AFP PHOTO/Richard A. BROOKSThis could soon be a common interaction among Facebook friends, according to a report on the TechCrunch blogToday in technology: Facebook users will reportedly soon be able to see their friends in real time, the United States prepares to extradite those suspected of Internet piracy even without an American connection and Angry Birds heads to the big screen.
Facebook video chat: coming this Wednesday?
Apparently when Mark Zuckerberg baited the tech press last Thursday with plans to launch ‘something awesome‘ this week, the Facebook chief executive was talking about a video chat service, powered by a deep integration with Skype.
The service will be built on the Skype platform featuring both a Web-based version and a locally-installed desktop version, according to a report from TechCrunch founding editor Michael Arrington. It is unclear whether the reported service will require users to download new software before it can be used.
With approximately 170 million active users, Skype is the world’s largest Internet telephony service and would thus make a logical choice for use by the world’s largest social network.
Part of the Microsoft Corp. family since the Windows maker agreed to pay US$8.5-billion for the voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) provider in early May, Facebook was previously believed to be in the running as a potential Skype suitor.
The timing of the suspected launch is noteworthy. Web search leader Google Inc. launched a new social network last week — Google+ — with the ability for multiple users to hold a video conference.
Facebook has been making inroads into video in recent months. In early March, the website began featuring movie rentals from major Hollywood studios.
Although Facebook officials declined to comment on the TechCrunch report, a press event is set for 10 a.m. PST at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif. on Wednesday. So all will likely be made video-quality clear by then.
U.S. could extradite any Web piracy suspects: official
It now seems that anyone, anywhere, alleged to be guilty of Internet-based piracy can face the might of the United States justice system. Erik Barnett, assistant deputy director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper over the weekend that U.K. website owners could be forced to stand trial in the U.S. regardless of whether their website had any connection to the United States, or even if their activities were perfectly legal under British law.
“A lot of drug dealing is done by proxy [but] you rarely give the money to the same person that you get the dope from,” said Mr. Barnett by way of justification.
“I think the question is, are any of these people less culpable?”
It is unclear whether the new extradition policy would also apply to other countries such as Canada.
Movies are going to the [Angry] Birds
Everyone’s favourite enraged winged crusaders are taking their quest to retrieve their stolen eggs to the big screen. That’s right, Angry Birds, the mobile gaming app downloaded some 250 million times, is going to have its own movie. Rovio, the Finnish app maker behind the slingshot game (which catapulted to the top of the download charts many months ago), brought in David Maisel, former Marvel Studios chairman, as a special advisor to ensure the process goes smoothly.
Internet-based video chat is one of the hotter new technologies that's taken hold in the last few years. It's been a long time coming, but for a long time, web page technology couldn't support complex things beyond embedded videos and simple Flash games and the like.
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