Skype 4.1 Beta for Windows Adds Screen Sharing to its Conferencing Toolkit

Frequently the features available in software updates are not always equitable or timely across platforms, but Skype has followed up quickly with a beta version of Skype 4.1 for Windows adding screen sharing to its ubiquitous voice and video chat client, a feature that had only been available in version 2.8 beta for Mac. While Skype usually release new features for its Windows clients first, the screen sharing feature has been available to Mac users since January. But now you can share your whole screen, or just a portion of your screen with any other Skype user on Windows, Mac or Linux.

Screen sharing, or as it's also called remote desktop sharing, has been primarily an online collaboration tool available on many other conferencing solutions and is the basis for webinar or webconferencing applications. But now that Skype has incorporated it into both the Mac and PC versions it greatly increases the level of collaboration within its free peer-to-peer (P2P) conferencing  environment. 

My take -- it's very cool and I'm sure I'll be incorporating it into more of my Skype calls. Skype has evolved beyond its roots as a voice and video chat client into a versatile online collaboration platform. 

Skype 4.1 Beta for Windows highlights:

• Screen Sharing: share your screen with other Skype users.
• Send contacts: take contacts from your list and send them to other Skype users.
• Import contacts: import contacts from external address books, including Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail, Yahoo!, AOL and LinkedIn.
• Birthday reminders: you will receive an alert when it is the birthday of one of your Skype contacts (alert appears at midnight, local time; if you do not use Skype that day, you will not see the alert).
• Skype browser toolbar improvements.
• Enhanced call quality.
• Several bugs have been fixed.

You can see the full release notes in the here (PDF link.)

Skype 4.1 Beta for Windows system requirements:

• Windows 2000, XP or Vista
• Internet connection
• Speakers and microphone
• At least 1Ghz processor, 256MB of RAM and a webcam for voice and video calls.

Download now — Skype 4.1 Beta for Windows

Also see:

• Skype 4.1 BETA video - CNET TV
  
• Skype 4.1 beta: Share your Windows screen | The Download Blog

Vawkr* - Instant Video Chat Makes You a Talker

I had a chance to test out another new video chat tool called vawker*. It's a free browser based video chat solution that's easy to use and requires no downloads or sign up. Their slogan is "Look Who's Talking" and they gave it a fun and simple interface that works seamlessly within your browser using Flash. You can "grab a room" and get a unique URL to share with friends and start a video chat session instantly. You can also create your own permanent chat room by signing up and embedding the room on MySpace, Facebook, your blog or any website.



My friend Rich and I took it for a test ride yesterday and had pretty good results. The controls are very basic with only volume and microphone adjustments and a chat window. There's no resizing of windows like other video chat applications. Audio is an issue as we experienced a lot of echo and had to keep adjusting the volume and microphone levels. When we selected "Reduce Echo" the audio kept gating and cutting out. The video looked clear when you didn't move too much and it seemed to run at about 300k while trying to give us 30 fps. We both were on iMacs down the hall from each other and noticed only a slight delay. Overall, it worked very well and I signed up and set up two separate rooms using two of my email addresses.

I tried a 3-way video chat today and it actually performed poorly. The video kept freezing, the echo increased and we ended up with a 30 second delay. We gave up on it and went back to Skype.

My initial feedback is that I'd like to see some improvements in the way it handles audio and I want to be able to scale and move the video windows around. I'll test it out some more before I render my final verdict but I suggest you give it try. It's fun and fast and you'll video chatting in no time.

Related:

• Vawkr.com - Instanteous Live Group Video Chat - March 6, 2008, Killer Startups
• Vawkr.com - Instanteous Live Group Video Chat- March 7, 2008, Gabber.com
• The Complete Web 2.0 Directory - Go2Web20.net
  

Robin Good's ooVoo Review

Robin Good has published the quintessential review of ooVoo, titled "Video Conferencing As It Should Be: Multi-Party, Affordable, Cross-Platform - The Video Conversation Starter Is Here - OoVoo." In his article he provides a extensive and detailed explanation of the key features which he describes as, "real-time communication with audio, video and the ability to share files and documents easily. In this respect OoVoo is very much on focus and not trying to do too many things that would place it in direct competition with other conferencing and collaboration tools."

This is my fourth ooVoo post within the last two weeks so you can probably guess that I'm an ooVoo fan. I have yet to try it on a PC and have only experienced the Mac version (which is actually still available from the "Download ooVoo Now" link on the My ooVoo Day With... web page) or (the direct link at http://38.101.227.70/oovoo/ooVooInstaller.zip and enter user name: oovoo and password: oovoomac at the appropriate prompts.) The PC version has more features than the Mac version including free telephone calls to US and Canada landlines or mobile. Robin points out that, "you can also add phone participants in the US to your ooVoo video calls. In this introductory period OoVoo provides up to 120 minutes of FREE phone calls through March 1, 2008."

Another PC only feature is the ability to record the videoconference session. This is really cool and lends itself to many possibilities for archived interviews, panel discussions and talk shows. Robin shared this example of a recorded session that was saved as a .flv and uploaded to Blip.tv.



If you haven't tried ooVoo yet but you're interested in how it works I suggest you read the full text of Robin's ooVoo review. He offers some suggestions on what ooVoo could do to improve adding that, "I strongly feel that ooVoo has a tremendous window of opportunity if it can further streamline and clean up its act, before Skype comes out with its own multi-party video conferencing solution or Google launches its own one. The time is ripe but one needs to act rapidly and effectively."

Overall his impression is positive and share these concluding remarks, "OoVoo is a video conversation starter and one great tool to hold impromptu professional video conferencing meetings online."


"Video Conferencing As It Should Be: Multi-Party, Affordable, Cross-Platform - The Video Conversation Starter Is Here - OoVoo" was originally written by Robin Good for Master New Media and first published on February 19th 2008.

Mashable - 12 Screencasting Tools For Creating Video Tutorials

Here's another great list of software tools compliments of Sean P. Aune of Mashable who has assembled a dozen options for you to create a screencast. Screencasts are commonly used to demonstrate software features since you can directly record your computer screen activity and publish it as stand alone video. The benefit is that you don't have to use any external hardware and it's done using a software application which gives you a high quality non-scan converted video capture.

Sean intentionally left industry standard screen capture program Camtasia off the list and commented that, "I didn't feel it needed inclusion since I do believe every one knows it." He's right too, because if you're on Windows and have had to produce any screen recording projects then you probably have heard of Camtasia. He added that, "Perhaps we should have called it "Forget Camtasia", but I admit that particular idea didn't cross my mind at the time I wrote it."

So here's the list, some are free and some are commercial products, and you can see his original post for more details along with comments from readers. (Thanks again Sean!)

The following is written by Sean P. Aune for Mashable and originally published on February 21, 2008 as:

12 Screencasting Tools For Creating Video Tutorials

1. AviScreen - As the name would imply, this capture program records the video into AVI files, but can also do BMP photos. It’s Windows only and does not record audio.
2. CamStudio.org - An open source program for capturing your on-screen video and audio as AVI files. Windows only, and absolutely free.
3. Copernicus - A free program for Macs that focuses heavily on making quick and speedy films by recording the video to your RAM for quicker access. Does not include any support for audio.
4. JingProject.com - Beyond recording video, Jing allows you to take a picture of any portion fo your desktop, draw on it, add a message, and immediately upload your media to a free hosting account. You are then given a small URL that you can give to whomever needs to see the image or video. Works with Macs and Windows machines.
5. Screencast-O-Matic.com - A Java-based screencasting tool that requires no downloads and will allow you to automatically upload to hosting. According to their site it works well with Macs and Windows machines, but does have some issues with Linux.
6. Wink - Screencasting software that focuses on making tutorials with audio and text annotation abilities. Outputs to Flash, PDF, HTML, EXE files and more.
   
7. Adobe Captivate - While Adobe is almost always synonymous with quality, it also always means it’s going to be expensive. Pricing starts at nearly $700.
8. AllCapture - Capture in real time, add audio during recording or after completion. Can output to Flash, EXE, ASF, DVD, SVCD and VCD. Free trial available, Windows only.
9. HyperCam - Windows only system for recording screen activity to AVI files along with system audio. Free trial with $39.95 for full version.
10. iShowU - Offers a wide-range of presets that allows you to record directly into Quicktime and up to 1080P in both NTSC and PAL formats. Also does audio and the file is ready to be published as soon as hit stop. Mac only.
11. ScreenMimic - Software for the Mac that offers transitions, audio dubbing, can output to HTML, Quicktime and Flash. Free download and $64.95 for the paid version.
12. ScreenRecord - Outputs to Quicktime directly and can record your clicks and all on-screen activities. Offers a free trial and then $19.95 to purchase.