iPad users finally get Skype app

 

iPad users can finally get their hands on a native Skype app. For real.

More than a month after it was expected to make its official debut, the iPad-optimized Skype client began appearing in Apple App Stores on August 1. The new app takes advantage of the tablet's larger screen real estate, making for crisp and clear video chat over Wi-Fi, and often less crisp chat over 3G.
However, not long after the app appeared, Skype pulled it, saying it was released prematurely. "To ensure your best Skype experience, we've temporarily removed Skype for iPad which went live prematurely today," Skype said on its Twitter feed. "We know you've been eagerly awaiting Skype for iPad and apologize for the inconvenience."

Google VP: Why Google+ requires real names

A Google VP has apparently weighed in on the controversy over why Google+, still in its infancy following its arrival in late June, requires members to use their real names on the social network.

In a reported conversation Sunday night with tech blogger Robert Scoble, Google's senior vice president of social, Vic Gundotra, acknowledged that Google has made mistakes in its first pass with Google+. But he explained that the requirement to use real names is an attempt to set a positive tone, "like when a restaurant doesn't allow people who aren't wearing shirts to enter."

Oracle Acquires Ksplice

Redwood Shore, CA-based datase giant Oracle said it has acquired Ksplice, a maker of technology for updating linux.

Google Buys Fridge

Google has acquired social networking site Fridge, a group coordination and photo sharing tool, and intends to integrate its functionality into Google+.

Intel braces for rival ARM, Windows 8

On the back of good but not great earnings Wednesday, Intel CEO Paul Otellini was queried about how Windows 8--the first mainstream operating system from Microsoft to support ARM chips--will change the competitive landscape.

During the company's earnings conference call today, questions from one analyst focused on how the chipmaker will fend off an expected crush of devices running Windows 8 on ARM processors. ARM chips power most of the world's smartphones and tablets.
Intel has consistently held an overwhelmingly dominant position in PCs, aka "client" devices, but the definition of a PC is changing quickly in the wake of Apple's enormous success with the iPad. In the most recent quarter Apple shipped a staggering 9.25 million iPads--also considered a client device--using a processor based on an ARM design. That iPad number alone puts Apple among the top PC makers worldwide in quarterly shipments.

Windows 8 to spawn new breed of low-cost laptops

The pairing of Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 with processors from companies like Qualcomm and Nvidia is expected to spawn a new kind of low-cost laptop, according to IHS-iSuppli, possibly threatening Intel's overwhelming dominance in laptops.

"After more than 30 years of domination by a single microarchitecture--Intel Corp.'s X86--the PC microprocessor...market finally is set for some real competition," Matthew Wilkins, an analyst at IHS-iSuppli, wrote in a research note today.