ZeroPaid.com » skype

MagicJack: App for Making Free Wi-Fi Phone Calls on Your iPhone, iPad

Jared Moya — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 09:02:38 +0000

MagicJack app doesn't use your mobile minutes, does not require a voice plan, and allows you to make FREE calls to US and Canadian phone numbers or to any MagicJack number wherever it may be in the world.

I'm sure many of you have seen the MagicJack on TV by now, it's the portable little black box that has allowed users to ditch home landlines in the US and Canada for some time now. Well, now the people behind that device have created an app for the iPhone and iPad that also allows users to ditch, or at least avoid, expensive mobile minutes and voice plan packages. MagicJack allows users to make FREE calls to US and Canadian phone numbers, or to any assigned MagicJack number in the world. Think of it as a free alternative to Skype, the service that requires users to buy credits to make calls to non-Skype numbers. MagicJack does not use your mobile minutes nor does it require a voice plan of any kind. All you really need is a Wi-Fi or data connection. An added benefit is the quality of calls and network coverage. Instead of worrying whether or not you're in a dropped call zone or out of network reach all you really need to have is a solid Wi-Fi connection. For those AT&T subscribers in cities notorious for dropped calls like New York City MagicJack is a welcome solution to the problem. "I am incredibly proud of the many employees involved in building our first APP," says Dan Borislow, CEO of magicJack. "I am obviously biased in saying this, but I can't see any reason that by offering the best voice quality, free calls, ease of use, ability to use your existing contacts and free download, that we will not have tens of millions of downloads over the next year. Apple has the best OS and devices built for voice and I believe we have the best telephone network and software engineers to take advantage of this incredible platform." Users with an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad will be able to use the MagicJack app when connected to W-Fi or 4G with the same functionality of a regular mobile phone with better call quality, but without the costs for calls. The MagicJack app is particuallry useful when at home or in the office for there's no need to worry about call quality, being dropped, and better still - it's free! Stay tuned. jared@zeropaid.com

Top 5 Android Apps for Trips, Travel

Jared Moya — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:22:50 +0000

A roundup of the top 5 Android apps to have while travelling.

It's hard to imagine a life before smartphones: no google maps, no google, and no easy way to stay up to date and informed about what's going in the world around you. Travelling was particularly stressful because there was oftentimes no way to know what was going on with your flight, and travel agents were mandatory for booking flights and accommodations. Worse still, things like up-to-the-minute weather information and contacting family and friends were difficult and expensive. Smartphones changed all tthat. Now we basically have portable computers in our hands with the ability to access a wide body of knowledge and data in an instant as well as to communicate with family and friends at a fraction of the price it used to cost. With this in mind I've taken the time to compile a list of what I think are the top 5 Android apps for trips and travel.

1. KAYAK

What trip isn't complete without a first-class flight and hotel search app? KAYK, already popular online, combines a whole range of essential travel booking and management features into a single handy Andorid app. Founded in 2004, KAYAK aggregates information from hundreds of other travel sites and helps users book flights, hotels, cruises, and rental cars. Kayak combines results from online travel agencies, consolidators such as Orbitz and Expedia, and other sources such as large hotel chains. Features:

Compare flight, hotel and car rental deals
Track your flight status
View and manage your trip itinerary
Look up baggage fees
Access airline numbers and airport info

It has pretty much every feature a traveler needs to book flights and accomodations while allowing one to track lfight status and trip progress.

2. Weather Bug

Unless you're travelling in San Diego you can expect weather fluctuations, and Weather Bug is the perfect Android app to keep you informed about the latest current conditions, forecast, weather alerts, radar and more Weather Bug is arguably the most comprehensive weather app around. It accesses the largest network of professional weather stations in North America and thousands of locations around the world to deliver accurate, up to date weather information. Features:

Live Local Weather
7 day extended and hourly forecasts
Interactive Maps w/ Doppler Radar
Weather Cams
Severe Weather Alerts
Saved Locations
Video Forecasts
Share Function

Weather Bug comes complete with Doppler radar, severe weather alerts, maps, and extended forecasts. The best feature is that the it allows you to view live weather cams so that you can see for yourself what the weather is like outside.

3. Skype

With decent phone connections oftentimes hit or miss, and international calling rates oftentimes fluctuating between the expensive and the outrageous, The Skype app lets you make calls to cell phones and landlines at a fraction of the price you'd normally have to pay. And better yet, all Skype-to-Skype calls are free! A number of Android devices, those with front facing video cams, even allow video calling, further shortening long distances between family and freinds.

4. Google Translate

What trip isn't complete without a translation tool? Google translate is a great app for travelling that lets you instantly translate between over 50 languages. Either type or speak the word to be translated and Google Translate wil do the rest. The text-to-speech feature means users can hear the translated word to give a go at speaking a new language, or to simply share with an intended recipient to hear or read what your're trying to say.

5. Google Goggles

Want to know a little history about that odd building or amazing painting you ecnounter on your travels? Google Goggles is the Android app that will give you the answer. Goggle Goggles uses image recognition technology to recognize objects and return relevant search results. Google Goggles identifies storefronts, artwork, products, famous landmarks, and popular images found online. Google Goggles is also a handy translation tool, translating captured text between English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian. What are some of your favorite Android apps for trips and travel? Stay tuned. jared@zeropaid.com

Skype for iPad: App Offers Video Chats, IM, and SMS

Jared Moya — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 07:59:17 +0000

Skype for iPad, designed and optimized for the iPad, allows users to have video chats, send instant messages, and SMS texts from the beach, from home, or wherever they wish.

Skype for iPad is a new app that is designed and optimized for the iPad. Skype developers have taken advantage of the iPad's large screen to help bring Skype video calls to life. Users can enjoy brilliant and clear video chats with family friends, in either landscape or portrait view, while at the beach, at home, or anywhere else you have 3G or Wi-Fi service. Other features include:

Two-way video calling.
Instant messaging. You can even instant message during a video call on your iPad, with emoticons to personalize your message.
Simple to view contacts. Contacts are now displayed in a grid on Skype for iPad, showing large avatar photos - making it easy to find your contacts and conversations.
Easy navigation. Find your recent Skype conversations and history at the touch of a button making searching simple.
SMS texting.

And, as is the case already, if you have Skype credit you can make calls to landline and mobile phones as well. Skype credit can also get you your own online number, call forwarding, caller ID, and Skype to Go. The best part about Skype for iPad is that it allows you to connect with other Skype users regardless of their platform: PC, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Symbian, and Android. There's also Skype-enabled TVs to make things even more interesting for Skype users. Stay tuned. jared@zeropaid.com ________________________

Comcast to Bring Skype to Living Room TV

Jared Moya — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 18:40:55 +0000

Announce partnership to bring "clear, widescreen Skype video calls" with customer's exisiting HD TV and broadband connection.

The Internet continues it's slow march into the living room with news that Comcast and Skype have announced a deal to bring Skype to the TV, allowing Comcast customers to communicate with family and friends in a easy and convenient fashion.

"We are pleased to announce this partnership with Comcast," said Tony Bates, CEO of Skype. "By combining Comcast's broad living room reach with Skype's innovative communications platform and worldwide community of users, we can bring video calling into the heart of the home allowing people to share life's experiences both big and small."

Comcast customers will soon be able to make Skype video calls to friends and family whom use Skype whether it also be on their home TVs, PCs, smartphones, or tablets.

"Our unique relationship with Skype not only will change how our customers interact with their TV, but also will create new and meaningful ways to bring our customers closer to the people they care about," said Neil Smit, President, Comcast Cable. "TV has evolved into a social experience, and Comcast and Skype will be delivering a product that personalizes the TV experience even more, and brings friends and family together through the biggest screen in their homes."

Some of the new features will include:

Make and receive Skype video and audio calls, or send instant messages via Skype on a television while watching their favorite TV show at the same time, and accept incoming calls during a TV show with the help of Caller ID.
Make and receive video and audio calls, or send instant messages via Skype on a compatible mobile phone or tablet.
Import friends to their address book from their Facebook, Outlook, Gmail and smartphone contact lists, find them on Skype and see when contacts are online and available to talk.

This service will be offerred via Comcast customer's HDTV through an adaptor box that includes a video camera, and a specially designed remote control that will allow customers to text on Skype as well as control their television.

Customer trials are expected to commence sometime in the coming months.

Stay tuned.

jared@zeropaid.com

Microsoft Acquires Skype, Plans to Support Xbox, Kinect

Jared Moya — Tue, 10 May 2011 17:01:14 +0000

Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a variety of Windows devices. Microsoft will also connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities.

Today Microsoft Corp. announced it acquired Skype Global for $8.5 billion in a deal that will help Microsoft vastly improve communications between its networked platforms. "The acquisition will increase the accessibility of real-time video and voice communications, bringing benefits to both consumers and enterprise users and generating significant new business and revenue opportunities," the company says in a press release. "The combination will extend Skype’s world-class brand and the reach of its networked platform, while enhancing Microsoft’s existing portfolio of real-time communications products and services." One of the myriad of problems for Microsoft has been an inability to stave off competition from Google and Apple with their GTalk and Facetime video chat features. Bringing Skype on board gives an immediate, and hefty boost in that effort. Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a variety of Windows devices. Microsoft will also connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities. “Together we will create the future of real-time communications so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Skype was purchased by eBay back in September 2005, but eBay never managed to really find a meaningful synergy with the company. “Microsoft and Skype share the vision of bringing software innovation and products to our customers,” said Skype CEO Tony Bates. “Together, we will be able to accelerate Skype's plans to extend our global community and introduce new ways for everyone to communicate and collaborate." Stay tuned. jared@zeropaid.com

CES 2010 Gadgets Part 2

Bruce Lidl — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 19:55:12 +0000

CES 2010 is drawing rapidly to a close, and I've got tons of big things to write about, but right now I wanted to share some more cool gadgets I saw in Las Vegas. Even in years like this one that are somewhat down in the innovation department, there are always some shiny new toys to get excited about. While there wasn't one overwhelming choice among CES visitors this year, there were some interesting contenders. On the play end of the spectrum the best toy I saw was easily the Parrot AR.drone. At first glance the AR.drone does not look much different from other cheap remote control helicopters, but on closer examination it is actually quite sophisticated. Calling itself a "quadricopter" the AR.drone uses four separate sets of blades offset from the center of the craft, making it far easier to fly than similar devices. But what really makes the AR.drone project stand out is the open nature of the "platform" that includes on on-board WiFi system for controlling the device via an iPhone, two on-board video cameras for streaming footage of what the drone is seeing, and even better, an open source developer platform for creating applications (including augmented reality games) for the AR.drone. A lot will depend on what software developers are able to come up with for the AR.drone, but such a cool toy with such a forward looking concept is really exciting. Another device, not really fair to call a toy at all, is the new version of the Chumby, called in true geek fashion, the Chumby One (as opposed to the Chumby Classic). It can be a little hard to describe a Chumby if you've never seen one before but basically it's a small portable screen that serves up Internet widgets via WiFi. The Chumby is one of those things that at first might not seem to have a lot of practical value, but as the Internet becomes essential to everything we do, even in odd places around the house, including the kitchen, the bedroom, etc., devices that allow you to access it without pulling out a laptop or even a mobile phone will have increasing value. Plus there's the fact that the Chumby is just a very fun thing to play around with. That was not lost on the developers at Sony Electronics, who have essentially implemented the Chumby platform on their own device, the Dash. It's a bit slicker and sleeker than the Chumby One, but the Sony Dash has most of the same functionality and also brings the Internet to you in interesting places. It will be very intriguing to see how such a fun concept gets developed over time by two very different entities and communities in Chumby and Sony. Also less a toy and more a cool implementation is the MiFi portable WiFi hotspot. These types of things have been around for a while, but the tiny size and seemingly excellent broadcast power of the MiFi make it pretty compelling, especially having seen it in action in such a high stress wireless environment like CES. Novatel Wireless had the MiFi for demo in the "Blogger Lounge" in Las Vegas and they acquitted themselves quite well. Something like the MiFi could come in handy in many unlikely environments, where wireless access is necessary for a small group but would be extremely difficult to implement in a traditional manner. Plus theMiFi is just a cool looking little piece of hardware. I'll be looking in later articles at many of the ways companies are trying bring the power of the Internet to the TV, but there was one small but excellent example of fun innovation in the connected TV space at CES this year, which the implementation by LG Netcast TV's of Skype. A simple idea, but one that really makes sense, as anyone who has tried to coordinate a Skype video call with less tech savvy relatives can attest. It is only a step in the direction Internet connected TV's need to go, in my opinion, towards fully realizing their potential, but it is one that the mainstream audience can really make sense of and it will help push things in the right direction I expect. Finally, another piece of tech that I would be very happy to have in my own suitcase returning home from Las Vegas is one of the CPU liquid cooling setups from CoolIT. I've generally been skeptical of liquid cooling for my PC's in the past, generally satisfied with what I can accomplish for less money with air-cooledheatsinks, even when overclocking my rig. Nonetheless, the performance that the CoolIT staff demonstrated at the show form their self-contained liquid-cooling units was very impressive as was their ease of install and cost. I particularly liked the ECO A.L.C. unit that is small, compact and very quiet. It could be used in a relatively smallHTPC case very effectively, and since it arrives pre -assembled the chances of a leak is much reduced. At about $75 retail, it compares very well with many of the more high performance air coolers.

Wal-Mart to sell Skype phone gear

Jared Moya — Mon, 14 May 2007 21:40:42 +0000

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is adding an array of Skype phone gear to the electronics section in 1,800 stores, bringing the renegade provider of cheap calling over the Internet to a huge mainstream audience.

The dedicated Skype section will feature handsets, headsets and webcams designed to work with Skype, a provider of free and very cheap long-distance calls, including to phone numbers abroad. Wal-Mart will also sell the first prepaid cards for Skype calls to be sold in this country, the companies were announcing Monday.

The new section at more than half of Wal-Mart’s roughly 3,300 U.S. stores will feature Skype-compatible gear made by Motorola Inc., Plantronics Inc., Logitech International SA, Royal Philips Electronics NV and others.

Coming soon to Bittorrent: Girls in Bikinis?

Jared Moya — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 00:39:21 +0000

Azureus just announced a deal with Bennet Media Woldwide that will allow them to distribute HD shows via their Zudeo.com P2P download platform. From their news release:

“Among the Bennett Media original productions to be featured in HD on Zudeo include Bikini Destinations, The Wild Side, The Extremists, Xotic Xtreme and Snowology. Bennett Media content will be available on Azureus later this year.”

No word yet on the costs of the content. The shows are pretty much the same ones that were licensed to Guba.com for distribution “on a pay-per-view, download-to-own and ad-supported basis” late last year, so that might be an indicator for what Azureus could do with them.

Obviously paying for a show like Bikini Destinations might not be that compelling to the average Azureus user. After all, there is lots of this stuff available for free on your average porn tracker sites like Mariposahd.tv.

The Venice Project gets “Joost” up

Jared Moya — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 20:05:54 +0000

Today marks the official launch of the global broadband television service as well as the debut of it’s new name — "Joost."

Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, the two Scandinavian entrepreneurs behind KaZaA and Skype, which shook up the music and telephone industry respectively, have formally launched their latest salvo at the television industry.

Previously known under the code name "The Venice Project," today it has been revealed that it’s official name will be "Joost." The announcement marks the formal launching of the new on-demand broadband television service

As previously described, "Joost", as it is now called, enables users to watch content whenever and wherever they want, giving people complete viewing freedom and control.

Powered by a secure, efficient, piracy-proof internet platform, Joost enables a high-quality video experience based on premium content, while guaranteeing copyright protection for content owners and creators.

"People are looking for increased choice and flexibility in their TV experience, while the entertainment industry needs to retain control over their content," said Fredrik de Wahl, chief executive officer of Joost. "With Joost, we’ve married that consumer desire with the industry’s interests."

Joost is the first global TV distribution platform, bringing together advertisers, content owners and viewers in an interactive, community-driven environment. Joost can be accessed with a broadband Internet connection and offers broadcast-quality content to viewers for free.

"We’ve received positive and constructive feedback from our early beta-testers and are now at a stage where we’re ready to reveal our true brand," said de Wahl. "The Joost name has global appeal, embodies fun and energy, and will come to define the ‘best of TV and the best of the Internet."

Here’s some more screenshots.

"Joost" still isn’t available to the public but, you can sign up to be a BETA tester and get a chance to take a look at it sooner rather than later.

Looking for more stuff to read, watch or download?
"The Venice Project:" a sneak peek with a BETA tester
TVU, Free P2P Cable TV
Watch The Simpsons, The Office, Jackass, South Park, Lost, X-Men, and More On-Demand For Free
vNES: play Nintendo games in your internet browser
BitTorrent torrent sites & search engines
Watch Tons of Your Favorite Movies On-Demand for FREE
Azureus – A Beginner’s Guide to BitTorrent Downloading
uTorrent – A Beginner’s guide to BitTorrent downloading

SOULXTC: "walkin’ the streets of P2P"

Skype offers phones for Web and conventional calls

Jared Moya — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 22:03:11 +0000

Skype, which has popularized Web telephone calling, on Monday marked progress in extending its low-cost calling services beyond computers to new types of phones, the company said on Monday.

At the Consumer Electronics Show here, Skype, a unit of online auctioneer eBay Inc., said it was introducing 12 new phones and related phone accessories in conjunction with telecommunications equipment suppliers.

The models include a dual-mode phone from Netgear Inc., the SPH200D, which enables users to place and receive both traditional phone calls and Skype Internet calls from a single cordless handset. The device connects both to a standard telephone wall jack and a broadband Internet router.

Unlike many existing Skype-ready phones that need to be tethered to a personal computer, the new model requires only the phone and broadband cable connection.