Skype Garage

Skype and Windows 7

2009-10-22T12:46:27Z

Many of you have asked about Skype and Windows 7 - and I'm happy to announce that Skype 4.1 is certified as being compatible with Windows 7.

If you don't already have the latest version, you should download it now - it now includes screen sharing as well as improved audio and video quality.

In a future version of Skype for Windows we plan to introduce features which integrate with the improved taskbar and jumplist functions within Windows 7.

Skype 4.1 Hotfix #3 for Windows

2009-10-12T13:52:24Z

We have just released a hotfix version of Skype 4.1 for Windows.

With this hotfix we have resolved a security vulnerability in Skype's Extras Manager and fixed video freezing issues for some of our users who were experiencing them.

As this is a security update, we recommend you to upgrade now.

If you notice Skype is not behaving in the way you expect it to, then please let us know about it through our public issue tracker or forums.

Full release notes for the build 4.1.0.179 are:

]]> Known issues:
Calling
* When a user has multiple USB audio devices plugged in, and removes the active device, they will see a message for a couple of seconds informing them that no devices are available.
Workaround: This is rectified automatically within a couple of seconds if another device is found.

Audio devices
* Some types of Broadcom Bluetooth audio hardware need to contact Skype in order to operate - in which case the following message is displayed: "BTSTAC~1.EXE wants to use Skype"
Workaround: If you have a Broadcom Bluetooth device and experience this issue, then you should try to update the drivers for that hardware. Otherwise, it is safe to Allow access. The issue has been reported to the manufacturer.
* If a participant in a conference call is using a Bluetooth enabled device from Broadcom, the conference call will be terminated when they hang-up the call.
Workaround: Disable btstack.exe (Tools > Options > Advanced > Manage other programs' access to Skype).

Video
* Digital video cameras cannot be used to make video calls on Skype.
* Using YouCam to change special affects on a Skype video call will cause Skype to freeze.
* Skype may freeze when starting video if the Creative Webcam NX Pro (VFW) normally used is not plugged in. Workaround: This is a third party software issue and users are advised to ensure the webcam is plugged in before selecting the option to "Start video"

Busy hard disk
* Skype can become unresponsive when the hard drive is busy.
Workaround: Users are advised to wait for a few seconds for the hard disk activity to reduce.

Busy hard disk / startup
* Users with a large amount of Skype history may find that Skype takes longer than normal to start.
Workaround: Reducing the number of items in the Conversations tab helps alleviate this problem slightly - our engineers are currently working on further solutions.

Conference calling
* Conference calls, which include one or more landline or mobile participants are not placed on hold correctly. The call host and the users on their landline or mobile are not placed on hold - however all other users are.

Installation
* Users cannot uninstall the Skype browser highlighter for Firefox (Vista only).
Workaround: Users are advised to install a patch provided by Microsoft. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/951847

Upgrade
* When upgrading Skype, and installing the Skype plug-in for Firefox, users may experience a crash in Firefox if it is running during the upgrade
Workaround: Close Firefox before attempting to install Skype.

Screen sharing
* Resizing selected area (constantly dragging mouse for more than 20 seconds) causes the system to freeze
Workaround: This is resolved by Microsoft Hotfix #954436, and included in Vista Service Pack 2. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/954436.

Extras Manager
* Skype Extras Manager sometimes doesn't work on Windows 2000
Workaround: Users need to update their IE to IE6 from http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=931125

Miscellaneous
* When a user opens their web browser with no network connectivity, Skype displays an error message that SkypeNames.exe wants to use Skype. This happens when opening Firefox for the first time after installing Skype with the IE and Firefox add-ons.
* Certain graphical components may be misaligned when running Skype with a high graphics DPI setting.

Fixed issues:
Video
* Video was freezing approximately 30 seconds after changing the screen resolution. Note: if the sender is using an older version of Skype, the video they receive can still appear to freeze - something that can only be addressed by updating their version.

Extras Manager
* Updated to version 2.0.0.67
* Fixed a security vulnerability in the Extras Manager. Recommendation to users: use virus protection services in case of any problems.

Skype 2.8 hotfix 1 for Mac

2009-09-17T11:43:48Z

Today we have released a hotfix 1 for Skype 2.8 for Mac.

This newly released hotfix is mainly targeted to fix issues found in using Skype on newly released Snow Leopard operating system. In addition to it we have fixed many issues for Panther users. People in between on Tiger and Leopard can also see tweaks which increase stability of the client.

Start downloading it now.

See the full list of changes and known issues.

Also we would like to thank everyone who have given us feedback on Skype for Mac .

We would like to encourage you to report us anything what you think is fishy or needs improving, you can discuss things in our forums and report straight bugs into our public issue tracker.

Skype 1.2.1 hotfix for iPhone

2009-09-10T12:01:19Z

We have just released a hotfix for Skype for iPhone.

With this hotfix we have addressed three issues about what you have been telling to us lately.

We would suggest for everyone to upgrade in iTunes.

The update, to version 1.2.1 resolves following issues:
* Crashing in Dialing and History.
* Erroneous handling of international prefixes.
* Crashing due to special characters in contact names.

See also full release notes and known issues.

We would like to thank everyone who have reported their feedback to us and welcome other to do so in future also.
You can discuss matters with us on Skype forums and report issues on our public issue tracker.

Skype 1.2 for iPhone

2009-09-07T08:43:07Z

I'm extremely exited to write to you about Skype 1.2 for iPhone.

This version of Skype for iPhone brings to you many benefits in comparison with previous version, first and most notable improvement is Skype to Skype audio calls quality.
In addition we have added support for contact groups, made SMS sending lot easier, were helping you to conserve battery life with adding an option to allow Skype to go offline when device is locked.

We have added an possibility to start Skype calls straight from web pages which include there a Skype links.

That's not all, we have worked a lot on under the hood to increase the clients performance, stability and to iron out some bugs which slipped in to the previous version.

Start downloading it straight from the iTunes store.

Please let us know if you see anything happening what you would not expect to have happened. You can discuss things with us on our forums or file issues in our public issue tracker.

The full release notes and known issues for the newly released build 1.2.0 are here.

Skype 4.1 hotfix for Windows

2009-09-03T10:55:52Z

Today we have released a new version of Skype for Windows.

We recommend for everyone to update to this build now.

The new release is a bugfix release which resolves many of the problems you have been telling us about.

In this build, links are not clickable in contact authorization requests - it's another way we're tackling spam (and there'll be plenty more improvements like this in future releases). Secondly, we have resolved a full bunch of video issues which managed to sneak into previous builds, so if you had issues with webcam detection by Skype or the video froze from time to time then this build is definitely for you .
Last but not least we have resolved a issue which made Skype to crash on start-up for people who have really old computers, which did not support SSE technology.

In addition to these fixes we have also updated our web browser plugins and fixed many smaller issues.

In case you see that Skype is not behaving as expected then please let us know about it. Post on our forums for discussing things and file issue reports in our public issue tracker.

Full list of fixes and known issues for the newly released build 4.1.0.166 is here:

]]> Known issues:

Calling
* When a user has multiple USB audio devices plugged in, and removes the active device, they will see a message for a couple of seconds informing them that no devices are available.
Workaround: This is rectified automatically within a couple of seconds if another device is found.

Audio devices
* If a participant in a conference call is using a Bluetooth enabled device from Broadcom, the conference call will be terminated when they hang-up the call.
Workaround: Disable btstack.exe (Tools > Options > Advanced > Manage other programs' access to Skype).

Busy hard disk
* Skype can become unresponsive when the hard drive is busy.
Workaround: Users are advised to wait for a few seconds for the hard disk activity to reduce.

Miscellaneous
* Certain graphical components may be misaligned when running Skype with a high graphics DPI setting.

Fixed issues:

Instant Messaging
* Text moved on screen when something was added to conversation while user was scrolling it.
* Users were unable to copy and paste text from instant messaging (IM) text field into another application

Audio / Video
* Some webcams were not detected by Skype
* Video froze with some webcams
* A long delay occurred when a user opted to start video during a call
* Skype occasionally froze when selecting video options.

Accessibility
* Skype crashed when focusing, with alt+tab, communicator message in compact view
* Some controls were inaccessible via keyboard navigation

Miscellaneous
* An incorrect informative message appeared when selecting the option "Make a test call" from the Welcome Screen
* An incorrect informative message was displayed when creating a Skype account starting with a numeric symbol
* Users were not able to enter a password which contained the same characters used in their Skype name
* The Link "Learn more about SMS" was pointing to an incorrect help page.
* Users were advised incorrectly of the Password length.
* Skype froze when selecting the option Ctrl+Alt+Delete followed by Task Manager.
* When editing a phone number on an existing landline or mobile contact, the entry was deleted and replaced with the new number
* Skype crashed on startup on CPU's which did not support SSE technology

Authorization Requests
* URL Links are no longer clickable within authorization requests

Toolbars
* The Firefox Add-On would slow down page rendering even when highlighting was switched off
* The games Mafia Wars http://www.myspace.com/zyngamafiawars was not available when Skype plug-in was installed
* Account Names which contained two characters or less were not recognised.

Localization
* All localization files associated with the abovementioned fixes have been updated

Skype 2.1 Beta for Linux

2009-09-01T11:51:44Z

I'm glad to announce to you Skype 2.1 Beta for Linux.

Many Linux users have been patiently waiting for it over the past few months.

Start downloading it now. Please remember that it is a beta release of software, which means that it can sometimes have its own way of doing things. If you see it doing its own thing then please let us know about it in our forums or just comment this blog post.

With this new release we have worked a lot on catching up with Windows and Mac client with the main features. In this version you can take advantage of High Quality Video calls, Sending SMS, Skype's own Silk audio codec, edit and remove chat message and typing notification. Last, but not least importantly for many Linux users we have introduced a support for PulseAudio, what you have been asking from us.

In addition to these mentioned bigger new features you will see there also a lot of smaller things added. More importantly, many behaviours have been fine tuned and polished to make your life easier when using Skype.

See also the full list of changes and known issues of the newly released build 2.1.0.47 below:

]]> Known issues:
* General
* Logging in and out with a different user name may cause Skype to crash.

* Options
* When PulseAudio is enabled in the audio settings, only that specific entry will be available; to change the settings, use the PulseAudio manager tool that is bundled with your distribution.

* Contact list
* Newly added contacts are not found by QuickFilter until Skype restart.
* Newly bookmarked chats are not found by QuickFilter until Skype restart.
* It is not possible to drag multiple contacts to a group.

* Chat
* When two users write a message in a chat at the same time, your own message may not be shown immediately; it will appear again when the next message is posted.
* "Find in chat" options are not honored.
* Timestamps are not formatted according to local settings.
* If a chat message arrives out of order, it can cause Skype to crash in some circumstances.
* If a chat message arrives out of order, the day divider can be misplaced.

* Calls
* When making calls without enough credit, the error message may not indicate this correctly.
* Making calls with PulseAudio 0.9.10 works, however with reduced quality. We recommend updating to 0.9.15 or higher.
* Making calls with a bluetooth headset and BlueZ 3.xx works, however with reduced quality. We recommend upgrading to BlueZ 4.xx. See the BlueZ website for proper configuration.
* If PulseAudio crashes during a call, Skype will also crash after some seconds.
* Calls that use PulseAudio may occasionally send noise from our side, removing Mic Boost and/or moving recording levels may fix the issue.

* File transfer
* Refusing multiple files at the same time may not always work.

* Video
* Accepting screen sharing from Mac/Windows clients might cause Skype to crash.

Release Notes:
* feature: High Quality Video support.
* feature: Skype's SILK audio codec.
* feature: PulseAudio support.
* feature: SMS sending support.
* feature: Chat messages editing/removing support.
* feature: Contact groups support.
* feature: Typing notification in chat.
* feature: Chat picture support (add/change/remove) for group conversations.
* feature: Mood messages are visible in contact list and tooltip.
* feature: Video/Mobile icons are visible in contact list.
* feature: Bookmarked Chats are visible in contact list.
* feature: Contact labels/tags.
* improvement: Right-clicking on the user name in the chat will open contact menu.
* improvement: A day divider is added to the chat. Timestamps are shorter for old messages.
* improvement: Clickable links in mood message.
* improvement: Enlarged tray icon, also showing number of missed events.
* improvement: Flag button is replaced by button showing number of missed events.
* improvement: Updated ALSA device detection, nicer to USB headsets.
* improvement: Birthday reminders are now displayed 24 hours before birthday.
* improvement: New events panel size adaptive to new events count.
* improvement: Quick Filter speedup optimization for contact list.
* improvement: Popup button to clean the quick filter.
* improvement: Added "Away/Not available since" tooltip for contacts.
* improvement: The menu key can also be used on a contact list to display the contact's menu.
* improvement: Calling phone numbers of a contact can be done using context menu.
* improvement: Added flags to all country selection drop-downs.
* improvement: Your own chat message author's name is shown with slightly darker color.
* improvement: Show reason of leaving the chat to other members.
* improvement: Warning dialog when cancelling file transfer.
* improvement: A chat event is opened only when double clicked in the event panel.
* improvement: Links are now clickable in about me window.
* bugfix: Make "/alertsoff" command really silent. Only hint at new messages is that the chat moves to top of events history.
* bugfix: Qt4.4+: Two way video call did not work.
* bugfix: No visual feedback when holding fullscreen video call.
* bugfix: Removed double size video window for small screens.
* bugfix: Fix for sound event being played over PSTN pre-answer sound.
* bugfix: Make sure that the answer button is enabled in the call window, if call popup is disabled.
* bugfix: Change call button label.
* bugfix: Tooltip for DTMF dialpad button now changes appropriately.
* bugfix: SkypeOut Contacts avatar now displays a country flag.
* bugfix: High CPU usage when using ALSA "null" plugin as soundcard.
* bugfix: Undisclosed number display in popup event.
* bugfix: Disable unusable chat elements when we leave or are removed from a chat.
* bugfix: Animated emoticons now work better with Qt4.5.
* bugfix: Remove white background and borders in emoticon selector.
* bugfix: Start group conversation/sending file with/to multiple phone numbers is allowed.
* bugfix: Chat text selection issues on Qt4.5. Improved text selection.
* bugfix: Links with Cyrillic characters are truncated.
* bugfix: Chat doesn't render properly when enabling or disabling emoticons.
* bugfix: Open chat window on current virtual desktop.
* bugfix: Name identical to your own is not repeated in chat.
* bugfix: Undelivered icon disappears if you retrieve chat history.
* bugfix: Popups for opened chats don't raise chat window.
* bugfix: Update HashLinkURL to allow letters and hyphens being checked.
* bugfix: Status and avatar tooltips in chat window not localized.
* bugfix: Old chat synced messages are shown out of order.
* bugfix: Triple click in a chat should continue to mark lines.
* bugfix: When copy and pasting from chat window, replace "..." with author.
* bugfix: Visuals change when user joins a chat directly.
* bugfix: "Add to chat" window should have contacts ordered by name only.
* bugfix: Double click should select words in chats, triple click should highlight whole message.
* bugfix: Percent characters in URIs are converted
* bugfix: Right-click menu is being featured in the chat.
* bugfix: Chat 20x resize (text wrap) speeds up optimization.
* bugfix: Chat resizes memory leak.
* bugfix: Further speed-ups when loading previous history.
* bugfix: Contact list doesn't have a window class.
* bugfix: Double click opening a chat is now a default action.
* bugfix: Missing visual feedback when hovering over "Add a phone number" link.
* bugfix: Context menu is not updated for authorized contacts.
* bugfix: Blocked contacts are not added immediately to the opened options window.
* bugfix: Unblocking more than one SkypeOut numbers from option dialog doesn't work.
* bugfix: Display a message when Quick Filter search does not return any result.
* bugfix: Popup's status icon is wrong when adding a contact
* bugfix: Close authorization request popup after action has been taken.
* bugfix: Contact card drag operation starts with first click.
* bugfix: Changed names/tooltips of buttons in File Transfer dialog.
* bugfix: Does not create missed events for files transferred while in "Do Not Disturb" mode.
* bugfix: File sending progress was incorrect after removing/cleaning up sends.
* bugfix: When sending a single file to a person doesn't show the size.
* bugfix: Ctrl+W doesn't work for file sending window.
* bugfix: Clear authorization request events always after user action.
* bugfix: Pressing enter/return or double clicking on a birthday event triggers the default action.
* bugfix: Birthdays in the event list are not ordered.
* bugfix: Remember the previous status of recent events when returning from history view.
* bugfix: Added a length check for all profile fields of a contact.
* bugfix: Improved layout of the sign-in window.
* bugfix: Improved layout of the main window.
* bugfix: Buttons in options dialog are now highlighted when hovered.
* bugfix: Buttons in "Say Hello to..." dialog are highlighted when hovered.
* bugfix: Improved pressed button appearance with Qt4.5.
* bugfix: Background is no longer brightened when buttons are highlighted.
* bugfix: Gray buttons were sometimes only partly drawn.
* bugfix: The user profile window was partially hidden on netbooks.
* bugfix: Close button did not work correctly on send contact window.
* bugfix: While restoring the Skype application from a system tray, it was not restoring in front of other windows.
* bugfix: Auto sign-in checkbox in the Change Password dialog doesn't work.
* bugfix: In FVWM2 and Fluxbox, profile window doesn't open.
* bugfix: "--dbpath" and "--pipelogin" don't work together from terminal.
* bugfix: Search friends initially returns an incomplete list with clean profile.
* bugfix: Doesn't show dotted focus rectangle where unnecessary around UI elements.
* bugfix: Avoid double-sign-in issue causing unexpected UI behaviour (like calls not working or doubling call windows).
* localization: Translate Norwegian dialects "nn"/"nb" to "no" as well.
* localization: Making a few more strings locale-aware.
* localization: Updated languages: Brazilian Portuguese - Fabio Roselet, Bulgarian - Nikolay Filipov, Estonian - Marit Mesipuu, French - Cédric Lamouche, German - Claudius Henrichs, Italian - Marco Cimmino, Lithuanian - Viktoras Kriukovas, Polish - Karol Szastok, Romanian - Péter Henning, Russian - Pavel Shevchuk, Turkish - Ömer Emin Dede.

Skype 2.8 Gold for Mac

2009-07-20T13:00:00Z

Today we have released Skype 2.8 Gold for Mac.

This version brings to you two new features: Skype Access and screen sharing.

Start downloading it now.

We would like to thank everyone who has taken their time to report issues on our public issue tracker or on the forums during the beta phase, or just commented on the blog posts about it. Of course, feel free to continue posting there.

In addition to the public beta testers we would like to give a huge bow in front of our volunteer translators community who have localized Skype 2.8 for Mac to their own languages. Last but definitely not least, it's time to hand over the thank you awards to our closed beta testers who have done splendid work on helping us to iron out bugs from all internal builds between public releases.

Full release notes for the release build 2.8.0.659 are available in the Developer Zone.

Skype 4.1 Gold for Windows

2009-06-30T15:18:10Z

We're pleased to announce the new Skype 4.1 for Windows production version.

This new version of Skype brings you screen sharing, accessibility, and birthday reminders together with the ability to send contacts. It also highlights Skype names on web pages for you, allowing you to click the name and start a call. In addition to these new features a number of improvements have been made which you can read about on my 4.1 beta announcement, or on our main blog post.

Start downloading it right now.

We would like to thank everyone who took the time to feed back their thoughts and issues when using Skype 4.1 Beta for windows. Many of these issues have now been fixed in the gold version.

We're always happy to hear your feedback, so please let us know if anything doesn't seem to be working as it should. This is easily done through discussing matters on Skype forums or by leaving comments on this blog.
If you are a technical user then please take a few minutes to report issues on our public issues tracker.

With the gold release of Skype 4.1 for Windows we have fixed lots of issues, especially ones relating to webcam detection, quoting links in an instant message and invisible cursor after switching windows when using Skype in compact view.

The main changes from 4.1 Beta for Windows to the gold version, 4.1.0.136, by category are:

Calling

* Call status was sometimes displayed as "Ringing" after the call had started.
* Error message sometimes appeared when selecting the "Learn about Call Quality" link from the Call toolbar.
* Users were unable to call a contact again after rejecting the same contact from a previous conference call.
* No sound was heard when connecting a second USB device, even when it was selected as the default option.
* Skype automatically adjusted user's microphone levels during a call even when they had disabled this option.
* Skype did not warn users when they tried to answer a call without any active audio devices being available.
* Auto-answer of incoming calls failed after multiple calls in quick succession
* Dialpad is now visible when starting a call rather than when a call is connected.

Instant messaging

* Users were not notified when a file had been sent in a group IM conversation.
* When copying and pasting a web address (URL) links within the same instant messages, the URL appears as a blank line.
* When copying a large amount of text, (approximately 20 lines) from the same IM, and pasting it to the text input field, users no longer had the ability to scroll or edit that particular text
* Users were unable to copy and paste from an SMS message.
* The copy/paste menu did not appear when right clicking in the IM input field area
* Dragging and dropping quoted text to the chat text box caused Skype to crash for some users.
* No message displayed when two users were calling at the same time, only the end call button was displayed.

Contacts

* Users were not re-displayed in the contact list after they had been unblocked.
* After renaming a contact, the name would revert back to its original name following a restart.
* Some users were unable to drag and drop a contact to a group conversation.
* It was not always clear that MySpace contacts had been found during contact search.
* Quick filter results were displayed incorrectly after previously selecting two contacts at the same time.
* Echo 123 was sometimes not available for newly created accounts.
* Blocking users was ineffective in some cases.
* No tooltips were visible for participants in a group conversation.
* Unable to edit a SkypeOut contact's phone number more than once.
* Contact categories were ordered differently from the contact list.

History

* Links to previous IM's within an existing chat (Yesterday, Last 7 days, etc) did not show in some scenarios
* SMS
* When an SMS was sent to a SkypeOut contact whose profile contained multiple phone numbers, the SMS would always go to the first number even if the user had selected an alternate phone number tab.
* Formatting of "quoted text" was displayed incorrectly.
* Users were unable to copy / paste from SMS messages.

Audio/Video

* Skype detected a Creative Live webcam even though the device was not connected.
* A "New Audio Device" Communicator message appeared on every start up for some users
* Nothing happened when clicking the "remove" button to delete multiple devices from Audio Settings drop down menu.
* Only one USB device was visible in the drop down menu when more than one was available.
* When receiving video calls from a Skype for Mac user, the Windows user saw an "On Hold" graphic when the incoming video was stopped.
* Some users were unable to undock from a docking station when a webcam was in use.
* The "Video Call" option was incorrectly made available when users made a SkypeOut call.
* Video was still displayed when user turned off video while a call was on hold.
* Video snapshot images appeared black when saved.
* Fixes for a small number of webcams that were not detected.
* Video did not start, if Skype was running on a secondary screen.
* When two identical USB audio devices were plugged in, only one device is displayed in the list in Tools > Options > Audio Settings > Advanced.
* Compact / Default view switching
* When switching from Compact View to Default View the display position was incorrect.

Accessibility

* Voicemail and File Transfer are now accessible via keyboard navigation.

Miscellaneous

* Fix for "Disk I/O error". If user still experiences this ensure that the appdata/skype/username directory is not read-only, if this does not resolve the issue please contact Customer Support.
* Emoticons were still displayed even when this option was disabled.
* Skype crashed on Windows Server 2008 R2.
* Error message: "Unterminated entry" sometimes displayed when starting Skype.
* Users on the "LITE" version of Skype will be displayed as "Unknown" in Conference calls.

Skype 4.0 for Windows hotfix

2009-06-03T12:02:13Z

Today we have released a hotfix for Skype 4.0 for Windows.

We recommend that everyone upgrades to the latest release build of Skype 4.0. If you are adventurous and would like to try out the bleeding edge version, then download Skype 4.1 Beta for Windows.

The newly released hotfix resolves the main issues found in the previous versions of Skype 4.0 for Windows.

Skype 4.1 beta for Windows

2009-05-27T13:51:25Z

I'm happy to announce to you that today we are delivering to you a second flavor of Skype 4.x series - Skype 4.1 for Windows.

This is currently a beta release which means that it might sometimes not follow your orders, but instead act on it's own. In case this happens, please let us know by commenting on this blog, posting on the forum or reporting issues on our public issue tracker.

If you were not scared by the warning then start the download and continue reading about what you will find in this release. Read also our main blog post.

Skype 4.1 Beta for Windows brings to you long hours of work from our audio and video team. They have introduced screen sharing functionality into Skype for Windows and in addition to that they have also worked hard on audio and video quality and reliability.

When coming back from the audio and video world to other areas then we have brought back some features which did not make it into Skype 4.0. People who use screen readers will notice that we support accessibility correctly in this version. In case you are using JAWS screen reader then you might want to take a look on our accessibility consultants JAWS scripts page for Skype.

As a small extra you will also notice that you can now send contacts and receive birthday reminders for your contacts again.

We have also updated our Internet Explorer and Firefox plugins which now recognize your Skype contacts mentioned on web pages and highlight phone numbers which you can call for free.

In case you are new to Skype or would like to import contacts from different services you will find an improved contacts importing engine, which helps you to import contacts from wide variety of web services, including Gmail, Windows Live hotmail, Yahoo and many local services.

Before ending my post I'd like to give a very big to our volunteer translators and closed beta testers group who have helped us considerably in making this release come true.

As usual in addition to the hard work on implementing new features we have taken time to solve some of the previously found issues. Here you have the full release notes for the 4.1.0.130:

* feature: Screen sharing
* feature: Accessibility
* feature: Skype name highlighting on webpages
* feature: Free call phone number highlighting on webpages
* feature: Contacts sending
* feature: Birthday reminders
* improvement: Audio and Video engine updated
* improvement: Ability to import more contacts from more source
* improvement: Updated Skype for Internet Explorer plugin
* improvement: Updated Skype for Firefox plugin
* bugfix: Skype Internet Explorer plugin did not work with Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7
* bugfix: New Audio device communicator message appeared on every start-up
* bugfix: Dialpad did not open when starting a call, but opened when call was connected
* bugfix: Some menu items in Hebrew and Arabic language showed out as ????
* bugfix: Skype crashed on shutdown sometimes
* bugfix: GDI+ error was displayed when running Skype on Windows 7
* bugfix: Not all audio devices were shown out under audio options
* bugfix: When copying longer text message from one Instant Message to another then you did not have possibility to edit it's controls
* bugfix: Skype crashed when dragging and dropping quoted chat messages
* bugfix: Quick-filtering sometimes highlighted contacts incorrectly
* bugfix: Profile text was cut off when person has emoticon on their 'about me' text
* bugfix: A user was unable to edit contacts phone number more than once
* bugfix: Skype showed that webcam is present, but busy when it was disconnected for some Creative webcams
* bugfix: It was not possible to remove duplicate entries from audio devices list
* bugfix: On client upgrade "View technical release notes for this update" link did not work.
* All language localizations updated: Bulgarian - Nikolina Filipova & Nikolay Filipov, Czech - Petr Silon, Dutch - Kees Koenders, Estonian - Viljar Sepp & Eve Loopere, Greek - Panagiotis Sidiropoulos http://www.magenta.gr, French - Fabrice IMPERIAL & Bruno Lépaulard, German - Claudius Henrichs & Dick Schiferli, Hungarian - Mark Bender & Laszlo Koncz & Gabor Stefanik, Italian - Daniele Conte, Latvian - Intars Students, Lithuanian - Viktoras Kriukovas, Norwegian - Stig Auestad, Polish - Karol Szastok, Portuguese-Portugal - Francisco Ferreira, Romanian - Péter Henning and Mónika Iancu, Simplified Chinese - Della Wang (TOM.com), Traditional Chinese - Carlos Lee (PChome), Turkish - Ömer Emin Dede

Skype 1.0.3 for iPhone

2009-04-30T19:44:57Z

We have just released an update to Skype for iPhone.

Grab it now.

The new version has includes fixes for three problems which many of you have reported to us:

* Fixed crashing when clicking on certain contacts in the contact list
* Fixed crashing when returning to the contact list after having accepted a contact authorization request in specific cases
* Improved the handling of international calling prefixes in SkypeOut calling

Thank you to everyone who took the effort to contact us about your experience in running Skype for iPhone. If you have not done so yet then feel free to comment on this blog post, discuss things on our forums or if you run into problems or have feature requests in mind then submit reports on our public issue tracker.

Skype 4.0 for Windows hotfix

2009-04-22T13:08:44Z

I'm writing to let you know about a newly released build of Skype 4.0 for Windows.

With this new build we have fixed some issues which have made Skype 4.0 for Windows to behave unexpectedly.

We would recommend that all users upgrade to the new version.

If you notice something unexpected, please let us know about it. Feel free to comment on this blog post, discuss on our forums or submit issue reports to our public issue tracker.

Full list of changes for 4.0.0.226 is:

* bugfix: Extras Manager was not installed to some users
* bugfix: Skype incorrectly advised users of new Audio Devices available
* bugfix: When adding a new number the phone type was incorrectly labeled
* bugfix: Re-adding contacts to a existing conversation did not display the contact in the Add contacts drop down menu
* bugfix: Video did not always scale correctly
* bugfix: Skype occasionally crashed when uPnP port forwarding failed
* bugfix: Improved uPnP handling for Linksys WRTG54G owners
* bugfix: When dialing certain numbers some digits were erased from the beginning and the number became invalid
* bugfix: Audio device was reset for some users on each Skype start
* All localizations updated

Skype for iPhone hotfix

2009-04-15T10:39:22Z

Some of you may have already seen a update notification for Skype for iPhone, but for the rest of you, Skype 1.0.2 for iPhone is here.

We suggest that everyone upgrades, so start downloading from the App Store now.

With this version we solved many of the issues you were complaining to us after the initial release.

Changes in this new version, 1.0.2, in comparison with the previous release are:
* Improved support for calling phone numbers that don't have a country code
* Improved error handling when making calls to landlines and mobiles, which previously may have failed if you had a monthly subscription
* Resolved a problem with new account creation, which caused customers to be redirected to an incorrect web page, when making a purchase
* Fixed a problem, which caused the application to crash, when tapping a contact image (avatar) within a chat

We would like to thank everyone who have given their feedback to us and encourage everyone to continue to do so. You can give feedback on three simple ways - just comment this blog post, discuss things on our forums, or report issues on our public issue tracker.

Happy Skyping

Skype 2.8 Beta for Mac

2009-04-08T17:00:00Z

Today we have released an update to Skype 2.8 Beta for Mac.

We've ironed out some of the issues which found their way into the first beta release, most visibly you'll see improvements to Skype Access and screen sharing.

We highly recommend that everyone on Skype 2.8 Beta for Mac upgrade to the new version and for others who are willing to experiment a bit to try it out. Please keep in mind that it's still a beta version so it might show not act exactly as you expect from time to time. If you notice anything then please let us know about it by commenting on this blog, discussing things on our forums or by submitting an issue report on our issue tracker.

The full list of changes for the new version (2.8.0.438) are:

* improvement: added Retry button to the Skype Access window
* improvement: consistency with other Mac apps: added shortcut for Show Offline Contacts, moved Make Text commands to View menu, use Clear instead of Delete wording
* improvement: improved enabling of the video and screensharing buttons based on the receiver's capabilities
* improvement: improved toolbar button image rendering
* improvement: improved new chat handling
* improvement: some string adjustments
* improvement: some internal optimizations and improvements
* change: spectator window for screen sharing
* change: My Account page embedded in the client
* bugfix: Skype didn't hide on OS X login
* bugfix: copy/paste from chats was not working correctly
* bugfix: sometimes Skype froze for a couple of seconds when starting or stopping screen sharing
* bugfix: screen sharing windows could be left on screen when a call was joined to a conference
* bugfix: PiP didn't appear in full screen when receiving screen sharing
* bugfix: the overlay didn't appear for fullscreen screen sharing and then the exit fullscreen button didn't work
* bugfix: fullscreen mode would exit after a held call was resumed
* bugfix: call could not be ended after being redirected to voicemail
* bugfix: the call window layout was broken if the dialpad was shown during a video call
* bugfix: URLs inside brackets were not clickable
* bugfix: sometimes Skype crashed after deleting missed events without reading them
* bugfix: sometimes Skype Access sessions were not terminated properly
* bugfix: sometimes Skype Access session durations were not displayed accurately
* bugfix: sometimes extending a Skype Access session didn't work as expected
* bugfix: after signing in as another user, it was not possible to start a Skype Access session
* bugfix: it was possible to start a new Skype Access session before previous one had finished
* bugfix: Start Skype Access menu item was disabled when not signed in
* bugfix: Skype Access session appeared in red after extending the session
* bugfix: sometimes there were two controversial messages about Skype Access availability
* bugfix: sometimes Skype crashed when leaving a chat
* bugfix: history was not picking up display names from Address Book for text messages
* bugfix: text on screen sharing selection buttons was misaligned on Tiger
* bugfix: warning icon was not removed after extending online number
* bugfix: after auto-recharge, balance pane had space on the right
* bugfix: fixed enabling of Quick Add button in text-only toolbar mode
* bugfix: sometimes (null) was added as a SkypeOut display name instead of the one specified
* bugfix: ESC key now closes emoticon roster as it should
* bugfix: fixed text positioning on Tiger for screen sharing selection window buttons
* bugfix: if remote contact cancels a file transfer then sometimes it still appeared as pending on the receiver side
* bugfix: do not set to status to away during screensaver when auto away is set to 0 minutes
* bugfix: the PiP video could draw over Mute/Hold/Transfer overlays
* bugfix: fixed video toolbar button enabling for the case where there is no camera or video is disabled
* bugfix: fullscreen button and PiP views did not appear on Panther and Tiger if "keep call windows in front" option was turned on
* bugfix: fullscreen view was not displayed correctly when entering full screen from the screen sharing spectator window
* bugfix: multiple call windows were left open when calls failed
* bugfix: call overlay window could appear without the call window if the call window was minimised while the other party was starting video
* bugfix: fixed window resizing issues when the other party was starting and stopping video which occurred because the wrong window sizes were being stored in defaults
* bugfix: call window would resize incorrectly when the call was put on hold then resumed
* bugfix: the call window's fullscreen button could end up in the wrong position when exiting full screen while receiving screen sharing
* bugfix: call window resizes when entering and exiting full screen mode while receiving screen sharing
* bugfix: emoticon button rendered before the chat window
* bugfix: fixed double free error when exiting fullscreen using the escape key
* bugfix: fixed crash on chat close because overlay window was being double deallocated
* bugfix: fixed incorrect call window layout which sometimes occurred if the connection was dropped
* bugfix: window did not resize correctly when showing the dialpad (it could extend offscreen) if the computer had multiple displays
* bugfix: dialpad was not shown when exiting full screen
* bugfix: fixed bad volume slider layout in call window which could occur when answering a video call during an existing video call
* bugfix: fixed exception being thrown because emoticon button was observing a dealloced chat
* bugfix: fixed Quick Add window positioning when item was not first in the toolbar
* bugfix: the Quick Add toolbar item appears pressed in all chat windows
* bugfix: the dialpad could expand partially offscreen when it was shown, by moving the call window fully onscreen after the dialpad is shown
* bugfix: the call window layout was broken if the toolbar was shown or hidden during a video call
* bugfix: when assigning multiple contacts to groups screen refreshing was very slow
* bugfix: adjusted layout of Quick Add window and make sure it doesn't run under the Dock when it's on the left or right
* bugfix: added limits to the maximum width of the slider in the call window
* bugfix: removed a small visual glitch after reducing size of contact list
* bugfix: fixed small problem with rendering flags in chat
* bugfix: after restart, second chat window didn't remember its size and position
* bugfix: prevent the user from calling their own online number
* bugfix: chat window was not closed after database mount error
* localizations updated
* Skype API: implemented get skypeversion
* Skype API: implemented: get chat x dialog_partner
* Skype API: open options command only accepted uppercase properties
* Skype API: implemented ping