Hasta La Gadget!

You’re working. A chat window pops open. It’s your mom. “How are you today?” Another window fires; your roommate. “Bro, check this video!” Oh, here’s one from your boss, he wants to know if you’ve seen his pen. Goodbye, productivity. More »

Making international VoIP calls from your iPhone just got slightly less complicated, and slightly more expensive. Vonage’s new Time to Call app lets you make short, 15-minute calls to 190 countries with rates ranging from 99 cents to $9.99 per call. Payments are processed through iTunes, so you don’t need to create an account with Vonage, giving the app a slight advantage over services from competitors like Skype — for now, at least. The app works over WiFi everywhere, and 3G in the US and Canada, and you’ll pay the same rate when calling both mobile phones and landlines — so you could save quite a bit if you typically make short calls to mobile numbers. For casual callers, however, the app’s most appealing feature is the free call you’ll get after installation. We wasted it on a 30-second call to Tokyo that would’ve cost us three cents to make using Skype, so hopefully you’ll be slightly more creative.

Continue reading Vonage Time to Call app lets you make international calls from your iPhone, pay through iTunes

Vonage Time to Call app lets you make international calls from your iPhone, pay through iTunes originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Aug 2011 19:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Vonage, iTunes  | Email this | Comments

A native Skype app for the iPad has finally appeared, opening up your Apple slate for voice and video chatting with others on Macs, PCs or even TVs. It’s not listed as an update to the existing iOS app, but as a separate Skype for iPad download that’s only shown up in certain countries so far — at first we couldn’t find it on the US iTunes but it finally appeared after some searching. Just like Skype for iPhone, everything works over both WiFi and 3G, but one key difference is the ability to instant message during video calls. Check after the break for the full release notes and the demo video that leaked in June.

Update: So, we’ve just taken the app for a quick spin via a 3G to WiFi call and it’s laid out very nicely — maintaining the familiarity of its desktop client. Getting a video chat started was quick with acceptably clean audio and mostly consistent video streaming (aside from an occasional freeze-frame). Whether you’re in landscape or portrait mode there’s access to recent conversations, and you can even start conversations within your current chat; we’d say that the former works out better for getting around, although it does make it hard to stay in frame. Overall it feels like a souped-up version of the iPhone release, and impressions aside, the gallery down below should give you a better look at what to expect.

Update 2: Just as suddenly as it appeared, it has now been yanked from iTunes stores everywhere. A Tweet from the official account says it went live “prematurely” — your guess is as good as ours as to when it will return.

Update 3: Aaaaand… she’s back! Or, at least it sure looks like it. Hopefully for good this time!

Continue reading Skype for iPad is finally out (hands-on!)

Skype for iPad is finally out (hands-on!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 23:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink 9to5Mac, TUAW  |  iTunes US, Skype Blog  | Email this | Comments

This week on the Gadget Lab podcast, the crew talks video chat, cameras and of course, more iPhone rumors.

Staff writer Mike Isaac went to Facebook HQ this week to check out the social giant’s latest announcement: Skype video chat integration. Basically, you can video chat with any of your Facebook friends without launching the Skype program — all of the chatting occurs inside of the browser window. It’s a pretty cool innovation, even if Google+’s “Hangouts” group video chat feature stole some of its thunder.

Next up is reviews editor Michael Calore with a fancy new digital camera, Olympus’ Pen E-P3. Our reviewer gave it high scores for its fast shooting speeds, built-in flash and full 1080p. Plus, it’s quite pretty to look at.

Finally, our Brian Chen weighs in on two of the major cellular carriers. Verizon finally ended its unlimited data plan for new customers, leaving Sprint as the last of the big four U.S. networks to offer a limitless data plan. Speaking of Sprint, there’s also talk of a Sprint-carried iPhone in the works, according to an analyst’s speculation.

Like the show? You can also get the Gadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you don’t want to be distracted by our unholy on-camera talent, check out the Gadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Lab video or audio podcast feeds

Or listen to the audio here:

Gadget Lab audio podcast #119

http://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gadgetlabaudio/GadgetLabAudio0119.mp3

Facebook started Rollout Season 2011 with its answer to Google+ Hangouts today in the form of Video Calling, an integrated video chat feature built on Skype technology. Update (Hands on): More »