The social network has tapped Skype for video chat. The partnership will also enable users to import their news feed, send instant messages, comment, and "like" all within Skype.
Facebook is holding another one of its news briefings Wednesday and we'll there to bring you the news, live from the company's Palo Alto, Calif., headquarters.
So far there have been murmurs of the company cooking up a number of products, from tablet apps, to new photo-sharing and music-listening services. More recently there's even been talk of video chat service powered by Skype, which Microsoft (a Facebook investor) recently paid $8.5 billion for in a deal back in May.
Co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Reuters last week that the company was planning to "launch something awesome" at the event. Whatever it is comes from a 40-person development group from the company's offices in downtown Seattle.
In a post last week, TechCrunch said the company plans to introduce a video chat feature for its existing chat service that's powered by Skype and will work from within the browser. The report noted that feature will "include a desktop component," opening up the possibility of closer ties with Skype's desktop software and VoIP services.
There's also the possibility Facebook's news could be tablet-focused. A report in The New York Times last month claimed that Facebook was cooking up a native application for tablets, something the company's held off on so far. That app, which is said to feature overhauled chats and groups features, along with photo and video uploading, has reportedly been in development for more than a year and is in its final stages of testing, sources told the news outlet.
On the flip side of that Times report is one from TechCrunch, just a day later, with details of something called "Project Spartan." That product was said to be an HTML5 overhaul of Facebook aimed at phones and tablets that cuts out the need for native applications, while letting developers bring their Web apps to iPad users through the browser.
And then there's music, which could be the big wild card. A report from GigaOm last month said that Facebook was hard at work behind the scenes to partner with music services, including Spotify, to better integrate music players into the Facebook experience. CNET last week reported that Facebook and Spotify were in talks about integrating the popular music service when it finally arrives in the U.S.
As usual, we'll be using Cover it Live to bring you updates and photos from the event. You can bookmark this page and come back to it Wednesday morning, or sign up to get an e-mail reminder just ahead of the live blog's launch. The event starts at 10 a.m. PT sharp.
Note: If you plan to watch the live blog from an iOS device or any other mobile browser, make sure you have JavaScript enabled. On iOS you can find that toggle in Settings > Safari. On Android, the setting can be toggled within the native browser's settings menu.
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-20076874-2/facebook-taps-skype-for-video-chat/#ixzz1RLm5vLWB
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