT
Skype 2.8 for Mac will ship on Tuesday, with new features including screen sharing and an integrated Wi-Fi hotspot connector.
Available only for Mac OS X at first, the new version will add screen-sharing capabilities to the application's voice, video and chat communications features. Skype spokespeople said users will be able to run all four channels at once with acceptable performance.
Screen sharing is often used in business settings, and has personal applications as well: sharing photographs and videos using the feature.
Skype is adding a feature that will allow users to access Wi-Fi hotspots on the Boingo network. The funds will be deducted from users' Skype accounts. Boingo has about 85,000 hotspots worldwide, according to a Boingo rep.
The Wi-Fi access feature makes Skype a more useful product for people who use the VoIP app from their Mac laptops, and the per-minute payment scheme makes sense for highly mobile users for whom buying access by the hour or month would leave a lot of unused credits behind.
Skype co-founder Nicklas Zennstrom also started a Wi-Fi network called Fon, but Skype 2.8 doesn't yet integrate with that system.
Disruptive Telephony covered other new features in Skype 2.8, including a new way to update your Skype 'mood' and to follow users in a Twitter-like fashion; bigger Avatar images; and a new way to manage and prioritise chat windows.
Did you find this article useful?
3 out of 3 people found this useful
Digg
Slashdot
Del.ici.ous
Stumble
Reddit
