Skype 3.8 promises improved audio

Stephen Withers
Friday, 04 April 2008 06:54

Business IT - Technology

The beta release of Skype 3.8 for Windows features a tricked-up audio library that reduces background noise along with other improvements.

The new library also reduces delays, drop-outs and lost calls, and simplifies changes to headsets and other audio hardware.

Version 3.8 also sees the arrival of Skype's own UPnP implementation to configure compatible firewalls. Previously, the program used Microsoft's UPnP framework. The new UPnP code is already in Skype 2.0.0.8 and will appear in the Mac version "soon".

Other changes in the beta include hiding the initiator's profile picture in authorisation requests (the picture can be revealed on request), updates to the Internet Explorer and Firefox add-ons, and several bug fixes, several concerned with video calls (eg, high quality video is now supported on Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 CPUs).

Skype 3.8 for Windows can be downloaded here (Warning: direct link to installer; there is no intermediate web page).