Just in time for the biggest Mac event in the world we're ready to announce to you the beta version of Skype 2.8 for Mac.

This newly released client brings to you two new features which haven't been seen in any Skype version before. Skype Access enables you to connect seamlessly to different WiFi Hotspots around the globe and pay with Skype Credit.

You can now also share your screen with others to show what you're doing, or to ask for help from a friend.

You can read more about the features in our Mac product page or in our main blog.

You can download the new version right away, but please remember that it's a beta version which means that it might be a bit wobbly from time to time. If you experience something unexpected while using Skype 2.8 beta, please let us know about it through our public issue tracker Jira or discuss it in the Skype Community.

Full release notes for the newborn, 2.8.0.324 are:

• feature: Skype Access
• feature: Screen sharing
• feature: Sort chats in the chat drawer
• feature: Set priorities to chats
• feature: Quick Add: quick and simple way to add people to chats
• feature: Mood message chat: mood updates from your contacts listed in a chat
• feature: Large avatars: 256x256 pixels
• feature: Add your own notes to contacts
• feature: Profile picture selector (Mac OS X 10.5 only)
• feature: Support of Spotify links in your mood and chats
  
  

• improvement: Improved bandwidth allocation methods

• improvement: Improved copy/paste capabilities of messages in a chat
• improvement: Cmd-shift-E shortcut to edit your last chat message
• improvement: Ability to change your profile picture can now be initiated by double-clicking on your profile picture
• improvement: Technical call info window can now be triggered manually
• improvement: Improvement of chat split-view resizing
• improvement: Added skype: uri handler topic and token parameter support for "call" command
• improvement: Warning message added in chat window when writing to a mobile device user who is not able to receive chats
• improvement: Improved Leave Chat alert layout and messages
• improvement: When a new call is started, default call volume is set to 25% if it was lower before
• improvement: When multiple files are received via file sending, clicking the main file icon will now open all the files
• improvement: Improvements to accuracy of contacts online status

• improvement: Usability for VoiceOver users
  
  

• localization: Added Brazilian Portuguese by Fabio Roselet
• localization: Added Polish by Bohdan Zielinski
• localization: Added Estonian
  
  
• change: Search field is default focus in history window
• change: When user shows an iTunes song in their mood, it is preceded by a musical note character
• change: No longer possible to send chat messages containing only whitespace characters
• change: Appearance of contact groups
• change: Removal of grey area beside chat text window, emoticon button now inside chat text window
• change: Merged block and unblock menu items
• change: New tabbed layout in the profile information window

• change: Status of SMS messages now changes: Sending -> Sent -> Delivered

• change: Duplicate Skype Out contacts from address book will not be displayed

• bugfix: It was not possible to start a chat with a contact who was not in contact list
• bugfix: Occasionally when a person was added to a conference call, he was automatically put on hold
• bugfix: Conference call window kept aspect ratio when resizing
• bugfix: File sending failed when file with the same name already existed
• bugfix: Hang Up button had wrong label in the chat window while a call was in progress
• bugfix: Sometimes Skype crashed after a SMS/text was sent
• bugfix: Under certain rare circumstances,the main window stopped responding when a birthday event was clicked on
• bugfix: If user had multiple online numbers, only the first one was displayed in Skype services panel
• bugfix: When user removed a custom sound for an event, it was replaced with the first sound in the list, not with the default one
• bugfix: Previous username was shown in the title of the main window when "Sign In as Another User" was clicked
• bugfix: When user edited a landline/mobile phone contact the phone number was not validated
• bugfix: Video button in call window was not replaced with dialpad button when call was forwarded to a phone number
• bugfix: Sometimes the yellow alerts inside the chat window disappeared when "view earlier messages" was clicked
• bugfix: Some video preferences were still enabled after "Enable Skype Video" was unselected
• bugfix: Occasionally the incoming call window was displayed offscreen
• bugfix: 'Call On Hold' was not removed when user resumed a video call
• bugfix: After writing multi-line feed message with /me chat command, the text was not displayed correctly
• bugfix: When the topic of a public chat was locked and a non-host tried to change it then the user couldn't see the original topic
• bugfix: To and from fields were mixed up for file sending with multiple files
• bugfix: In some rare cases after signing in as another user, some chat messages from previous user were still visible
• bugfix: Sometimes the call window disappeared when adding an unauthorized contact to a conference call
• bugfix: 'Add to Contacts' command didn't work in the context menu of the history list
• bugfix: Call Transfer menu was also shown for outgoing calls
• bugfix: Clicking "Show in Finder" on a file which was being sent showed "File not found" message

• bugfix: Skype URI skype:username always initiated a call, instead of triggering the default action (chat or call)

• bugfix: Skypename was not pre-set, when signed out after password was changed
• bugfix: When a call to an emergency or short number was dialled, Skype didn't display the appropriate message
• bugfix: After a manual update, "Upgrade Skype" missed event didn't disappear
• bugfix: Proxy authentication window kept popping up although correct credentials were entered
• bugfix: Pressing return-key in the landline/mobile phone caller window did not start call
• bugfix: Fixed layouts of hold and mute overlay views of the call window in some localizations
• bugfix: Password error message was incorrect when creating account or changing account password
• bugfix: Country codes of Address Book contacts were not updated when default country code had been changed in Skype preferences
• bugfix: Minor problem with emoticon set name in French version

• bugfix: Error #6520 (calls to landlines and mobiles) did not have a description

• bugfix: Call and chat buttons were shown for undisclosed and unrecognized numbers in history list
• bugfix: String "(host)" was not localized in conference call window
• bugfix: Some "speak text" notifications didn't understand @ sign
• bugfix: Mood is now cleared when 'show iTunes song' is enabled and user stops iTunes
• bugfix: iTunes song info is not shown/updated in mood when status is offline/invisible
• bugfix: Old mood was not restored when iTunes was paused
• bugfix: An old song that the user listened to a few days ago was set as the mood when user paused iTunes
• bugfix: Turning off iTunes in your mood while playing music did not restore previous mood set by the user
• bugfix: It was impossible to close technical call info window in full screen video call
• bugfix: If a phone number contained a hyphen in a chat, it didn't appear as a clickable link
• bugfix: Mobile contacts did not have corresponding icon in contact list
• bugfix: Sometimes the number of missed events was incorrect
• bugfix: Artifacts appeared below contact name if their mood contained newline characters
• bugfix: Emoticons were case sensitive
• bugfix: Right click on a link in chat window and selecting "Open link" opened the link in Skype chat window
• bugfix: User was unable to send SMS to a number which began with +00 in Address Book
• bugfix: The summary of several files being sent showed the file as being sent even when it was being received
• bugfix: Canceling a file selection in the file sending dialog caused an error
• bugfix: Camera icon on the contact card in the contact list was sometimes hidden
• bugfix: If there were several files sent together, then "Remove from list" didn't work for a single file
• bugfix: Sometimes call window remained open with "unhandled state" message
• bugfix: Sometimes when adding a person into a video call, the whole application did not respond for 15 seconds
• bugfix: It was not possible to set country to not specified in profile
• bugfix: Address book options was not honored on showing contact name order
• Skype API: Implemented GET/SET AVATAR
• Skype API: MUTE related API calls were not working properly for non-host in conference call
• Skype API: Implemented GET CONTACTS FOCUSED
• Skype API: Implemented SEARCH ACTIVECHATS

• Skype API: Implemented GET CHAT <chat_id> property (name, timestamp, adder, posters, members, topic, activemembers, friendlyname)

• Skype API: Implemented SEARCH ACTIVECALLS

• Skype API: GET CHAT <id> PROPERTY accepted only properties written as uppercase string

• Skype API: Implemented GET CHAT <chat_id> properties: ACTIVITY_TIMESTAMP, BOOKMARKED, MYROLE, MYSTATUS

• Skype API: Implemented CREATE CHAT
• Skype API: OPEN CHAT did not respond
• Skype API: Implemented SET PROFILE MOOD_TEXT
• Skype API: SEARCH ACTIVECALLS did not return call members
  
  
• Updated all localizations: French - Jean-Pierre Kuypers, German - Claudius Henrichs, Traditional Chinese - Carlos Lee, Italian - Domenico Cianci, Dutch - Alexander Henket, Spanish - Carola Clavo, Portuguese (Portugal) - Francisco Miguel Ferreira, Japanese - Mayu Shimizu, Norwegian - Kenneth Stevenson, Russian -Igor Pryadkin, Czech