You can now crash Skype with 8 simple characters

Just the other day you may have had some fun crashing your friends iPhones messages, now you may have to face their revenge, as 8 simple characters are all it takes to completely crash your Skype.

iSensor HD camera relies on Skype for notifications and video streaming

There's no shortage of IP security cameras, with WiFi pan-tilt models easily found for less than $100. There are even some that can use YouTube as a form of "unlimited" storage space for recordings. But using Skype, this is something I think this iSensor HD camera is the first to use.

Record Video and Voice Skype Calls

While some may worry about who might be secretly recording their Skype conversations, others may find it refreshing to know you can now record voice and video calls on Skype using a free program appropriately called Free Video Call Recorder for Skype from DVDVideoSoft.

This is the first free, unrestricted and unlimited program to do it, and it allows you to select whether you want to record video and audio, just audio, as well as select both people or just the other party to be recorded. All resulting files are in standar formats (MP4 and MP3) meaning you can easily play it back or edit it using any audio/video editing tools.

This Free Video Call Recorder for Skype expands DVDVideoSoft Free Studio range of tools to nearly 50, making it one of the most valuable free utility packs out there, whether you want to download video/audio content, do format conversion or codec recoding, etc. Available for Windows XP/Vista/7/8, it is expected to also become available for OS X during 2013.

Skype Reveals Every User IP address

If you take your online privacy seriously, you might want to know that you might be highly exposed if you happen to use Skype online service: as it is apparently very easy to know every Skype user's IP address.

An IP address might not be enough to get you a street address on someone, but is often enough to get a country and city approximate location; and it's made worse due to the fact that the attacker doesn't even need to be on your contact list. Right now, there might be people harvesting lists of IP/location info on thousands of online Skype user (offline users have no valid IP address that can be probed).

More so, an IP address is also a prime vector for attacks/hacking, allowing an attacker to direct its efforts to your location, allowing them to test known vulnerabilities and potentially gain access to your computer and infect it with malware or similar types of undesirable software.

FullHD Videochat with the Logitech C920

With all the technology at our disposal today, there are no excuses not to keep in touch with friends and family, even if they're on the other side of the world. And to prove that the days of those low quality blurry videocalls are over, Logitech has brought us the new HD Pro Webcam C920, a webcam that - for the first time - allows you to do videochats with FullHD 1080p quality.

For that, you need only to download the latest Skype 5.7 beta for windows (or newer versions). But even if you use Windows Live Messenger, you can still chat with HD 720p quality that will make your friends feel like they're seeing you with their own eyes.
As usual, you can also easily send your H.264 videos to YouTube, and send snapshots to Facebook and Twitter.

The Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 should be hitting the stores anytime now, and has an estimated price of 99,99€.

Video Calling on Skype for Android

It took them a while, but finally Skype for Android now enables video calling for a the majority of Android 2.2 devices (or so they say).

The officially supported devices now include the following:

• Acer A5
• HTC Desire (2.2)
• HTC Desire HD
• HTC Evo 3D
• HTC Evo 4G
• HTC Flyer
• HTC Incredible S
• HTC Sensation
• HTC Thunderbolt - Verizon (2.2) (US only)
• LG Revolution - Verizon (2.2) (US only)
• Samsung Droid Charge - Verizon (2.2) (US only)
• Samsung Galaxy S
• Samsung Galaxy S II
• Samsung Galaxy Tab
• Sony Ericsson Xperia mini pro
• Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY
• Sony Ericsson Xperia ray

But other than these, Skype says you should still be able to enable video calling in your Skype settings. ("Skype settings"-> "enable video calling").

But, it seems that even if you have a front faceing camera, non-supported devices might force you to use the back camera... which kind of make it a very lame video calling experience.

Skype for Android is Out

Not that there aren't other alternatives (like Fring, Tango, etc.) but the ever popular Skype is now available for Androids allowing you to make free calls between Skype users, and at reduced rates for international landlines or mobile phones.

Skype for Android runs whether you're using WiFi or a 3G data connection.

It seems there are some issues with Skype running on the Samsung Galaxy S devices - let's hope they sort that out soon.

iPhone Virus via Skype

Just a couple of days after Skype for the iPhone has been launched, it gets back to the spotlight because of a rather nasty aspect: this App is vulnerable to a virus that can erase all your iPhone data.

This security flaw is triggered when you answer a skype call - usually from an unknown caller - sending an audio strean of digitally encoded data; something that sounds like a fax call (or ZX spectrum tapes, if you've been around that long) and takes advantage of the usually inactive analog modem in the iPhone hardware.

In just a few seconds your iPhone will start erasing all its data and revert back to factory mode.

Be afraid, be very afraid!