Articles tagged with ‘Skype’
I’m sure this went mostly unnoticed as Skype 4.x does not show the online users that predominantly anymore – but Skype exceeded the 20 million online users mark a few days ago.
Congratulations to Skype for this achievement (I’m sure many millions will follow!).
Jean-Mercier has an interesting blog site where he grinds the numbers on Skype. You will find information about the online user growth, analysis on the quarterly results numbers and much more. Definitely worth taking a look at http://skypenumerology.blogspot.com
Written by Dick on 11. November 2009 in category General News
Today we released the second hotfix for Pamela. This update includes the following:
Feature: Added WMA support so audio recordings can be in WMA format
Bugfix: Pamela 4.6.0.28 does not always recognize active call
Bugfix: Automatic inbound/outbound recording not reliably working
Bugfix: Memory usage optimizations in audio recording
Bugfix: On Windows 7 Pamela did not register MP3 correcty
Bugfix: Resolved potential crash situations
Bugfix: Video recording optimizations
Change: Improved error message texts
Change: Added a default setting for proxy ports
Change: Auto Skype Mood and Status change is now disabled by default
We made corrections for Windows 7 and also disabled by default the feature to change the Skype Mood and Status during a call. It seemed that Pamela was not always receiving the information that the call had ended and thus Pamela was not able to change the Mood and Status back to what it was before. We assume that Windows Messaging (the communication channel used by Skype API) is responsible for this. We are looking at how to resolve this with some changes.
Besides stability fixes in various areas, this hotfix also adds a new feature which is support for Windows Media Audio format (WMA). In case where you don’t want to use MP3 you can set Pamela to record in WMA format which is also compressed and easy to handle.
You can upgrade for free by downloading the latest version. Just open Pamela and click on “Help” and then “Check for update”. Download and run the installer which will upgrade your Pamela to the latest version.
Written by Dick on 3. November 2009 in category Pamela for Skype
Skype have recently announced that Skype Credit will be phased out in partner applications. This effects the Windows users of PamFax. On December 11, 2009 Skype will shut down Skype Credit payments in any application which uses this. Any (with Skype Credit) purchased PamFax Credit will obviously remain in your account.
As a concequence we will be switching over to an alternative “Pay As You Go” offer which will allow occasional PamFax users to still use PamFax “On Demand” without needing to buy a monthly plan. The minimum initial credit purchase will be €5 (Skype Credit was €0,99). The reason for the €5 amount is the cost associated with processing smaller amounts.
The good news is that PamFax is still the only product which allows you to send faxes by just paying a small pre-load amount.
This update will be done server side and will not require a PamFax update on your computer.
Written by Dick on 27. October 2009 in category PamFax
Today we released the first hotfix of Pamela 4.6. based on feedback after launch we have incorporated this and other feature requests in this release. In detail all the changes below:
Feature: Info when user clicks “play” button during a call
Feature: Added additional variables to format the call recording file name
Bugfix: Mood editor showed wrong # of remaining characters when copying text into editor
Bugfix: Language editor set to max # of characters to prevent crash when loading the LNG file
Bugfix: Mood editor tooltips are now translated
Bugfix: “Minimize Pamela at video recording start” option is not saved after exiting Pamela
Bugfix: Sometimes error message dialogs were not in focus and thus not visible for user
Bugfix: Custom record full desktop had disabled record button
Bugfix: Fixed crash in custom video recording on removing webcam
Bugfix: Fixed an issue where Pamela would stop video recording after about 4 minutes
Change: Start external application entry box expanded to 256 characters
Change: Options: all port setting maxed to 65535
Change: Removed the cut off “Not…” text from list view
Change: Considerable speed improvements and lower CPU usage when recording Skype video
In addition we were able to significantly decrease the CPU usage when recording Skype video.
If you want to update, open the main Pamela window and click on “Help” and “Check for new version”. Alternatively you can visit the website and download. Make sure you download the same version as you have.
Written by Dick on 9. October 2009 in category Pamela for Skype
We have just updated our chat bot PamBot on the servers. We have fixed the error message in Wikipedia requests (like “what is skype”) and were able to improve the conversation flow a lot. The bot is now able to react better on what you have said in your previous message. So there is a kind of “brain” which keeps the previous messages to be able to refer to those messages from you.
Additionally, we have fixed the games in PamBot: try it by typing LUCKYSLOTS, WORDPLAY or BLACKJACK.
Try it now.
Have fun with Pamela 
Written by Dick on 7. October 2009 in category PamConsult
Skype has just announced today that the Skype Extras System will not continue. This means no more third-party applications for Skype will be certified and no new extras will be added to the “Tools” -> “Extras” menu in the Skype client. All existing entries will not be removed until the certification period expires. This does not include the Skype Public API which allows third party software to connect to Skype and control some functions and do things like call recording etc. Skype says this API will be maintained in future.
But this shut-down also includes the Skype Credit payment, which will be switched off shortly. No third-party software will then be able to accept Skype Credit payments.
So how does this affect Scendix/PamConsult products? The simple answer is: not very much.
Read more..
Written by Dick on 11. September 2009 in category General News,Pamela for Skype,PamFax
Today we release a Release Candidate version of Pamela Professional 4.6. Release Candidate means that unless we find a serious bug, this version will go live in the next days, replacing Pamela 4.5.
So, what are the big changes? First of all we completely redid the Skype video recording module. This was used a lot in Pamela since introduction in 2006 but since then evolution of the software world has caused more and more issues with it. So we decided to completely re-write the recording part.
We have managed to create a very low resource recording, this is especially critical as any video application already uses considerable resources. We also wanted to make the settings very simple. In Pamela 4.6 you will see only three main settings regarding video. FPS, the captured Frames Per Second. This impacts file size and quality of the video. Then there is the size of the video file (320×200 up to 800×600 including a YouTube setting). This obviously impacts size of the recording too. And then there is the audio quality starting from “low” to “highest”.
The output file is default WMV format and with Pamela 4.6 we’re doing away with all the complex codec configuration.
In addition there is a video custom recording option which will just record anything from the webcam.
If you have Pamela Professional you can just download and install which will update your Pamela to 4.6. If you do not have Pamela Professional or another Pamela version you will have Pamela Professional in trial mode (full functionality for 30 days).
UPDATE: Pamela 4.6 is now released as final version. Download from www.pamela.biz
Written by Dick on 18. August 2009 in category Pamela for Skype
We just updated the PamFax servers to a new server build (.12). The changes in this release were mainly around time zones, languages and currencies. We’ve had feedback were people had a hard time to set & change the time zone, language and currency in PamFax. So this server release adds a lot of automation. E.g. when you install PamFax for the first time, the system will automatically recognize based on a few factors what country you are in and presets the PamFax settings accordingly. New in this release is that you can change these settings individually in the PamFax portal.
We also did some changes to the website at www.pamfax.biz. New is a twitter feed on the home page as well as some other minor changes.
Detailed changelog:
- Fixed: Empty inbox bug
- Fixed: Error when saving settings containing some special characters
- Fixed: Missing fax-in email notifications
- Fixed: Rounding issue in DRM calculation for Skype payments
- Change: Timezone detection algorithm and date/time formatting routines
- Feature: Added automatic country/timezone/language/currency detection for non-Skype users
- Feature: Change localization settings in portal
Note: No application update is required with this update.
Written by Dick on 13. August 2009 in category PamFax
Today we released a pretty significant update which bumps up the version to 2.0.10.16. The main focus is performance and stability improvement. Below a list of the changes. The server part requires no update on your computer. The PamFax Windows version does require a manual download and install if you are effected by the issues listed here.
Changelog:
PamFax Server Platform 2.0.10
Fixed: Removed flash document uploader for improved reliability
Fixed: Macintosh application could hang when uploading same file again
Fixed: Issues from error logs and automatic reporting. Improved stability
Fixed: Bug when hovering on submenu-items in portal
Fixed: Missing prices/countries on rates page in PamFax Portal
Fixed: Display of incorrect Skype country for some Macintosh users
Fixed: Hopefully fixed bug with pending faxes where payment was done after the fax was submitted
Change: Changed zone calculation for service and mobile numbers
Change: Added notification settings explanation
Change: Unpaid faxes are deleted after 3 days (was 30 before)
Change: Removed some fax-in area codes (provider related, service level could not be guaranteed)
PamFax application 2.0.x.16 (PamFax Windows only)
Fixed: Installer no longer flashes but downloads all files at once
Change: Removed check if Flash is installed
Change: Updated scanner module with better scanner support
Feature: Availability of a full install package which does not download anything (Link: http://www.pamfax.biz/PamFaxFullInstaller.exe)
Vista Sidebar Gadget 2.0.0.11
Feature: Added PamFax inbox so you can see incoming faxes
Feature: Added auto-update function
Fixed: Occasional disconnect with “server error”
Written by Dick on 10. July 2009 in category PamFax
We were sent this link with an interesting article on how to use Skype in a classroom. It has links to various resources regarding this topic. As our products are also used in schools to record classroom sessions, I was obviously keen on reading this post.
Read the full story here.
Written by Dick on 2. July 2009 in category General News
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