Hasta La Gadget!

The giant that is Skype continues moving forward without showing any signs of slowing down, where some say that this is a good thing. After getting acquired by Microsoft, Skype continued to claim new users that number in the millions, and Microsoft has revealed that the VoIP software that they own has now crossed the 280 million users threshold. Of course, it did take some poring through Microsoft’s first quarter fiscal 2013 earnings report to arrive at this figure, where Microsoft claims that Skype saw their user base swell by over 30 million users since late May.

As we all well know, having a large amount of users does not necessarily translate to a huge earnings base, and Microsoft did not reveal the amount of revenue generated by Skype in their earnings report, although they did mention that 120 billion minutes of Skype calls were included in the quarter, which represented a year-over-year increase of 58%. Are you still rocking on to Skype even today, or have you moved on to other VoIP software?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Skype with Metro-inspired design expected to launch soon, Microsoft commits to WebRTC to bring plug-in free video chatting in browsers,

Most device vibration technology is used as pure feedback — either confirmation that you’ve pressed something or that you’ve come across an obstacle. If a prototype developed by Nokia Research and the Helsinki Institute of Information Technology ever translates to production, however, it’ll be as much a part of personal phone conversations as a soft voice or a cheeky text message. The modified N900 attaches a resistor that responds to a squeeze at four different pressure levels, and doles that out during a traditional or Skype-based call as a vibration on the other end. As you’d imagine, the aim is to give family, friends and lovers the closest they’ll get to a hug (or the occasional frustration) when the distance is just too great for an in-person visit. Don’t hold your breath for an extra-lovable Lumia anytime soon: there’s no mention of any near-term production plans, and any adoption would require a platform switch just to get started. But if we ever see “reach out and touch someone” become a lot more than a slogan, we’ll know where it came from.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia

ForcePhone from Nokia Research, HIIT sends positive vibes with a squeeze originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Oct 2012 03:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today would be the day where Mac users are able to poke fun at Windows users, as Skype, the VoIP software of choice for many, is the platform that hackers used to distribute a “worm” which will infect only Windows-powered computers. How do you know that this is a “worm” and not a legit question from a friend? Remember, when you see an instant message that says “lol is this your new profile pic?”, and clicking on it, you would have then downloaded a file that holds a Trojan horse malware file.

Once the malware gets to work, a backdoor will be opened, enabling hackers to hijack infected PCs, making sure they are part of a “botnet army” afterwards. Not only that, if the hacker wants to, you can be locked out of your machine – a digital ransom, so to speak. This is a variant of the well-known “Dorkbot” worm, so you might want to think thrice before simply clicking on any link, even if it comes from an apparently trusted source.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: PS Vita gets updated Skype app, Skype for Peace crowd-funding campaign launched,

The T-Mobile Nokia Lumia 810 has been introduced as an exclusive release on the carrier here in the USA with Windows Phone 8 at its side. This device will be working with a lovely 4.3-inch OLED WVGA Clear Black display as well as interchangeable shells on its back in both cyan and black – rather similar to the Nokia Lumia 820 with changeable shell for wireless charging as well. The difference between that device and this one appears to be slight – mostly a name-change, as it were.

Users will be able to work with the Lumia 810′s high-powered 8-megapixel camera on the back of this device with Carl Zeiss optics and HD video as well. This device also has a 1.2-megapixel camera up front that Microsoft notes is Skype HD certified. The Lumia 810 brings with it a collection of photo-friendly features such as Cinemagraph which will let you make animated GIFs – strange stuff! Another back-shooter-ready feature on this device is Group Shoot, allowing you to pick the best faces and smiles from a set of quickly shot photos of a group of people (or just one person, if you prefer.)

Of course you’ll also have Nokia Music with a lovely collection of advertisement-free, registration and subscription-free music tracks. You’ve got offline play and playlist availability as well – also free – and the ability to access playlists created by “an expert team of global and regional musicologists.” Sounds pretty nice right out of the box!

This device also works with Nokia City Lens, a GPS and camera-utilizing service which has you actually looking at the world around you with tags on businesses that you can access with a tap. This feature has been in the works along with Nokia Drive (for voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation) and Nokia Transit (for all the guides you could possibly need) for a very long time now – it’s time for action! The Nokia Lumia 810 is set to release “in the coming weeks” from T-Mobile with a pricing structure attached – it’ll also be working with T-Mobile’s Unlimited plans – 4G to get pumped up!

Lumia 810 brings Nokia Windows Phone 8 magic to T-Mobile is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
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So you happen to own Sony’s latest handheld console, the PS Vita, and have been enjoying every single minute of it so far. You know what they say – all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, which was what led you to purchase the PS Vita in the first place as you started to go home being all serious. Well, there is a new update to the Skype app for the PS Vita that helps you maintain a balance of work while you play, allowing you to enjoy a high quality video feed as you carry out a video conversation on the Vita’s generous OLED display. In a nutshell, with the right connection, your PS Vita 3G can be a mobile phone of sorts.

The latest update that weighs in at 11MB will bump the version number up to 1.50, where among the main features introduced in this new version will include the ability to look for contacts, create a Skype account via the PS Vita itself, and picking up Skype Credit thanks to the internal Internet browser. Have you updated your Skype app on the PS Vita already, and how do you find it?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Sony PS3 and Vita bundle a possibility, LittleBigPlanet makes its way onto the PS Vita,