Skype now has Spotify integration, too

Skype will now make it easy for you to share music with whomever you’re chatting with through the app’s integration with Spotify. It’s coming first to US-based Skype Insider users with the mobile app version of 8.26 or higher and then to global Insiders later. Insiders are users who get access to early features before these roll out to the rest of the users. Spotify can be accessed through Skype Add-ins, which house all the third-party services you can use when you’re in chats. (These are accessible through the “+” icon.)

Spotify through the Add-ins panel will let you search for songs, albums, and artists, preview and share music, or just play them. OnMSFT notes that not all songs have a playable preview on Skype, so sometimes your contacts will need to click on the “Play on Spotify” button to get to listen to the song.

Source: Engadget

Skype introduces Content Creator mode for easier audio and video production recording and streaming

Microsoft hopes to help out the content creator community with a new mode it’s introducing to Skype. The app is getting a new Content Creators mode on the desktop for both Windows 10 and Mac users. While the app itself won’t get native call recording, its streamlining integration with existing third-party apps like Wirecast, Xsplit, and Vmix so it’ll be easier to get quality audio and video recordings. These will then be easily exportable for other editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro.

According to Microsoft, this feature will also let streamers broadcast a call live on either YouTube or Twitch. This mode will be launched in full in the coming week and its final release will come out in the fall.

Source: SlashGear

Microsoft redesigns Skype logo

With the big changes that have been rolling out for Skype, it comes as no surprise that Microsoft is changing up the look of its logo, too. The new look ditches the cloud-like format of the app and makes it more consistent with the corporate typeface of the brand. It now looks more consistent with the other Microsoft software and services and shows the company’s desire to position Skype as a business communications app. Android users of Skype will see the changes immediately, while those using the Windows and iOS apps will have to wait a bit.

Microsoft Skype gets in on the Snapchat action, introduces Highlights feature

Microsoft did a major overhaul of Skype for iOS and Android and brings some features you might have seen on other messaging apps. One is its own version of Snapchat’s Stories that the company calls Highlights. If you’ve used Snapchat or Instagram Stories or even the one in Facebook, you’ll be familiar with how Highlights works. It’ll let you take a photo or video and decorate that with text or emojis and post those to that section. Unlike the other “Stories” formats, the content will be up for a week and will only be visible to people you follow. You can also send them to specific people or groups.

Skype is also more customizable in terms of the look of the app. It’ll allow you to decorate it in your favorite colour. There are also now Facebook-like reactions coming to both chats and Highlights. Cortana is also making its way to Skype. There will also be other chat bots like BigOven, Bing, Expedia, Giphy, Gfycat, MSN Weather, Polls, Stubhub, Upworthy, and YouTube. The video call feature of the app will now let you send things like large emojis, text messages, stickers, and photos over video chat. These will be overlaid on the screen. Aside from that, Skype plans to bring some gaming features into video chats in the future as well as letting people watch streaming videos together. The update comes to Android first and will be coming to iOS in around a month. Windows and Mac versions of the app will be getting these new features in the next few months.

Source: MacRumors