Skype Garage

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.

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.

See also our release notes document.

Full list of changes in 4.0.0.227 is:
* bugfix: Configuration settings for some users were being lost when upgrading from 3.x to 4.0
* bugfix: Fixes for miscellaneous crashes
* bugfix: Fixes for Video rendering issues
* bugfix: Fixed "Disk I/O error" on sign-in
* bugfix: Skype occassionally crashed when shutting down

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

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.

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

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

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

Introducing to you, just out from our build server: Skype for iPhone.

You have been asking for it for a long time on our forums and now it's here.

Start downloading it straight from App Store.

We are interested in all your feedback about this new product to make future versions better. Post comments on this blog post, discuss things on our forums and file issue reports on our issue tracker, read the issue reporting guide.

Today we are releasing a hotfix version of Skype 4.0 for Windows.

Start downloading the new build from here.

The new hotfix version of Skype 4.0 solves problems with blank Skype menus when using Skype in Hebrew and Skype hanging while making a video call to a Skype client which does not support video.

We are always keen on hearing what you think about Skype. Comment on this blog post, discuss it in our forum or file an issue report in our public issue tracker.

The new version is 4.0.0.224 and it has following changes compared to the previous release:
* Optional install: Google Chrome browser
* bugfix: Skype menus were blank in Hebrew localisation
* bugfix: Skype hung when making video calls to clients which do not support video

This week has been busy for us on the Windows Mobile front. We have released two new versions: a hotfix for Skype 2.5 for Windows Mobile and Skype 3.0 beta for Windows Phones.

If you are interested in exploring new things then I would recommend you try out the new beta version, but remember that as it's a beta version, it might misbehave from time to time.

If things don't work as expected, please let us know about it. Feel free to comment this blog post, talk about it on our forums - or if you're more technically-minded then file a bug in our public issue tracker Jira. If you haven't done so before, see the guidelines how to do it.

Skype 3.0 beta for Windows Phones brings to you many new features that you have been asking for from time to time - in particular, SMS sending and File transfer.

Full list of changes:

24.03.2009 version 2.5.0.205 for Windows Mobile
* improvement: Single CAB file and EXE file for PocketPC and Smartphone platforms
* bugfix: Skype is not always launched by default in the same language as OS (Swedish/Russian/Portuguese Brazilian)
* bugfix: Hang up button is cut off in landscape mode
* bugfix: The dial tone of Skype call disappears after tapping on 4 tabs
* bugfix: Several localization fixes
* bugfix: Users who are not the first on multichat participants list cannot be unblocked in Multi-chat view after blocking them

24.03.2009 version 3.0.0.100 Beta for Windows Mobile
* feature: SMS
* feature: File Transfer
* feature: Add to Contacts Wizard
* feature: Dial Helper
* improvement: Emoticons support in mood messages/about me
* improvement: Hyperlinks support in mood messages/about me
* improvement: Added option to block users from search results
* improvement: New user interface for Status tab, history and chat
* improvement: Option to Remove Skype folder from Application Data during uninstallation