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Facebook and T-Mobile Launch Bobsled. With Huge Privacy Glitch. Or is it By Design? Skype, Google Voice and Telcos Beware, Anyway…

Out of left field, T-Mobile and Facebook launched Bobsled, a VOIP service that allows voice calls to anyone on your Facebook list for free.  At this moment the entire blogging world is busy writing about it, so I skip the basics… and just run to some funny experience while testing it.

First, here’s how you call from your Chat list: click the phone button.. then voila!:

bobslead0

As it happens, none of my contacts pick up my test call – I suppose the feature is too new, nobody knows where the funny sound comes from or how to react.  They will get used to it.  But here’s the real surprise: it has VoiceMail.  To the World.  Literally:

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve » Zoli Erdos)

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Skype is not Only VOIP: It Reigns in IM But How Long?

exochartwidget.aspx Nowadays the only context we hear about Skype is the legal fight (care to bet how long it will take for the previous Net Celebs to become the Hated Greedy Ones who try to sc**w all of us?) – I would much rather read about new features, improvements.

After all, Skype is the single most popular voice and video calling application.  But let’s not forget it’s also an IM system – in fact as this Infoworld article points out, it has become the reigning IM system.

And therein lies the rub: it is less and less suitable for text chat.

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The Skype Downgrade Experience

First, kudos to Skype for listening to customers, many of whom considered the first Skype 4.0 beta’s full-screen a deal-breaker.  Yes, they listened and gave us a compact view, somewhat similar to good old 3.x, which is why I installed it in the first place, but after an hour or so I am ready to uninstall.

In a nutshell: the new Skype is great for single-channel communication, long video calls with one person, but if you’re a multi-tasker (aren’t we all?) who usually has several chat windows open at a time, you’ll be disappointed.

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iPod Becomes iPhone? (Sans AT&T)

I was amongst the first to call the iPod Touch an iPhone without the At&T baggage. Little did I know the iPod would soon become a … phone. smile_regular. If the news is true, you can soon use a VOIP application to make calls on your iPod. Somehow I doubt AT&T is happy about it…

Details at: Gizmodo, iPod Touch Mods, CrunchGear, ParisLemon, Ubergizmo