Facebook and Skype are teaming up

Speculation rampant before 'awesome' Facebook announcement

CTV News Video

CTV Toronto: Kris Abel, tech expert CTV's tech expert explains why rumours are swirling after founder Mark Zuckerberg said last week that Facebook would 'launch something awesome.' Canada AM: Maurice Cacho, CTV.ca producer A producer with CTV.ca says there is a strong word from bloggers and social insiders that the announcement will be about a new video chat service on Facebook, and explains how this might impact the world of social networking.

 Share 

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg appears in this undated file photo.

Facebook is preparing to reveal a major new product Wednesday, drawing rampant speculation on the web about what the social network will roll out.
Rumours are swirling after founder Mark Zuckerberg said last week that Facebook would "launch something awesome."
The project is being built out of the company's Seattle office – which is credited with building Facebook's mobile site.
However, it's anyone's guess what exactly the "awesome" feature will be. Technology blogs have been running stories nearly every day with speculation about what the world's largest social network has been preparing to announce.
One idea from TechCrunch is that Facebook will pull the wraps off an in-browser video chat feature that has been developed with Skype.
Right now, users can use text-only instant messaging to chat with Facebook friends. Video chat could help Facebook become a one-stop-shop for all communication needs.
Another possibility is an advanced photo-sharing component similar to Instagram or Picplz.
The two apps – hugely popular with iPhone and Android users respectively – can apply artistic effects to photos before uploading and sharing the files over social networks with little input from the user.
Anyone with an Apple iPad, however, may be hoping Facebook will release an app specifically designed for the tablet computer.
An iPad app would be designed to take advantage of that device's larger visual real estate.
Lastly, the announcement could be the release of a re-vamped HTML5 mobile site.
Something like that would provide Facebook users with a comprehensive app-like experience on their mobile devices without the need to download a specialized app.
For Facebook, its developers would just need to code once for all smartphone users, eliminating the need to make a specific app for iOS, BlackBerry and Android devices, among others.more...