Video Call from Facebook - Powered By Skype

Clicks...Likes…& (now) Video Calling!

Yes! It’s the new offering from Facebook that, experts believe, would surely make a difference in social media usage stats the world over. With video calling facility integrated to Facebook (courtesy Skype) users "no longer need to download Skype to make voice and video calls for free."

Now it’s all possible on Facebook!

But I can’t agree with those who believe that with this new Facebook + Skype integration, the latter would gradually become irrelevant. Skype has also become hugely popular for its additional features which include "instant messaging", "file transfer", and "video conferencing", features which are intrinsic to several organizations for smooth day to day management-employee coordination.

On the other hand, as of 2010, Skype has 663 million registered users. If even a quarter of them shifts their usage pattern and starts using Facebook video calling feature over Skype, it will add a lot to Facebook’s user-base.

News that’s buzzing around is that, Facebook and Skype (read Microsoft) is determined to counter Google+ and hence the announcement within a week of the launch of Google’s (plus) project.

Whatever, the corporate games, for the average user, its good news!

If you’re looking to jump into Facebook video calling, there’s a step by step tour for you Click here

Call your friends right from Facebook. Just click the call button at the top of your friend’s profile or chat window. And there’s no need to download software. In case of ‘No Answer’, you can leave a video message as well!

Bring your conversations to life. Get started today!

Less Is More...The Future of Gmail

“Less is more” - Its been Google's unofficial motto for quite sometime and the Mountain View firm isn't opting for a revised version either! The latest proof being an attempt to give a minimalist look to Gmail, Google's premier email service. As a part of its ongoing interface updates, yesterday Google launched two new themes - “Preview (Dense)” and “Preview”.

Over the last few years, Google added countless features to beef up Gmail, to challenge the dominance of - AIM, Yahoo, and Windows Live (Hotmail). No doubt, such features have turned Gmail into an increasingly powerful communication hub. But it has it's downsides as well! According to the Gmail team the email service has turned exceedingly “cluttered and complex”. Hence the launch of two new themes, which according to the Official Gmail Blog “would eventually expand dynamically to accommodate different screen sizes and include user preferences”. 

Here's a sneak peek at how the themes look like.

New (Left)   vs    Old (Right)

  

Now here's my personal take on the two new themes.  

• Preview(Dense) and Preview (see the screenshot above) both looks almost similar. However, as the name suggests, the “Dense” version is more 'compact' while in the other one, the tabs and buttons are more 'spread out'.
• Unlike ordinary themes that deal with vibrant colors. These two new themes are part of a redesign that addresses elements like the size and shapes of the 'Compose Button', the search buttons, and navigation controls.
• The new themes look visually enticing as well. Especially, now Gmail looks identical to Google + without all the clutter!
• The large red 'Compose Button' is the highlight of both the themes. The clean look is more spread out than the Classic Gmail interface. Basking in the white space, it makes finding and reading mails more easier than its earlier avatar.
• The predominant colors used in both the themes are red, white, and gray, however, according to Google “more colors will follow soon”.

If you're curious to explore, log in to your Gmail account and go to “Mail Settings”. Next click on “Themes” and you'll see two new theme options -“Preview” and Preview(Dense). Select the one you like and unfold the future-look of Gmail!

Is Mac OS X Lion Apple’s Best Innovation Ever?

It’s been just a few days now that Steve Jobs’ keynote at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco (Jun 6-10) has concluded! And what an event it was!

Leave alone the showcasing of the newest technologies and latest innovations from Apple including iOS 5 (to be available this fall meant for iPhone 3GS and above, iPad & iPad 2, and 3rd & 4th generation iPod Touch) or iCloud (a cloud-based service for syncing and backing up documents, photos, calendars, contacts, music, and email), the event was ‘Significant’, for it showcased to the world, the very first preview of the Mac Operating System’s next major version X Lion.

Once the news is out, there’s no stopping back! And rightly so, after all, you wouldn’t get to hear about so many tech innovations in a single day under one roof! But that’s how iGod had planned!

Now that the World Wide Web is teeming with reviews of WWDC 2011 and the internet is flooded with reviews, synopsis, expert analysis, and critical insights on Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5 or iCloud, I don’t really find it fruitful to make this post yet another boring discourse.

Let’s not talk about what ‘can be’ or ‘should be’. Let’s try and see what’s there for the offering. Here’s a brief  ‘easy-to-digest’ summary of the salient features of Mac OS X Lion.

• The new OS X Lion has 250+ fresh features!
• There’s Multi-Touch Gestures to give users an iPhone like feel and touch.
• With Mac OS X Lion, the App Store comes with delta upgrades for faster app updates. Besides, the Mac App Store is now the #1 channel for buying any software and is ahead of Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and Office Depot.
• There are more than 3,000 new APIs in Mac OS X Lion
• If you want to upgrade any of your earlier versions of Mac OS like Snow Leopard to X Lion, all you need to do is buy it from Mac App store. No more discs involved!

Here’s an insider look at what more you can expect from the Mac OS X Lion once it hits the App market place in July with an upgrade price of $29.99.

Just 2 latest stats that I came across:

• Mac users – More than 54 million globally
• Mac has grown 28%, while PC growth has shrunk 1% year-over-year!

With the X Lion ready to spring into action this July, the figures would certainly need to be revised before WWDC 2012 rolls out with yet another bunch of surprises!

The Beauty of +1’s

Last week a friend of mine, who's an artist by profession, asked me if I can give him some details on Gagosian Gallery. Now, I'm not that informed about galleries and this one surely sounded Greek! I Google'd and there it was! Pages of information on Gagosian Gallery from Google's Search Engine Result Page (SERP) listings. I clicked on the Wikipedia link and found what I was looking for. A second link directed me to an art review published in the New York Times, not too long ago, helped me gain extensive knowledge about contemporary art galleries in the US. While the Official site offered information on the gallery locations, gallery pictures, the ongoing exhibitions, and so on. The result, a smile of satisfaction on my friend's face and a feeling of contentment inside!

You might say "Whats so special about it?"

Well, you're right, that's how we all do it! Isn't it? I mean, we Google to find the desired information on people, places, products, events, news, and what not!

But, from now on things wouldn't be the same as before! And the change is surely for the better.

It's the newest addition from Google Labs +1 button for websites!

Now we already had +1 button in March, earlier this year, which aimed at helping us find the most relevant results as quickly as possible! The basic concept was to enable users share recommendations with the world right from Google's SERP listings. All that we had to do was click +1 tab on a search result, we found useful. These +1's then start appearing on our contact's search results who in turn would +1 their respective recommendations. So, the next time we Google something, say a recipe or a popular tourist place, we would find +1's on our Google results that some friend of ours have recommended as "this is pretty cool". Thus, it makes our selection much easier!

But even that's an Old Story now! On June 1st, Google Labs rolled out +1 buttons for websites as well! Now we'll start seeing +1's on websites, large and small, across the Internet! Google has partnered with - The Washington Post, Rotten Tomatoes, TechCrunch, Mashable, Bloomberg, Reuters, Nordstrom, The Huffington Post, O'Reilly, Best Buy, and AddThis to help users +1 their favorite links! However, to see +1 recommendations from your friends and contacts in Google search, make sure you're signed in to your Google Account.

Is Blekko The Potential Google Killer?

If you are well versed with the Google Story, this is something new that might surprise you at the first go. Predicted to be a potential “Google killer” it is a new search engine which is all set to spread its wings on the cyber horizon. It's a new search portal called Blekko - the brainchild of Rich Skrenta, a former AOL man. The brand new search engine is fueled by the technological expertise of Tom Annau, a former Google Engineer, with equally efficient marketing acumen of Michael Markson, and with proficient skills of chief architects Greg Lindahl and Keith Peters. Funded by Silicon valley based U.S investor firm USVP and CMEA Capital, Blekko promises to be a techno hub for the future.

With all these insider information, you might ask what’s new with Blekko that’s making all the news. You may even nullify these for being another media infused gimmick. However, there is one point to clarify regarding the launch of Blekko and it concerns the basic search parameters that Blekko is sure to introduce in the coming days.

Blekko is designed on a core foundation of expertise from people who headed leading positions in such reputed organizations as Google, AOL, and Netscape. This is further proof of the edge that this new search engine is going to have over other big shots in the coming days. An industry insider from the cyber fraternity expects that Blekko will surely bite into Goggle’s popularity just after its launch, later this month.

With Blekko search engine ready to launch, the average internet user will get an exotic taste of search features and enjoy superlative experience of net surfing in a few days time.