Skype has released the Skype 4.0 Beta for Windows, focusing on better video calling and conversation management. The focus on video is driven by 28 percent of Skype calls in the first quarter of 2008 were video calls. The new version starts up a video call with a single click on a button with an IM conversation next to the video call can be generated with one click from one window. New “unified conversations capabilities” pull IM voice, video, file transfers, SMS and calls together to allow users to easily move in and out of conversations between single users or groups. There’s also additional ease of use features for installation, finding contacts, and adding new devices.

Beta for the new version is expected to span the entire summer, given the complexity of all the changes made; there are also some [+]

As BlackBerrys and the new iPhone that hits stores on July 11 become GPS-enabled, the world will see a drastic leap in hand-held technology, as well. Will GPS make people dumber? How about new jokes about Paris Hilton? Some people claim GPS technology will make it easier for 40 percent of Americans to find the ocean. Evidently they cannot find it now. On the other hand those who claim spell-checking created a generation of poeple that cannot spell are forecasting the worst for GPS.

For those who do not know that the sun sets in the West (and rises in the East) there is room for discovery. I doubt that it would be the quality of discovery that would be defended in a doctoral thesis, but a discovery none the less. If [+]