As always, it’s been an interesting week in tech. Here are a few highlights…
Windows Vista will be complete by August 31 2006, says the manager in charge, or he won’t collect his bonus. Boxed copies should be on shelves by October, as well as desktop PCs, just in time for the Christmas season. In other Vista news, the public Beta 2 release slated for January apparently won’t be released in favour of more frequent ‘Community Technology Previews’ or CTPs. They’re basically the same thing, with the exception that an official Beta 2 release adds more weight.
Microsoft are apparently doing this so they can keep Vista to the release time schedule, as they are happy with the amount of feedback they are getting with the CTP releases. There certainly is a lot of coverage on the web about it. It’s probably the world’s most scrutinised operating system in development ever. Besides Linux, Unix, OS X and everything else, of course. hahaha 
Skype 2.0 with Video has been released! Yes, it’s a beta. All new ‘Internet’ software releases seem to be, these days. I guess it’s more realistic, as the public will soon find things that need fixing. Maybe Microsoft should actually release the final ‘gold code’ as ‘Windows Vista Beta‘ because that’s the way it’s done on the Internet these days… but somehow I don’t think that will be happening.
Anyway… Skype with video. Like the iPod with video, everything’s going video these days. Or is it digital? Or the digital lifestyle? Hmm… it’s all three, and more. 
Anyway, Skype 2.0 has finally been released, two weeks after Sony released IVE, short for Instant Video Everywhere. 
It offered the same PC-to-PC voice calls for free and calling card rates to landlines and mobile phones almost anywhere on Earth. The difference was the free PC-to-PC video calling, which Skype lacked, until now.
Both work with your USB webcam. You probably have one of these somewhere gathering dust – probably plugged into the back of your PC and sitting on top of the monitor or the tower unit. You may have tried using with some Instant Messaging programs with some success. I know that when it works, it can be really good, especially with broadband. But I’ve never had a consistent experience – there were some people you just couldn’t connect to, whatever you did.
Skype with video promises to change this. If video calls are now as simple and reliable as Skype’s voice calls… reliable and free video calling becomes a reality, despite 3G videophones which are only now juuuust really starting to take off thanks to all major providers (in Australia, at least) providing the service and letting you make video calls to anyone else using a videophone, no matter what network they’re on.
Being able to make video calls doesn’t mean you’ll always want to make them – voice calls will be the standard way most people talk on the phone for quite some time yet, despite the growing amount of cool content including Live TV channels and much more that a 3G phone can deliver. The everyday consumer is only now truly becoming aware of it all – 2006 is going to be a huge year for 3G videophones and 3G content. But at least on a PC (with video-capable Mac and Linux versions to arrive soon) you have the reliable – and free – option of making video calls. I wonder how many people will make a video call to a friend, colleague or family member over the holiday season now that it’s so easy?
If you don’t already have a webcam, they’re readily available in stores. The latest models use USB 2.0′s speed and a higher megapixel camera in the webcam to deliver much clearer, sharper and smoother pictures. Skype has also done a deal with Logitech and Creative to sell their webcams from the Skype website, although it’s probably quicker to pick one up next time you’re out.
If you’ve tried video calls in the past, but weren’t impressed, try either Skype or IVE and use a webcam (whether your existing webcam, or a shiny new one) on your broadband connection… and see how the experience has changed for the better. Visit www.skype.com for Skype 2.0 or http://sony.glowpoint.com for Sony’s IVE and give it a go!
The last highlight for this week is Firefox. They’ve finally released version 1.5. It’s a significant upgrade with all manner of enhanced features, automatic updating and more. Go to www.getfirefox.com and get it! Also – make sure you download the 1.5 version – they still list the 1.1.07 version for those who want the old one for whatever reason. In my haste to download, I discovered that I downloaded the older version – oops! hahah
Talk to you soon, and thanks for reading!
Cheers
Gyro
