Hasta La Gadget!

In what will be the first-ever Google+ Hangout to beam to the ISS, NASA will be hosting such an event on February 22, where astronauts Kevin Ford, Tom Marshburn, and Chris Hadfield will be answering your questions from 11 am ET to noon ET. The team will answer questions that are both pre-recorded, as well as live questions from social media sites.

The pre-recorded questions will come from users who submit video questions through YouTube. Users will have until February 12 to upload a YouTube video that’s 30 seconds long at most, and it must be tagged with #askAstro. The same goes for questions on Twitter and Google+, while a separate Facebook page will be available on February 22.

The Hangout will be available on NASA’s official Google+ page, so be sure to bookmark it for February 22 at 11 am ET. It’s not said how long the Hangout will last, but based on past Hangouts with officials and such, it’ll probably be around one hour to two hours, which should allow for plenty of questions that I’m sure space nuts are excited to hear the answers to.

In the past, Google+ Hangouts have been a popular tool for communicating with government officials, including President Obama and Vice President Biden, both of which hosted Google+ Hangouts in the past to answer questions from citizens. As time goes on, we should see Hangouts become a more popular platform for such uses, and maybe even become the standard for Q&A sessions with various celebrities.

NASA to host first ISS Google+ Hangout on February 22 is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The final release of a completely rock-and-roll Skype app for Windows Phone 8 is upon us all, here this week with a new Preview Release that includes no less than call and message notifications even while closed. This is in contrast to the past where both users (on either end of the Skype call or message) had to have Skype open to make a connection. This update is coming to all Windows Phone 8 users starting today (if they’ve got Skype downloaded already, of course).

This update brings on the ability to call Skype users with your Skype account over wi-fi or your 3G connection for free. You can now make free video calls to anyone working with Skype, you can make “low cost” calls to any other human on the planet (they using a phone without Skype, in this case), and you can send instant messages to groups (as well as regular IMs now as well).

You can also sign in now with your Microsoft Account (not just a Skype account) and send instant messages with your buddies galore! This update requires Windows Phone 8 to run and requires a minimum of 512MB of memory to run effectively. The version you’re updating to is numbered 2.1.0.241 and wont take you one whole heck of a lot of time to download if you’re working with wi-fi.

This update is still a preview, we must remind you once more, this is a preview release. They’re not saying is a Beta, but it might as well be titled as such. Feel free to download this app at will, but be on the alert for bugs! Let us know how it goes for you!

Skype for Windows Phone 8 updated with “always on” feature is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Skype is doing its part this time of year to make it easier for its users to get a hold of their loved ones during the holiday season. Last week, they offered free calling for an entire month, but you only had one day to claim the deal. The next best thing is gift cards, which Skype just launched today.

Skype is offering both digital and physical gift cards that offer $10 or more in credits. These can be used either for the service’s VoIP calling or even some Skype WiFi at the airport. If you want a customizable Skype gift card, you’ll have to get one online, but if you’re looking for a physical gift card, the Microsoft Store, OfficeMax and Target have them available.

While $10 may not sound like a lot, Skype reassures you that $10 will get you plenty of calling time with your favorite people. They even made a quick infographic comparing different things that $10 will buy you compared to calling people over Skype. For instance, $10 will roughly buy you 1.62 cups of beer, according to Skype, but it will also get you a one-month premium subscription to Skype. When they put it that, it certainly sounds like a deal.

For those who live overseas from their family, a Skype gift card can certainly be a great Christmas gift. While Skype-to-Skype calls are free no matter where you’re located, calling landlines and mobile phones can cost a few pennies depending on who you’re calling, so if a family doesn’t have access to a computer, a Skype gift card is great for those who are forced to use a landline or cell phone.

Skype launches gift cards just in time for the holidays is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Smartphone users are well immersed in a world of contact syncing, media sharing, VoIP and video calls. They’re just not used to finding everything in one place, let alone guaranteeing that any carrier-level features will work with other phones and providers. MetroPCS is hoping to put itself ahead on that front by offering a potentially universal fix. It’s the first carrier anywhere to launch the Rich Communication Services standard on LTE, which provides a perpetually synced contact list that serves as the launching pad for everything else. Early adopters of the Joyn-branded service can chat through text, share media (including during calls) and start up WiFi voice or video calls without needing yet another specialized service and the extra sign-in that goes with it. Right now, the very young state of RCS on LTE leaves it behaving more like the isolated services it’s trying to replace — on MetroPCS, only those with the Galaxy Attain 4G and an after-the-fact Joyn app download can get the experience as intended. As long as more devices and carriers come onboard, though, the technology might be the long-term key to pulling us away from fenced-off conversations in Google Talk or Skype.

Continue reading MetroPCS intros first Rich Communication Services on LTE, touts universal contacts and chat (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

MetroPCS intros first Rich Communication Services on LTE, touts universal contacts and chat (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Oct 2012 13:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  MetroPCS  | Email this | Comments

This morning the folks at AT&T have made it clear that they will indeed be blocking Apple’s FaceTime usage over their 3G network unless users switch to their new data plan, and have defended this move with a reiteration of an FCC rule on the subject. The FCC has a rule in place that keeps carriers from blocking applications that compete with their own – but because AT&T does not have an application that competes with FaceTime, they’ve made it clear that they feel justified in this situation. AT&T representative Bob Quinn spoke up today with assurances that criticism of this move by the carrier is nothing more than a “knee jerk reaction” on the part of users.

Since AT&T does not have a “similar preloaded video chat app” that would make the FCC look twice at their blocking of Apple’s FaceTime, they’re attempting to make users sign up for their new shared data plan structure. This applies to people using the iPhone, for example, with a grandfathered data plan attempting to work with FaceTime over 3G. AT&T’s move is perfectly legitimate, says Quinn.

“The FCC’s net neutrality rules do not regulate the availability to customers of applications that are preloaded on phones. Indeed, the rules do not require that providers make available any preloaded apps. Rather, they address whether customers are able to download apps that compete without voice or video telephony services.” – Quinn

He added that FaceTime does of course still work over Wi-fi, but are indeed “subject to some reasonable restrictions.” All pre-loaded video chat applications that have appeared on phones carried by AT&T have always been restricted to Wi-fi. AT&T’s new shared data plan is as follows, for those of you not familiar with the change that occurred several weeks ago.

With the rise of the new iPhone (aka the iPhone 5, if you prefer), we’ll be seeing the operating system iOS 6 which allows FaceTime over 3G. Quinn noted that once that operating system is in place, AT&T will be in “learning mode” in seeing how the app will affect their 3G network. In other words, plans may change again!

[via AT&T]

AT&T defends blocking 3G FaceTime with FCC rule wording is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.