The holiday shopping season is upon us, and if you're trying to think up a few good gift ideas for your geeky or not so geeky friends and family, we're here to help. Over the next few days we'll be bringing you a number of suggestions for Download Squad style gifts.

To kick things off, I wanted to talk about a gift idea for the computer user who doesn't really need any new software: subscriptions. Nothing says I love you like a year's worth of unlimited domestic VoIP phone calls, or the security of knowing your files are securely backed up to an offsite storage space. Well, maybe not nothing, but certainly few things. Here are a few ideas for subscription based services you might want to buy for your loved ones. Feel free to add your own ideas or argue with my choice of services in the comments.

Skype

Skype provides a free way for Windows, Mac, and Linux users to make free voice or video calls to one another. But you can also buy credit or monthly subscriptions to make calls to regular telephones. You can also purchase a phone number that people can call to ring you on Skype.

Prices range from a few cents a minute for domestic calls, to $9.95 a month for unlimited international calls. For less than $36 a year you can buy a plan that will allow users to make unlimited domestic calls in the US and Canada. $60 a year will get you a SkypeIn phone number. And there are a ton of other options available.

Skype isn't the only game in town. You might also want to check out Gizmo5 or newcomer VoxOx.

Fring is a fantastic mobile application, allowing mobile users access to voice and text chat via Skype, MSN, GTalk, and more on their mobile handset or iPod Touch.

On their official blog yesterday, they announced the introduction of embedded ads on a trial basis. No specifics were given, only the reassurance that revenues would be used to sustain development and bring even more great features to Fring.

Ads will appear only for "a small number of randomly selected Fringsters each day." They continue, reassuring users that their Fring experience won't be affected.

While I don't own a device capable of running the app, I have used it on a friend's iPod touch. I'm not generally a fan of adware, Fring is certainly a good enough app to deal with the minor annoyance of a few banners - provided they're kept to a reasonable level.

If you're a Fring user, what do you think about this news?

[ via Symbian Freak ]

It's been over two years since Google brought text-only Chat to the Gmail web interface: and whilst the feature has certainly seen a number of small additions in that time, I think it's fairly safe to say that the efforts with Chat to date will pale into insignificance with Google's announcement on the Gmail blog that Video and Audio chat will shortly be arriving in an inbox near you.

The features, which require a plugin [available for both PC and Mac OS X] allow you to initiate video and audio chats from within the web browser. You can even expand the size of the video chat, and thanks to the feature being based on a number of widely used standards, you should in theory be able to chat with a fairly large number of contacts who don't need to be using the web interface [it's also worth noting that one-way video and audio chat is also possible].

Unfortunately, the feature isn't available just yet: the Googlers say the feature has only just begun rollout - however you can visit the Gmail videochat page to download the browser plugin and get ready for your account to be enabled in the next few days.

VoxOx is one of those applications that does so many things that the easiest way to describe it is by listing some of the tools it can replace: AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, Jabber, Google Talk, MSN Messenger, whatever email and social networking notifiers you use. In other words, it's like Digsby. But with support for video chat and VoIP calls to telephones. Oh yeah, and VoxOx automatically assigns all new users a phone number which people can dial to reach you on your computer.

VoxOx is currently in beta, with clients available for Windows and OS X. Linux and mobile clients are coming soon. And right now some of the services listed in VoxOx are unavailable. For examle, you can link the client to your Yahoo! Mail account to receive a pop up message every time you get a new email. But when you click the button to do the same thing with Gmail, nothing happens.

One of the most interesting things about VoxOx is the company's business model. You can do text chats with anyone for free. You can make free voice or video calls to anyone using VoxOx. And when you sign up you get 120 minutes of free calls to telephones. You can purchase credit for additional calls, or pay a monthly fee fro unlimited access. But every time you refer a friend to the service you get another 2 hours. And VoxOx will also soon add the ability for users to gain points by watching video ads.

If you're one of the first 500 Download Squad to register using our signup page, you'll get 1200 VoxOx Points which are good for 1200 domestic phone calls minutes of domestic US phone calls. Keep reading to find out how to get your bonus minutes.

Skype has released a second beta version of Skype 4.0 for Windows. When Skype released version 4.0 beta 1 back in June, the software was widely panned for its new user interface. Sure, the audio and video quality were excellent. But Skype's insistence on using a full-screen interface by default left many users scratching their heads.

After all, Skype is a chat and telephony program, and if you're a multitasker, you might want to have several windows open simultaneously. Skype 4.0 beta 1 made it difficult to do that. While you could reduce the size of the default view, it still takes up a lot of screen real estate.

Skype 4.0 beta 2 addresses this by offering a new Compact View option. In this view, Skype 4.0 looks a lot like Skype 3, with a contact list in one window and your chat, audio, or voice wndow showing up in a second screen.

The new beta also reintroduces contact groups, allowing you to arrange your contacts by category. And it does a better job of notifying you when you've missed a call or message. Notifications are now hard to miss because Skype will show alerts in the Windows taskbar, system tray, and in the program itself.

CNet reports that Skype plans to release at least one more beta version of Skype 4.0 before the final release. That version will include call history, public chats, birthday notifications, and a few other features.

[via Laptop Magazine]

TokBox is a video chat service that lets you communicate via instant message, video, or audio. But unlike other services such as Skype, there's no need to install any software. You can run TokBox from a web browser. The software will automatically detect your computer's camera and/or microphone and adjust all the appropriate settings for you.

But sometimes you don't want to leave a browser window open just so you can chat. Or you might want to do other things with your web browser while chatting. So a desktop client can come in handy. And doday TokBox released one. The desktop version of TokBox is built on Adobe AIR, so it looks and acts almost exactly the same as the web version. Because essentially it is the web version. You just don't need to launch a web browser to use it.

It took us just a few moments to register for a free account and download and install the software. Our only complaint was that you still need to access the web site to accomplish some tasks. For example, when we wanted to add friends to our contact list, we hit the "find friends" button in TokBox AIR. But when we started the search, TokBox fired up our web browser to show us the results.

For those of you out there who haven't been lucky enough to get your hands on a new and coveted iPhone 3G, let alone the original iPhone, there's always the AIR iPhone. We're not sure whether to be amused or horrified by this Adobe AIR app but, either way, we had to download it to see what it has to offer. The answer is sadly, not much. At the end of the day, it's simply a desktop app for Ribbit, which we mentioned earlier this year. The AIR iPhone's only connection to Apple is the opportunistic use of the iPhone's interface - and we're not sure how long Apple's legal team is going to let this one slide.

As for the app itself, according to its developer, you can make and receive calls, check your voicemail, add contacts and send voice messages, as long as you have an account on Ribbit. We weren't able to actually test it out as Ribbit hasn't opened its doors to the public just yet.

You can also rotate the AIR iPhone at a 90 degree angle and mess around with a few buttons that all lead you to dead-ends, so until Ribbit launches it service, the AIR iPhone is just AIR iCandy.

Internet telephony service Jaxtr lets you add a widget to your web site that lets visitors contact you over the phone. Now the company is launching a new service that routes telephone calls over the internet whether you're taking the time to click a button on a web site or not.

Here's how it works. When someone views your Jaxtr profile, they can click a "Call Me" button. Jaxtr will then bring up a local phone number they can call. So if you're in the US and the person who wants to call you is in China, they'll get a Chinese phone number. Jaxtr makes the connection over the internet, but once you've got a number, you can use it any time you like. No computer necessary.

You can call other Jaxtr users for free, or purchase credits (called "Jax") which you can use to make cheap long distance calls.

[via VentureBeat]

SkypeSync is a new service you can use to get all those numbers from your phone into your Skype list, so you can call them with SkypeOut, the Skype feature that lets you call regular phone numbers. It's built using the SyncML standard, which is supported by most recent phones, so the odds are pretty good that it'll work for your cell.

Here's how to use it: point your phone's browser at zyb.com, a free synchronization server recently acquired by Vodafone, and store your contacts there. Download and open SkypeSync (it's only available for Windows right now) and use its Synchronization Wizard to import your contacts from Zyb to Skype. Voila! You now have all your phone numbers ready for use with SkypeOut.

Obviously, the service is somewhat limited right now, since it only works with Zyb, but there are plans to support other synchronization servers soon. Right now, this looks like a decent solution if you're a big SkypeOut user, and don't want to face the prospect of manually entering every number you want to call on Skype.

Skype 4.0 beta for Windows is due out tomorrow. And this beta will represent a major shift for the VoIP client. While nearly a third of Skype calls are video, each version of Skype up until now has been designed with audio in mind. The client is small and easily resizeable and feels like an application for making phone calls. TechCrunch reports that Skype 4.0 beta will be a full screen application designed with video in mind.

The new version takes advantage of the larger window by spreading out the buttons a bit and adding support for new video features like picture in picture. There's also more room on the screen for text chat or for sharing files while conducting voice or video calls.

Skype 4.0 beta also features improved hardware deection and tools for testing your connection. But honestly, we're not convinced that this whole full-screen design is the way to go. There's no doubt that the updated Skype client looks like it will make video calls far more pleasant. But more than 70% of the calls placed on the Skype network are still audio-only. And we're guessing that a lot of the people placing those calls like to have a bit of space on their desktops to multitask while making phone calls.

Of course, if you're just using Skype for voice communication, you can always minimize the application while you're talking, web browsing, and playing World of WarCraft. Or whatever it is you do when you're on the phone.

VoIP provider Skype lets you make PC to PC calls or make calls from your computer to a telephone. But if you live in the US, up until now when you made a call from Skype to a telephone, ther person you were calling wouldn't see your number on the caller ID. They's see some random string of numbers like 000123456.

Skype has now added a Caller ID option that will let you use your SkypeIn phone number or your cellphone number for Caller ID purposes. To activate the feature, just log into your account through the Skype web site, and select Caller ID from the Account menu. If you have a SkypeIn number to receive phone calls, that will automatically be selected as your new ID. If you'd rather use your mobile phone number, just enter the number and Skype will send you an SMS with an activation code. Note that it could take up to 24 hours before the changes take effect.

If you have multiple SkypeIn numbers with different area or country codes, you can also select an option that will automatically display a number that's local to the call destination when available.

Skype has offered a similar Caller ID feature for European customers for a while now.

[via Skype Journal]

You watch videos online. From Youtube, from other people's blogs, and so on.

But more than likely, you're not currently getting a desktop type experience with online video.

uvLayer is a web based application that is similar to other web-based desktops. But there's a twist. uvLayer is built around search, discovery, and sharing of online video.

You add friends, and they show up on the left hand side of your uvLayer desktop. Search for videos, and drag them out to your uvLayer desktop. If you want to share a video with someone, simply drag the video onto your friend. It's that easy.

Watching videos is pretty simple and it all stays within the uvLayer web environment.

They have an Adobe AIR app which is pretty nice as well, but we think the value here is the in-browser experience.

If you're into online video and hate that you have to hop around different sites, copy and paste code, and jump through the normal hoops, then uvLayer is for you.

WhitePages.com has announced a deal to purchase Snapvine, a company that provides voice applications for social networking sites. WhitePages plans to continue offering Snapvine's current services, including tools for "voice blogging," leaving voice comments on social networking sites, and adding voice comments to photos. But WhitePages also plans to roll out new services, including:

• Free, private voicemail boxes
• Email
• SMS services

Last month WhitePages abandoned plans to buy Jangl, a similar service. The WhitePages web site includes phone numbers for about 180 million people living in the US. Using Snapvine, WhitePages will be able to let individuals replace their phone numbers on the site with personal voicemail boxes or click to call buttons thet lets people reach them via phone without actually giving away their phone number.

[via TechCrunch]

Musion Systems and Cisco Networks may be bringing our dreams to life.

Ever not want to attend a meeting in person? Ok, dumb question. But you've never had an option, unless you lied and said you got stung by 100 bees, or were contaminated in some way. But even at that, you'd have to eventually provide SOME proof.

Well, the future of laziness may be closer than we think.

This HAS to be too good to be true.

Maybe, but maybe not. With some fancy cameras and IP networks, you can have people on stage at an event or meeting that are not even there! Zuck could have done his SXSW keynote from Ecuador! And he would have been able to see the audience just like he was there!

These two companies have teamed up to create the Cisco On-Stage TelePresence Experience using technologies from each.

The possibilities are ENDLESS. Don't want to visit mom? No problem, hologram yourself to the Church group brunch. Have a long distance relationship? Feel closer than iChat with someone.

We're not sure when this is going to happen but we hope to get a Beta invite.

Check out this awesomesauce demo video.

[via lux.et.umbra]

Less than a month after releasing a public beta of Skype 3.8 for Windows, the company has launched a public version of the updated internet telephony client.

As a point release, you shouldn't expect to find a ton of new features in Skype 3.8. Most of the changes are under the hood, but users should notice improved call quality, meaning fewer dropped calls, less delay, and less background noise. The new version should also do a better job of automatically configuring your firewall and router settings.

Skype has also hidden away user profile images from incoming requests. This might not sound like a big deal, but if you've ever received a request from someone with an avatar you'd rather not display on your work computer, this update could be a life saver.