BREAKING: Google’s just announced the next big Android update for mobiles, Ice Cream Sandwich. As interesting as the tasty looking logo is, what’s got us most excited is that Google says it’s meant for everything: phones, tablet, laptops and more.
May, 2011
The Microsoft conference to announce the acquisition of internet calling giant Skype wasn’t exactly packed with surprises. Both Steve Ballmer and Skype boss Tony Bates towed the line, declaring themselves to be “excited” really quite a lot, and promising not to do away with the Skype iPhone and Android apps.
But Microsoft CEO Ballmer did drop one interesting thought: mentioning a recent incident in which he drove an hour to his son’s school for a meeting with his teacher, he asked why parent-teacher meetings couldn’t be conducted over video conferencing.
UPDATE: Video after the jump!
UPDATE 2: Reader Jake suggests logging in through a proxy browser to request an invite. It’s not secure, but it does let you put your name down for access – we’ll let you know if we make it in to the beta.
Google Music, the long awaited music service for streaming tunes to your Android phone has arrived, but only for Yanks. Head on over to music.google.com right now and you’ll see a polite message telling you to jog, but if you’re in the US, you’ll be able to sign up for a beta. US Motorola Xoom owners on Verizon will also be the first to get a crack at the service, which lets you store up to 20,000 songs in the cloud, and stream them anywhere.
Oh well – at least we have Spotify eh?
UPDATE: The pair have announced that “Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a wide array of Windows devices, and Microsoft will connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities. Microsoft will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms.” Sounds win-win – let’s see you execute it, Ballmer.
And the rumours were true: Microsoft has bought internet calling service Skype for a cool $8.5bn (£5.1m), the largest acquisition the software giant has ever made. #skype is trending on Twitter right now, and the company is getting a lot of flak from industry observers and users, but we’re staying positive: it’s not like Skype works flawlessly as it is, and we welcome the possibility of Skype integration into Windows Phone handsets.
A press conference is schedule for 4pm UK time with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer expected to make a statement – rest assured we’ll be tuning in to scope out the details.
The HTC ChaCha and HTC Salsa phones turned heads at Mobile World Congress back in February thanks to their dedicated Facebook buttons and tight integration with the big blue social network. HTC’s kept mum on when exactly we’d be seeing them, but Amazon.co.uk now has both up for pre-order, at £249.99 for the QWERTY messenger and £319.99 for the touchscreen-only affair.
Affirmative, soldier. We have identified the best Android apps of the week and are bringing them in for questioning and interrogation. What we have here are the finest examples of download-based tools and entertainment known to man – five razor-sharp Android Market purchases that make the competition look positively pathetic in comparison.
After 15 years of delay-induced baited breath, Duke Nukem Forever will finally be released on June 10th (June 14 in the US). Half a year on from our very first hands on, we got to play it again, this time checking out what multiplayer treats Duke Nukem Forever has in store for patient Duke fans. Read on for our multiplayer impressions…
If the rumours are true we’ll hear that Microsoft has gobbled up Skype later today and not Facebook as was rumoured last week. Of course the news has sent Twitter into paroxysms of mirth with plenty gags about the satanic Microsoft Word helper popping up as your new Skype call assistant.
But, in actual fact, bringing Skype into the bosom of Microsoft could be rather a good thing, especially as Skype has been struggling recently with basic things like making a user interface that isn’t migraine-inducing. Best of all, Skype in the hands of Microsoft could mean something really big – Kinect moving from its Xbox 360 enclave and out to invade the rest of the known tech universe…