Apple also selects its own favorite applications, and one of our preferred apps, Instagram, won the honor of being Apple’s “iPhone App of the Year.”

the company’s annual lists detailing of the top selling apps, music, TV shows, movies and podcasts for the year.

This year, the biggest winner on the apps front was Angry Birds, which ran away with the number one spot on the iPhone and iPad in all categories except top free iPhone app, which was awarded to Facebook.

Angry Birds, which is available on iOS as both a paid and free application, not only dominated the year-end lists as the number one download in several cases, it also occupied additional slots on multiple lists for its spinoffs, Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Rio.

Several other games also appeared on the year-end listings, including Fruit Ninja, Cut the Rope, Tiny Wings, Doodle Jump, Plants vs. Zombies and more.

In terms of non-games, consumer-friendly brands like Netflix, Facebook, Skype, Kindle, Pandora, CNN and Twitter, plus Apple’s own Pages and GarageBand, made the list.

As for Apple’s editorial picks, it was Instagram as the favorite for iPhone, and photo app Snapseedfor the iPad. Runners up for the “app of the year” title included VidRhythm (iPhone), Band of the Day (iPhone), djay (iPad) and Jamie’s Recipes. (iPad).

Game of the year went to Tiny Tower (iPhone) and Dead Space for iPad.

This new development in the Skype Facebook partnership is the latest example of how Skype is removing communication barriers and making it easier to connect with friends, family and business colleagues.

Facebook video calling powered by Skype was launched.

Skype announce our partnership with Facebook has reached yet another milestone with the launch of Skype 5.4 Beta for Mac and Skype 5.7 Beta for Windows allowing you to conduct a Facebook to Facebook call from within Skype.

Our approach to social is about personal connections with people.

We are on a mission to connect over one billion people and our continued partnership with Facebook brings us one step closer to this goal.

Initiating a Facebook to Facebook call from within Skype is quite easy all you need to do is connect your Skype and Facebook accounts.

Then, select a Facebook friend and hit the video call button in Skype your friend simply picks up the call from Facebook.

This new feature lets you maintain social connections with your Facebook friends and compliments previously announced features such as being able to see when your Facebook friends are online.

It comes with a large and well chosen selection of Internet apps, including a Web browser.

The Sony BDP-S780 looks like a great Blu-ray player.

including a Web browser. You can convert 2D to 3D and adjust the 3D settings. It’s the fastest Blu-ray player I’ve tested yet.

But the gotchas are big ones the browser won’t play video, converted 3D video still looks like 2D, and the price tag hurts $230.

The BDP-S780 comes with a huge array of Internet services. In addition to the usual Hulu Plus.

Netflix, and YouTube, this player has four pay-per-view services (Amazon, CinemaNow, Video Unlimited, and Vudu) as well as Blip tv.

Digital Cinema Concert Series, Dr. Oz Tips For Healthy Living, Facebook, NHL Vault, and Skype, among many others.

The Gracenote service is especially useful, as it allows you to interact with Gracenote’s cloud database to get information on what you’re currently watching or hearing.

Sony promises to add even more services.

That isn’t the only compromise Sony has made in the BDP-S780’s Internet apps.

If you want to view Hulu Plus or Netflix through this player.

You must first sign up with Sony’s My Essentials, after which you’ll be able to use your existing Hulu Plus and Netflix accounts or start new ones.

The extra step is aggravating, and it forces you to deal with yet one more password that you have to memorize or securely save.

The Web browser’s very existence promises the ability to access video streams that Sony hasn’t specifically added. Alas.

The browser doesn’t support Flash, which makes most Internet video streams incompatible.

Sony has created its own user interfaces for those two services that look very much (but not exactly) like the services’ own navigation screens.

They do have one big advantage these Sony interfaces, if you download and install Sony’s iOS or Android remote-control app.

You’ll be able to use your smartphone’s QWERTY keyboard in Hulu Plus and Netflix searches something I haven’t seen in any other Blu ray player’s smartphone app.

The apps’ keyboards also work with Sony’s perfectly serviceable YouTube user interface.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement late last night. “We look forward to working with the Skype team to create new ways for people to stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anytime, anywhere.”

Microsoft announced in May the deal to acquire Skype.

A final hurdle was cleared last week when European regulators approved the deal.

Skype’s voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services let people hold free video and voice calls over the Internet  Skype charges a fee for “SkypeOut,” which lets Skype users dial ordinary phone numbers, and “SkypeIn.

Which lets people dial an ordinary phone number that actually connects through to a Skype account online.

Both services are useful for bypassing steep international calling rates using conventional telephone service.

In July, Skype had 65 million daily users, the company said last month.

Collectively, they spent 700 million minutes a day on Skype audio calls, 300 million minutes a day on Skype video calls, and 30 million minutes a day on calls with ordinary phones.

Skype CEO Tony Bates now is president of Microsoft’s Skype Division.

Skype products will be integrated into Microsoft products, but they’ll continue to be offered where they are today, Microsoft said.

Skype apps are available for iOS andAndroid, which compete with Windows Phone, and on Mac OS and Linux, which compete with Windows.

Skype was founded in 2003, and eBay acquired it in 2005. An investor group led by Silver Lake Partners bought it in 2009.

Skype also has an important partnership with Facebook that could help each company compete better with rival online services such as Google+ “hangouts,” Yahoo Messenger, and Gmail Chat.

Bates expects Skype growth to increase under Microsoft.

“Together, we will be able to accelerate Skype’s goal to reach 1 billion users daily,” Bates said in a statement.

At first glance, the Cideko Air Keyboard Chatting unit is somewhat unimpressive. It is much smaller than you’d expect, about the size of a handheld gaming console.  But there is a lot of function packed into this tiny little package. The first thing you’ll notice is that it contains a full qwerty keyboard. In addition to that, there are play, pause, fast forward, etc. buttons for wireless control of your home theater pc.

Above these, the Cideko Air Keyboard has five buttons that can be customized as shortcuts for whatever you use the most. There is no trackpad or trackball on the this keyboard; instead, you move the keyboard itself around as your mouse, with shoulder buttons on the top of the unit for right and left clicking. The left click button also serves as power on. Power off is done automatically after a set amount of idle time.

Imagine directing your home theater pc from the comfort of your couch. You could watch movies, check your email, and skype your buddies, all without moving a muscle. Now imagine you could do this without having to find a surface for your mouse, and even better, without a big, bulky keyboard that just gets in the way. The Cideko Air Keyboard Chatting is a tiny little keyboard that packs a lot of promises into its tiny package.

The Cideko Air Keyboard Chatting is a wireless unit for maximum convenience while computing from your couch. It uses an air dongle, which is conveniently stored in a little compartment on the side when not in use. No more searching under couches for lost dongles, as it fits seamlessly inside. The back of the unit contains only a compartment that holds the rechargeable battery (which is included with the Air Keyboard).

While it takes a while for the initial charge, not having to change the batteries on your wireless keyboard every other week is a definite plus. And with around 10 hours of playtime on a charge, you can play around all evening and just plug it in when you crash at night.  The bottom of the unit holds a mini USB port on the left, and earphone and mike ports on the right.  The Cideko Air Keyboard Chatting comes with a mike/phone, or you can use your own existing set.

Using the Air Keyboard for the first time is as simple as taking it out of the box and plugging the dongle into your USB port. You’ll need to charge it up first, of course (and the first charge will take a few hours) but usage is very simple right from the start. Pressing the left shoulder button powers the unit up, and a cursor arrow will appear on your screen (the exception to this is with the Mac, which has you go through a simple keyboard setup first).

Using the Air Keyboard for the first time is as simple as taking it out of the box and plugging the dongle into your USB port. You’ll need to charge it up first, of course (and the first charge will take a few hours) but usage is very simple right from the start. Pressing the left shoulder button powers the unit up, and a cursor arrow will appear on your screen (the exception to this is with the Mac, which has you go through a simple keyboard setup first).

You tilt and wave the unit around to move the cursor, which isn’t as unwieldy as it sounds. I expected to be wiggling and waving in a vain attempt to click things, but the unit is actually quite responsive, and small movements will move the cursor around quite nicely. You will find that at times the arrows gets a bit off-center, making you work a little harder to get to the right spots, but this is easily fixed by directing the arrow at the side of the screen until the arrow lines up exactly where you want it to be.

California (Reuters) – Facebook will add Skype video chat to its pages, aiming to spice up the appeal of the world’s No. 1 Internet social networking service while fending off increased competition from Google.

The agreement, announced by Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg at the company’s Palo Alto, California, headquarters on Wednesday, deepens the company’s cooperation with Microsoft Corp, which is in the process of buying Skype to build up its web presence.

Zuckerberg said Facebook has hit a record 750 million users. The new service, rolling out from Wednesday, could be a huge boost for Skype, which currently has about 145 million regular users.

The partnership comes as competition heats up in the Internet market, with Facebook and Google, as well as fast-growing companies such as Groupon and Twitter, vying for billions of dollars in online advertising revenue.

By incorporating free video chat directly into its service, Facebook will give its members another reason to use the site more often and for longer periods of time, said Gartner analyst Ray Valdes.

“They need to continue to keep their users engaged and coming back everyday,” he said of Facebook.

Facebook’s Skype service, initially limited to one-to-one video chat, will be free. Financial details of the deal, if any, were not disclosed.

Tony Bates, Skype’s chief executive, said Wednesday’s deal with Facebook is only the start of a potentially lucrative partnership.

“For us, this makes a lot of business sense,” said Bates at the Palo Alto event. “We get huge reach. In the future we’re talking about potentially also having Skype paid products available within the web format we saw here today.”

In a phone interview later on Wednesday, Neil Stevens, the general manager of Skype’s consumer business, said the company was planning on introducing a for-pay service that would allow users on Facebook to place calls to landline and mobile phones.

Stevens said he could not provide a timeframe for when such a service might be available, and said details about whether the service would work with Facebook’s so-called Credits currency had yet to be worked out.

HITTING BACK AT GOOGLE

Facebook, which also unveiled a group messaging function, adding to its existing one-to-one text chat, is returning fire from Google, which last week turned up the competitive heat by introducing a social networking service dubbed Google+.

While many of Google+’s social networking features are similar to those already available on Facebook, Google is generating interest with its videoconferencing function, which allows up to 10 people on the service to participate in a video call.

Zuckerberg hinted that video chat for multiple people could eventually be available on Facebook. But he said that most video chats today occur between two people.

“We think this is awesome because we’re using the best technology that’s out there for doing video chat with the best social infrastructure that’s out there to create some really cool new scenarios,” said Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg said Wednesday’s announcements were the first of several to come in what he described as “launching season 2011.”

Facebook’s new video offering could benefit Microsoft, which owns 1.6 percent of Facebook and announced its $8.5 billion purchase of Skype in May.

The world’s largest software company is investing heavily to muscle in on Google’s turf with its Bing search engine, and is hoping Skype — which it is buying for about 10 times its annual sales — will help it broaden its portfolio of Web-based properties.

“Clearly you will see more usage (of Skype),” said Sid Parakh, analyst, at McAdams Wright Ragen. “It makes Skype stickier in the consumer mind. That will help Microsoft as it starts to integrate Skype into its products.”

Skype, which was founded in 2003, allows people to make Internet phone calls and video calls at no charge and has also developed premium services.

Microsoft shares rose 0.9 percent to $26.26 on Nasdaq, while Google’s rose 0.87 percent to $536.64.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic, writing by Bill Rigby, editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Lisa Shumaker)

Skype CEO Tony Bates (L) and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg hold a news conference at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, California July 6, 2011. Zuckerberg announced Wednesday that Facebook will integrate Skype videoconferencing into its social networking service, striking a deal to cement its role as a hub for communications.

On the second Tuesday of May 2011, the planet’s biggest software business disclosed it had begun an agreement to buy the Luxembourg-based entity who created possibly the Internet’s hottest Web-based phone service ever. What price did Skype go for … to Microsoft? Eight point five billion!

Results of a survey of various people from different walks of life regarding the new decade’s most exciting online purchase:

Michael Bowen, who is in the human performance technologist industry based in Florida, says, “My knee-jerk response was unprintable. I guess it lets them play in the VoIP ‘game.’ $8.5B seems steep for an entry into the market; no worse than $50K for a Hawai’i Ironman entry on auction. Yahoo reader mentioned ‘kiss free web-based phone calls good-bye.’ Doubt that, but expect a mash into MS Office/IE.”

Sohaib Alvi, CEO of Sage Consultants based in Pakistan and UAE ponders, “I just wonder what they will do to justify this price and what strategy they could possibly have to make money out of this? Must be something of technical value or some synergy that will save them billions over the next few years. I mean, eBay bought it and then dumped it at some 2 billion dollars loss. Wonder what Gates & Co are up to here? Don’t know much about technology back-end but maybe they’ll offer Skype free with their OS.

At the moment some Skype services are chargeable. Remember OSes are becoming redundant as every app begins to get incorporated into the browser. Or maybe they launch a browser with Skype in it for the mobile users. I think Skype knows something too because they refused Google and Facebook who were also offering them around 5 billion, I read.

I think something has happened that has suddenly made the service that Skype offers the next big thing coming that most of us do not know about.”

Alok Saboo, popular VoIP blogger in California, shares, “Past is not always a good predictor of the future. The amount that MS paid for Skype is open to debate, but, we must realize, that the value that MS paid for Skype, depends on the potential synergies (which is difficult for outsiders to evaluate completely). In addition to the technology and reach that Skype brings, it also provides a great way to engage with the ‘hip’ crowd.”

Joshua Alfrejd, a gadget reviewer from Michigan for Techistan magazine and other online sites relates, “Microsoft has the power, the money, the experience and the respect. Skype is cool. It’s kind of like Level 3 and Amazon have the power, the money, the experience and the respect while DIDX and Pandora Radio are cool. I hope that Microsoft does thinks like MTV is … mixing voice, video, and 3D for music concerts and other kinds of events. Also maybe they can leave the free service as is but also make available a premium service that can be embedded into the current business suite that Microsoft offers. Great move by both parties, and both stand to reap advantages in popularity and new revenue.”

Ayesha Ambreen, Business Analyst at Clary Business Machines in Washington, D.C.,“Microsoft is already sufficient in communication technologies. They don’t need Skype. Microsoft Lync is far more capable in terms of communication. This is rather a defensive move by Microsoft. I think the acquisition is to prevent Skype’s merger with Facebook – birth of a compelling rival in unified communications. The core of Microsoft strategies is unification, and I doubt Skype will fit now or in future. Microsoft is either going to kill Skype or will put Lync’s cover on Skype features. $8.5 Billion spending is anticipated to standout and bring boost to Microsoft unified communication initiative, with no contention and competition in near future. Expand the scope of near … till Facebook or Google will produce a competent communication tool.

Whether incorporated on Browser or Mobile, OS is fundamental. Microsoft Azure is the cloud OS for browser-based communication and is already compatible with Microsoft Lync and Microsoft Communication suite.”

Bryan Capouch from UK counters, “I laughed out loud when I heard it was going to go down. Skype is the Afghanistan of dot-com companies; it will suck life out of Micro$oft just like it did eBay. Eight years now and they’re still not making money!”

Ayesha Ambreen adds, “lol! You are underestimating Microsoft then! Microsoft is known for its well informed and apt decision making. Despite continuous threats from Facebook, Google, Yahoo, and numerous other, Microsoft is the leader because of its strategies that are made for long run and not just impulsive as of eBay.”

Bryan Capouch, states, “Time will tell. Microsoft hasn’t ever innovated anything, starting with their ripping off various other DOSs which morphed into MSDOS. Windows = Mac, Explorer = Netscape, Bing = Google, the list is endless. They were really lucky, and all that’s keeping them going now is the flywheel effect. I’m willing to bet a nickel the world will come around to my point of view on the Skype purchase to anyone who cares to take me up on it!

I will say Skype is a perfect fit for Microsoft in that they are inimical to standards and openness.”

News about Skype: http://skype-news.tmcnet.com/Default.aspx

So for those who were hollering, “Ack! Skype and fring voice and video integration doesn’t work anymore! Wah. Wah. Wah … friend has a great announcement. Hurry over and try it.

London, United Kingdom, 27 April 2011. fring, the mobile communication service that pioneered mobile video over internet calls in 2009, today announces the world’s first mobile group video calls for iPhone & Android devices.

With fring’s Group Video calling, four fring friends can now share a simultaneous video call, for free, on their mobile phone (on Wi-Fi, 3G or 4G) using fring’s proprietary DVQ™ technology, that delivers the highest quality video for all four participants.

fring is the 1st company to bring mobile Group Video calling across platforms, for free, so that users can see all their friends at the same time, and on one screen. fring’s service unshackles users from their PCs, and frees them from heavy PC-based Group Video calling fees.

“fring leap-frogs sluggish, expensive PC Group Video Calling solutions by giving users the world’s 1st mobile Group Video service, free. There is no reason why users need to run home to their PC in order to have a ‘spontaneous’ video call with their friends and family. Users love seeing all their friends at the same time, on one screen, but want to be able to do it, when and where they want,” said Avi Shechter, Co-Founder & CEO of fring. “Just as fring was the 1st to liberate video calls from the PC back in 2009, we are the 1st to give users the ability to see all their friends on their phone at the same time, anywhere. This video call revolution lets fringsters be free to get together, wherever.”

In addition to free Group Video calling, fring enables users to make free 2 way video calls, voice calls and chat with friends on Android, iPhone/iPod touch & Nokia Smartphones.

fring group video is available from Apple’s App Store and the Android Market. A demo video is available here.

About fring™

fring (www.fring.com) is a mobile communication service that gives users rich, fun communication from their mobile phones. fring users make free Group Video calls, video calls, voice calls and chat.

Users can also make calls to any landline or mobile phone worldwide from 1c/minute using fringOut.

fring leverages the mobile phone’s internet connection to create these communication experiences. fring is available on all major Smartphones (including iPhone/ iPod touch, Android and Nokia), on any mobile operator, and any mobile internet connection (3G/4G, Wi-Fi, GPRS, EDGE).

fring continues to grow exponentially with tens of millions of users in more than 200 countries, adding more than a million new Smartphone users every month.

fring® fringster™ fring™ logo and the DVQ™ are all trademarks of fringland Ltd.

For more information, please contact: press@fring.com , Tel: (+972) 549-439-836

The video that shows how fring USED to work with Skype, but now, totally cool, fring has done it themselves on iPhone and Android. You rock, fring! From Techistan community all over the world.

Rebtel, the wo

Mobile VoIP provider celebrates key milestones and predicts aggressive 2011 / 2012 growth rate, five times faster than Skype

Rebtel, the world’s second largest mobile VoIP company after Skype, today announces it has surpassed 10 million users worldwide. This profitable start-up has had a record breaking twelve months and increased revenues by more than 120% to $40 million in 2010. Rebtel’s figures show it is currently growing five times faster than Skype and plans to continue this trend by almost doubling its revenue to $75 million by the end of 2011 with a current run-rate of $55 million.

Rebtel has made significant strides since its inception in 2006 with over 1 billion minutes of international calls logged and a total of 200 million calls connected. The company attributes its success to its commitment to the customer and its dedication to innovation. Ten new hires were recently made in the research and engineering team to strengthen Rebtel’s mobile application credentials and deliver free and cheap international calls through iPhone, Blackberry and Android applications.

These award-winning mobile offerings have helped Rebtel to cement consumer loyalty, double its customer base in 2010, and achieve an all time high on its customer satisfaction survey in February 2011 with 98% of users stating they would recommend Rebtel to a friend. Rebtel’s word of mouth recommendations are an integral part of its growth, as it drives registrations and accounts for 65% of new user registrations.

Rapid expansion into Africa, Asia and the Middle East has also contributed to the increase in customer base. Free international calls to mobiles were enabled in Algeria, Bahrain and Jordan and rates have been lowered to Egypt and the above countries.

Alexander Michael, Principal Analyst at Frost and Sullivan, comments: “We nominated Rebtel for our emerging company of the year award as we are impressed by its revenue figures, high growth rate and quality of service. I have long been a Rebtel user because it is easy to use and I can rely on it to connect me with my family and friends abroad. Rebtel has a strong brand with a loyal user base and is definitely one to watch this year.”

Andreas Bernström, CEO at Rebtel, says: “These are fantastic results, which confirm Rebtel is a serious player in the mobile VoIP market. We are thrilled to be growing at such a rate and plan to keep up this pace for the rest of 2011 and beyond. We have a detailed plan of action for the coming months and will be releasing more innovative and viral applications that help us deliver high quality and low cost international calls for the consumer market.”

About Rebtel
Rebtel is the world’s second largest mobile VoIP company Rebtel customers can use any phone to call anywhere in the world for just pennies per minute or for free between the 53 countries where Rebtel is available. There are no monthly fees, no connection fees, or hidden costs to use Rebtel. For more information, or to start using Rebtel, go to www.rebtel.com.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/03/09/prweb8195336.DTL#ixzz1GbLx4DSM and http://www.rebtel.com.