eBay saw its shares slide almost 7pc after the online aution website reined in its earnings expectations as the UK and US economies weaken. eBay told shareholders that it now expects revenues of betwen $2.1bn and $2.15bn for the third quarter, below analysts’ previous estimates of $2.17bn for the period.The value of the items sold on eBay’s sites climbed 8pc during the second quarter, the smallest rise since the first quarter of 1999. Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s deal offers the 3 Skypephone Black on a 3 contract from 3This, quite possibly, is the best phone deal on the market just now. Why? Firstly, you’re getting a 6 month contract, which only demands a short commitment and then you can take advantage of a new deal. Secondly, you’re getting more than enough free minutes to last every month and you’re not wasting any of them because this tariff is highly flexible. Thirdly, the line rental is very low but you save money up front – there’s no awkward redemption system here. Read the rest of this entry »

Jaxtr, the dial-around service (see Jaxtr makes click-to-call really simple) that lets you make free calls to those people who have at one point called you via the Jaxtr widget, is launching a new service that lets you bypass the step of first connecting with callers via the Internet.Now you can make “out of network” calls directly from you mobile phone to anyone in the world. These calls aren’t free, though. As in Skype, if you want to use this service to call people on regular phones, you’ve got to buy credits on the system against them. Rates are either good or great, depending on where you’re calling: For example, calling a landline or mobile phone in China is one cent a minute, but a call to a mobile in the U.K. is 15 cents a minute. Read the rest of this entry »

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Klausner Technologies Inc said on Monday that Apple Inc (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research), eBay Inc (EBAY.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and AT&T Inc (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research) have agreed to license its “visual voicemail” technology and settled a lawsuit against them. Read the rest of this entry »

Vulture Central is keeping its eyes peeled for some sort of PayPal glitch or security breach, following reader reports their accounts were debited overnight to pay for Skype services they never ordered.Both readers are UK residents and longtime PayPal users. Both logged in yesterday to find their accounts had been charged to secure accounts with Skype. Read the rest of this entry »

3 Business is beefing up its offerings by introducing a more competitive range of new deals for small businesses; the new plans, called Business Mix and match will see the introduction of new services like mobile Skype.

3, which has more than three million active users in the UK, will offer plans starting from £12.77 + VAT per month and offer 300 minutes anytime any network, 300 free 3-to-3 minutes, free Skype-to-Skype calls, free voicemail and free Instant Messenger; which roughly mirrors the price of similar consumer offerings. Read the rest of this entry »

The newly-announced beautiful relationship between Skype and mobile giant 3 is manna to globetrotting chat addicts… and telly addicts.

A 3G mobile phone with Skype built in, that also lets you watch and control your home TV wherever you are in the world? Yep, I’ll have one of those.

3’s new X-Series phones, such as the Nokia N73 that goes on sale on 1 December, are fabulous little bundles of gadgetry. Not only do they let you make unlimited Skype calls using the 3G network, but you can also browse the web, watch your home telly using Sling (though you’ll need a Slingbox for that) and access your home PC remotely with Orb.

So, is this magic gizmo any good?

I was lucky enough to road-test the N73 earlier today, and can happily report that I really, really want one. The screen is big and bright, and Skype — like all the other built-in apps — works like a dream. It’s a world away from those clunky, yawn-making days of ye olde dial-up internet. Read the rest of this entry »