Skype gets Microsoft Teams' Together Mode

Microsoft Skype is getting Together Mode from Teams. The fun video calling feature uses AI to take your face and shoulders and place them together with other people in your call in a virtual space. It requires at least five people with webcams to put everyone in a virtual environment that makes it look like you're beside each other. You don't even have to use the Skype app to utilize Together Mode. It works with the web version of Skype and without the need to create an account. Together Mode was introduced back in July to cater to pandemic-era meetings. The NBA even used the feature to bring basketball bans courtside in a virtual experience of its live games. 

Aside from this surprising new addition, Skype is also getting the Large Grid Mode, where you can see everyone's live stream simultaneously. Skype also offers more background options and allows you to add people to ongoing calls with their phone numbers.

Source: The Verge

Skype for iOS now offers background blur

Microsoft updates Skype for iOS to add background blur support. It's similar to what iPad and iOS users can do on the Microsoft Teams app. Background blur is also available on Skype's desktop app since last year. With the help of artificial intelligence, the app can blur everything in a room so that the focus is on you. It detects hair, arm, and hands to avoid obscuring essential body language while you're on a video call. It won't wholly blur your surroundings, but it helps keep the focus on you. We don't know yet if or when Microsoft plans to bring the feature to Android.

Source: The Verge

Skype tries to compete with Zoom with new Meet Now feature

Skype introduces new Meet Now feature (CREDIT: Microsoft)

Microsoft Skype has been integral to online voice and video calls long before we had smartphones. But during this COVID-19 pandemic that has us staying in our homes, people have turned to Skype competitor Zoom, which has made it too easy (perhaps at the cost of safety and privacy) to connect and host meetings. But now Skype has its answer to Zoom's mostly frictionless approach. Called "Meet Now," hosts can create and share meetings in a few simple clicks. Hosts themselves don't need to have Skype installed either.

You can start meetings from this site and invite people either through a simple link or the share button. Of course, you can invite people through Skype as well. There is a Meet Now button next to New Chat in the left-hand sidebar. If the person you invite has Skype, it'll open the app directly to the call. If the user doesn't have it, then it'll open the web client, which works with either Chrome or Edge.

Source: Tech Radar

Microsoft will drop Skype for Business Online to ease the transition to Teams

Microsoft is slowly transitioning its business customers away from Skype to move over to Teams. The company will be closing Skype for Business Online on July 31, 2021. As you can tell, the change isn’t happening immediately. But new users who log on after September 1^st won’t be able to access Skype for Business Online. Instead, they’ll be redirected to Teams. Microsoft won’t be making changes to the Skype version used by consumers or the Skype Business server edition either.

"Over the last two years, we’ve worked closely with customers to refine Teams, and we now feel we’re at the point that we can confidently recommend it as an upgrade to all Skype for Business Online customers," James Skay, senior marketing manager for Skype for Business, wrote in a blog post. "Customers who have already made the move tell us that Teams not only has helped them improve collaboration generally, it has also provided a rare opportunity to rethink the way work gets done in their organizations."